I have not bought any parts recently, but I too, am concerned how this
Cerberus deal is going to affect parts pricing and availability. I am
planning to keep my three Mopars for now.

I had to replace the mounting screws for the coolant recovery tank on
my 2000 Cirrus. They were $2.50 each. I tried several aftermarket
options, but none of them had the correct thread pitch.

-KM

Vulture capitalists.  Gotta love 'em...

After the Daimler "merger," I noticed a couple of things with the parts
supply. One: prices took a big jump at that time, and two: a HUGE number
of parts were rendered NS-1. For example, I went in to buy a throttle
cable for the wife's 1993 LH. No dice, the part was NS-1, inventory zero
nationwide. I was DUMBFOUNDED because at the time the car was only 9
years old and I was still getting parts similar to that at the dealer
when my '73 Satellite was 20 years old! In fact during the past 5 years
I've probably picked up more parts for my 40-year-old cars at the dealer
than for the 93. It seemed as though the not only discontinued parts
from 90s vintage cars, but flushed them from the inventory too while
keeping the more common stockpiles of old, old bits and pieces.

A few months after the throttle cable fiasco, I went looking for a power
seat track system for that car (the friction clutch had died on the
fore/aft motor) and was quoted $600! SHEESH, and I only went to the
dealer because I didn't want to buy a WHOLE SEAT (with nice leather
upholstry no less, too bad it didn't match our car) from a junkyard for
$100.  When I quit laughing, I noticed that the counterman (who has been
at that dealer for 30-odd years) was looking kinda hurt and hang-dog,
and he told me that he thought it was insane too, especially since that
was a fairly often-needed part because the recall for fixing the track
bushings always put a heavy load on those friction clutches and they
tended to fail, but it was a corporate price and there was nothing he
could do.

Suffice it to say, I never darken the door of a dealer parts department
any longer unless I've struck out everywhere else. So maybe there has
been another huge price jump, but I wouldn't know or particularly care
anymore. But I'm hard-pressed to see how it could be any worse than it
was under Dumbler.

Those wondering what will happen to Chrysler might do well to study
the end times of Studebaker.

The only part I bought since the takeover was the little 4 inch rubber
hose on the fuel rail at left rear.  ( I don't know the correct part
name)  I know people have been using any old hose for repair, but I
wanted to use the correct hose, with a different ID at each end.
It had to be shipped in from the main CDN warehouse, it's cost was $7.
That's $1.75 per inch!  
My it really has improved the 3.3L engines running.  My hose had broken
down and was leaking.