I felt compelled to respond, and think it should also be posted up here, even though it will likely embarrass Ryan no end. :P
His general knowledge of the cars from 1 to 9 is pretty much unsurpassed in this country ... certainly aside from key Ralliart personnel (that most of us have ZERO access to) he's number 1..... that's the first thing. He's owned 4 Evos in my time knowing him, as well as my old GSR which was the start of our relationship. He lives, breathes and loves these cars.
You ring Ryan for advice and he's always got time to discuss what you're trying to do and offer his advice even if he doesn't get the sale.... I know that's rare.
He speaks without techno babble and doesn't try to confuse people to generate a sale. He can talk failrly technically if the situation needs it, and if something truly is over his head he knows who to speak to and can get the answers.
He's such a pedantic fuck that if something he is looking to sell isn't quite right quality-wise (like the front lips he had made up) he will keep sending it back until it is good enough to sell. Before he even sold one, he sent those lips back for fine tuning twice! In my opinion, for what he was selling them at they were fine. :| QC like that costs him money as he has to pony up the $$$ to get them made in the first place - it would be bloody easy to just say 'near enough is good enough' wouldn't it?
He carries almost everything he sells in stock, it's not a week/month ex-Japan like many other shops. You visit his house and it's just wall to wall Evo. :shock:
He offers a fitting service (often free of charge on smaller items) for most things he sells if you can get to the Gosford region.
He ships almost always the same day you order the item, and for many of the items located overseas the shipping is included in the cost.... there's sometimes more hidden above a quoted price from other suppliers than the actual price of the item.
He's an Australian registered business importing things legally and paying his duties .... unlike several other importers that I can name. :| Hence he maybe has to charge a little more than people such as greenline who (as far as I can tell) don't pay a dollar to the Australian Government. Sure, not a problem for most of us but where possible I buy off Ryan as I value having his expertise on call, and him in business providing it.
He's also careful he doesn't burn his suppliers by drastically undercutting their RRPs, and thus ensures that he's a rep for them longterm. This is a MAJOR advantage if he has to send a part back to a supplier due to a failure.... just ask dr_hairy about his WEAPON R inlet manifold failures and the effort Ryan went to with Weapon R to make sure the issue was fixed @ the manufacturing process.
If Ryan gives you an eta for a part that for whatever reason is out of stock, it's a date you can actually count on, not one plucked out of thin air.
The MSN contact list on his computer of both obscure Japanese suppliers as well as the major companies like HKS would literally run the length of my forearm.
Probably half of the contacts at the other end he knows personally. Thus if you want a part listed in HyperRev that's now out of production? He'll find it... somewhere. I really could go on (and reading that back, God I did didn't I?
), but his list of happy customers that (frankly) don't mind paying that bit more for Ryan to handle the stuffing around speaks well enough for me.