mangogrooveworkshop
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 posted on 1/2/05 at 09:56 PM |
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What we all know all to well
THE GREAT CAR PARTS RIP-OFF
Feb 1 2005
Dealers in 500% mark-up scandal
Ruki Sayed
CAR dealers are charging up to SIX TIMES more for spare parts than high street stores, a survey has revealed.
A wheel bearing for a Honda CRV cost £21.88 from a shop but was £135.13 in a franchised dealership - a mark-up of 517 per cent.
The same part for an Astra cost £25.26 in a store but 476 per cent more at £145.70 in a Vauxhall garage.
And researchers saved more than £395 on an air-conditioning compressor for a Mercedes E-Class bought over the counter.
Air conditioning for a Volkswagen Golf was £528.75 at a franchised dealer but only £169.42 in the high street.
And at £80.82, a shock absorber for a Toyota Previa cost almost five times more at an independent garage than from a car parts store.
The study compared the cost of parts on a selection of four-year-old cars from leading makers which were out of warranty.
According to the research by Warranty Direct, who sell warranties for older cars, accessory shops were the cheapest for most spare parts, with an
average saving of 65 per cent.
Spokesman Duncan McClure Fisher said: 'For anyone who has owned a car from new, this is the point when you really start paying for everything
that goes wrong.
'Our research shows it pays hugely to shop around.
'Some franchised dealers have started to recognise the need to slash prices on older vehicles in order to retain custom, so it's worth
trying to haggle with them.'
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk
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scoobyis2cool
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| posted on 1/2/05 at 10:00 PM |
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Surely if manufacturers made their spares the same price as you can get them at motorfactors etc, people would be queuing up to buy their cars because
they would be so much cheaper to maintain than the competition?
I suppose I'm being too idealistic - they just want to make more money, and they know they can do that by ripping off the unsuspecting public
Pete
It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care...
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andyps
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| posted on 1/2/05 at 11:00 PM |
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You should see the mark up compared to what they pay. The difference between price to the car manufacturer from the component supplier to the customer
can easily be a factor of 10 or higher - they generally buy at much lower prices than the spares shops would be able to buy, and even than the people
who buy the bits which end up in the spares shops buy at from the same sources as the car manufacturers. That is all down to volume of course.
The most extreme example I came across was the price Ferrari charged for wheel bearings - about £500 for a set, which when purchased from the right
source for other cars which used identical components would have been less than £10. But remember the volume that Fiat buy components in, and pass the
appropriate savings on to Ferrari.
Where I used to work we tried to charge Ford more for the parts they bought for replacement parts as opposed to production. Simple result, we stopped
getting orders for spares, but saw more for production.
We could reduce the amount of the mark up by paying more for the new cars so the manufacturers don't have to make their profit elsewhere of
course..............
Andy
An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 2/2/05 at 08:30 AM |
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I once had to replace a bearing on a motorbike - the local Suzuki agent didn't have them in stock, but told me that it would cost £20 or so.
Went to a local industrial bearing supplier who read the code off the old one, walked to his shelves and came back with an identical part (same part
number!) for around £3 - £4.
I'm currently in a similar situation with my Wife's Daewoo Matiz. The air conditioning pump is packing up, and they're quoting over
£800 to replace it. Allowing about 2 or 3 hours labour cost, plus safe venting and re-gassing (say £200 - £300 total) there's no way a little
hand-sized pump costs £500 - £600! Especially when I know comparable European-made pumps cost around £100. I am not impressed...
David
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mangogrooveworkshop
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| posted on 2/2/05 at 10:08 AM |
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The honda example of this is a carb kit for the quad. 14£ delivered from Cananda and 50 quid from Hondas agent locally who happens to be a freind. He
showed what they pay for it and he was only getting a fiver profit after all the discounts. He said they would get into trouble if they bought
elsewhere. Oh and the p&p would be five quid on top of that.......front bearings 45 quid each......ebay genuine from usa 10 quid inc p7p.
[Edited on 2-2-05 by mangogrooveworkshop]
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