Quote:
Originally Posted by Xist
Charlie, do virtually all shops mark up parts? A mechanic told me that when I order directly I skip the store mark-up and the shop's mark-up also.
I also shop for the best price!
Then take ten times as long to fix it! 
Win!  |
That was in response to this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Charlie
The invoice from the body shop was stapled to the RO and one of the things I looked for was whether they had the right parts in the first place. They were, but then I saw what they had charged the insurance company: the rack was $175 over factory list price and the pump was $140 over. The body shop got the parts at a discount from the dealer... You can get to $10k without even trying.
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Why wouldn't they mark up parts? My paycheck, the computer and phone I use and the inventory I carry cost the store a lot of money. That's all got to be made up somehow or the store closes. Shops I sell to have to spend time looking parts up and maybe going to get them. They're also expected to back the parts they install. All that adds to their cost and it's got to be made up somehow- it's not a charity. But stores will sell to shops at a discount, so a decent shop shouldn't charge the customer more than list price and should still be making money from the part.
Buy parts off the internet, take them to a shop and pay to get them installed. At that point the shop isn't there to do the entire job of sending you off with a completed repair, you're just paying them for their tech's time. What you're skipping can bite you in the ass: Any problem with the job isn't theirs- a wrong part in the box, missing bit of hardware or anything else is on you and their clock is running, also on your dime. If you misdiagnosed the problem, you'll get parts replaced and not get the problem fixed, maybe with an additional problem to go with it. The labor op we use is
"Install Customer Supplied Parts" or
"Install Special Ordered Parts." The tech can't promise that the switch you ordered will fix your problem, because he didn't diagnose the problem. And at that point I don't care if you want to pay him for diag, you're also buying the parts you told me to order.
Bringing your own parts isn't evil at all, or even entirely disapproved of. If you have something oddball that we don't really want to be involved in, we love it. If there's something really specific you're trying to do and just aren't a wrench yourself, it's fine. If you don't need the car immediately and have some knowledge of what's going on, we're good. We understand and respect people who don't have money to throw around, we're just like that. Where you get hatred and evil thoughts is when you have the
I want a Mercedes and I'm only going to pay for a Yugo attitude. An even better attitude is
You guys are evil, and I outsmarted you by bringing my own parts! You do realize that I wouldn't trust my life to $20 brake pads and markup isn't the reason I won't sell them?
My favorite part is when people haggle:
$180? I can get it on the internet for $150.
Okay, do it.
Don't you want to be competitive?
The part's on the counter between us. I think I'm in a pretty competitive position.
I can get tires cheaper than that!
We make as much on a $200 tire as we do on an $80 tire. The more expensive tires cost us more.
$180? Can't you do any better?
Sure, $200. I can go higher if you want.
$150 for that? Downtown has it for $50.
You just told me you've replaced it twice this year and came here for better quality.
Yes, I've had all those conversations. I love my job.