Not to many yanks know what HP sauce is. Or the luxury of the taste.

 

The mark up on parts is just part of the business. You are going to an indy because you don't want to pay the dealer. If you bring your own parts the indy takes the risk that the parts are correct ones. If they are not right they have spent vaulable time and space waiting to get the correct parts. If you know enough to be able to buy the correct parts then why not do it yourself? Performance enhancements need expertise that cost more than the dealer /hr cost and you have to pay to play. It's all a compromise, find the shop that you feel comfortable with and pay them a fair rate for their service. Find a good shop and help keep them in business! Too many are going under. Just my thoughts...

 

The shop has to make some money - come on guys. Most don't charge too much for labor per hour so they have to make it somewhere. plus when they buy and something breaks the supplier will usually just send them another one and it is no hassel getting it replaced and you all know even the best parts sometimes break.

 

Of course the shop has to make money. That's what shop rates are for.

My indie is completely relaxed about it. Sometimes I supply the part (especially if I want a specific after market part), sometime he gets the parts for me. Also haven't noticed any major mark up from Pelican parts.

You may want to shop around for a new mechanic.

 

So your saying repairing a Porsche is the same as buying a part for it? I don't usually argue on forums but really you think this?

In my business we give free parts and only charge for labor, the only variable is we charge per hour even if it only takes about 30 minutes sometimes.

If I decided to charge 3 times more then the actual price for the parts I think our customers would kill us well they really would just not use us.

I guess am just blown away that it is normal for you to pay 3-4 times as much, hundreds of dollars more because the mechanic forces you to do this.

Also, since when is $100 an hour not making enough money?

 

Not only is there the issue of warranty with other's parts, but paying your shop overhead includes money made off of the profit of parts sales, plain and simple. You can't pay your overhead with just labor. Most people don't understand how expensive it takes to keep a shop up and running with techs, incredibly expensive diagnostic equipment, tools, etc. You have to make money off parts.

The other issue I have with installing someone else's parts is dealing with that other vendor when trying to warranty the part. Ok, so we know the part has failed. Now I have to pull the part off, have the customer come get it, have him send it back to the vendor to inspect, then they will make a decision if the part failed or if they are going to blame it on installer error (sigh). This can take a couple of weeks to do, so now I have a dead car at the shop in the way for that 2 weeks. On the other hand, with my suppliers, a part fails, I warranty the labor and the part. I warranty return the part online with my vendor so the new part is sitting here before I ever take the old part off making it a quick in and out, then I return the defective part to my supplier where they accept it as defective no questions asked.

There is an accepted failure rate of new parts off the shelf, nothing is perfect, so you will run into these issues. Now with that being said, do I install parts the customer brings me? Sure, but likely I will add a little bit of labor to make up for the lost profit on the parts as well, and I'm not going to warranty my labor on those parts. Would I work with a customer if their parts fail on the labor, sure, but it isn't going to be free.

What it comes down to is, if you want to save money, order the parts and install them yourself, or shop around and take the lowest bid.

 

Then I would think you should charge more for your labor rates.

Taking huge mark ups on the back end, to make your labor fees seems lower is trickery.

I hate to say it but corporations are starting to take over and people do not mind, we will see Pep Boys among others similar to this becoming normal for all cars. It's sad, I always use small business when I can, but with tactics like this, oil change companies adding fake problems, and dealerships selling bad cars, there is not other options anymore.

Unless a company can be relatively transparent it will not last in the current market place.

Obviously do what you do, I am business owner for over 10 years I know if you are alive then you are doing something very right.

I guess this is all just new to me right now.

I should say, online the Bosch part was $80 at the shop they where trying to charge $500!

 

ok now $80 to $500 is way over the top..

most shops will mark up from 20-100% depending on cost.
20% normally high dollar stuff..

sure there is no confusion on what you want and what he is selling you?
even dealers don't rape people on parts like that.

 

Nope there is several parts and all where marked up over 400% oxygen sensor

air flow sensor $80 the shop wanted $478

50% mark up is nothing, and well worth having him getting the parts. Even a 100% if the part was guaranteed by the shop, meaning if it brakes they will replace it for a nominal fee or free.

fuel pump relay they charge $129 for online is $10 1,300% mark up lol

 

I would not be using that shop..thats just way beyond over the top

 

only downside of supplying your own parts is the Warranty. i dont expect the Parts i buy and have my shop put in to be Warrentied. I bought them im responsible for them... But then again i have not had any Warranty Issues on any parts i supplied in the past 5 years on my Car. I usually buy Used Parts 9 out of 10 times anyways...

 

What I missing here? This is a business and as such no on is forcing you to purchase from them. That is the beauty of the freedom of choice that we enjoy in the US. If you feel as though they are screwing you then DON'T USE THEM... The other item that I have not seen addressed is if the mechanic is using parts supplied through Porsche or if he is using OEM parts. Though they are the same part one carries with it the Porsche guarantee (and markup) and the other does not carry any guarantee. I personally use OEM on my car, but that does not make them genuine parts supplied from the manufacturer.

Seems as though this is a fairly cut and dry story. Don't think that going on a forum and saying that the markup is too much is going to change the mechanics mind. Might be time to search for someone new.

 

If it's not worth talking about, then why are you talking about not talking about it. lol

I am not using the shop obviously, I also had another shop say the same thing. This is why I had the question:

Is it normal for mechanics to not use parts you purchase yourself?

From asking this question on this forum I now know it's common but several mechanics will use parts that I get. There was a couple side topics about car shop conduct and business in general which I also found interesting.

I mentioned my parts are from Bosch and the shop's are OEM.

My dad gave me some good advice once that I will pass to you. If you do not have anything productive to add in a conversation then this a good opportunity to learn something.

I also would hope you prefer to spend time with a quality girl then a quality car. It's worth the extra money.

 

I think I've come around to the mechanics POV on this. If I can't do it myself either because of my limited skills or not having the right tools, I am going to get the parts through the mechanic. I will negotiate the price of the parts if compared to what I could source them for they seem to carry an unfair markup. He has a business to run and I want him to be there next time I need help.

I don't think his $100/hour covers costs very well.

 

You do realize that the manufacturers and the industry set the retail price of a part, correct? Mechanics buy from a wholesaler (or the dealer on a wholesale account), for X amount. The wholesaler or dealer tells the mechanic what the suggested retail is. In this market sometimes it is very high. Sometime you make $300 on a $500 part. Other times you make $20 on a $500 part. You take what you can get when you can get it. If the mechanic is charging more than retail, then fine you should have an issue with it and go elsewhere, but if he is somewhere between cost and retail, then what is the problem?


I am curious what business you own?