Dealer Parts Dept. Rant
- Thread starter Delta
- Start date
I had my truck in for a heater core replacement. I had changed out the CAF a few days prior.
The service advisor calls me “we noticed your CAF is very dirty and should be replaced. Since we’re already in there doing the heater core we won’t charge you any labour to replace the CAF, just $50 for the filter.
I complimented them on being so kind as to not charge me labour but said I was surprised it would be so dirty as it was less than a week old…. They went quiet and then said they would have another look, maybe it wasn’t as bad as they thought…
Matrix pricing strikes again, I have some success and asking for MSRP prices.
My BMW dealer gives 10% off MSRP, so I use them if I'm in the area. A couple of online dealers can beat their pricing so I"m using them more and more- especially since I'm able to use my BMW MC rewards. Jeep just started offering a similar card, but I'd really like to see M-B offer one.
If I walk in to the local Chevy dealer and ask for parts at the parts counter they want ridiculous pricing for them. Go on their own website and order it for in store pickup and it's MSRP (so, like half of what they want in store). What a joke!
I had the local Kia parts guy actually tell me to order it on line from them and come back tomorrow since he didn't have it stock anyway. I did see him reading the volunteer fire dept stuff on my shirt prior.
It's a sad snowball IMO and goes for many places like AZ and AAP also by me like dealers. The more they charge, the less people go so they need to charge more to cover overhead etc. AZ wanted $40 for sway bar end link for my sons car, RockAuto was $22 shipped. Sometimes you need to pay the convenience fee but it hurts. At the same time if they were not there, many couldn't afford vehicle downtime so they need support to stay in business also.
