Strange enough I emailed the Nissan dealer that I bought my wife’s car from but have never used for anything more than a warranty issue and only once. They will install customer supplied parts. At $235 an hour they’d be crazy not to. At least I could purchase an oem part online and have it replaced where they have the software if need be.
Refused service for bringing my own (OEM) parts
- Thread starter Whammo
- Start date
Bad example. The sit down restaurant is selling an experience. With a waiter to attend to your every need. With real estate in a prime location.
Auto repair is more like McDonald’s. They pour a 50 cent soda in a glass and charge $1 to $2 dependent on location. If auto repair charged that mark up on labor and parts they would be 1/4 there current cost.
I’d guess that 90% of the public dislikes repair shops and there’s a reason for it. I’ve listed a couple of totally justified examples. What’s sad, is the techs generally aren’t the bad guys. More so ownership fleecing every last cent they can suck from a repair. If you find a shop that marks up parts 20% and repairs what only needs fixed, hang onto them for dear life. They are out there.
At the end of the day, it is a math problem for the shop to solve on how they make their profit. You are projecting an ethical dilemma that is not there and would probably let slide anyways if you were in a jam to get a vehicle repaired in a time crunch.
Few places allow you to bring your own parts, and the ones that do are normally very slow.
They make money off parts, plus provide some warranty, but yeah even if they say they can get oem parts, they lie , and will use what ever their normal channel is.
But any good reputable shop , will not install your parts in todays world.
They make money off parts, plus provide some warranty, but yeah even if they say they can get oem parts, they lie , and will use what ever their normal channel is.
But any good reputable shop , will not install your parts in todays world.
CleanSump
Site Donor 2026
So how does the shop cover the cost of ordering parts? Someone has to look them up, someone has to order them, someone has to receive them and notify the mechanic they're in. Someone has to do the bookkeeping and pay the parts store.
If I cover these costs by markup people get mad and call me unethical.
If I add it to labor, people get mad and call me unethical.
Guess they should just make the labor free too while we're at it.
If I cover these costs by markup people get mad and call me unethical.
If I add it to labor, people get mad and call me unethical.
Guess they should just make the labor free too while we're at it.
GON
$175 Site Donor 2026
There is a residential repair contractor that does mentoring on social media. His guidance is to bid all jobs at a flat fee, and never ever breakdown parts and labor.
I don't like that method as it leaves open the risk of a lot of disputes on the he scope of work, unknown the quality of parts, unknown what parts are replaced, etc.
But your post indirectly affirms one of the reasons he bids jobs the way he does.
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