Was NAPA trying to rip me off?

[Sayjac]

Never heard of, nor been charged an "env fee" for purchase of any filter, in the States ever. As already noted by another Canada resident in second post, must be a north of the border deal in some areas. Some places that change oil here add a disposal/env fee, but should/would be known about up front.

Also not sure how it works up that way, but many/most of the stores here are independently owned/franchised, meaning some leeway on sales and pricing. Example, I get my Napa Golds for less than $4 now on a their NG 40% off semiannual sale. Not a national sale, but a local sale making NG a terrific value imo.

Guess only way to tell for sure if that specific Napa store was 'trying to rip you off' is to visit a few other stores to see if same deal applies there. But based on second comment, wouldn't appear so.

All that said, solution simple, don't like it, shop elsewhere and buy something else.

 

[NHGUY]

Most all of the 6000+ NAPA stores are independently owned and they can charge whatever they want.Obviously that one doesn't do much business or else has big debts they need to pay off....

 

[dlundblad]

Define normal filter though. Is it a rare or one of the popular sizes?

I know some of the WIX lawn tractor filters are $12-14 at Oreillys.

 

[cashmoney]

Only buy from NAPA when they have items like filters on deep sales discount. Their normal "retail" prices are way too high.

 

[eljefino]

Maine charged a $1 surcharge on garage-performed oil changes for a few years. My guy kept hash marks on his bulletin board to keep track. I bet he'd have rather had his parts guy adding the fee on. The fee went to cleaning up some vaguely described environmental cluster up north, and expired when the job finished, a rarity at any level of government.

 

[JC1]

Try a Carquest or like you said buy an ultra. Once my stash of current filters is done I'll be switching to Ultras for my 97 civic.

 

[BlueSmoke16]

I like and shop at NAPA.

The crew in the Anoka, MN store is sharp.

In my area they have many promotions / coupons.

Most recently $10 off a $20 or greater purchase. A jug of NAPA oil and a filter will get you there.

Also have a bucket sale going on now.

Best Regards,

Scott

 

[dishdude]

NAPA caters to shops, they don't want to deal with DIYers. Walk in traffic pays retail, and they discount items heavily for shops.

 

[AuthorEditor]

The thing I don't like about our local NAPA is they have almost nothing on the floor you can choose yourself except for some dusty shelves of oddball stuff nobody ever buys. For anything normal you have to ask someone at the counter, and it usually takes two or three tries before they bring out the right thing, then they have to run all that paperwork. It makes shopping too hard and slow. I like AAP and Walmart because I can just run in, grab what I want, and boom I'm back out the door. Plus, I agree that NAPA regular prices are not the best. I usually end up going there only when they have some part that I can't get elsewhere. On the other hand, there is a tiny NAPA in a small rural town about 10 miles from here that I occasionally passed on my motorcycle. On a whim I stopped in there one day and the people were so helpful and friendly, and obviously knew their stuff, so I special ordered some oddball fuel filters and things I needed and they charged a fair price. So I guess you have to judge them on your local store.

 

[Kira]

All of that jibes with my experiences.

Friendly, helpful-if-they-know-you (it seems), 80% shop orders-15% retail-5% blank stares.

Not trying to be funny. Truly is a store-to-store variation with all these stores really. Kira

 

[AuthorEditor]

I was spoiled growing up because we had a real auto parts store right downtown where you spoke to folks who really knew their stuff, and they had a complete machine shop out back where you could get things done almost while you waited. It survived into the 1980s I believe, but has now been replaced by chic restaurants and bars.

 

[Danno]

Originally Posted By: Rolla07

Never heard of env fees on filters but it dont surprise me.

It's an Ontario Gov't thing.
Either Ontario cares more about the environment, shown by charging the fee, or they use it as a tax revenue enhancement.
You decide ....

 

[skyactiv]

Napa company owned stores pays their parts counter employees better than the bottom feeders like AutoZone and Advance Auto.

 

[Sayjac]

Napa has some decent monthly sales items in the circulars. Every once and a while they'll have a solid sale on Napa brand Synthetic oil or Napa brand conventional oil.

 

[AuthorEditor]

Quote:
Napa company owned stores pays their parts counter employees better than the bottom feeders like AutoZone and Advance Auto.

Maybe so, but our local AAP has friendlier and generally helpful people. There are a couple I recognize, and an older woman who I believe is the manager is really good if you need something looked up. One thing I really like about AAP is the ability to order things online, often utilizing sales and rebates, and then picking it up at the store. NAPA does that too, but not with the deals and the easy to use website.

 

[exranger06]

Originally Posted By: Stewie
So I went to check the prices of Napa filters and found that Golds were $16 + env fee (dafak?) + taxes.

$16 for a normal filter is ridiculous and I've never been charged environment fee for a filter before.

I could have bought an ultra and a few pops with that.


Which part number filter? It's hard to say if they were ripping you off if we don't know what the filter is for. It's not like every part number is the exact same price.

As for the environmental fee, I've never heard of it for oil filters. But it's probably a regional thing. If Napa charges for it, then the other stores in the area must charge for it too. So if Napa is the only one charging for it, it's a ripoff. If everyone else does it too, it's not.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Stewie
So I went to check the prices of Napa filters and found that Golds were $16 + env fee (dafak?) + taxes.

Yes, that price is high, and follow sir1900's advice on where to buy. The environmental fee has been in this province for a long time. I can't speak for your neck of the woods, though. As for CT, I've never bought an oil filter there, so I don't know how they itemize things on their receipts.

 

[dave1251]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
NAPA Gold over here is $6.30


For my RAM a Napa gold was 5.89 out the door with a military discount normal price.

 

[Stewie]

Originally Posted By: exranger06
Originally Posted By: Stewie
So I went to check the prices of Napa filters and found that Golds were $16 + env fee (dafak?) + taxes.

$16 for a normal filter is ridiculous and I've never been charged environment fee for a filter before.

I could have bought an ultra and a few pops with that.


Which part number filter? It's hard to say if they were ripping you off if we don't know what the filter is for. It's not like every part number is the exact same price.

As for the environmental fee, I've never heard of it for oil filters. But it's probably a regional thing. If Napa charges for it, then the other stores in the area must charge for it too. So if Napa is the only one charging for it, it's a ripoff. If everyone else does it too, it's not.


7002 Napa Gold.

Fram ultra xg6607 $11.99

 

[AuthorEditor]

Just for kicks, check a few other NAPA stores and see what they say. But, my bottom line is I purchase filters at Walmart (Fram Ultra less than $8 for many numbers) unless I happen to get them with an oil-change special at AAP. NAPA is for parts I can't find elsewhere since they are usually high priced and also less convenient.