Big O Tires Overpricing car parts conifer, Colorado

You Too!

  I read you're report.    You're still a mindless troll.

  Have a nice day!

READ my report.

Good Day!

"An HONEST operation will let you bring in a part from ANYWHERE,"

  Why do I get  a mind picture of Rik showing up at a restaurant, pulling a raw hamburger patty out of his pocket and telling the waiter to that he'd like it back well done.  No doubt the chef's time will be one or two dollars.

   Get real.   It is obvious that you have never been in the repair business.   The shops that allow you to bring in outside parts are the ones that cannot get your business any other way.  Think of them as the whores of the industry.    In the real world, it takes a profit on parts and labor to keep a well equipped shop in business.

There are many factors here in parts pricing that people are not seeing.



The main thing is the variance in the quality of parts.

Like stated earlier, you must compare apples to apples.



They also have to put a cushion on the price quote of the part to cover them in the event of non availability of the lower priced part. What if they quoted you the $99 Carquest part price, and then could not get that part? By law they would have to honor that quote even if the part then cost them $300.



Parts availabilty is a big part of part price quotes.



Most shops inflate parts prices to cover their cost in providing a warranty on the whole job to the customer.



Shops have extremely high overhead. Labor alone does not make the shop enough money.



And, it costs money to handle parts. Pickup, delivery, return, stocking, etc. No all parts houses deliver. Sometime you may have to send an employee to go get that part. Does that employee work for free?



Very few shops will install customer provided parts.



Many national / franchise shops have authorized outlets for parts that they must use.

This may explain the $305.09 price quote.



Also, as previously stated, you could get that $99 part and fix the vehicle yourself.

If these guys wanna make money on parts AND labor then they should just start stocking parts. It's a joke when these places just get the part from a local parts store, or worse, used from a local junkyard, and then try to rape you on the price of that too.

Ive heard it said that its like taking some eggs to a restaurant and asking them to fry them for you, but the difference is the restaurant already has the eggs to begin with.

Plus, when you have these guys install a part from the local autostore and then it fails, chances are theyre not gonna honor the warranty that you would have had if you had purchased from the store yourself.

Now if these places want to give you a "quality part"(dealership, etc.) and then give you a warranty on the part AND the labor thats more reasonable.  

An HONEST operation will let you bring in a part from ANYWHERE, but they will tell you very clearly up front that they cant warrant someone elses part, and that is FINE.  Now you just gotta be sure they dont damage the part or install in incorrectly for spite.

I wouldnt have even though of trying this but Ive even known dealership service departments that will allow you to bring in your own stuff to make the raping a little less hurtful.  But again, dont expect any warranty on the part.

There is no way to determine rip-off because you're comparing the price of a part should you want to fix the car yourself against the pricing the mechanic or dealer offers.  Your analysis is therefore...flawed.  The only way you can truly compare apples-to-apples is to take your car to another mechanic and see what that mechanic would charge you for the same exact part.  Then you can determine rip-off.

From the pricing you were given, the price of an additional layer or middleman looks to be in that dollar amount.  I would take to another mechanic and see what the pricing is, IF this mechanic can get a hold of the part.  Until then, I would toss any analysis that involves carquest, unless YOU PERSONALLY plan to repair the car.

   All repair shops mark up prices on parts.  It's how they make a living.   When you go to a restaurant and pay $15 for a steak that cost the restaurant $5, do you make a big stink about it?    Expecting a shop to charge you the Car Quest price for parts is very naive.

  You have the opton of buying the part at Car Quest for $100 and installing it yourself, so what's the ripoff?