I can’t buy roofing shingle bundles a roofing contractor can buy them for. Not even close. They usually have contracts directly with the manufacturer.
So what? That’s not what I asked.
A lot of places have insurance for that.
A shop for everyone-
We offer the following service tiers:
First Class
We pick up your car, provide a loaner and drop it back off when complete
We warranty both our parts and service for 90 days, if something goes wrong, we fix it free
If you visit our shop, free access to the captain’s flight lounge with snacks, hot/cold drinks and wifi provided.
Business Class
We warranty both our parts and service for 90 days, if something goes wrong, we fix it free
Free access to the captain’s flight lounge with snacks, drinks and wifi provided.
Coach
We warranty both our parts and service for 90 days, if something goes wrong, we fix it free
Steerage
You supply your own parts.
You get no warranty period.
If your car is tied up on our rack due to supplying incorrect or defective parts, you will be charged $100 per hour.
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A shop could sell parts to the customer at exactly what it cost the shop but that 100 dollar an hour door rate would probably go up to 150.
A couple of examples. A Subaru part cost the dealer 68 and retailed over the counter for 95.
The same part from NAPA was 65. Customer complains because the dealer can’t match NAPA.
Customer goes justifiably ballistic over a 5 grand charge for a brand new auto transmission for his Subaru. It failed due to internal seal leakage which emptied the front differential and split the case. The guy was one month out of warranty on a 30k miles car and there’s no way in hxxx that Subaru should not have taken care of this guy.
He was irate over the 5 grand but the dealer cost on that unit was 4 grand so percentage wise he wasn’t getting hosed.
I spent 15 minutes on the phone with regional arguing the case for this guy. A firm no. Period.
He paid it but Subaru lost a loyal (he owned 3 others previously) Subaru owner for life.
But not a salty ocean breeze which will do a number on your vehicle . . .
there’s pros and cons to everything, it would
That sounds like korean bbq . . . which seems to be very popular here in Los Angeles
But I have the same opinion as you
Either I do my own steaks in my backyard
Or I got to a decent steak house and let them take care of everything
No in-between, thank you very much
I’m not sure it’s justifiable that he went ballistic . . . because a brand new automatic transmission/transaxle from the dealer is very expensive. And the price you mentioned doesn’t sound out of line
The thing about the guy with the failed auto trans in his Subaru is that he had done religious maintenance on it at our dealership and always kept it garaged. He was one month out of warranty.
At the same time this happened another guy came in with an out of warranty Subaru with 85k miles on it. The miles were all in the mud and muck of the oil fields. He had trashed the manual transmission and had never done any maintenance on the car. Not only that, but he was standing at the service counter laughing and bragging about no maintenance and how he tore the transmission up. I told him warranty does not cover commercial use or abuse. The laughing stopped and he then threatened me. I told him he better settle down or else. He left mad. Like I care.
What did Subaru do? They covered this guy completely. I also spent 15 minutes on the phone with regional telling them just how flogged to death this thing was and the owner bragging about trashing it. Made no difference.Whatever it takes they said but they tell the auto trans guy to get bent when he called regional.
Seems kind of skewed to me.
I’d prefer that parts cost at a similar cost to retail and the higher hourly rate, like I stated in the past. Just my preference.
That way when you get an expensive part (like the Toyota cat) you don’t look at the price of the part and feel like you’re getting taken.
The labor cost per hour is what it is, as far as I’m concerned. If I’ve got a repair I can’t make, I want the best and most trusted shop I can find and would never cross shop labor rates. Of course I’m sure a lot of people don’t think this way and just want the cheapest overall repair they can find.
Yes. I will pay a fair price for expertise for something beyond my capabilities. I will not pay more than retail for parts. If I need Plumbing, Electric, IT, or appliance repair I will gladly pay a fair price. For automotive my training and experience is limited to about 1980.
I was merely talking about the price of the transmission . . . nothing else
That transmission price was model year 1989. Factor in inflation and 10 grand today more than likely.
The terms mark up and profit margin, etc can be confusing and often that is the intention of the person using such terms. But when an item wholesales for $600 and retails for $900 the profit margin is 33%. And for years my standard profit margin was 28% when I marked up the cost 40%. When you compare the total sales price to the wholesale cost the change in the fraction appears less.
An old customer owned a pizza shop and his cost of goods was about 20% of sales and a sloppy person in the kitchen could give away a days profit not paying attention to details he said. Every $2 in ingredients wasted was added to the $10 sale that would be lost.
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I am just going to add that it happens that a shop such as yours will install a part that will prove defective at some point even if you source it yourself. I appreciate a shop making money on parts but it pisses me off when they quote me a price higher than Napa will charge me as a consumer. Of course, Napa is delivering to them, providing an account with terms, and provides them a discount. The garage requires this service to provide timely repairs and not be forced to stock a huge inventory. Their business is providing repairs not selling parts. So in my books refusing work because you are not profiting from part sales is a bit much. Now, of course, I do most of my own work and like determining the quality of part I will use, but if I decide I do not have the time or possibly the necessary tool I do not see why you should refuse the work if I am flexible as to booking time and willing to waive warranty. Especially when I will be willing to let you provide the part I specify for something like a pressed in bearing, where installation errors are as likely as a defective part, labor is involved and I want a warranty on the work for a couple of years.
But don’t you ask yourself why Rockauto can charge so much less, not to mention that Amazon is also getting into providing more auto parts and other sites. The internet has made it much easier to find parts, and its especially great for someone who drives an older and rarer model vehicle. Its great that you want to aim for a certain level of profitability, but if you go to high you can end up losing sales volume and revenue. In this case it seems to me that you lost a number of hours of labor sales , and a client who actively seeks to maintain his vehicle. I would think you will see more of this in the future, and that maybe you should consider a policy that allows you to accommodate such clients.
Michael , it is really simple why online sellers can have lower prices . And any shop that will agree to customer furnished parts is just asking for problems .
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Well your example was fairly limited. I would not be able to justify maintaining my 2006 Nissan X Trail the way I have if I had had to pay Nissan or even NAPA prices for parts. In addition to tires and brakes, there would have been way to many $1000+ repair bills. For example two front control arms 430 each plus sales tax, vs 300 including tax and delivery. Replacing all the strut components 900 + tax per axle, vs $330 delivered for KYB components per axle.I have a couple of places that will install parts for me. The proviso is they will do professional work but will not warranty the parts or labor. I accept that risk, and pay book time for their shop rate of $90/h. In my mind this is planned maintenance work on my end that I am looking to get done for the best price I can. There is no diagnosis required or parts to be looked up and ordered by the garage, and they can start the job whenever they wish as there is no waiting for the parts. I find this is quite different than if I have a breakdown and need diagnosis and a repair to get me back the road again asap. In those instances I am happy to pay for the convenience. Anyway, I have a friendly relationship with a couple of places. Maybe its because I have dropped off donuts sometimes after good service.
Nope. I understand completely why Rockauto charges so much less for their parts. It just happens to be irrelevant to me.
5.5 hours of labor sales, plus an alignment, to be exact. What I gained in place of that was the opportunity for 5.5 hours of labor sales that came along with parts sales at 40% margin, plus an alignment. Not hard to make that decision, is it?
Losing a client who asks a shop to work for 30% less than they would normally earn? Not much of a loss.
Nah, there are plenty of other shops that are willing to do business with these folks. The place I work just isn’t one of them. We don’t install customer’s parts, we don’t do free diagnostics of any kind, we charge for brake inspections and check engine light scans, our rates are among the highest in town, and we’re still busy every day. We must be doing something right.
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WRONG
An auto repair shop’s business is providing repairs AND selling parts
In other words . . . they’re providing a service
And service consists of repairs AND parts
And let’s not forget advice, knowledge, and so forth
But as YOU said . . . you can always choose to do the work yourself
Well obviously you can decide upon your own policies and the work you are willing to take on. As a consumer, I clearly would have my reasons for taking my business elsewhere. It’s my car and therefore my decision. And just to avoid the BS, I probably would do the work myself, and know its been properly done with quality parts that I have selected. I love how you feel you should get a 40% further markup on retail prices, regardless if the part costs $600 or $20. And I guess you routinely refuse smaller less expensive cars and push them to the end of the line in to service expensive vehicles where your 40% can become some interesting profit.
Autoparts stores sell parts, repair facilities sell repairs. If I am bringing parts, I am not asking for a diagnostic, I am not tying up a bay while the parts get delivered, I am saying I am willing to come at a time of mutual convenience on a slower day. I do not see why I should pay for full deluxe service when that is not what I am buying or getting. I understand your position and points, but I chose to disagree.
I bet you’re fun with waiters. “What do you mean I should still tip 20%? This steak was $100, not $10!”
Because the mechanic knows that chances are exceedingly good that if the part you brought him is defective, you’re gonna be in his face tomorrow demanding a free re-do.
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