I have no idea what you are selling parts for, but selling a part that costs $50 for $250 fits my definition of price gouging, especially given that I can buy that same part for $50.
I don’t know that they are right or wrong, but based on the responses given, it is clear to me that the answer to my question is: Yes, they do not install customer supplied parts because with a customer supplied part they can not mark up the price of the part and make money on the cost of the part.
If that is the answer you have gotten based on reading this thread, you have missed a lot. Perhaps you should have someone else read it to you.
If you can buy the part for $50, the guy who charges $250 isn’t gouging. It must be nice not to be hampered by things like “facts.”
Whitey, stop it. Your making me hungry!
I look at it this way. If the garage has the part on hand, its money is tied up in the inventory and the garage has to sell the part for more than its initial cost. If the garage had the money in a bank instead of inventory, the money would draw interest. If the garage doesn’t have the part, time is spent running down the part and the garage should be compensated for the time involved.
On old cars that I have owned where it may be difficult to obtain the part, the garage has told me that they would install the part if I could get one. With one garage where I had a good working relation, the garage would call the parts supplier and I would go get the part. I would then get the part at cost.
A new car dealer has three divisions (four if it has a body shop): 1) sales; 2) service; and 3) parts. Each part of the dealership has a manager that is expected to turn a profit. I think of an independent garage as having to be concerned with both service and parts. It’s only right, in my opinion, for the independent to turn a profit on both parts and service.
aaaaaa, your original post said nothing about three times markup so I assume you made that up, with that said three times is not bad depending on the part. Keep in mind that a markup does not mean multiplying the cost a certain number of times. Example, if a part cost $100 and the part is priced 3 times like you stated it does not mean the price you will be charged is $300. It does not work like that.
Markup is typically a percentage and it varies.
I do not believe you will understand this because I do not think I am articulating my words properly. THAT’S NOT AN INSULT. I do believe Whitey did a very good job of explaining it.
Please keep in mind that you cannot determine what is greedy or excessive since you cannot know what the shop paid for the part. It sounds as if you simply thought the part was to expensive so you chose to buy your own part and that’s okay but it is a bit unfair to accuse the shop of overcharging.
l; told the car owner up front the labor was guaranteed but no guarantee on the transmission. The guy agreed to this, no problem.
Apparently this transmission had developed an internal fault and the car owner (mullet-headed thug with a Firebird) came down to the dealer service dept. and jumped my friend about it.
Very good ok. This was my point earlier in this thread.
Well I normally wouldn’t supply my own part but for those that don’t like dealers. . . I bought a GM water pump for my Aurora (takes a special tool etc. to get it out) from Rockauto on line. I tried and tried and could not get the old one out. I took it to the GM dealer to have it done. They put my pump in but found it leaked, so took that out and put another GM pump in for no extra labor charge. I did pay a little more for the pump from the dealer but they had a right to charge a couple hundred more in labor for the switch but didn’t. I prefer to deal with reasonable people so look around.
“There are none so blind as those who will not see.”
Aaaaaa, actually the complete answer is:
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They are in business to make money.
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Sometimes customers buy the wrong parts.
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Sometimes customers buy inferior parts.
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The problem may have been misdiagnosed, and installing the part would not solve the customer’s problem.
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The customers who want you to install their parts are usually a pain in the a## and end up costing the business money instead of making it. Your refusal to accept the answers you have been given clearly indicates you are one of these pain in the a## customers.
I don’t understand your point. Whitey indicates that for a part that costs $50 he would charge $250, You indicate one cannot determine if that is greedy or excessive because one doesn’t know what Whitey paid for the part, even though Whitey says the part costs $50.
I never said that the shop does not have “the prerogative to refuse to install” a customer supplied part. What I did indicate is that your restaurant analogy is bogus. A restaurant refusing to cook a food item supplied by a customer is in no way analogous to a shop refusing to install customer supplied parts, considering the numerous and significant differences between the two businesses. Among the differences that negate the analogy include:auto repair shops charge separately for parts and labor, while restaurants do not: the main business of restaurants is making and selling perishable products, while the main business of auto repair shops is repairing autos.
If you bring low quality parts to a mechanic, and he installs them properly, but they don’t fix your problems, who will you blame? You will blame the mechanic, even though it wasn’t his fault. Will you still pay him for the service? Probably not.
If you bring low quality food to a restaurant, and the cook prepares it properly, but you don’t like the way it tastes, who will you blame? You will blame the cook, even though it wasn’t his fault. Will you still pay him for the service? Probably not.
If you bring malfunctioning parts to a mechanic, and he installs them properly, but they don’t work, who will you blame? You will blame the mechanic, even though it wasn’t his fault. Will you still pay him for the service? Probably not.
If you bring spoiled food to a restaurant, and the cook prepares it properly, and it makes you sick, who will you blame? You will blame the cook, even though it wasn’t his fault. Will you still pay him for the service? Probably not.
If you bring the wrong parts to a mechanic, and he installs them properly, but they don’t fix your problems, who will you blame? You will blame the mechanic, even though it wasn’t his fault. Will you still pay him for the service? Probably not.
If you bring the wrong ingredients to a restaurant, and the cook prepares them properly, but you don’t like the way the food tastes, who will you blame? You will blame the cook, even though it wasn’t his fault. Will you still pay him for the service? Probably not.
Whether we are talking about a restaurant or an automotive shop, if either industry tried to do business this way, they would quickly go out of business. The workers might be unemployed, but at least they would have made one customer happy. Oh, wait! No they wouldn’t. You would have left quite unsatisfied. In fact, you would be more unsatisfied than if they had refused to do the work in the first place. Thank goodness they have the good sense to turn you away, so they can continue serving the civilized members of society who want them to stay in business.
That isn’t what I said. I said that prices are determined by market conditions, not the seller. I would charge the price where the supply curve intersects the demand curve (the equilibrium price). That is how things work in the real world in a free market. If you charge less than the “equilibrium price,” you will have shortages. If you charge more than the “equilibrium price,” you will have overages. Both shortages and overages are undesirable.
I am beginning to realize your problem is related to poor reading comprehension and a lack of a basic understanding of how the economy works.
I also said that paying $50 for a part doesn’t mean that is the whole cost. That $50 doesn’t include overhead and labor costs for the act of ordering and receiving the part, and it doesn’t include the cost of preparation necessary before ordering the part. I would have to establish a relationship with a part supplier through a bid process, organize the office with catalogs, and eventually, I would need to process the parts supplier’s invoices for payment. All those things cost a business money.
Sorry meaneyedcatz, I couldn’t resist. I appear to be in a battle of wits with someone who is unarmed.
I just love your “high maintenance” customer reason for not installing customer supplied parts. “High maintenance” customers are difficult and “can cost more than they are worth,” and customers who want you to install parts they supply tend to be “high maintenance.” Therefore you keep out “high maintenance” customers by not installing customer supplied parts. Apparently, however, you are not keeping out all of them, I guess because some of them fooled you initially by not bringing in any of their own parts. I suggest that you make a large sign that can be seen by all prospective customers, stating “High maintenance customers stay away. Go somewhere else.” And if you have any ads make sure you include in the ad that you do not want high maintenance customers. Also of course make sure you tell all of your “high maintenance” customers to never come back. Doing these things I predict you will have few if any of those terrible “high maintenance” customers, and you can spend some time at the beach or even more time on Car Talk.
As a matter of fact, many businesses have figured out that their “high maintenance” customers cost them a lot of money, and they are terminating the relationships. Sprint did this a couple years ago. They determined which customers spent the most time on the phone with their support personnel and they canceled their contracts. Now other businesses are catching on and doing the same thing, which, when done right, increases their profits. High end retailers are identifying the customers who return the most items after they purchase them, and they are asking them not to come back. Why waste an hour on one crazy person when you can spend that same hour helping several good customers? Unreasonable customers can cost a lot of money and can put a big dent in profits. Also, stopping “high maintenance” customers from monopolizing your time lets you give better service to good customers, which attracts more customers.
Don’t be jealous that my job leaves me with a lot of free time. It isn’t because I am not good at customer service. After all, I just landed a promotion, so I might have less free time in a couple weeks.
This reminds me of my bartending days when I was a young man. Aaaaaa, if you were one of my customers, I would say “Don’t leave angry. Just leave.” or “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”
Way back when I worked for a shop we wouldn?t do it for the following reasons,
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If the part is faulty most people expected us pull out the faulty part and replace it again with another part they found at no charge.
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If the part was faulty people expected us to replace the part at our expense because the part was fine, and we did something.
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If the problem wasn?t related to the replacement part, we were expected to take the ?new? part out and put the old part in at no cost.
So there was no ?up? side for us and lots of downsides so we wouldn?t do it.
My opinions are subject to change with new facts.
So if your customer bought a half-shaft and it failed for ANY reason except installation error they won’t complain when you charged them to install it again? Most people would, I’ve been on the receiving end of that too many times.
One of the reasons you mark up the parts is to cover the expense of bad parts, yea you can take the part back and get a different one, but who covers the cost of the labor? It’s not the customer, its the installer.