Is this true that garages buy parts at trade prices and pass savings onto the customer when doing a job? Or more likely they buy at trade, charge retail and pocket the extra?
So if I buy the parts myself and get a garage to fit them, it will cost more than if I had let the garage get the parts? Its just that I can shop about ringing different places up and get the best price and know of the quality of the product eg brake pads and discs etc Whereas different garages might quote lower prices but they might be using bargain basement parts. Also the garages charging cheap labour rates probably are used to customers wanting the lowest bills rather than quality parts.
Most garages will use the cheapest parts they think thay can get away with, and mark them up to the highest price they think thay can get away with and then charge you the highest number of labour hours thay think they can get away with, its called running a business.
The garage might well adjust the prices of parts or labour to give themselves the same profit at the end of the day.
If you supply the parts, the only thing warranted on the job would be the labour. So if something went wrong, you'd have two different companies to sort things out with.
For things like brakes, get an overall quote from both independents and fast fit places - or to save the most, DIY.
You jest surely. Most garages buy pattern parts at prices you wouldn't believe and charge the full OE manufacturer retail price. Some OEs are not too dear for most parts. Ford are generally not that unreasonable for example. But Vauxhall routinely charge £30 or more for inlet and exhaust valves which cost them £1 to have made and which you can buy for under a fiver from other manufacturers like TRW and AE. Take an Astra or Nova with a broken cambelt and bent valves to a garage for repair and they'll probably make over £20 on each of the valves they charge you for supplying. If they're honest enough to just add a mark up to what they actually pay then I'd say they're in the minority.
There's more money in parts than there is labour to be honest. I'm gradually moving towards stopping flogging myself grinding race cylinder heads and breathing in dust and crap all day and selling quality parts at reasonable prices instead of rip off prices. It's an easier way to make a living. I already make a fair chunk of my income from selling my own special valves and standard engine parts - gaskets, pistons bearings etc. I buy at engine reconditioner price which is normally about half retail and I can still offer a good discount under retail and make a decent profit.
The average OE dealer price for a car part is between 7 and 10 times what it cost to have made. Sometimes much more.
Valves I've already covered. In the quantities that major car manufacturers have things made things don't cost them much at all.
Engine valve - cost £1 - retail £10 to £35 Camshaft - cost £10 to £15 - retail £120 to several hundred pounds Piston - cost £5 - retail £40 to £200
Most people have no idea how much money is being made by the OEs on parts.
Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines
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I'm not at all sure why women like men. We're argumentative, childish, unsociable and extremely unappealing naked. I'm quite grateful they do though.
They generally buy at trade price and sell at retail.
The problem with buying parts and having them fitted is warranty. For example, if you buy an oxygen sensor for a mechanic to fit and it fails after 6 months, you'll have to get it exchanged yourself and pay the mechanic to change it, whereas if the mechanic had supplied and fitted, he'd get it swapped and changed for free under warranty. Customers that come to us to buy parts and then ask for the name of a good mechanic get told to speak to the guy we recommend and get him to supply. The guy we recommend may well buy some parts elsewhere and we'd make less selling to him than to the owner anyway, but the customer is better off this way. Also, reputable mechanics and garages (yes, there are a few!) won't supply/fit 'bargain basement' parts because they don't want to be doing the job again later for free.
I once had a customer ask for a long list of parts then at the end say "Can you give me discount off that? I'm in the trade, I have a trade card in the van if you want me to get it." Since giving him trade meant I had to work out all the prices again for another invoice, I asked him to get it while I did his invoice. When he came back he showed me a B&Q Trade Club card. He was a bloody builder. If we were a stitch up joint like Halfords I wouldn't have given a s*1t but since we aren't and don't (eg Super Resin Polish 1Ltr @ £11.90) I charged him the original amount.
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