Auto Parts Cost

Today, I just got a re-education in the cost of parts from my local NAPA store in El Cajon, CA. I needed some wheel bearings and grease seals, so off I went to my NAPA store. Let me describe their pricing on just one bearing, a 30206.

My receipt showed a list price of $33.49 each, and a net price of $22.77 each. Wow, bearings have gone up since I last bought some! After I got home, I decided to check the NAPA web site to see what other stuff was going to cost me. When I looked at:

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I found that they list the bearing for $13.99 each! Wow, I paid 63% higher at the local store. So I called the store about their pricing. I was told that the "owner" would call me back. Yeah, sure.

Another part of the order, a pair of seals, had to be ordered "from the national level." A week later, I went in to pick up the seals. Did I say that they also charged me $7.87 for "freight" for shipping the seals? That seems a bit high, just to move two little boxes along with their normal flow of parts. After all, they didn't ship it to me, just to their store.

Anyway, I asked the counter guys about the difference between the store and the web site cost. One of them had a nice fast comeback; he said "This isn't NAPA, this is County Auto Parts." I said that the 75-foot wide sign on the store front said NAPA, but yeah, I had seen the little 6-foot sign, down low at the corner, and that did say County Auto Parts. But still, should their pricing be a whopping +60% over the web site pricing? That got a good round of laughter from the counter guys.

Well guys, I was at the start of buying maybe $1500 of mechanical bits and pieces on a resto project. But with your pricing, I'd be paying $2400. Looks like you'll have a few less invoices to write. You guys still laughing?

Ed

Reply to
Ed Price
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Good for you Ed! You handled the situation perfectly. Thanx for sharing it with us.

Reply to
Loose Cannon

I've been checking with the dealer (both Dodge and Chevy) and finding that more and more often they are cheaper then aftermarket and have the parts in stock.

Reply to
Kevin

Napa can be expensive if you're paying the "walk-up consumer" price.. Set up an account.. Prices magically change.. Got a friend who is a mechanic?, ask him to order the part from Napa. He doesn't pay list. Also, asking for a discount at the store may also work.

All that aside, I trust Napas' stuff more than say AutoZones. My experiences have just been better with Napa as opposed to Kragen, Autozone, etc... YMMV

__________________ Note: To reply, replace the word 'spam' embedded in return address with 'mail'. N38.6 W121.4

Reply to
Barry S.

All reasonable suggestions. And I might yet set up an account, at a DIFFERENT NAPA store. What launched my recent rant about NAPA pricing, as much as the fact that I was paying the sucker price, was that the countermen thought it laughable that I would question their high mark-up.

Ed

Reply to
Ed Price

Whose markup?

I bet you bitch out cachiers at grocery stores when you believe "their" prices are too high as well.

Reply to
Stephen Bigelow

It may not be up to the clerk to ask so much as it is up to the person making the purchase to know the different levels of quality. IOWs, as long as you're competent to do the repair, you are competent enough to make the proper choices WRT parts selection.

There is also the situation where the individual store dare not piss off their everyday wholesale clientel. I've had a couple of instances where the local NAPA has sold parts to a civilian for the same price I pay. The reason this becomes an issue is the failure of the public in general to realize that a repair shop has to mark up the cost of parts in order to survive and (dirty word coming) make a 'profit' in business. When the civilians are privy to what the wholesale price is and starts comparing it to what they are charged retail, arguements ensue usually seasoned with words like "crook", "thief", "you're screwing me", etc. Few of them fail to realize that included in that mark up is the privelege (for the repair shop) to replace that part for free if and when it fails under warranty and the considerable time invested in procuring that part to begin with.

Reply to
Neil Nelson

Approximately 9/1/03 05:05, Stephen Bigelow uttered for posterity:

There is a profound difference between blaming an innocent clerk for markups...and staying away from any store where the clerk clearly thinks this is funny.

Reply to
Lon Stowell

SNIP

Oh, maybe by asking me?

Well, I'll grant that my answer was too glib; I live in a major urban area, with at least 20 stores within a 5-mile radius. NAPA, Pep Boys, Autozone, Kragen; so maybe I'm spoiled.

As for budgeting to cover error and failure, let me pass along the immortal words of a project manager, uttered during a period of sagging morale on an absolutely no-overtime effort; "If you managed your time better on Saturdays, you wouldn't have to work Sundays."

Ed

Reply to
Ed Price

The problem comes in two ways.

1) the mark up is generally much more than the regular retail mark up. 2) there is an additional line item for labor.

If the labor is being rolled into the part cost as well, one might as well go to a one line item system:

Replace starter: $509.22 *

Instead of

starter: $309.22 * labor: $200.00 *

  • (numbers were chosen at *RANDOM* as an example, all people who say the numbers aren't realistic or whatever will be ignored as idiots who can't figure out the actual numbers are not relevant to the point.)
Reply to
Brent P

Like those copies of soviet subs they have? (they sink, have all sorts of problems)

Reply to
Brent P

Approximately 9/1/03 14:45, Brent P uttered for posterity:

This would imply that their copies of russian submarines are highly accurate copies and very faithful to the original design, as no less than two known soviet nuke subs have done the sink thing...

Reply to
Lon Stowell

I think the problem is that the mark up usually doesn't adequately convey the line items which cause the mark up..

Imagine you got an invoice like this:

Starter Cost $80 Shop Profit $20 (Because shops that don't make a profit, don't make it)

Mechanics Labor $20 Workmans Comp (Impossible here in CA) $30 Mechanics Tool Fund (Yup, mechanics actually have to BUY their tools.) $15 Health Care for everyone in the shop $15 Facility Lease & Equipment (After all, lifts, air compressors, engine analyzers, and smog dynos don't cost very much..) $15 Hazardous Material (Usually broken down as a line item) $4 Utilities for the shop $10

NOTE: These numbers are for example only. They are not meant to be accurate.

I've kind of wondered if these items were broken down on an invoice what kind of response it would garner from the public.. (e.g. What do you mean $30 for workmans comp insurance!?) I think we might actually see some sort of changes in the way the system is administered.

__________________ Note: To reply, replace the word 'spam' embedded in return address with 'mail'. N38.6 W121.4

Reply to
Barry S.

Except that there are two state regulatory agencies that frown on such methods of book keeping/invoicing.

Reply to
Neil Nelson

I also say that you need to go to another NAPA. And check dealer pricing before buying. I agree that Autozone and Pep Boys sucks for most things but bearings and brake parts I'd make an exception for and buy at Pep Boys.

Reply to
Childfree Scott

So they would frown on rolling labor costs of fetching a part into the part cost and such, yes?

Reply to
Brent P

Normally, we have free access to a menu in a restaurant, so we know the prices up front...and, if we are hungry, a $3.00 hamburger will fill our guts as full as a $30.00 steak.

Your point is well taken, but does not apply across the board.

Very true. If we had the time and opportunity to be able to shop our parts, and be ready with everything we need before we start, then we would not be caught over a barrel.

Reply to
Larry Smith

Bitch all you want. Ensure it is to the correct persons, though.....and chances are, that person is NOT behind the counter.

Reply to
Stephen Bigelow

No since the labor as you describe it does not involve repairing the vehicle. i.e., R & R starter motor.

Reply to
Neil Nelson

Look back at your posts.

Reply to
Brent P

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