Prices for replacement parts

Toyota (and all the body shops I visited) wanted $256, plus 7%, for a replacement headlight assembly for my 2003 Camry. I called junk yards and was thrilled to find a new one for $125, plus 7%.

When I finally came to my senses and searched the internet for it, I found a company

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offering an aftermarket assembly for as low as $79, with no sales tax or shipping.

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offers it for about $90, but charges $11.95 for shipping and $6.95 for handling. Don't you hate those companies that lowball on a price and gouge on S&H, even though the $107.85 total is still a good price?

I'm not spamming when I mention the above companies. All I'm trying to do is save you money over Toyota's sky-high prices.

Yahoo has a listing for $119. One company on ebay offers it for "bargain" price of $170. Either is still a lot better than Toyota's price.

Reply to
Ray K
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A quick search on EBay shows headlightsdepot selling both sides with Xenon bulbs (item #120324992386) for $139.95 w/ free shipping. That's about $70 per side including shipping. For things like these, IMO EBay actually works great.

Reply to
johngdole

There are different classes of car parts based on how quickly a shop is likely to sell them. The easier selling ones that fly off the shelf, like wipers and filters, are low margin/high volume products. The more difficult ones (such as the lens assembly or engines and transmissions) have a very high profit margin because they're hard to move then tends to sit on the shelf for long periods (piling up interest costs for the shop who bought them).

For example, a typical 3.5L class V6 engine takes about $700 to make. But a new engine retails for something like $4000-5000.

Reply to
johngdole

Thanks for the information. I put it in my Camry bookmarks for future reference.

Reply to
Clay

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