Audi A4 timing belt

You guys are a class act. I posted a suggestion to save some money by buying parts on the internet. That's all I did. Since when suggesting how to save money is a bad thing to do? A couple of guys figure out that it will cut in their profits and get all worked up about it. So what, this does not make me wrong. You do not have to use my suggestion of course, be my guest, pay the full (list) price on parts but do not blame me for the fact the guy is pissed off. For the record his contributions to this NG in the last half a year were virtually nonexistant - long before I made my post.

That makes both of us. I also prefer competent mechanics and I am happy to pay premium in terms of his hourly rate. What exactly does it have to do with rip-off prices on Audi parts at Audi dealerships?

My pleasure.

If you do need advise though, go to a place where audi enthusiasts hang out -

And there is no need to kiss anybody's butt, and there are no primadonnas threatening to leave just because somebody disagreed with them.

What I normally need is advice (advise is a verb!).

Hmmm - I've looked at audiworld, there's some good info, but there seem to be a great number of people who are just as big pratts as you are.

I think I'll stick with rs6.com, thanks - at least the people there are friendly and knowledgeable on my particular model.

Glad to know you are not going to be left totally helpless with JPF leaving all because of me.

Thanks for advice on advice vs advise. English is actually my third language and I do appreciate people correcting my mistakes.

Pronto: you are in the wrong NG. Your reply is well considered and well written but waaaay too political for this NG. Oh, and witty too.

Let the market rule. Death to statists.

You're kidding, right? Do you understand the expertise required? Modern cars, and Audis especially, are very complicated with many interdependent systems. Diagnosing (properly) a problem is 90% of what you are buying. Any monkey can replace parts until they luck upon the right one.

What's a reasonable mark-up? From wholesale, most places will up-charge 100% of the wholesale price. But *you* can't get the wholesale price, so what are you complaining about? If JPF is charging $6 for a Mahle filter, and you can get them for $3.75, maybe you should just change your own oil. But if he can replace a waterpump in 2 hours (for example) that would take you all day, or that the dealer would charge a book of 3.5hrs (or whatever) are you going to begrudge him the extra $30 you save by buying the very same part on-line?

And you feel cheated, why? If the work is hard, and you're willing to pay someone else to do it, why not help him stay in business? I do a lot of my own stuff. I save a ton of money by doing a lot of simple maintenence tasks on my own. Even some repairs - ones that don't require a computer hook-up to diagnose. So when my guy charges me $40 extra on a part, I'm not too upset, considering that to buy a computer and the software, I might be out 2 orders of magnitude more cash. Or three. :)

Plus, he gets it done while I am doing other things. Like playing with my kids.

Stop right there. The answer is, in fact, "no."

It's perfectly legal.

What's the markup on a shirt from, oh, Macy's? Don't know? I guess all businesses DON'T tell you the mark-up, huh? Like "none."

Oh, please. If I can get some specific spark plugs from

Spider

NASA lost a Mars satellite because someone at Lockheed forgot to convert miles to km. Doh.

D O G - I hate to break it to you, but 4x marks on Cost of Goods Sold is typical business practice for retailers. Of course, that is after the tier-one and tier-two distributors get their share. For higher quality parts or designs, the retail mark can go to 10x. So, a $35 part selling at $170 is a 4.85x mark...not really outrageous.

Then buy a friggin' GM. If you can't afford to maintain it, then maybe you shouldn't own it.

It never hurts to shop around, but you seem to be of the typical consumer mindset that price is everything and value is nothing. Good business behavior is based on a "win-win" basis. No business man likes a customer that constantly tries to squeeze his margins for the same level of service.

Correction. You are a mis-educated consumer, most likely a graduate of the Wal-Mart University. Cheaper is better - this is a poor person's mindset. Experience and quality comes at a cost and is worth paying for. Why did you buy an Audi to begin with?!

There won't be enough mechanics if everyone starts doing what you do. If you make it hard to make a living at something, then that trade will become more rare as vendors exit. Rarity eventually drives the price right back up...and you are forced to deal with the very thing you were trying to avoid. They may perform the job, but I'm sure they remember exactly who you were. Don't expect any favors or any preferential treatment because you do not behave like a good business partner, so why should they behave that way? Give the small business owner a break...eh?

Elroy

Did you actually read where this whole conversation started? I was not talking about a $2 markup. I was talking about a water pump, which is sold for $170 by dealerships but is available (exactly same OEM WP) for $70 on the internet. I was talking about parts for the whole TB/WP job, for which they charge $500, but which can cost you $250 if you buy them on your own (And I assure you, I am talking about exactly same brand new EOM or better parts).

I presume that the internet store is making a nice profit on the purchase as well. Yeah, I do consider $170 for WP a rip-off. And when JPF states, that he would not accept a customer with his own parts, cause it would deprive him of his extra "hidden" profit all I can say is that it is absolutely up to him and his customers, but there are lots of qualified machanics out there willing to do the job for their hourly labor rates.

Profit. Bad word.

Marx is dead. He and his stupid idea was DOA and killed millions in the process of learning that profit is good.

Bad DOG. Sit. Sit. Down. Stay. And shut up. Your barking is bothersome.

Yes. And if you weren't a complete moron, you'd have known that JPF and I have discussed this very topic before.

Now, get down off your high horse and listen up:

And when you take this to the stealership, they say "hey, fine - and not only that, we'll put our most experienced tech on it, and only charge you the time he works on it!"

Uhhh, no. If you're going to install it yourself, fine. If not, don't take it to JPF's place. If he charges exactly what the dealer does, then WTF is the problem? Do you think he gets free shipping? Is the storage free? His time to order it? His knowledge on how to get it as fast as possible? Isn't that worth something?

And if you do the job yourself, congratulations - you saved a big chunk of money. Hey, maybe you missed a minor detail that'll blow up your motor later, but hey *you saved $250!*

Well done!

I'm not sure why you're whining about JPF's business practices. It's his place to do whatever he wants, and if you don't like it - tough s*it. Get over it already.

Or maybe they are making a minimal profit. How in the hell do you know?

Fine. Buy your own and install it yourself. No big deal.

Right. So all your bitching about JPF's policy is exact what? And does exactly what?

Nothing.

Spider

Lot's of people are functionally illiterate, they can read but they do not understand what they are reading. You are obviously one of them. And why do you think I should know what you discuss with JPF. Who the f*ck do you think you are, a friggin celebrity? Not really, just lowly little spider, that's it.

I do not know who JPF is, what he does, what kind of business he runs etc. And I do not care to find out either. I did not whine about his business practices and did not know he existed until HE attacked my post. I was merely responding to his attack and his incorrect IMO arguments.

So go back to fifth grade where you dropped out and take some comprehension classes.

Sorry about that.

Audi good...ugh ugh ugh.

Better? :)

Not only that, they cram their entire replies into the subject line all the time. Annoying.

May I suggest then that you move on to a fourth language since this one doesn't seem to be working out for you?

And you're better, how?

It's a fine suggestion. I do it myself. No problem so far...

Oops, I guess here's where you lose your memory. Saying that charging retail is a "ripoff" is where you stepped on your dick.

When you accuse folks like JPF of being dishonest.

After you call them scammers, what did you expect? Kisses?

Sure it does. Being frugal is not the same as claiming people are "ripping you off."

Since you are the one throwing around accusations, maybe you should just shut up while you are behind.

And yours have been non-existent forever. So shut up already.

Out of pocket, what difference does it make if a guy has a lower shop rate, but charges list on parts? That's right, NOTHING. So get over it, already.

If you don't like to pay, don't. If you think Audi parts are expensive, you don't know s*it about car parts. Price out BMW or M-B parts sometime. Lexus, Acura, etc., etc. They're all right in there with Audi. If you don't like it, buy an early '80s VW, and fix the damn thing yourself.

I understand that "you don't get it." It's idiots like you that make independent mechanics look at everyone who walks through the door as a cheapskate asshole.

Spider

It seems that you are one of them. Since you are so damn smart, why don't you help diagnose my Audi. Oh, that's right, you can't. You pay a mechanic, like JPF, to do it for you. How bizarre.

Hey, Grammar Boy - when you learn the language, then you can throw around those big words. Until that time, I'm just laughing at the irony.

Because your diarrhea of the keyboard suggested I hadn't read the whole thread. You're a thin-skinned idiot who need to have his head slapped a bit. In addition, if you were as bright as you thought you were, you'd know this exact same discussion has occurred before. But you weren't here then, so your newbie ass doesn't know any damn thing.

I know I'm smarter than you, dipstick.

Oh. Ouch. I'm hurt. Why are so mean?

Then why do you call him a scammer, or suggest that he rips people off? Are you just an idiotic asshole, or is something else wrong with you?

So you are willfully stupid. The worst kind of idiot.

It looked less like an attack than a counterpoint. I realize that you took it personally, but hey, thin-skinned people take EVERYTHING personally.

Your opinion sucks ass. It has no meaning, and you don't have value as an alt.autos.audi poster. It wasn't an attack, but an explanation of why he doesn't do it. I realize that you can't separate the two, but so far, you haven't impressed with your intelligence.

You point out exactly what I'm not comprehending, and you'll have a point. Well, two points. Your top of your head being the other one.

Spider

Only a complete imbecile could right it. So the people who cannot diagnose a car aren't smart. And the people who can are geniuses. Go get your head examined by a stupid doctor who may not be able to replace a Water Pump, but may still sugest a correct medicine you certainly need.

Very nice move. I acknowledged myself, that English is my 3rd language, so you turn it against me. How many languages do you know, professor?

My diarrhea? Go re-read your diarrhea in "A6 2.5 TDI 140bhp..." They are right about you - grumpy lonely low life asshole, who has nothting better to do then being a net-cop.

Can't be. My IQ is sure way above 50.

You sure have a right to disagree with my opinion. Any you may actually be right, but then again... maybe someone reading all this crap we've been posting here will realize, that he can go out and buy parts on the internet. Maybe he did not realize before it was possible or that the price difference was so significant.. Maybe he'll take the parts to JPF and when JPF refuses to install them he'll say "fine, there are lots of good mechanics willing to install my parts for me. I'll take my business to them". So maybe my posts here will have value for these people.

And thanks to google, the posts will be stored forever. So more and more people will find out they can do it, and less and less people will end up paying rip-off prices for parts.

If I rephrase it that retail prices are ripoff - will this make you happy? And that when one gets charged retail - he gets ripped off, whoever does it to him?

What's you problem, you are not JPF, you playing a net-cop again, or just kissing JPF's butt for a free advice? I am sure JPF can speak for himself, and he actually did. Anyway, as I said it is not about JPF, I do not know him. I do find practice of charging rip-off retail price dishonest. I do think that if a part costs $70 on the internet - selling it it for $80 is fine, but $170 is a rip-off. JPF happened to defend the practice, I defended my point of view. Mechanics and dealerships not willing to accept customers with their parts are dishonest in MY book.

It sure beats the guy charging HIGHER" labor rate and list on parts. Other then that a guy charging an hourly rate, he's comfortable with and letting me save a few bucks on parts is honest, the guy claiming lower rate, but not willing to take me with my parts, cause he has a hidden profit in it is NOT honest. This again is in MY book.

Yep, in his post JPF mentioned that a mechanic has to deal with idiots all day long. What a nice way to refer to one's customers. Then again if he weeds out educated consumers capable of buying parts on their own, he may well end up with idiots only.

Why won't mechanics start thinking what general public thinks of them for a change? Like why are they considered one of the most dishonest professions in every opinion poll, together with used card dealerships and lawyers? And why the biggest number of complaints about ripoffs are related to car repair?