Halfords bulbs = pricey?

Needed a new headlamp bulb for my mondeo. Normally I just pop into an all night garage and get one (they tend to blow at night!) but I thought it would be cheaper to go to Halfords, not so.

Halfords own brand cost £8.99, the same bulb from an all night garage just £3.99. Why the huge price difference? I thought the garage would be more expensive due to higher overheads and smaller profits, but less than half the price of Halfords!

I pity the car owner who's replacement bulb costs £35 from halfords, anyone know which motor this is for? Just a standard combined high/low beam bulb.

Reply to
Kenn
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the normal everyday Holts Bulbs sold at the garages and alike can be bought for as little as £2

Halfords = Sheds

people dont seem to realise that the sheds are the dearest places in town, especially in my sector ( DIY retail - B&Q are about the dearest going)

Reply to
Tom Burton

Because it's Halfords. That's bloody expensive though - I got a pair of Philips Vision Plus for less than £20 at the Ford dealer parts dept.

Reply to
Doki

You seem to have forgotten the lack of clue as well. IME a proper hardware shop is much more likely to be able to help you with little jobs than the spod at B&Q.

Reply to
Doki

Halfords = Halfrauds. Nuff said.

I've just re-stocked my bulb cupboard with Lucas / Ring boxes of 10 of stop/tail, indicator, etc etc etc. Each box of 10 works out at about £3 inc vat. The H1 55/60w headlight bulbs at £3 each.

Tim..

Reply to
Tim..

Gave up using Halfords years ago. Their pricing policy seems to be charge the maximum you can get away with. Had a nose inside one of their "superstores" the other day- things have got worse- seems to be nothing more than a toy shop now with shelves crammed with anodised aluminium gear knobs, blue l.e.d. windscreen washers and chrome exhaust tailpipes (6" dia. , of course).

Reply to
Madmucks

If it's Halford's own brand, how can you be sure the garage one is the same?

And all headlamp bulbs are *not* the same. There is a vast difference in light output between the best and worst of the same nominal wattage.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

Calibra headlight bulbs are expensive AFAIR, being different from the standard H1 halogen type. Yamaha went through a phase of using strange sized bulbs in the headlights of the FZR600 and 750 - those bulbs were the best part of £50 each! Xenon discharge bulbs are expensive. Ones for the Vauxhall Omega were about £90+VAT each! The good thing is that they should last a lot longer than standard bulbs. Saying that, in my 9 years of driving, I have only ever had to replace one headlamp bulb on my own vehicle that blew whilst driving. Not bad going I would say.

HTH

Anthony Remove eight from email to reply.

Reply to
Anthony Britt

[...]

What age Mondeo? Early ones need special ones or the diffuser goes yellow.

John

Reply to
John Greystrong

really ..... always wondered what that was

btw.....on the early sierras did the main beam fill with water?

Reply to
Tom Burton

Sorry, but got to dispute that one. I've been in the building trade for years and B&Q often have prices lower than the places we have trade accounts. P*ss*s me right off. Getting an invoice from a 'trade only' supplier and finding it is twice the price of the shed.

I reckon within 10 years (probably sooner) the sheds such as B&Q will take much of the trade from these 'trade only' places, by having their own trade only sections. I know they play at it now, but when they get serious they will need to be taken seriously.

I am also the director of a small computer company and the same problem arises there. Called every 'trade only' supplier for a price on printers a while ago, only to buy them from comet.co.uk for £20 cheaper EACH. FFS, it makes a mockery etc etc...

;-)

Reply to
Kalico

It's B&Q's plan (obviously I don't know that. Trade price is often worse than retail, it's just for some things it's way better. Being a grumpy argumentative bastard always pays , alas.

Reply to
Duncan Wood

not in the diy sector.... oh shit im not supposed to talk about work ere....

Reply to
Tom Burton

Like all such places they will have some good value things and some bad - even loss leaders for advertising purposes. But where they really make the profits are in those little things you buy at the same time as the larger bits.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

Look at the boxed sets and the twin packs. I got two headlight bulbs for £1 more than the single and, on a previous occasion, needed a couple of bulbs and discovered a box with one of almost every bulb for about £8 - cheaper than just buying the headlight and tail light bulbs I needed.

Reply to
Dan Buchan

As those of us with DRLs know, halfords = change every 6000 miles, volvo originals now on 55k miles.

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

yep, best thing to do is get a part time job in comet or PC world, one day per week, and with your discount card buy for your clients from there....

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

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