Dealer Leather for $1295 - is this a rip-off?

I wanted to get leather seats on my 2004 Camry LE. The cheapest seat covers I've seen so far costs $550 + shipping and then god knows how much installation will cost, probably $500 or more. The dealership I bought it from responded to my email and told me that they could give me the same for $1295, including the covers, door panels and installation. Is this a good deal? Anil

Reply to
saaketham
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--- they are $697 there plus they have info on installation. You do realize that on most only the actual seating surfaces are leather?

Reply to
Wolfgang

I'm bad at working on cars, so will probably need professional installation, which someone said costs $500-1000 since this takes hours to do. So, it will come to the same or more amount. I'm worried about the installation part mainly. Do you have any idea about the cost for installation of leather seats at shops typically? :( Thanks. Anil

Reply to
saaketham

Is this a good deal?

Try:

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for comparison.

They do make a good product. Beware, that like anything else, there is variation in quality with leather seat covers.

Reply to
Daniel M. Dreifus

The dealership I bought the car from quoted me $1295 for leather seats, leather door panels and installation.

I talked to a shop the dealership probably uses - they quoted me $1095 for the same. It's an Authorized Installation Center of a national franchise.

I then talked to another shop that's not an "Authorized Installation Center", but a "direct" installation center of the actual company itself - they quoted me $850.

Wow - that's some cheating going on at the dealership. The "Authorized Installation Center" marking it up $240 I kinda understand since they have overhead for their own advertisement, etc, but the dealership markup by $400 - that's a bit too much. So guess who I'm going to see tomorrow? :-) Thanks for all your replies!

Anil

Reply to
saaketham

Went to Classic Soft Forum - their direct installation center. The guys there were very friendly, patient and showed me the different colors available. They have leather seats for 2004 Camry that matches the color of the dash, etc. The leather seat covers I installed come with suede inserts extending all the way down the seat and is perforated - makes those hot summer a trifle better.

With all seat covers with suede inserts, door panels and installation in 1 day, they will charge me $899. -I think that's the best deal I've seen. I've seen seat covers online selling for $600-700, but no door panels nor installation. I'm going for it.

Anil

Reply to
saaketham

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That's good to hear. Classic leather soft trim interior came with my Camry, installed by the dealer when new. They've held up under the prior owner's abuse, leaving them unprotected baking in the sun. Leatherique has been doing an amazing job of rejuvenating them, but if they ever need replacement, had expected would cost more. (plus the door panels are already perfectly fine.)

Reply to
Daniel M. Dreifus

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