Conference terri::cars_uk

Did you try Halfords? Maybe they do "universal" wiper arms!

	Ian

    I used to have a Ford Escort (I know, sad, but I'm better now) and I
    broke the front offside indicator lens parking. Turns out I had to buy
    an entire new indicator unit, ie lens, moulded back peice everything.
    
    I think *some* dealers sometimes try an pull a fast one.
    
    
    PC

    When you buy a replacement blade (Bosch, Champion etc), it usually
    comes with a fitting kit with all sorts of wee plastic thingies in it. 
    These go on the pivot between the end of the wiper arm and the blade
    frame.  If this is the bit you broke, you could have got it and a nice
    new blade (a lot more use than a new arm) for about a third of the
    price...
    
    I suspect you've been reamed....
    
    Richard
    
    

re .3

Yes I thought of that, that's why I initially asked for a new blade and when
I looked at it saw that it didn't have the piece I needed.

Storeman said this was a common breakage and Renault only supplied the whole
arm as a replacement. I am writing to Renault.

John.

    
    The most outrageous spare part price I encountered was the approx 300
    quid I was quoted for a genuine Kawasaki alternator for my Z1000J
    m/cycle - this was about 5 years ago I might add.
    
    Fortunately, there was a breakers in Reading that did alternator
    rewinds and it only ended up costing about 45 quid !
    
    
    Graham Warnes

    
    Best I've come across is for replacing the car badges for my Vauxhall
    last year when it was all the rage for local kids to collect them.
    
    I was charged 5.55 inc VAT for the front emblem, 5.76 for the
    'Vauxhall' sign and they wanted 7.95 for the letter 'L'....
    
    Beat that...
    
    gm.

    Should have forked out the little extra and got GLSiX/GT/4WD/OHC while
    you were at it!
    
    Richard

    Can't beat that. It pretty extortionate isn't it.
    
    There's a plastic splash guard that sits under the engine of my car,
    cost 90 quid ! 
    
    I just can't see how they can justify the prices of some of these spare
    parts.

    
    Re .6
    
    Looks like the dealer was screwing you, I paid 1.04p for the 'CD' and
    .35p for the small 'i' back in March '92 at my local Vauxhall dealer.
    
    Doug.

    One of the parts men at AFN in Reading told me that a guy came in
    before Christmas, having slid his Porsche 944 off the road, clipping
    the rear wheel heavily on a kerb and breaking a rear suspension arm ...
    
    
    
    				680 quid     not inc fitting .....
    
    Mark

The Rover badge for my 216 (The boat part) 
21 quid + Vat.

Matt.

If you really want to talk silly money, lets talk about motorcycle parts !
(Indicator bracket for Yam FZ750, l shaped piece of ally with hole at either end,
approx 2 inches long 13 quid + vat.)

    Washer pumps for metro, rover 25quid, Halfords 7quid
    Transfer badges for metro, and body stripe, 45 quid
    wheel trims for metro, 25 each.
    
    Dave D

    3 years ago I got quoted 150 quid +VAT for Lancia Martini lines for my
    Delta, I hate to think what they cost now.
    
    
    
    Steve. 

I'm afraid you'll have to get up very early to beat this recent gem:


Volkswagen Fuel-Pump relay (small, plug in type shared with most VW 
injection engines).

		�45 + VAT (not fitted!)

    
    
    How about this,
    Idle solenoid for a volvo 340  45 quid from volvo
    carburettor is a Weber so I went to them still 15 quid which is a lot
    of money for a little solenoid(they supply Volvo)
    But Volvo what a rip-off!!!!!
    
    Richard

    As a matter of interest, a company I used to work for (name withheld,
    although its common practise i'm sure) supplied spare parts for its
    products (small ships etc..) to its customers. The markup on its spares
    was incredible. I was involved in the software that did it and what
    would happend is that the software would scan for the cheapest
    supplier, buy from them, scan for the most expensive supplier, mark
    that up 52% and charge its customer that price. Infact the customer
    in this case marked them up another 50-60% and then supplied them to
    *its* customer  !
    
    

        Just to reverse this flow so to speak how about the cheapest bit 
        but must expensive labour job to replace.
        
        Apparently on the Landrover engine (V8) the seal between the 
        engine and gear box costs about 50 pence. It is a two part seal 
        and is prone to leak. Unfortunately it costs about �300 in 
        labour to replace as in involves engine removal etc.
        
        Simno

    Cylinder head gasket on a Supra 3.0i engine. Part cost 6 pounds. Labour
    to fit it cost 500 pounds.

My (old) R5GTt has a slight oil leak between the engine and clutch
(presumably a low cost seal), but it took �800 worth of labour.
I bet that the labour breaks down to �100 to remove and �700 to
shoe-horn it back!!!

mb

�    products (small ships etc..) to its customers. The markup on its spares
�    was incredible. I was involved in the software that did it and what
    
    Have you not thought that this was 'standard business practice' for
    companies in the supply/service industry ?
    
    If you don't add a mark-up, how do you make a profit ?
    
    Think of your own job - how do you get paid ?
    
    J.R.

                     <<< Note 1981.16 by CURRNT::CARSON >>>

    > As a matter of interest, a company I used to work for (name withheld,
    > although its common practise i'm sure) supplied spare parts for its
               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    
    I do.
    
    Your're right of course, but some times it hard to swallow when the
    price has been jacked up 400%, but then this happens all the time in
    the services. The cost of spares and the amount of money that gets
    wasted on them would make you cringe.
    
    For example, those little triangle blocks that get put in front of an
    aircrafts wheels to stop it rolling forward cost in excess of 500
    pounds i'm told.

�    > although its common practise i'm sure) supplied spare parts for its
�               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
�    I do.
    
    I did notice your highlighted comment in the note, but my reference
    to 'you' wasn't meant to mean you personally.  Should have been 'one'.
    
    Just a point, in the context of some of the complaints in this topic.
    
    After all, four pounds for a car badge is nothing to complain about
    (but many of the examples have been).
    
�    the services. The cost of spares and the amount of money that gets
�    wasted on them would make you cringe.
    
    I does make me cringe.  Especially when 'paying through the nose',
    but you have got to look at it from the suppliers view as well -
    to determine what is an acceptable profit margin against overheads.
    (would usually be be hard to justify 400% mark-up, but some complaints
    had been on a 50% mark-up - standard within this company, I believe).
    
    J.R.

    
    Re -10,
    
    I had some work done on my 944, they (Local Porsche garage) gave me a 
    detailed bill which included costs for parts and labour. One item said
    remove rear wheel, cost for this was DM 60, they then prepared and
    sprayed the car, further on down, the bill said ..... Replace rear 
    wheel... cost Dm 60.
    
    
    
    

    Re: a few back
    
    ...if you really want those little triangles that they put in front of
    aircraft wheels, I know where you can get them from around �10.99 a
    pair.
    
    What kind of aeroplane have you got?
    
    Richard
    
    

    re .-1
    
    Not me... The plane in I was refering to was the Sea King Helicopters
    use by the Fleet Air Arm. 

Re; .6

Two years ago I paid �18 for a 740SE badge for the Volvo I had at the time.
The only other part I had to pay for while I had that car was a windscreen 
washer reservoir,  that cost �25 and that was 25% of the actual cost as the
Lifecare warranty paid the rest.
Needless to say, I don't have the Volvo anymore.

Ronnie

    The best attempted RIP OFF that I ever had, was when a well known BMW
    garage wanted to charge 600 pounds for an On Board Computer when all
    that was required was a 2 pound bulb! Their excuse was that they tried
    a new bulb but that did not fix the problem and they could not believe
    the bulb could be DOA, so it had to be the computer.....
    The irony is that you could see the LCD display was working OK if you
    looked close enough and the fault could only be the back light bulb.
    It worked with another bulb!!!!!
    Mike.
    

    
    During the christmas period I tried to purchase a new set of plug leads
    for my BMW motorcycle. Simple problem , a couple of the caps had seen
    better days. called up local dealer, "got a set of leads", Dealer "yep,
    22 pounds, plus vat" , "Thats for the set?" , "Oh no, thats each!".
    That works out about #103 for the set. As the lead are very simular to
    car leads I went to a car electrics dealer. He supplied Lucas High
    performance silicon leads, at the right lenght , #2 each or there
    abouts. Not a bad markup.
    
    Garry

	VW Corrado spark plugs 25 pounds each from your friendly VW stockist
	BMW 325i steering rack (non-power assisted) 1400 pounds.

	ouch !!

    I have a Mazda 323 GT 1990 H . The price for a SINGLE C.V joint from
    Mazda is 350 Pounds + vat! My father lives in New Zealand and priced
    one there for me... 120 Pounds... Inc tax! This is the SAME part from
    a genuine MAZDA dealer!  It would not cost me 240 pounds to airfreight
    it from there to here, pay for import duty, and pay VAT on it!
    Where do they get their prices from?
    More ridiculous Mazda prices...
    Set of 5 HT leads - 95 pounds + VAT
    Steering Wheel (mine got damaged...) 240 pounds + VAT (and its not 
    			leather!)
    Alloy Wheel - 161 pounds + VAT
    Rear Disc pads - 50 pounds + VAT
    Washer pump seems almost reasonable at 20 pounds + VAT!
    
    
    Any one want to buy a Mazda...?!
    

    It also amazes me that for the cost of some engine management computers
    you could buy a pentium  multimedia PC!!
    
    Tony I

>    It also amazes me that for the cost of some engine management computers
>    you could buy a pentium  multimedia PC!!
    
I think a lot of these use the Motorola M88K chip.  Just to put this into 
perspective, one of the systems I manage also uses this sort of CPU, and even 
the cheapest MVME188 card costs, well, a lot, several Pentium Multimedia PC's 
worth, anyway!

Chris.

    I was thinking about the job the computer is doing, compared to the
    price you have to pay for it. 
    
    Tony I