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i am with eric on this one here, parts mark up is what makes the profit for these guys, and making money as a shop owner isn’t easy, one of my dreams is owning a shop and call it quality mechanics.
when i take my car too Edland its expensive and i understand its in parts mark up but i know thats how they make business, so i hand them my keas knowing this, they have cut me a break a few times and that’s part of good business and attracting customers, but for some shop owners its not just too make customers its because the owners have a heart and feel peoples pain… i loved that bit there eric “Alright dude your a a$$hole you are paying full price on parts mark up!”
anyhow and along with buying your own parts, i don’t like doing that knowing the shop makes money on parts mark up and the place i go too only uses quality parts so i know this and i don’t worry about and that’s my concern… but some just want the cheapest parts they can get there hands on and i can tell you there are reasons why those pats are cheaper and that’s because the quality of the part is lower and sometimes even they can be more difficult too install because the manufacturer of that part didn’t make the part exactly like the original OEM manufacturer or a manufacturer who is reputable and makes good parts… so its not just because its a quality part that shop trusts they know those parts will install well which makes it easier for there mechanics too make flat rate and keep labor costs down i guess.
that’s my input.
In any business situation where my money is involved I want to know what I am getting and what the outlay will be to obtain it. Well, that’s not always the situation when I take my vehicle to a repair shop.
One time I was having trouble bleeding brakes and I didn’t have a pressure bleeder. Rather than getting one I took it to a shop (BTW, I have a pressure bleeder now). They called and said one of my bleeders was frozen in the caliper. How strange, I was using it yesterday? But, I didn’t argue. The new caliper leaked all over the place and ruined my also new ball joint boot and I had to replace the ball joint again. Stuff like this is why I’m DIY hardcore. Auto repair shops put me in an uncomfortable business situation.
We had a local parts supplier with the philosophy of charging the walkin customer whatever they thought that person might bear, business got slow and they sold out. Now, business is good again. I got a part from them today for four dollars less than what Walmart wanted on the web.
While I was at the counter, another customer came in. He and the manager made small talk. The customer said he been doing construction in Texas but was wanting to get out of it. He said, “You got any openings here?” The manager studied him for a few seconds and said, “Yeah, we might.” .
Parts were cheap, labor was expensive and DIY was sweet. Now, parts are getting expensive. Some of this is makers trying to produce better cars, some is due to all the silly doodads modern cars have and some is pure profit. Anyway, I’m sure customers notice the increase on their repair bills.
I’m getting older and the day will come when the car fixing I do will get to be too much. Time then for pure electric.
yea parts themselves are getting expensive but i believe that really has nothing to do with the parts mark up itself, however in my opinion i would rather pay $120 on a nice set of break rotors… than some cheep chinese made set for $90, or when doing a lower intake manifold gasket job on a 3800 or 3100SFI i would rather pay the extra $20-$40 for the metal framed gaskets and never have to worry about it again than pay for the plastic ones and have the same issue some time down the road… these are what other mechanics prefer and these are the parts they put the mark up on, at least the mechanics i trust 🙂
most of the shops i trust think like i do, quality parts first, OEM or better! Felpro gaskets, BWG or Acdelco electrical components (For GM Cars) aluminum coolant elbows, because they get installed correctly and last longer makes there job easier and the customer happy as can be! some of these people spend so much time working about parts mark up and the cost of parts they don’t get too realize how satisfying it is too bring there car into a trusted shop, have them work on it and have it fixed RIGHT with parts that will LAST and that where easy too install….
we also have too think that sometimes cheaper parts that they can’t put a markup on may also be harder too install which means more hours of them working on your vehicle won’t that cost more in the end for the customer?
I never thought of it as being fair or unfair, just how business was done. I’m old enough to remember when you had to pretend to be a business to do business with a parts house. Well, times change. Not much will continue in the mode of this discussion.
I already see it in the businesses that work on car’s like mine. I wouldn’t consider having a local shop build me an engine if the need arose. There’s specialty shops out there that do nothing but and at a reasonable price. They will build it any way I want it. No local shop can stand up to that.
The same goes for any of the major components of my car: transmission, differentials, transfer case, there’s a shop building them and they can add improvements the factory never dreamt of.
So, how does a vehicle owner know of these specialty shops. One word – internet.
This business plan is already so successful I suggest it will spread. Repair shops will become specialty shops working on only certain models. And they will be installers of assemblies made elsewhere, often purchased by the customer. The installer will know the maker and therefore know quality is high. So, quote the labor and drop in the parts. The technician doing the work will also be a specialist and it will be unusual when the outcome is not good.
Owners of specialty shops doing business this way are making good money. This is the future.
I try to keep my prices between list and cost but sometimes I charge list for small things like windshield wipers etc…
There have been a couple of cases where I wanted specific parts installed that I provided.
In discussing this with the shop owner, We came to the following agreement:
The shop would post an additional change for the markup they would have charged for the standard part they would have installed. Warranty would be for installation issues only. If the part failed, it was on me.
I thought this was fair, but I’d like to get other opinions. The shop I go to is really good and I’d like them to stay around (since the wife keeps wanting to get VWs 🙂 )
yea used too be in the days everything was done in the shop, tranny overhauls, engine rebuild, stuff like that, now they have shops that specialize just in engines or transmissions, like Jasper for example a company who has made themselves reputable. it comes too the point where places like my shop whome has given themselves a reputation will take the trans out of the car, and take it too a specialty shop too have it re built, then re install it into there car, same thing with engines, if for some reason i get a lot of money and i decide too finally go turbo i will have them build the block the way i want it…. and i can have them remove the engine and give them a list of what i want,
Forged connecting rods with heavy duty rod bolts and main bolts.
ceramic coated pistons.
shave a couple thousands off the heads
see if you can port and polish the heads
install a GT comp cami drool over things like that but it makes me wonder requesting all these specialty parts would this also… effect there parts mark up because maybe they already get parts from places and that is also how they make money is through parts mark up? and yea the good old days of getting a job just buy saying i can do it…
[quote=”dtidman” post=101369]There have been a couple of cases where I wanted specific parts installed that I provided.
In discussing this with the shop owner, We came to the following agreement:
The shop would post an additional change for the markup they would have charged for the standard part they would have installed. Warranty would be for installation issues only. If the part failed, it was on me.
I thought this was fair, but I’d like to get other opinions. The shop I go to is really good and I’d like them to stay around (since the wife keeps wanting to get VWs 🙂 )[/quote]
i have a few times provided parts too my mechanic that i already had, when i had my old buick where the lower intake manifold gasket went out on, or was starting too go out on, i already had some gaskets purchased, at the time i wasn’t working in the factory so i could have done the job myself, but eventually the job i got required lots of hours worked and a 2nd shift job at that i had no time to do it myself… i hat the gaskets i wanted so i told the mechanic i had the gaskets and they where the recommended metal ones made buy Felpro and he agreed too use them so i didn’t have too pay the extra dollars for parts i already had.
also when i had the thrush turbo muffler installed on my Pontiac it was understood that the installation was not too replace the muffler because it was damaged but because i wanted the car too sound different and i understood the consequences of the installation of this muffler would require some modification, so me and my chosen mechanics had a understanding what the deal was, they installed the muffler and i gave them time to do it, the job was done in good time because i chose a muffler that i knew would be easy too install, the mechanics where happy, i was happy.
now if my muffler failed and i just got some sort of universal POS that autozone sold me too just make another sale… then told Edland too install it because the other one had a hole in it, yea that could cause some issues…
I am a heavy advocate for techs, after all, I run the largest Facebook group of automotive repair professionals. So I want to make that clear, no smoke and mirrors. On-the-other-hand, I am also a customer in many other markets, so there is no way I could NOT know what it is like to be in the customer’s shoes, but I am very confident that most customers do not know what it is like to be in the shop/technician shoes.
That stated, customers have become tyrannical. It has gotten to the point that out of fear of a bad online review, businesses bend to customers when they should not (there are plenty of times a business should, yes, but many more times when they should not). It seems customers have forgotten that a business exists to make money, not provide charity. Every store you buy from is doing exactly what that shop is doing with parts, buying at a lower price and selling at a markup for profit. Every store. Even Walmart.
I understand people come on hard times, and with-in reason we can try to ease the financial burden a bit, but not to the point of giving it away at a loss. A lot of people cannot see outside their own myopic point of view in the situation. The world is harsh, and sometimes your problem, is not their problem and you are not owed a break.
I now work at an independent shop, but before that I was at a Hyundai dealership. Our overhead each month was north of 40,000 dollars just for service alone. That means we were in the red until we made 40,000.01 dollars or more. That is more than most people visiting this forum will make in a year. Parts and labor are expensive, because keeping that door open is just as expensive and once again a business exists for profits, that is the whole entire point of our capitalistic country.
On the topic of providing your own parts, sure, but you are paying more in labor and getting no guarantee on the part. Why? Because just last month a customer brought me his cheap Duralast rotors and pads for his GTP and after I was done with the work, I test drove it as usual, and the new rotors were warped horrifically out of the box, 5 thousandths if I recall correctly. I had to go and turn his new cheap rotors with less than 3 miles on them, and that time is money, and that money was made up in the extra labor he paid for providing his own parts.
Another example I can think of is when the customer demanded we use these cheap economy pads. After test driving it and getting the pads hot, they were groaning on lingering brake situations. The guy kept coming back to complain and wanting it fixed, well who is going to pay us to take it all apart again and put another set of pads in? It’s not our fault and we didn’t provide the pads.
Everyone thinks that we as mechanics save so much money as well. It’s not true. The total cost of a 4 wheel brake job with the cheap-o parts the customer wants came to almost the same price as new Centric Premium rotors, StopTech pads, OEM brake clips and new SS brake lines I bought for my car, but I also believe in quality parts, which is why my car runs reliably.
So if you want those cheap parts as mentioned above, fine, but they will cost you one way or the other.
Another thing I want to touch on is the DIY aspect of things. Everyone thinks that the job takes so little time because they did it in so little time. Sure you did your brakes in 25-30 minutes, but I guarantee you did not do the job I would have done. I grease your slides, replace the grommet on the pin with a new, get you new dust boots for the slides, use a needle scaler or handheld belt sander to clean the clip lands on the caliper bracket, apply grease to prevent corrosion build up, properly grease the clips, the ears of the pads, where the caliper ears and piston meet the rear of the pads. I Roloc down your hub faces where the rotor sits, both rotor faces if I am turning them, the face of the wheel that sits against the rotor, all to make sure there is no noise and/or runout from corrosion. I torque your bolts to spec, and your lug nuts, using a 3/8″ torque wrench and/or 1/2″ torque wrench that cost me $600.00 each to make sure you get a professionally completed job that will stay quiet and smooth well beyond that job you did in your backyard and I guarantee that. That is why my service costs what it does, because it is professional quality.
One other thing on the DIY aspect, the shortcut you may take, while reasonable and safe, say zip tying something into place or cutting a small easy access hole, is not a luxury I have. I have to give you the car back fixed properly and in better shape than you gave it to me. So yes that shortcut may have saved you a ton of time and made the job seem like it took a lot less time than what we charged for, but that’s because you had the luxury of doing a step we do not. I am sure you would not be very happy if I cut an access hole into your cabin to save time.
[quote=”SpawnedX” post=101575]I am a heavy advocate for techs, after all, I run the largest Facebook group of automotive repair professionals. So I want to make that clear, no smoke and mirrors. On-the-other-hand, I am also a customer in many other markets, so there is no way I could NOT know what it is like to be in the customer’s shoes, but I am very confident that most customers do not know what it is like to be in the shop/technician shoes.
That stated, customers have become tyrannical. It has gotten to the point that out of fear of a bad online review, businesses bend to customers when they should not (there are plenty of times a business should, yes, but many more times when they should not). It seems customers have forgotten that a business exists to make money, not provide charity. Every store you buy from is doing exactly what that shop is doing with parts, buying at a lower price and selling at a markup for profit. Every store. Even Walmart.
I understand people come on hard times, and with-in reason we can try to ease the financial burden a bit, but not to the point of giving it away at a loss. A lot of people cannot see outside their own myopic point of view in the situation. The world is harsh, and sometimes your problem, is not their problem and you are not owed a break.
I now work at an independent shop, but before that I was at a Hyundai dealership. Our overhead each month was north of 40,000 dollars just for service alone. That means we were in the red until we made 40,000.01 dollars or more. That is more than most people visiting this forum will make in a year. Parts and labor are expensive, because keeping that door open is just as expensive and once again a business exists for profits, that is the whole entire point of our capitalistic country.
On the topic of providing your own parts, sure, but you are paying more in labor and getting no guarantee on the part. Why? Because just last month a customer brought me his cheap Duralast rotors and pads for his GTP and after I was done with the work, I test drove it as usual, and the new rotors were warped horrifically out of the box, 5 thousandths if I recall correctly. I had to go and turn his new cheap rotors with less than 3 miles on them, and that time is money, and that money was made up in the extra labor he paid for providing his own parts.
Another example I can think of is when the customer demanded we use these cheap economy pads. After test driving it and getting the pads hot, they were groaning on lingering brake situations. The guy kept coming back to complain and wanting it fixed, well who is going to pay us to take it all apart again and put another set of pads in? It’s not our fault and we didn’t provide the pads.
Everyone thinks that we as mechanics save so much money as well. It’s not true. The total cost of a 4 wheel brake job with the cheap-o parts the customer wants came to almost the same price as new Centric Premium rotors, StopTech pads, OEM brake clips and new SS brake lines I bought for my car, but I also believe in quality parts, which is why my car runs reliably.
So if you want those cheap parts as mentioned above, fine, but they will cost you one way or the other.
Another thing I want to touch on is the DIY aspect of things. Everyone thinks that the job takes so little time because they did it in so little time. Sure you did your brakes in 25-30 minutes, but I guarantee you did not do the job I would have done. I grease your slides, replace the grommet on the pin with a new, get you new dust boots for the slides, use a needle scaler or handheld belt sander to clean the clip lands on the caliper bracket, apply grease to prevent corrosion build up, properly grease the clips, the ears of the pads, where the caliper ears and piston meet the rear of the pads. I Roloc down your hub faces where the rotor sits, both rotor faces if I am turning them, the face of the wheel that sits against the rotor, all to make sure there is no noise and/or runout from corrosion. I torque your bolts to spec, and your lug nuts, using a 3/8″ torque wrench and/or 1/2″ torque wrench that cost me $600.00 each to make sure you get a professionally completed job that will stay quiet and smooth well beyond that job you did in your backyard and I guarantee that. That is why my service costs what it does, because it is professional quality.
One other thing on the DIY aspect, the shortcut you may take, while reasonable and safe, say zip tying something into place or cutting a small easy access hole, is not a luxury I have. I have to give you the car back fixed properly and in better shape than you gave it to me. So yes that shortcut may have saved you a ton of time and made the job seem like it took a lot less time than what we charged for, but that’s because you had the luxury of doing a step we do not. I am sure you would not be very happy if I cut an access hole into your cabin to save time.[/quote]
Some great points. Thanks for your input.
I had a birthday this month, turned 68. So, while I am getting old I’m not quite ancient yet. But I’m old enough to remember as a child the women talking over the back fence about how the local hospital was raising it’s room rate from five dollars a night to ten dollars a night. That would have been some time in the 1950’s.
What a strange world you lived in. It sounds like a movie.
According to this inflation calculator:
“What cost $10 in 1950 would cost $95.51 in 2013.
Also, if you were to buy exactly the same products in 2013 and 1950,
they would cost you $10 and $1.05 respectively.”Oh that sounds awesome. I could only dream of spending a night in a hospital and paying only $100. It’d be cheaper than the Holiday Inn, and I could fake pain and get a morphine drip! Haha oh I’m sad again, because that hospital trip actually cost $10,000, and I’ve been contemplating selling my kidney on the black market for money. (I kid.)
Hello Eric,
Thanks for posting this parts price video. It’s an aspect that I never really thought of to be honest with you. I like to do whatever work on my car that I can myself. However there are some jobs, that I dont feel I have the skills, equipment, ect to do. I found a shop in my area and the owner is cool, and hes never done me wrong. Though, after watching this video, I feel bad that I may have done him wrong. On more then one occasion, I have purchased parts for my car, (ZZPerformance Long Tube Header/catted downpipe combo once, the other time was a GM Performance Clutch, and a pair of GM Performance upgraded steering knuckles for my ’06 Cobalt) I purchased these parts online and hired his shop to install them. He had no problem installing the parts for me.So after watching your video, I wont be doing that anymore. Last week, I had to have my AC Pump replaced. So I let them take care of getting the parts. The service writer told me that replaceing the AC Pump they would have to chage the expansion valve, and receiver dryer as well. (2006 Cobalt SS/SC)
And yes, I have one of those modded cars that I’d may be better off selling at the race track. But I think I’ll keep it for as long as I can ;).
[quote=”InsyleM” post=103545]Hello Eric,
Thanks for posting this parts price video. It’s an aspect that I never really thought of to be honest with you. I like to do whatever work on my car that I can myself. However there are some jobs, that I dont feel I have the skills, equipment, ect to do. I found a shop in my area and the owner is cool, and hes never done me wrong. Though, after watching this video, I feel bad that I may have done him wrong. On more then one occasion, I have purchased parts for my car, (ZZPerformance Long Tube Header/catted downpipe combo once, the other time was a GM Performance Clutch, and a pair of GM Performance upgraded steering knuckles for my ’06 Cobalt) I purchased these parts online and hired his shop to install them. He had no problem installing the parts for me.So after watching your video, I wont be doing that anymore. Last week, I had to have my AC Pump replaced. So I let them take care of getting the parts. The service writer told me that replaceing the AC Pump they would have to chage the expansion valve, and receiver dryer as well. (2006 Cobalt SS/SC)
And yes, I have one of those modded cars that I’d may be better off selling at the race track. But I think I’ll keep it for as long as I can ;).[/quote]
Nothing wrong with modded cars. I have plans to make one myself. As long as you’re happy, that’s all that really matters. Thanks for your comments.
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