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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 15, 2016 - 05:42pm PT
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What is the ethical ammount to mark up auto parts? I understand that everyone has to make a buck but 100% seems high to me? in carpentry we are lucky to get away with 20% and 10% is more normal. Mechanics are pulling down $80 buck an hour + the mark up......
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Topic Author's Reply - May 15, 2016 - 06:49pm PT
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I am talking about a mechanic, not the parts store. What is the standard mark up? A part that is $52.00 at the parts store what should your mechanic charge you?
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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May 15, 2016 - 06:52pm PT
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400%
A friend of mine took her Miata to a local mechanic to have the clutch replaced. It cost her $750. A competent mechanic would have swapped out the clutch in less than two hours. She was charged over $500 for a clutch kit that costs $125 at a parts store.
Either that, or the mechanic charged her $300 per hour.
Go Turn A Wrench - - - Yosemite Mechaniceering School
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ruppell
climber
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May 15, 2016 - 07:18pm PT
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Most reputable mechanics will put in OEM parts. Those cost way more the the cheap after-market stuff you're gonna get from Autozone. I had the alternator replaced in my 2002 Jetta recently. I could have done it my self and sourced a cheap rebuild for under 100 bucks. I took it to my mechanic instead. He put in an OEM Bosch alternator that cost just north of 200. If I where ignorant of the difference I could see how I'd think he ripped me off. But I'm not so I didn't. Out the door it was 290 dollars and I didn't have to bust a knuckle.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Topic Author's Reply - May 15, 2016 - 07:36pm PT
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Just had a $952.00 dollar tune up on the astro van. I uderstand that it is a total pain to work on which is the Only reason that I had someone else do the tune up. I had a bank 2 O2 sensor code when i brought it in. that is the really stupidly hard one to reach above that cat converter on passenger side. Charged me $137.00 for the o2 sensor and I get a mile down the road and get annother o2 sensor code. same sensor. After 5:00pm on a friday so I Crawl under the van in the rain and see that they changed the sensor after the Cat. the easy one to get to. Bought a brand new Bosch o2 sensor for $52.00 and fixed it myself. TOTAL PINTA to do without a lift. even with a lift I am certain it sucks..
Absolutly nothing wrong with a rebuilt alternator on an older vehicle. I just had mine replaced a few weeks ago and the part was $167.00 so I suspect it was a $90.00 rebuild + mark up?
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Todd Eastman
climber
Bellingham, WA
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May 15, 2016 - 07:38pm PT
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Trad, since when are Vermonters driving? I thought horses and wagons were still the norm...
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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May 15, 2016 - 07:44pm PT
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100% is the standard retail markup at places like Nordstrom, but they aren't charging you an hourly rate for shopping with them. It seems like charging $80 an hour but with a significant markup on parts is a good way to underepresent your costs to the consumer.
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ruppell
climber
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May 15, 2016 - 07:53pm PT
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1000 bucks for a tune-up is ridiculous. Get a new mechanic. Cap, rotor, wires, plugs and fuel filter shouldn't be more than 300 bucks. My wife has an Astro so I get to work on that POS more than I want. There not that hard as far as vans go. You wanna have some fun try changing anything on my 89 Toyota van.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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May 15, 2016 - 08:05pm PT
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Most reputable mechanics will put in OEM parts
Fair enough.
But, I put a Bosch alternator for a 2002 VW Jetta in my old Range Rover, to get away from OEM Lucas electrical parts.
It's basically a standard upgrade these days.
Underepresent your costs to the consumer.
That is a great euphamism.
EDIT:
There is a bit of a problem in applying ideas of ethics and morality to business dealings.
Profitability and morality are almost, but not quite, mutually exclusive.
If you blindly trust in the Magic Hand of Free Enterprise, there is no such thing as morality. That $20 spark plug, cited below, could easily fetch a $400 and a Rolex watch from a guy on a motorcycle with no water in Death Valley.
If, instead, you want to have some measure of ethics and morality in the world of commerce, then you basically are asking for the government to step in and regulate business.
People, as a whole, are ethical. But, the few who are not ethical tend to gain an unfair advantage and then dominate their industry.
Not surprisingly, it is the wealthy, successful people who lobby the hardest for deregulation (lawlessness) in business and politics.
EDIT EDIT:
$400 and a Rolex watch for a motorcycle spark plug is chump change, and not even really part of the real Free Market game.
Gilead Sciences charges $100,000 for a single patient's treatment with their hepatitis medicine.
OLD SCHOOL: "Your money, or your life." (points gun at victim)
NEW SCHOOL" "Your money, or your life." (hands drug prescription to victim)
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pud
climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
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May 15, 2016 - 08:09pm PT
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Ethical mark up on auto parts?
Whatever the market will bear.
A spark plug costs $20 in the desert.
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ruppell
climber
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May 15, 2016 - 08:17pm PT
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Good point Tom. There's always after-market parts that are better then OEM stuff but my point was about the crap you'll get from Autozone, Oreilly, NAPA and the like.
Case in point. I went to put a new starter in my van a few months back. The starter had been getting worse and worse and finally it was time to fix it. I did the standard electrical checks to make sure I had at least 11.5V at the trigger wire. I did. So with any electrical or ground problems eliminated I went to Oreilly's to get a cheap after-market rebuild. 65 bucks and I'm out the door.
I get under my van and do some trickery to get the starter out and back in. Hook the battery back up and start the rig. It fires up and I shut it down to put away my tools and clean up. Ten minutes later I get in my van to go somewhere and "click". No sh#t. I'm pissed. I get the tools back out and check voltage again. It's good. I tap the starter as my wife cranks and it fires up. Shut down and try to start again, "click".
I rip the starter out and return it. The manager gives me the usual "I've never seen one fail out of the box before" BS. Do a google search of it. It's common with all cheap after market stuff because there is no quality control. I ordered up a new Denso(OEM for my van) from Amazon and put it in two days later. My van has started hundreds of times since without an issue. I will never buy anything from Oreilly's again.
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WBraun
climber
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May 15, 2016 - 08:22pm PT
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The starter motor is not the solenoid.
So you just proved you don't know what your talking about.
The "click" is the solenoid ......
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ruppell
climber
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May 15, 2016 - 08:28pm PT
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Piss off Duck
The click is actually from a starter relay that is mounted under the dash. So before you go off with the dumb american BS check the vehicle your talking about first.
The starter and solenoid are both housed on the starter. You can't replace the solenoid without removing the starter in my van. Since it was a new refurb I shouldn't have to do either.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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May 15, 2016 - 08:37pm PT
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WVB was the head of the Yosemite Mechaniceering School, back when men led the Twilight Zone with no gear.
In those days, you would de-click your car by changing out the solenoid. The starter motor itself would whine on its bad bearings, but at least it would turn. If it wouldn't turn, because the windings were burned out, then you changed out the starter motor, but kept the old, barely functional solenoid to save a few $$$$$. Been there. Done that.
The starter and solenoid is typically sold as a single unit, these days.
It's a bit harsh for WVB to say, "You're full of monkey grease."
I tried to get a separate solenoid for a starter about ten years ago, and couldn't. I wound up repairing the old one by hard soldering on the burned up electrical contacts. It was a very cheap repair, pretty easy to do, and it worked great.
I used 45% silver solder, like RPs, brass offsets, HB cams and VG cams use to secure the cable. That stuff is magic. It makes regular electrical and plumbing solders look like cheap and weak bubble gum crap, by comparison.
Propane and oxygen through a tiny tip, baby. Oh, yeah.
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WBraun
climber
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May 15, 2016 - 08:43pm PT
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LOL ......
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ruppell
climber
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May 15, 2016 - 08:48pm PT
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Glad you got a kick out of duck.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Shetville , North of Los Angeles
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May 15, 2016 - 08:56pm PT
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Stoopid Americans auto loons and their iron horse failures...Real horses don;t have steering wheels or starter motors with Bosch solenoids...Real horses eat oats not gas...
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overwatch
climber
Arizona
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May 16, 2016 - 12:04am PT
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real horses eat oats and make gas
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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May 16, 2016 - 01:49am PT
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Put a horse in your gas tank??????
I thought it was Put a Tiger in your tank.
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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May 16, 2016 - 07:54am PT
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Around here the standard markup seems to float around 100% for Chinese reman'd stuff and around 50% for OEM/dealer parts.
I have yet to find an honest and good mechanic locally but in 80% of the situations I'm doing the work myself.
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