You think hot rod parts are expensive?

I work for a county garage as a mechanic / fabricator / clown. Today in our shop, we got in a 1999 Dodge Intrepid (Insiped) for a bad battery / hard start condition. I do most of the electrical in the shop, but was busy with another job,so one of the other guys started on the Dodge.It's bad enuff that the battery is INSIDE the R/F fender(remove tire for access).Other guy goes to parts room for a battery and positive cable---a few minutes later I get paged to parts--- they tell me the news : no aftermarket cable available.HUH?---gotta be. We find out why---dealer gets-----$1200.00!!! for one.No,not a typo--$1200.00!! Reason is, cable has a long (maybe 4 ft.) 8 gauge wire to Alternator. So I say fuck it--we'll make one--we do on most weird stuff we have anyway.
So car gets done---I call the dealer cause I just can't believe this crap. Dealer guy says the sell --A COUPLE A WEEK!! Can you amagine how many soccer mom's get screwed on this deal--car goes in for dead battery---go home $1300.00--$1400.00 poorer.
So I guess I won't bitch TOO much about my hot rod parts anymore--or just make my own.

P.S.----Told my big boss we should get a raise for saving the taxpayers so much money---you can guess the answer!!!

 

Wow!!!!.....Wow!!!!!!......Holy shit.

 

Throw him a nickel... and get outta my way...

 

Sounds about right. Dealer prices are out of control. But I do see some that are reasonable from time to time.

Vw gets a grand for a bare rear axle for the new Beetle.

 

Just about as bad was the marker light socket and wire on the new fancy GM minivans.. $800 for the pigtail and 2 wires that go across to the firewall/fuse box.

The pigtail is cleverly built in a way that it can not be serviced/repaired. It also has a habit of breaking very easily right at the pigtail were the wires attach. $800 for the wire/pigtail and GM is selling thousands a week. GM has designed the part to easily break right at the tip with no chance of repair. GM will not be going broke this year.

 

been there done that and never got the "You are my bitch" shirt for my troubles

 

That's why God made junkyards.

 

I hate those fucking battery behind the bumper, under the fender, fucking cars.
I sugar coated that a little.

 

I hear ya... there are lots of cars now that you have to pull the battery to change a bulb, or other such nonsense....

 

That's just plain ol' bullshit, on the dealers behalf.
Publicenemy, I could tell you were holding back.

How ya really feel about it?

 

i work at a freightliner dealership....semi truck parts prices are insane like that. bigger parts, more $$.
sometimes i can't beleive how much stuff costs for these things. 1/2 the time, when it comes to wiring & stuff, guys here can make it alot cheaper than buying the oem harness / wiring.
for 2008, emissions are cracking down on semi trucks...they are making a muffler with an afterburner in it. basically, it has a fuel injector in it and an ignitor. it actually ignites fuel being sprayed out of the injector inside the muffler to burn off soot build up. (they call it regeneration) the price of this muffler ??? $5500.00 !!!!!

 

the other day we gotta seat bracket/track for a beech c 90 at work, our cost was about 5000, we charged 8000.

i did a nose wheel inspection for the same plane, my boss told me the wheel was worth about 12000!!!

and i was afraid to break stuff when i just worked on cars

matt

 

yeah, i forgot to mention that the $5,500.00 muffler is our cost.
add the typical dealership markup and it'll be close to $9,000.00 to the customer. of corse, this will be a warranty item for awhile...but the price probably won't go down that much after it's out of warranty and becomes a "common" part.

 

[multi-quote] Fuck that!

 

I read these posts about late model prices, and comfort myself in that Mercedes parts prices for my 300CD are quite a bit cheaper on the whole for everything I've needed.
And GM, Ford, et al wonder why people buy something else?? Are they stupid, or do they just think WE are??

Cosmo

P.S. When/IF this W123 rusts out, I'm buying my third...the big two (three??) have nothing to compare, thirty years on...

 

Yeah, new car parts cost, like the Mercedes front fender we replaced when I was working in a panel shop, $3,800 bare fender.
But like Matt said nothing and I mean NOTHING beats aircraft part costs! I know a group that had to up grade the brakes and wheel and tyre's on their WWII Bomber. Bought a set of new old stock Neptune oleo legs and spindles and had them machined to suit. $48,000 later it was on wheels again!

 

I guess that the 20 years ago price of 1500 for a porsche door is cheap ass cheap compared to now-a-days minivan plastic headlight at $800.

What a scam

 

GM may not go broke this year....but this kind of crap is why people buy Toyotas

 

That's why I hated being a service writer at a GM dealership. On top of that rediculous part price, I had to tell the people we add $95 for a diagnosis to find the problem, then another $100 per hour to fix said problem, plus need to keep the car overnight, as we have it tore apart and don't have the part in stock. Oh yeah, then ask them if they would you like to add a 60K service or a useless fuel injector cleaner service to that too?
I lasted 9 months...
I sleep SO much better at night now!!!!!!!!

 

I've been using those solder on ends for years to keep from buying $80 cables, that is insane.

 

Word. And people wonder why American Auto Manufacturing is in trouble. My dad stopped busting my chops about my "girly" Tacoma when I towed his F-150 home after his mysterious electronics meltdown.

Another reason I like old cars - even I can work on them.

 

Gigantor. Hoped you had all those recalls checked on your Tacoma. ESP the front end issues. Very dangerous. FYI for towing. Also the "sludge " lawsuit

 

I've been wondering why I seem to have one of the only Intrepids left on the road (knock wood).

Still can't figure out why the door weatherstripping all shrunk like 10% though.

 

The door weatherstrip was installed incorrectly..

"Pushing" the weatherstrip into place will alllow for some shrinkage,
"pulling" the weatherstrip into place stretches it from the get go.

The same goes for non bonded window rubber/seals on our hot rods and customs.


jmho

 

I work in the parts dept of a large Chevy dealership....I know.

 

So, what makes this wire $1200 dollars special? If they are selling a couple a week an aftermarket parts opertunity exists. I wonder what the dealer cost is.

 

Just another reason why I drive old cars.....and work on EVERYTHING myself.

 

Well, real detail diagnosis was never free, but useta be that an encounter with a mechanic was kinda free through the point where he said something like "Sounds like you need a new Blivet Modulator." At that point, you either told him you couldn't afford a new modulator til next paycheck and drove away, or handed him the keys and expected some cost.

 

The dealers I use usually knocks off the diagnosis charge when I have the repair done. Also most dealers will give a discount on really big price repairs if you talk to them about it. My wife drives an Avalon as her daily and my youngest son drives an old 300ZX (It is called a 300 because you never leave the garage for less than that) and we almost always get a discount on big ticket service items. But we use the same dealer garage everytime unless we are travelling. Both cars have been serviced at the dealer where they were bought since they were new. (98 & 86 respectively).

Don't beat up the dealer, his prices are set by the corporate money men and he is told to push certain services whether he believes in them or not.