What is the justification for the higher price at dealer parts counters?

My engine coded on my truck. Mass Air sensor is mucking up the works.

My neighbor is an instructor for vocational Auto Shop and is going to bring a REAL code scanner for me to use but, in the meantime I started pricing the part.

The dealers parts counter has the OEM (Delphi) part for $256.99. I told the guy I didn;t want them to put it in for me but, taht didn't change anything. :cross:

NAPA has the SAME exact part for $100 LESS. WTF?

Everyone else gets a LOT cheaper but they stock remanufactured parts.

Because they can? Many people who get their cars serviced at the dealer are convinced that only the dealer has real parts, not realizing how much of their car is built by smaller companies. How do the dealers get away with charging Book labor times for jobs that take much less than Book? Same-o

What really throws me? I had an old Dodge-based RV. The dealer "couldn't get parts for anything over 22 years old". No problem at Napa.

Nothing wrong with remanufactured parts in my mind. The CVJs on my Honda Civic failed at 38,000. The dealer replacement failed at 72,000. The remanufactured half-axles cost 1/3 the price of the CVJs and were still on the car at 204,000.

Dealer = Manufacturer = MSRP, Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price

Never pay retail.

+1, I find aftermarket parts are as generally as good and sometimes better and always less expensive.

I've only had one instance I can remember when I had to use a dealer. Some how I broke the the pipe that went from the turbo to the intake manifold on my TDI Beetle. The VW dealer had to import one, even the regional warehouses didn't stock the item.

oem parts,ie. dealers parts, are sold first to the assembling company(ford etc) then resold to the dealer and finally to the customer who must have the dealer part or it isn't right. now aftermarket or carshop parts are only sold once from the maker to the auto parts store hence lower overhead and markup from changing hands.

Power window regulator for 02 Silverado:
Dealer = $189 w/o the motor...
Ebay = $40 w/ motor (motor sucked gopher nuts, but I used the one off the broken regulator)...

And another FYI :

Remote entry fob on VW went bad... Bought replacement... Forgot about the encoding... Dealer price = 1/2 hour of labor @ $100 an hour...

Solution = Five minutes on the internet, 10 seconds printing instructions, 5 minutes programming two remotes...

Many people are not do it yourselfers and cannot fathom even simple things like replacing a remote or troubleshooting their vehicle. I've had vehicles with issues, and with some quick searching I was able to fix one particular problem with a 50 cent piece of vacuum hose that would have cost over $6.00 from the dealer.

Dealers charge high prices because they expect that someone will come in and pay the price and also the labor because they can't figure it out themselves.

The dealer that we bought the wifes TransAm from are a bunch of cocksuckers. For starters, the one person I absolutely LOATHE (an ex Navy coworker) has somehow landed employment there. I was 'friendly' enough with him to also learn that the service department is also now commission based.

The more they sell, the more they make.
****ers
-Me

Just went in for a fuel hose for a ford econoline...1 foot of what looks like glorified radiator hose...$155.
Parts guy said "oh my god" before he even told me. He then "cut me a deal" and tried to sell it to me for $120. I told them they need to sell lube when they rape people and walked out.
$10 for radiator hose and hose clamps, it's all done. May only last a year or 2, but I refuse to pay 120 for a piece of rubber hose.

knarks - NAPA carries fuel hose by the foot. I paid $9 for two feet a couple years back.

McKBrew said:

Many people are not do it yourselfers and cannot fathom even simple things like replacing a remote or troubleshooting their vehicle....

Click to expand...

I am one of those people... I am mechanically inclined, but was too afraid to try it since I only had one vehicle at a time...

If you can (or have a spare vehicle), work to get over that fear.... I have now managed to replace a coolant flange, replaced 4 window regulators, changed transmission fluid, replace a complete set of springs and shocks/struts, and am in the process of an engine swap (w/ an expert leading the way for now)...

Granted there are a lot of things I don't know, but a lot of people can handle most of the problems one may run into...

Good luck!

my mass air sensor went bad on my mazda i just got a part from the junk yard & it worked fine.

the biggest issue in the do it yourself area is having the tools. i wouldn't do a lot of work on my cars because i don't have the necessary stuff. of course i now have friends that do have that stuff so my truck only goes to the shop for things like exhaust that need to be welded, and alignments. man i would love to have a lift for the next time i lower a vehicle.

as far as prices go, its the dealer, lots of people only trust the dealers to do the work right so they can charge what they want. the trick is to find a good mechanic that works for him self if you cant do it on your own.

Parts guys have always been commisioned based at dealerships, well, for as long as I can remember.

The parts are resold a few times before a dealer gets them so they are higher. Not only that but the maunfacturers require dealers to carry a huge amount of parts inventory and not at a discount.

Yeah, some dealers probably do charge a higher price than most auto parts places but as you pointed out in the OP you were doing the work yourself. If you were not you would have to pay the higher price for the dealer to work on it.

kudos to you for being able to do your own auto work. the most I can do is change an alternator.

Most of the time a bad MAF sensor is just dirty and can be cleaned.

MAF sensor from Toyota- $285.00

Can of sensor kleen- $5.00

It was 10 min. to remove sensor, spray with cleaner and reinstall.

Just make sure to use a sensor safe cleaner.

bwiebe said:

Most of the time a bad MAF sensor is just dirty and can be cleaned.

MAF sensor from Toyota- $285.00

Can of sensor kleen- $5.00

It was 10 min. to remove sensor, spray with cleaner and reinstall.

Just make sure to use a sensor safe cleaner.

Click to expand...

I was going to suggest a cleaner. There really isn't that much to them.

My wife loves that I am confident with our vehicles. Oops, the gear selector cable broke? $5 for one that I pulled out at the junk yard. Hard to find because the guys generally just cut the cable when they pull the transmission, but I did find a slightly shorter cable that only required a bit of rerouting to get to work.

Same with window regulator on the Jeep and Durango. Not hard to do, just go to the junk yard and get one!

With 180,000 our Durango is looking to get a new steering rack and possibly a pump as well. For now the stop leak stuff is working, but I've had to add it twice. No leaks, just hard spots and stiff steering for the first spin of the wheel.

I think it's fun to fix cars!

Well, the sensor seem to only code when the humidity is high. Once the air dries out then it clears itself.

My auto-tech buddy brought over a snap on code reader that can report real time values from teh sensors. The sensor is working the computer just doesn;t like what it's talking about sometimes.

Got some MAF cleaner and will use it this evening. Will also re-charge my K&N air cleaner and check that the MAF connectors are clean and tight.

I don't mind working on cars actually it's just been a very long time since I have had to.