No shocker, but a rip-off story...

[grampi]

Originally Posted by PimTac
This reminds me of a sign in a mechanics garage I saw many moons ago.

A guy walks into the shop with spark plugs and asks the mechanic if he will install them for him.

On the same sign the guy walks into a restaurant with a steak and some eggs and asks the cook to fry them up for him.


With the focus on liability , why would a mechanic install a part that he has no idea where it is from? If the part fails and a accident and or injury happens then he might be called on the carpet. Especially with online sales where we really don't know the history or origin of some of these parts.


That's a little far fetched. If a guy walks in with a set of new spark plugs and they say NGK on them, it's known where their from...

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I wouldn't say rockauto is the ones putting Chinese bearings in Moog boxes ... that's Moog. and Timken. It's all Chinese now. Not a huge fan of Moog anyway. 13K miles after putting in moog front ball joints, the steering on my truck *almost* has a center!


Originally Posted by 01rangerxl
Originally Posted by Falcon_LS
That's a bit of a mark up.

That being said, I just bought wheel hubs for my Explorer and went with SKF. Did the same on my Grand Marquis last year, never had a problem.

I had problems with Moog hubs I've installed for a friend, which only lasted about 18 months.


SKF is probably the best readily available hub/bearing manufacturer now.

I managed to find Koyo bearings via NAPA a couple years ago and am currently running them on my old TTB Explorer and 02 2WD Ranger. Doubt I'll be able to find them easily again.


I've had good luck with WJB, have not tried SKF yet. My Jeep absolutely eats the Timken wheel bearings I tried in it. Their quality has fallen a ton.

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by domer10
I have personal friends who own shops....and trust me the mark up on their end is bogus and they will be first to admit it. If they need a part they call Napa, the same Napa that me or that exact person could go to and pick up said part. The shop then adds a additional 40 percent mark up on a part that got delivered from a store a mile away. Shops make their bones on unsuspecting customers. Overhead or not, they charge 100 dollars a hr some shops. On a employee that makes less than 25hr. There is no justification for marking up a part 40 percent and then claim overhead. Shops are all about gouging unknowing customers.



Bingo....most are rip off artists, that is if they even do any work at all that you pay for. Nobody says they shouldn't mark up some parts to make money but the outrageous amounts they usually charge seems like highway robbery.


This is something that people have been going round and round about for years. The trick is finding an auto repair place that you can trust. I am lucky to have found one. They do have to pay for their overhead so there are going to be mark ups, and you are having them do something you can't do, or just don't want to do so you're going to have to pay for that service. It's the consumer's responsibility to use a place that is giving you a good value for the amount you are paying. If a person feels like they are being ripped off, then it's time to find another repair shop...

 

[PimTac]

Originally Posted by grampi
Originally Posted by PimTac
This reminds me of a sign in a mechanics garage I saw many moons ago.

A guy walks into the shop with spark plugs and asks the mechanic if he will install them for him.

On the same sign the guy walks into a restaurant with a steak and some eggs and asks the cook to fry them up for him.


With the focus on liability , why would a mechanic install a part that he has no idea where it is from? If the part fails and a accident and or injury happens then he might be called on the carpet. Especially with online sales where we really don't know the history or origin of some of these parts.


That's a little far fetched. If a guy walks in with a set of new spark plugs and they say NGK on them, it's known where their from...




You might be surprised. Counterfeiting has gotten very good.

http://ngk.sr/technical-information/fake-spark-plug/

 

[cb_13]

Originally Posted by grampi
Originally Posted by PimTac
This reminds me of a sign in a mechanics garage I saw many moons ago.

A guy walks into the shop with spark plugs and asks the mechanic if he will install them for him.

On the same sign the guy walks into a restaurant with a steak and some eggs and asks the cook to fry them up for him.


With the focus on liability , why would a mechanic install a part that he has no idea where it is from? If the part fails and a accident and or injury happens then he might be called on the carpet. Especially with online sales where we really don't know the history or origin of some of these parts.


That's a little far fetched. If a guy walks in with a set of new spark plugs and they say NGK on them, it's known where their from...


They could be damaged from shipping from buying off of eBay. In my area there's a wholesale auto parts store that specializes in returned/discontinued parts. These parts look like they've been sitting in a storage unit for 5 years. While they are new to the customer they've been shipped around who knows how many times. That opens up the possibility of a huge fight when you tell the customer their new parts are damaged and they need to buy yours to get it fixed.

 

[ragtoplvr]

Auto parts stores deliver the same day. They try to have a cute pleasant happy delivery girl.Getting much more rare these days. This is ot free

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted by dnewton3
Originally Posted by KGMtech
...His response: "well, Rock Auto is just putting junk Chinese parts in Moog boxes and shipping them out" "ours come with a 3 year warranty" I said that so do the Moog parts that RA supplies, in fact 1 of the front wheel hubs that I installed failed early, and RA paid for my return shipping and gave me a full refund. He had no answer.

I find this part of the conversation more than a bit perplexing, if not downright stupid.
I'm NOT bashing the OP, but rather the shop owner that made this allegation.
- So, what's the shop owner's proof this happens; that RA swaps out MOOG for junk?
- if RA takes out true MOOG parts and puts in "junk Chinese parts", that begs two subordinate questions; 1) is the inference that RA then sells the "real" MOOG parts elsewhere, or 2) do they somehow also get fake MOOG boxes for the Chinese parts?
- if RA is doing this, would this not be of MAJOR interest to the FTC for deceptive sales practices? RA is a huge company that ships all over the States, and I'm supposed to believe that RA is willing to risk legal fines and prison time for Chinese parts??? It would be a federal felony thousands of times over, and yet no one's being charged after how many years of being in business???

I would have chalked that line of garbage up to local sales talk. Inflated claims to go along with the inflated pricing. I do understand that local shops have to make a profit to survive; overhead, labor, insurance, etc. But I don't accept that the way to explain their high pricing is to bash RA as if they are evil and the local shop is beyond reproach. That's pure poppycock. I'm sure it goes on all the time; local shops make false claims to keep the natives in camp - this isn't an isolated occurrence.

If that shop owner continued his allegations, I think RA might be interested in having their lawyers talk with him.



Hyperbole much with your lawyer talk? Same as this thread claiming a "rip-off story".


What would you say if someone came up to you and said they can get a police uniform, a gun, baton, badge, the whole get up for a fraction if the cost on ebay and play a cop for free during their spare time claiming there is nothing to it? Would you be fine with such an ignorant attitude or would you be insulted?

What about any other profession? Say a doctor, engineer. What would any of you say if someone came off the street and basically told you they can do what you do for much less and that your work is a "rip-off"?

That's pretty much what OP did.

 

[JTK]

I've paid $400-500 a pop for wheel bearing replacements from a local shop and this was 8-10yrs ago.

I go into it expecting to pay about 3x what it would cost me to do it.

For instance, I can mail order no-name pad and rotor kits for about $100/axle. It's $300-400 per axle to have a shop do pads and rotors in my area.

 

[benjayman227]

Neither party is innocent here.

OP is basically trying to tell the shop manager how to run his business, which is frustrating to the manager for obvious reasons, especially since OP already admitted that he 1) didn't prefer to spend his time DIY'ing this repair, and 2) in his estimation, the shop is not a sleaze-factory.

Shop manager took his first wrong turn by bashing RA and attempting to make excuses to win business, instead of just saying "our prices are what they are".

IMO, there is no such thing as a "right" or "wrong" markup. There is only what the market will bear.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by dnewton3
If that shop owner continued his allegations, I think RA might be interested in having their lawyers talk with him.

Haha !! Rockauto doesn't care what a shop owner says. They won't waste their time and money.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by benjayman227
IMO, there is no such thing as a "right" or "wrong" markup. There is only what the market will bear.

Ding, ding, ding - we have a winning answer right there. This shop is in business and operating. By the OP's own admission

Quote
I've used this shop before for other jobs that I don't have the tools or time to perform. ...but has a good reputation


I really doubt that this shop applied a higher than normal mark-up on the parts for the OP than they do on every other job they do each day. I don't blame shops for a) not installing customer-supplied parts or b) the price they pay for parts. It's insulting to compare their parts to what we can buy them from Amazon, Rockauto, etc. Buy them there if you choose, but you also get to install them. When I've had work done at a shop, I've been tempted to compare the price of the part that they charged me for vs what I could buy it for ..... but I stop myself and tell myself "the job is done".

 

[PimTac]

Rock Auto probably doesn't know where this stuff comes from.

In the auto parts store model, they get their parts from distributors who are getting it from the manufacturer. For the most part it's a clear chain of custody.

RA might be getting stuff from brokers who deal in unsold or whatever stocks. I don't think the chain of custody is as clear here.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by PimTac
Rock Auto probably doesn't know where this stuff comes from.


RockAuto is just a reseller and uses auto parts distributors for inventory and shipping. When you order a part from RA, some regional auto parts warehouse direct-ships it to you on behalf of RA.

 

[Whimsey]

Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Originally Posted by PimTac
Rock Auto probably doesn't know where this stuff comes from.


RockAuto is just a reseller and uses auto parts distributors for inventory and shipping. When you order a part from RA, some regional auto parts warehouse direct-ships it to you on behalf of RA.


Yes and RA still retains the responsibility if there is a problem or issue to resolve it. So far RA has always taken car of the very few issues I've had. It's not as convenient now because there are no live customer service people to speak to. But it still works and if it helps keep their prices lower I'm OK with it.

Whimsey

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted by cb_13
Originally Posted by grampi
Originally Posted by PimTac
This reminds me of a sign in a mechanics garage I saw many moons ago.

A guy walks into the shop with spark plugs and asks the mechanic if he will install them for him.

On the same sign the guy walks into a restaurant with a steak and some eggs and asks the cook to fry them up for him.


With the focus on liability , why would a mechanic install a part that he has no idea where it is from? If the part fails and a accident and or injury happens then he might be called on the carpet. Especially with online sales where we really don't know the history or origin of some of these parts.


That's a little far fetched. If a guy walks in with a set of new spark plugs and they say NGK on them, it's known where their from...


They could be damaged from shipping from buying off of eBay. In my area there's a wholesale auto parts store that specializes in returned/discontinued parts. These parts look like they've been sitting in a storage unit for 5 years. While they are new to the customer they've been shipped around who knows how many times. That opens up the possibility of a huge fight when you tell the customer their new parts are damaged and they need to buy yours to get it fixed.


So what's to prevent the parts the repair shop is getting from being subjected to the same things?

 

[Alfred_B]

How else do you think the owner can afford a mcmansion and a boat?

Gotta have a healthy profit margin.

 

[cb_13]

Originally Posted by grampi
Originally Posted by cb_13
Originally Posted by grampi
Originally Posted by PimTac
This reminds me of a sign in a mechanics garage I saw many moons ago.

A guy walks into the shop with spark plugs and asks the mechanic if he will install them for him.

On the same sign the guy walks into a restaurant with a steak and some eggs and asks the cook to fry them up for him.


With the focus on liability , why would a mechanic install a part that he has no idea where it is from? If the part fails and a accident and or injury happens then he might be called on the carpet. Especially with online sales where we really don't know the history or origin of some of these parts.


That's a little far fetched. If a guy walks in with a set of new spark plugs and they say NGK on them, it's known where their from...


They could be damaged from shipping from buying off of eBay. In my area there's a wholesale auto parts store that specializes in returned/discontinued parts. These parts look like they've been sitting in a storage unit for 5 years. While they are new to the customer they've been shipped around who knows how many times. That opens up the possibility of a huge fight when you tell the customer their new parts are damaged and they need to buy yours to get it fixed.


So what's to prevent the parts the repair shop is getting from being subjected to the same things?

Nothing, but if that's the case the repair shop gets another part. If it's the customer supplying parts it's on them to get a new part or they need to buy one from the repair shop. More than once when we were using customer supplied parts I was accused of not knowing how the part goes on, or purposely damaging it so they'd have to buy mine. It's just an argument waiting to happen. I don't miss using customer supplied parts at all and parts profit has never had anything to do with my pay during time as a tech or advisor either one.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Originally Posted by Alfred_B
How else do you think the owner can afford a mcmansion and a boat?

Gotta have a healthy profit margin.

So what would you propose a shop owner do..run the business as a hobby?

 

[4WD]

Agree on Napa … spotted a perfect weather day to do the first ATF swap last week on Tahoe.
Made sure I had the spare pan and drain plug kit. Wait? Where is my filter and gasket?
Found it ! In my eBay shopping cart. Duh.
Head to Napa and paid more. $44 with tax. My bad. Looked great and not distorted by shipping.
Oh, well … job done right and no labor cost.

 

[02SE]

Originally Posted by domer10
I have personal friends who own shops....and trust me the mark up on their end is bogus and they will be first to admit it. If they need a part they call Napa, the same Napa that me or that exact person could go to and pick up said part. The shop then adds a additional 40 percent mark up on a part that got delivered from a store a mile away. Shops make their bones on unsuspecting customers. Overhead or not, they charge 100 dollars a hr some shops. On a employee that makes less than 25hr. There is no justification for marking up a part 40 percent and then claim overhead. Shops are all about gouging unknowing customers.


So make the investment in money, time, knowledge, and ability, and start your own shop and run it as you deem ethical. If your idea is viable, and once you realize all the overhead costs (especially with employees), you should be a great success.