Why do auto repair shops have to mark up parts by 2.5x

[Black-N-Red]

Buy the part yourself next time and take it to the shop to be installed.
No where does it say they have to buy the part

When you go out to eat do you take your own groceries?

[flywise]

When you go out to eat do you take your own groceries?

Really?

I have used several shops in the past but setteled on my favorite a few years ago and i take them my parts. If the part were to fail after install i'd fully expect to pay more labor but i don't expect to pay a shop 100% more than the part it worth.
That said about the only part im not going to repair myself is an a/c

[wsteffen]

The book prices are actually done by the manufacturer to set the rate for warranty repairs. A good mechanic can usually do the repair in less time but has to be careful. A come back is on his time. Parts are always higher at a repair place, just the way it is. Inside door handle from Ford $65, bought on line $27.
The mark up is to keep the doors open. About half of the labor go to the mechanic's wage, the rest pays for all the support staff, employee benefits and the building expenses.
In a dealership, the garage is expected to pay for all the dealership costs. The sales department is where the dealer profits.
There are a lot of behind the scenes expenses that have to be covered from some where.

[DEG]

Most shops hate this idea and some in my area will not do the work. As soon as that part fails and has to be redone another labor charge is coming. Alternators, starters and ac compressors can be bad from the get go, especially the cheap ones.

I wouldn't do it in the dealership where I was the service manager. Tried it for awhile. It lost me several customers. All parts are not created equal and all parts people can't supply the correct part 100% of the time. When the customer brings his own part in, The car/truck gets brought into the shop. It gets disassembled and then you find out its the wrong part or worse yet, you find out it did not fix the vehicle or it was defective. Either way, the customer would be ****** at the shop. Not the fact it was misdiagnosed by himself or "mechanic" buddy.

As far as book time, Fords warranty time is derived from actual time studies done with a certified tech using hand tools only. As far as I was ever to learn, Chilton and the others use that plus a percentage.

[mjbtexas]

sometimes shops void warranties with BYO parts. I respect that. At least they have standard operating procedures.

this is one market that needs disrupting

[ranchdog]

A lot of shops charge list price or marking up 110-150%, Which in my opinion is crazy. I mark my parts up 60% & make plenty of money. Just as a comparison of your truck was 2wd, I would would have sold the part for $388. Yes there is a cheaper bearing but I've had problems with them. Labor would have been $120.

My truck is 4WD (I don't think in this case it makes a difference though) the part was a Timken (what they told me) F 250 wheel bearing hub.

This is the part and its higher priced of what I could find so the $175 was the higher end price I could have got it. Auto parts stores had other hubs cheaper. So they marked it up to $440 which really isn't that far off of your $338. Their labor was $220 (they did turn the rotor for $20)

https://www.amazon.com/Timken-SP580205-Axle-Bearing-Assembly/dp/B000VKK0M2

Again, they do good work. Their shop guys know an F250 7.3 so I like them. This post is not so much about this one repair but more why are shops going crazy on mark up.

The other trick, a different shop tried on my wife was a brake job that she waited until the rotors were rubbing to tell me and then the shop told her "well we need to replace the Calipers !" I am like WHAT, nothing happened to her calipers dude. Well we just replace them if the rotor has been ground by the break pads. I am like get out of here dude, yeah replace rotors but not a caliper. The manager who I know and just closed his own shop and had to go to work there said well that's how they are trained now. I said trained to screw women over that's what. Never going back there again.

RD

[Lungbustr]

Buy the part yourself next time and take it to the shop to be installed.
No where does it say they have to buy the part

This is what I do. I buy a higher quality part cheaper, then have the shop install for an agreed to price.

[DEG]

Warranties cannot be voided per the Magnusson-Moss act of 1975. If a failed BYO part causes a problem, the repairs are not covered by the factory warranty. If a factory covered part fails and causes any non factory add on to fail, the non factory part will be covered as well.

[Fightinaggies]

Buy the part yourself next time and take it to the shop to be installed.
No where does it say they have to buy the part

In my experience these are the "do it yourself" ers who you tube something and then half way in realize its way above their skill level and need someone to clean up their mess, or people who are to cheap to buy a good part in the first place. The auto industry is like any other business, can you do it yourself for cheaper, absolutely, but do you have the tens of thousands of dollars worth of tools, special equipment, lifts, and programing abilities a reputable shop does? I doubt it.

[RiverRat1]

Why are prices so high?

In one word

Taxes

[mjhaverkamp]

Those shops have to make a profit, the parts mark up are part of their profits. I have folks trying to buy all of the materials for jobs and then i just charge them labor, I will do it but in the end they still pay what I would have charged turn key.

[91cavgt]

Put yourself in the shop's shoes. Say a customer comes in to get a water pump replaced and all goes well. Now a week later the customer comes back telling and screaming because a tail light on their car went out. They are yelling and screaming because they truely think that the shop caused the light to fail.

If you send the customer on their way (which should be done) then they are going to post a bad review of your shop and they are going to tell all their friends don't go there. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising and this can seriously hurt your business, even if you are right and the customer is wrong. That's the kind of world we live in now.

So you suck it up, take 5 minutes and replace the $2 light bulb. That labor and part cost have to come from somewhere. This is a big reason why I don't own a shop.


As far as the mechanics getting half of the labor cost, that is false. A good mechanic will make, on average, about $30 to $40 an hour if they have plenty of work. Compare that with the average $100 to $120 an hour labor charge.

[Bullseye07]

Warranties cannot be voided per the Magnusson-Moss act of 1975. If a failed BYO part causes a problem, the repairs are not covered by the factory warranty. If a factory covered part fails and causes any non factory add on to fail, the non factory part will be covered as well.

This is about a 3rd party shop warrantying their own work. Magnusson-Moss does not apply to this situation.

[tigerscowboy]

One reason....

Overhead.

Own your own business and reality will present itself in a hurry.

[ranchdog]

One reason....

Overhead.

Own your own business and reality will present itself in a hurry.

LOL, yep your right. We have a A/C repair place here in Richmond and they are sky high on Freon. I had them out one time and my unit may have a leak. Anyway it was way expensive and later my buddy told me man Freon is not that expensive.

Then I remembered that all his sons and drive maxed out lifted 4WD trucks that are crazy jacked up and their house is like a mansion. Needlesss to say I am not using them again. Poor guys overhead is crazy. No telling how much money his wife is burning on a daily rate. LOL, I think he has a HIGH family burn rate

RD