Discussions

Kind of car and what part. I’m curious

OEM parts are a lot more money, but they are Original manufacturer made. Piston ring, etc use aftermarket parts, much less expensive.  
 
It's like saying Walmart has cheaper jeans compared to Ralph Lauren.  
 
Different brands, different prices, different qualities.

Tractor dealerships are just as bad. Needed a bolt for front end loader. Tractor dealership wanted $90 for bolt. Morningstar made one for $2.00 and has been in place for 4 years and tractor is used daily for chores.

From Rock Auto online. Great prices, fast shipping, OEM parts.

That’s nothing a well established car dealership charged me $385 to shut the check engine light off an add a half a quart of transmission fluid. I will never ever go back there for anything.

OEM parts almost always cost more and chances are at any car dealerships, they have higher costs operating their business. This includes paying their workers more then The Piston Rings et al.  
 
Sometimes the little guys shops can cause major headaches including screwing up basic oil changes! We've seen our share of those at my work place.

Skinny Moon said "That’s nothing a well established car dealership charged me $385 to shut the check engine light off an add a half a quart of transmission fluid. I will never ever go back there for anything. "

That "check engine" light can be real expensive.  
 
Luckily I was able to read the code by using the diagnostic mode accessed by pressing my gas pedal in a particular pattern, then counting the light flashes. Turns out my gas cap had a small leak.  
 
Short internet search saved us a couple hundred bucks.

The exact same thing yesterday, with a part for the 4x4 on my truck. I was being quoted 170- $200+ in Canada for a brand name jobber part. I found the exact same part online delivered to the border with free shipping for less than $90 Canadian.  
There is always other parts for tractors that needs to be picked up their so it's not a special trip to fetch it either.  
The trucks older I do try support local if I can for some stuff but that part price was crazy, for a truck i'm probably going to scrap next spring if I replace it.  
 
I buy a lot of tractor parts for a couple machines I fix to, I'm selling them to the customer for less than a dealer in Canada can buy them here, the canadian dealer told me that himself. He can't buy from a U.S franchise dealer and sell the part cheaper which makes him mad, when he looses out.  
 
In one case shopping local I priced a jobber tractor part in Brandon through an A&I dealer. Their price was $350 plus shipping of $20.  
The green and yellow dealer quoted me $800 plus shipping for exactly the same A&I part sitting on a shelf in the warehouse in Sask !.  
 
I knew the big dealer was going to be more money. So I told him the other price, and said if you aren't going to be close don't quote as you are going to look stupid. we seemed to have a difference of opinion on the term close L.O.L  
 
The guys in Brandon are a large business with staff and running costs, they aren't just giving me the part at cost, for the fun of talking to me they are still making profits.  
 
I will say though you have to know the parts cost in Canada and the U.S somethings can be had cheaper here still. I get guys try cashing in on my deals down there thinking they will get cheaper parts, I tell them the company and off they go.  
 
If they don't do the research I do they don't save if they aren't careful. Those are the guys that want free advice all the time to, so don't want to pay me to fix it right either L.O.L

RugbyMom said "From Rock Auto online. Great prices, fast shipping, OEM parts. "

RockAuto are the certainly best and even pay for shipping when returning the parts under warranty!  
 
Plus you get many many selections of suppliers and quality to choose from.

My truck needed an O2 sensor..every place I went to couldn't get it for under $450 never mind installation..so I read some forums..checked out the reputations of some online sites..Ended up getting it for $90 and a friend installed it.No problems since then.

I think we can all appreciate that not all shops will charge the same price for a given item. Shops are allowed to charge what they feel is fair or even profitable for an item they sell, even at the risk of losing sales. Now, let's say there's a power outage and all the shops double the price of generators, I'd call THAT price gouging.

You see it happen in a heat wave. All fans. Air conditioners go up in price. Suddenly bottled water is up.  
 
Then the standard thing. Hotels just raise their price if anything is going on in a city or a certain season. and that happens everywhere.  
 
Flights go up in price at certain times.  
 
Prices at tourist places are so high but we seem to buy just because we are on holidays.  
 
Gas goes up for any reason now. One price in am different in pm and suddenly changed again. Lots of excuses. Wait till the carbon tax. They will double the increase and blame all on the carbon tax.  
 
And sometimes wonder that the reason for such high autopac rates are the prices garages charge for fixing after accident. If you have the same damage on your car and get it fixed without autopac seems sometimes half the price.  
 
Don’t get me started on the price of food. I don’t know how a family or a student can afford to eat.  
 
When I was s student kraft dinner and weiners were the staples. Now you would have to take another loan out to pay the prices they are.  
 
Or the other way of gouging. Reducing the amount in a container but keep the size of it so it looks you are getting as much as before.  
 
I was young but still remember the great switch from imperial to metric and how that was a great profit maker in many businesses.  
 
Gouging though not right has been going on forever.  
 
Only thing everyone needs to do is be careful and compare prices. Watch for sales but be careful it is a sale. The regular price might have been put up to appear as a deal.  
 
Watch out for multiple pricing sure you might save 10 cents but really do you need 5 of something you may never use.

Though no dealership is named or identified in this discussion, its also important to bear in mind when reading that this is not a blanket statement against all or even many dealerships be it in Brandon, Westman, Manitoba or elsewhere in Canada.  
 
All businesses will have their own pricing and policy which is why generally speaking if price is an important factor in making a consumer decision one puts time into shopping around and weighing what they learn against other deciding factors when making their purchase.