Ebay car parts verses Main dealer prices ?

[Westward]

Depends what you're looking for and what vehicle it is. For example if you want the usual failed suspension parts for a Focus or Kuga, original Ford parts are probably the worst quality on the market, which of course is why you need replacements... 

Pattern parts from the bay or your local motor factor will be half the price and last twice as long.

[bottletopbill]

Used to be a supervisor in parts at vauxhall dealers  in south east London  Manager said to keep some boxes of items and give to trade in a bag. Brought cheaper items and put in boxes to sell to public. So do not trust any one

[bavarianbrit]

When I worked for the OEM"s I heard there was a 400% markup profit on spare parts sales prices.

[bottletopbill]

Look at any main dealers you will see other motor parts factors delivering  

[Vince Green]

Absolutely nobody is going to justify setting up a factory to make from scratch most of the pattern parts for cars. The vast majority of pattern parts come out of the same factory as the originals but just not in the OM packaging.

For example we recently bought a headlight for a Peugeot van. The headlght was OEM and half the price of Peugeot but every little detail was identical to the one we took off. The little numbers moulded into the plastic, the little stickers, everything.

The only time I wont chance is is brake pads and oil filters

Edited September 19, 2020 by Vince Green

[Vince Green]

On 17/09/2020 at 09:13, bavarianbrit said:

When I worked for the OEM"s I heard there was a 400% markup profit on spare parts sales prices.

Yes but the cost of maintaining such a vast inventory of different parts, many of them slow moving is horrendous for all the different makes and models they have to keep

[bavarianbrit]

22 hours ago, Vince Green said:

Yes but the cost of maintaining such a vast inventory of different parts, many of them slow moving is horrendous for all the different makes and models they have to keep

Very true, but the customer usually chokes on the prices asked for often simple items.

[Vince Green]

1 minute ago, bavarianbrit said:

Very true, but the customer usually chokes on the prices asked for often simple items.

The Europarts of this world cherry pick the parts they want to supply. Its a perfectly fair business plan and one that clearly works given the success of the operation but it lumbers the main agents with having a much slower rate of turnover. That becomes a slow downward spiral where prices are concerned.

[bavarianbrit]

Just now, Vince Green said:

The Europarts of this world cherry pick the parts they want to supply. Its a perfectly fair business plan and one that clearly works given the success of the operation but it lumbers the main agents with having a much slower rate of turnover. That becomes a slow downward spiral where prices are concerned.

Well I am very glad I am retired from that rat race, I have just bought a 2018 Subaru Impreza 2.0 so that should sort me out for the next ten years of my slowing down sporting shooting.

[bostonmick]

My hilux has 190k on the clock and still  running on everything it came out the factory with bar a exhaust brake pads and tyres.a previous hilux needed a radiator so to cut the cost I bought a eBay rad it lasted less than a year so I put another original from main dealer on and got several years until I sold the truck and probably still serving well.

[Rupert]

A number of main dealers have an ebay shop. i use a couple for mercedes (newcastle) and volvo for substantial discounts on genuine parts.

[four-wheel-drive]

I have a Jeep grand cherokee and tend to buy some parts from ebay but if it is an electrical part I go to RockAuto in America as I have an American car I find it best to pay that bit extra for post and tax and get the proper part and with them you do get lots to choose from I tend to go with if not the top price item the  next one  down.