I think I just got screwed. Advice?

[75Monza]

I wouldn't get too hung up on the "Moog" brand name anyhow. The Moog that made that reputation was bought up by a conglomerate a couple decades ago. Now, it's just a name on a box. Not uncommon for two pieces that are the same part number to be in different boxes and look different from each other. They're not all made by a single entity anymore.

I agree, had the same issue before from O'Reilly's when I was trying to get u-joints, wanted spicer, only had precision on the shelf and was told "same as Moog", so I gambled. Didn't even last a year on my plow truck, blew the damn thing apart hoggin' with chains on. I've had no luck with anything Precision...they are that in name only, tolerances are just not even close to what I would take the time for, since I want to do the repair once and be done with it. There is a reason Precision has a lifetime warranty on lots of their crap, they just gamble that you won't bother and buy another one.

 

[thecantaloupeman]

I wouldn't get too hung up on the "Moog" brand name anyhow. The Moog that made that reputation was bought up by a conglomerate a couple decades ago. Now, it's just a name on a box. Not uncommon for two pieces that are the same part number to be in different boxes and look different from each other. They're not all made by a single entity anymore.

Still I just feel like they jipped me 400$ because if I had bought those oreilly parts myself it wouldve

Thank your parents profusely
And drive it !

As mentioned
A lot of brand names have be gobbled up and nowadays you never know what’s in the box

Yeah I think thats just what I'm gonna have to do. As long as they didnt miss that one nut. I took it to them this afternoon and they couldnt figure out where it came from. I find it really strange that there was just an extra nut sitting on top of the passenger side upper control arm. I am just sorta hoping it was just a design thing where maybe the old control arm had an extra nut or something. As long as they didnt do the job wrong I guess I'm fine with these control arms. At least they are greasable so thats cool.

 

[Blue Ox]

Still I just feel like they jipped me 400$ because if I had bought those oreilly parts myself it wouldve

Try going to your favorite restaurant and bringing your own steak.

 

[bluex]

Still I just feel like they jipped me 400$ because if I had bought those oreilly parts myself it wouldve

Yeah I think thats just what I'm gonna have to do. As long as they didnt miss that one nut. I took it to them this afternoon and they couldnt figure out where it came from. I find it really strange that there was just an extra nut sitting on top of the passenger side upper control arm. I am just sorta hoping it was just a design thing where maybe the old control arm had an extra nut or something. As long as they didnt do the job wrong I guess I'm fine with these control arms. At least they are greasable so thats cool.

It's possible it was a castle nut from the old ball joints the tech set there an forgot about. I set stuff on them all the time an then spend 5 mins looking for it lol.

 

[roundhouse]

Yeah
It’s kinda frustrating when you know they get the parts at a steep discount and then mark em up 100%
And charge $110 and hour and “misc shop fee”

Poor mechanic is Probabaly getting $12 an hour

My son was doing hvac repair and the biz charged the customers $90 hr and paid him $12 hr

 

[morrow07]

Yeah
It’s kinda frustrating when you know they get the parts at a steep discount and then mark em up 100%
And charge $110 and hour and “misc shop fee”

Poor mechanic is Probabaly getting $12 an hour

My son was doing hvac repair and the biz charged the customers $90 hr and paid him $12 hr

I completely understand the issue with mark ups, but especially here in Communist California where I live, we have to mark up 100%. We mark up labor and parts 100% and my pricing is still right in the middle on all of my HVAC work. Our average service technician here is making between $38-55 hour. For residential we are charging $145 to come out and commercial $190. Then we break up the hours into 15 minute increments. I'm not sure how much less the cost of living is out there in Georgia, but the crap we go through in this state and the taxes we pay are completely insane. At least that's how I can justify my mark up, but I am in the most left his part of the country so it comes of the territory.

 

[thecantaloupeman]

Yeah
It’s kinda frustrating when you know they get the parts at a steep discount and then mark em up 100%
And charge $110 and hour and “misc shop fee”

Poor mechanic is Probabaly getting $12 an hour

My son was doing hvac repair and the biz charged the customers $90 hr and paid him $12 hr

Well it just kinda sucks knowing I couldve done the same job myself and saved 1000$ if I used the same parts. It is nice to have it done and it likely won't fail in the near future, but I would've liked that peace of mind with the moog parts.

 

[bucket]

I gotta say, that was one of my pet peeves when I was working at the shop. Customers complaining about the price of the repair and how much it would have cost them to fix it themselves. That's apples to oranges. A shop is not in business to fix cars for free. If you want to pay less for parts and don't want to pay a labor rate, then fix it yourself. It really is that simple.

 

[thecantaloupeman]

I gotta say, that was one of my pet peeves when I was working at the shop. Customers complaining about the price of the repair and how much it would have cost them to fix it themselves. That's apples to oranges. A shop is not in business to fix cars for free. If you want to pay less for parts and don't want to pay a labor rate, then fix it yourself. It really is that simple.

Well I totally expect a labor cost, but what they claimed was that parts were 600 and labor was 600. When in reality parts should've only been 200$. I dunno there's nothing I can do now. Its fixed so I can drive it now which is what matters. I just feel bad for my parents because the only reason they paid for it was so that I would be safe and not have to crawl under it.

 

[K201979]

Just be thankful that its fixed. Drive the piss out of it, and fix it when they fail. If nothing else your parents bought you some miles. Thank them. Its only money, we will get more. Its the thought that counts!

 

[idahovette]

Ya know sometimes parents do stuff for their kids just because they can. They didn't go out looking for the best deal, they took it to someone they trusted and to do something for their "little boy". I think you are lucky to have them still want to help you and able to do it , so look at it as a time saver ,money saver win for you and just say "thanks folks"

 

[roundhouse]

Well I totally expect a labor cost, but what they claimed was that parts were 600 and labor was 600. When in reality parts should've only been 200$. I dunno there's nothing I can do now. Its fixed so I can drive it now which is what matters. I just feel bad for my parents because the only reason they paid for it was so that I would be safe and not have to crawl under it.

Don’t share these feelings with your parents
Thank them and act happy

It’s like them buying you a nice gift
Or a nice steak dinner

Sure you could have bought the meat at the grocery store and Cooked it at home for half price
But they wanted to do something nice

My parents did something like that years ago
I was an over the road trucker and my car was a 70 firebird that had a terrible paint job that was peeling off and the original orange color was showing through
It looked horrible

When I was on the road for several weeks they took it and had it painted at a budget paint shop
It wasn’t the greatest job but it sure looked better and I wasn’t about to say anything negative about their very nice gesture

 

[4WDKC]

It shouldn't be... that's why they get jobber prices so they can mark up the price and still be in the ballpark. They don't pay what the guy on the street pays and then mark the price up. At least they shouldn't be doing this but these days it seems companies are empowered to screw everyone over.

HAving been on both sides of the coin for this I have worked in shops and at the parts stores, shops have commercial accounts and get discounts on prices. If you check my post about garage tips/hacks you will see I recommend setting one up for yourself. It costs nothing and you dont need a charge account or tax exempt to get the discount. Also the mark everyone is refering to is known as list price on your receipts and how they make it seem like you are getting a deal.

The ones doing the screwing are the chain auto parts stores. They pretty much sell to the user at trade prices. It's been a big problem in the repair industry for a long time now because it causes vehicle owners to react exactly like this thread.

They cant sell at dealer prices noone would buy from them then.

The upcharge keeps the doors open at most shops. Most places have a lot of monthly expenses to run a decent shop, they aren't getting rich. If there was no upsale on parts, the labor rate would just be higher.

The places that really screw people, those ones won't be in business very long.

I get that there are expenses to running a shop but they already charge $100 hour labor and pay the tech 20-30 an hour.

I gotta say, that was one of my pet peeves when I was working at the shop. Customers complaining about the price of the repair and how much it would have cost them to fix it themselves. That's apples to oranges. A shop is not in business to fix cars for free. If you want to pay less for parts and don't want to pay a labor rate, then fix it yourself. It really is that simple.

We get that and have no problem paying for labor but the additional cost of parts is where the issue is. Could you imagine if every middle man marked up prices like that? a lug nut would cost $100 by the time it got put on the car.

 

[bluex]

There is a ton of overhead in running a shop. The markup on parts pays for time we spend looking up an ordering parts for you an the 4 other people who price stuff but don't buy anything. Misc shop fees cover stuff like shop rags, chassis grease, brake cleaner, hand cleaner, waste disposal, etc.

I understand you think it was expensive and I even agreed the parts price seemed high. You also don't go to a restaurant order a $20 steak an then complain that you could have bought an cooked your own steak for $8 do you?

Everyone's time is valuable. You (or your parents) paid for the convenience of dropping off a damaged vehicle an picking up one that was repaired with new parts an ready to drive away. That costs something just like everything else in the world....

 

[bucket]

Parts markup is just simply how it works in the industry though. That's how it's been and it's not going away. I do agree that the shop in question is a bit on the high end, but I'm sure that price was agreed upon before any work was done. Nobody was forced to pay those prices, they could have shopped around and taken their business elsewhere.

Again, there is a lot of expenses that go along with running a good repair business. These people aren't getting rich off of the parts markup, it's just getting put right back into business expenses. The places that really do screw the customers, yeah there's a lot out there, but they won't be in business very long.