Being half Taiwanese and half Irish, I have never experienced what the comics or other people commenting are saying they have. I am kinda at a loss here. Maybe it is just growing up in an affluent lily white area that has spared me from all this torment? This whole article has left me personally baffled on multiple…

Vacuous Posers. Everywhere.

0-60 is only a useful metric for pleb cars now.

The manual is only available with the 007 tech package. Which includes flamethrower, missiles, caltrops, oil dispenser, lane departure, and backup camera. Ridiculous feature packaging. I want a manual but don’t want to be forced into a backup camera.

In what vehicle? I must know!

Have done large burnout once. Can confirm it is FREAKIN’ AWESOME. I was also replacing my tires that day, so no money wasted :-)

I have always looked for equivalent or better parts for cheaper. Half the time its a god damned manufacturer part # and there is only 1 source. I’m not looking for 99% off ebay specials. Smaller shops can’t even match the price of the same part# without their markup. It is laughable.

Yes, the whole parts racket is widespread among tradespeople. This is one of the reasons why there are so many bad ones out there that are indistinguishable from the good.

It’s just so oddly proportioned. Ugh. If it was good looking, I might be able to forgive its lack of V8.

A lot of places think they are getting a good deal and are wrong as hell. Half the time, you can google the same part number and get a lower price than their pre-markup cost. It is laughable.

“So your saying you have no problem with me charging $400 in labor and $100 in parts, but you’d be pissed if I charged $250/$250? “

Mom and pop shops don’t stock diddly, and they look it up in the same NAPA catalog as everyone else.

Most mechanics won’t work on a vehicle with customer supplied parts. I understand the liability and warranty reasons many have mentioned, but I’m sure most of the time it is just to protect their markup.

The restaurant charges one price that covers all of that. I can compare virtually the same meal at one restaurant with another and see who has the best deal. I don’t have to order the meal and then see that there is a 10% “glassware procurement” charge.

I am 100% in favor of a higher hourly rate supplanting parts markups. Which as you said is disadvantageous for a business as it can be easily compared. I believe it will be the story for now, but hopefully the industry will consolidate more and then leave us with better competition.

It isn’t new, I understand this. Profit from parts is a relic from a time where consumers had no way to figure out how much a part REALLY cost and shops were able to get away with abusing their customers, without them any wiser.

If the place discovers the wrong part has been provided, then you just charge them for the time it took to put it on the lift, find out, and roll the thing back to the lot. Easy money.

I get that there will be do-overs etc. Sometimes where the fault is on the part itself. That risk assessment and compensation should just go right into the hourly rate being charged.

I understand they are for-profit establishments. I never said they should not make a profit. I am disagreeing with WHERE they are making their profit.

Why does the part have to have a markup? Just because they can? Is it because it takes time to order a part? Then charge me your hourly rate/60 multiplied by the minutes it took you to order the part. I understand that.