SLROC Forum

Not LR but same idea when it comes to pricing....

Citroen Main Dealer in Stirling - Price for a new steering rack ( and its not available until 28th June) - ?1116.11p plus VAT = ?1471.33 
Local Independent garage - Price for a new "pattern" part ?250 plus VAT, but will need ordered in, 7-10 days.
Ebay from a breakers - ? 135, delivery Monday.

Guess which route we're going .....

I just do not get the pricing strategy that can claim a relatively small component is worth 10% the cost of the entire vehicle - or indeed that you need the whole flaming sub-assembly just to replace a leaking seal.

i once priced a tractor      on spare parts alone      and it was 3 times the price of the tractor  when new

Not limited to transport either,

I once got a price for 1000 convex lenses from an optical manufacturer, for $10000
but i could get 5000 of the same item for $5000, from the same company on the same website.

guess what we did....

Same, had a leaking fuel filter, phoned local Land Rover main dealer, ?34.79 plus vat, got one of the internet for ?5.50, I have no idea how they make any money.

Saying that, a full service kit for a 9770STS combine out in the US was coming in at just under $1500, that was for, oil, air and hyd filters. And we changed them all 4 times during harvest, on 9 machines.....

...on the other hand the "ebay specials" can be pretty dodgy. Serviced a generator that had also run out of fuel and air-locked itself. As part of the service I swapped out all the filters with stuff from an ebay shop..... long story short I could not get the genny to stay running, it would start but cut after 15-20 seconds. Much stripping, purging and by-passing fuel cut off solenoids later I found the problem.... The oil filter was made of a different gauge gauze to the real thing and was reducing the oil flow so an oil pressure cut-off was kicking in. Hours wasted for a saving of a few quid...

Some time back I had a leak on the vacuum pump on the 110.
I priced a replacement from Taggarts ?226 and ?22 for the gasket

Being a Ford engine I tried the Arnold Clarrk Ford dealer, pump ?124, gasket ?8

So I tried fleabay, pump ?50, no gasket so Uncle Arnold got ?8 from me.
Simple
Oh and the fleabay pump was the exact same spec serial and manufacturer as the original

My wife wouldn't stop going on about my time spent under Landrovers. The main dealer wanted ?1500 for an expensive 100 watt sound system to drown the nagging, found the same sound system on ebay for ?350,
then a friend with the same problem suggested gaffer tape from Lidl at ?2.50 a roll. Worked a treat and just shows the savings to be made when you network with other enthusiasts!!

I'm always really wary of eBay stuff, think I'm just a bit paranoid! I think sometimes if it looks too good to be true then it probably is, I've made one or two mistakes on that front!

I generally get most of my stuff from Paddocks, they're pretty competative and I've always found them helpful if there has been a problem with an order.

.........a friend with the same problem suggested gaffer tape from Lidl at ?2.50 a roll. Worked a treat and just shows the savings to be made when you network with other enthusiasts!!

As the old saying goes ..." Silence is Golden, Duct Tape is Silver...." 

and Bodge tape is black

Well, job done. Van back on the road complete with new MOT. Ebay part from the breakers, fitted by local independent garage, total cost about 20% of the main dealer quoted price... and two weeks before they would have had the part in stock at all !

Silence is Golden, Duct Tape is Silver...." 


quality laughed my head off at that one