Volkswagen Dealer rip-off?

exaisle

I need two reverse sensors (the thing in the back of the car that bleeps when you get close to something when you're reversing). I phoned the local VW dealer and was quoted €98 each "plus the vat" which brings the total to around the €240 mark.

I've just bought two of them on ebay from the UK for €63 including postage. Exactly the same serial number from the same manufacturer.

'nuff said.

keithclancy

exaisle wrote: »

I need two reverse sensors (the thing in the back of the car that bleeps when you get close to something when you're reversing). I phoned the local VW dealer and was quoted €98 each "plus the vat" which brings the total to around the €240 mark.

I've just bought two of them on ebay from the UK for €63 including postage. Exactly the same serial number from the same manufacturer.

'nuff said.

Same with every Dealer.

Ordered a Wheel Hub + bearing from Berlin for 78, Volvo quoted 350 euros for the same thing.

You think that big shiny showroom pays for itself

TroutMask

Yup, was quoted 110 euro for screen washer pump + fitting on a Mk3 Golf. Got one for 12 euros on eBay and 'fitted' it (it clips into the water bottle!) in about 3 mins. Had to move the battery out of the way first - a complete no-brainer repair. If they had said 40, i'd have probably gone with it.

BostonB

I'm not a fan of car dealers. But You can't really compare the price you get from a web store with a bricks and mortar shop/dealer. A dealer is never going to be able to compete on price for things like parts.

MBSnr

BostonB wrote: »

I'm not a fan of car dealers. But You can't really compare the price you get from a web store with a bricks and mortar shop/dealer. A dealer is never going to be able to compete on price for things like parts.

Biggest rip off I found was this one;
UK Volvo dealer - £126
Irish volvo Dealer - €235

Both the exact same genuine Volvo part. Unfortunately due to it being the seatbelt tensioner/restrainer with an explosive charge in it, I could not get it via the UK due to shipping limitations... Everyone said it could not go on a plane.

Although the biggest irony about it was that the Irish dealer said it was out of stock in Ireland and could not be flown over from Sweden - it'll have to come by ferry and take up to 2 wks.... I was like OK, I need the part. (Outta stock in NI as well they said - which is why I couldn't have driven up there for it).

Two days later the dealer phones to say the part is in. I go down and collect it. It had an airfreight sticker on it, flown over from a Volvo dealer in Yorkshire. Think I must have paid for it to have a 1st class ticket... :rolleyes:

BostonB

Well that is a rip off.

BoylepokerPaul

I asked my local VW dealer to have a look at the driver's seat in my car as the height adjuster is broke and they quoted me €625 + VAT as they said I needed a whole new seat.

I went to a VW dealer in Northern Ireland and they quoted me £115 + VAT as I only needed a new base for the seat....!

Needless to say I haven't been back to the my local dealer ever since!

323

Not just VW, all the auto trade here seems to be the same, absolutely nothing to do with web store or dealer as BostonB suggested.
With one vehicle I bought last year the dealer here failed to mention (until after I had paid him) he only had one key.

Checked a Land Rover dealer here, to cut & program a spare, with vat was €380, checked with a dealer in the North (<40 miles apart). Less than £200, was just over half the price.

KwackerJack

Ebay is great for parts, always cheaper!

I've seen VW mechanic from a VW garage getting service parts around the corner in a Motor factors, Out of stock or just plain greedy??

Ray Palmer

There are a lot of fake products on ebay. They may look genuine but that doesn't mean much. For anything safety related I would be a bit wary.

MidlandsM

Ray Palmer wrote: »

There are a lot of fake products on ebay. .

really, feck, well blow me down.........;)

KwackerJack

Ray Palmer wrote: »

There are a lot of fake products on ebay. They may look genuine but that doesn't mean much. For anything safety related I would be a bit wary.

I always Google the ebay buyer to see if they have a store or base. I have never had an issue with ebay parts but then again I do be very careful. You just have to know what your looking for really.

Message them and ask plenty of question's, anyone who is a genuine seller will have no problems communication with a buyer.

If they message back with 'Hey gringo' or ' Hi do you be good' well chances are there products aint great

Ray Palmer

KwackerJack wrote: »

I always Google the ebay buyer to see if they have a store or base. I have never had an issue with ebay parts but then again I do be very careful. You just have to know what your looking for really.

Message them and ask plenty of question's, anyone who is a genuine seller will have no problems communication with a buyer.

If they message back with 'Hey gringo' or ' Hi do you be good' well chances are there products aint great

Don't see how that will help you. Fake products are sold by legitimate looking companies. They can be bought in regular looking suppliers. If fake medicine can make it into the supply chain not sure how the manner of a person will tell you if they are selling fake products.

rubadub

MBSnr wrote: »

Biggest rip off I found was this one;
UK Volvo dealer - £126
Irish volvo Dealer - €235

Not sure about volvo or car dealers in general, but it could well be the case that the irish dealer is making less profit from you, in which case would you call the UK dealer a rip off merchant, i.e. volvo could be selling at a much higher wholesale price.

I was saying to a mate that a guy in work got a Giant brand bike, he was going mad saying he could have got it at cost as he knows the distributor here, but after hearing the price it turned out he had paid less to a UK end retailer than the Irish distributor here can buy it for -i.e. Giant have different RRPs and therfore different wholesale prices in different regions.

another example, 2009 in sunday business post

Boxes of Pampers nappies that are being sold at €25 to Irish retailers are available for €10 in Britain. The Sunday Business Post sourced cases of Coca-Cola that typically sell for €9 in Ireland for €5.60 (»5) in Britain.

Price lists acquired by this newspaper showed a huge disparity in the prices which suppliers in Ireland are charging retailers compared to the prices British suppliers are charging.

‘‘The prices differences are huge, but this should not let the big retailers like Tesco with pan-European buying power off the hook,” said one medium sized independent retailer One large retailer said it had approached the British outfits directly, but many refused to open an account that bypassed the Irish office.

‘‘It is important to remember that the Irish market is extremely small, so when there is trouble, they simply shrug their shoulders,” he said.

‘‘They have passively decided they are not going to do anything about it.” The retailer said he felt ‘‘absolutely powerless. The finger is consistently being pointed at us for being too expensive, but the vast majority of us are not making huge profits’’......

REI said a comprehensive survey of 20,000 products found that the Euro supplier price was less than the UK supplier price in less than 1 per cent of cases.

‘‘Something is seriously wrong when standard grocery brands are up to 250 per cent more expensive when sourced by retailers in Ireland than in Britain,” Fitzsimons said

‘‘The anti-competitive practice of many fashion and cosmetic brand owners who refuse to allow Irish retailers to buy in sterling, instead insisting on euro payment at a premium of sometimes 50 per cent on the sterling price, will in effect lead to significant business closures.......

MidlandsM wrote: »

really, feck, well blow me down.........;)

Many only think very popular items are faked, and would not suspect car parts. There was a program on discovery saying counterfeit aircraft components are a huge problem in the industry, not the typical type of thing you buy on ebay, but they get into the system.