Nancy's Oil Change

Nancy I have been in the parts business for over 40 years, and could'nt help but notice your post on the oil change, so this morning I checked at the store and came up with these prices.

Wix Filters: 1997 Ford 7.3
You Paid
51734 Oil Filter 23.74,---- 75.00 Oil & Fuel, You paid
46417 Air Filter 38.74,---- 31.97 You Paid
33817 Fuel Filter 43.23,--

My filter prices for oil and fuel are $66.97
$3.03 savings, however my air filter is $38.74
an increase of $6.77 for a net increase for three filters of $3.74.

These prices are what would be charged to small volume wholesale customers. Prices go down with the amount of volume a customer does. Filters are very competitive.

I do not think you were taken advantage of, with the prices you paid. Do not sell your oil, so can't comment

I probably need to apologize for the rant. It was not my intention to start a hoorah. I just get frustrated sometimes at how much stuff costs.

Try buying Genajunk parts. Talk about sticker shock.

A person in one of the last "Nancy's Oil Change" posts mentioned about somebody being gouged for bringing in their own parts. If you don't want to do it or can't do it for shop labor prices that ain't my fault, I guess get out of the business. If I fill I've been gouged I'll go the extra mile sometimes 10-20 miles not to darken your door again, so figure how much you make off that.

It's really all my fault for suggesting a different location/service for the oil change and inspection sticker.

I......personally.......don't think you owe anyone an apology; isn't it amazing how some folks true character comes out in these on-line discussions..........anonymously, of course.

That's one frustration with getting old, I started out paying $.39 for oil, 1.99 for filters, and .25 for gas!

Happy to see it. Gave me something to read while listening to Rush.!!

Most people would not/will not believe what it cost to have a business. It IS frustrating.

Apologizing? You must be going for some Husband points!!;^)

Hey Nancy, don"t ever apologize or feel sorry for being frustrated over the cost of things nowdays. I get trade magazines and 90% of the time the articles are geared toward OEM"s being able to mfg parts at a cheaper cost than ever before by using new technoligies. The problem is that these parts savings rarely get passed onto the customer. In fact often times these new technologies make every part OEM specific which means that even though the part is being made cheaper, since it is available nowhere else, the OEM can now charge whatever they want for the part because it is "special" and make even more money. Personally when I mark up parts it"s usually in the neighborhood of 10% to 15% or less, depending on the part cost, whether it"s a cash item or put on an account, etc. That pretty much ofsets the cost of any paperwork involved plus the cost of keeping the money tied up until a job is done, and it makes me a little bit of profit to boot. When you start marking up in excess of 25% then things are getting a bit crooked in my opinion. Want one even better on the markup scale? Dad and I did a machining job for an equipment dealership some years back. He handed the guy the bill and was standing there talking to someone else when he happened to turn and watch the first guy put our labor cost down on the invoice to their customer. The markup they put on our labor was 100%. Basically they made more than $1500, over and above what they charged for their own labor on the job, and never lifted a finger for it beyond maybe 5 minutes of paperwork. Dad said if I could have taken the bill back and charged the dealership more it would have served them right but then again he knew it would get passed on to the customer. That is one of the reasons he left the dealerships and went into business for himself back in "86 because he got tired of watching the customers get cheated. In that case alot of it was the customers getting charged by the flat rate book. Basically the company was consistantly getting paid say 10 hours for a job that only took 5 and the guys busting their butts doing the work never got anything out of the deal but being asked to do more, faster so the company could turn even bigger profits and the fat cats could get fatter.......

Like I said the other day in todays world if you do good work and are both fair and honest you"ll probably never get rich.....

I wouldn't apologize. Everybody has an opinion and you are entitled to yours. ...And everyone else is entitled to theirs. Everyone gets frustrated now and then. BUT you sure know how to start some gooood threads. I vote you start more. HOOOO HAAA.

I have been a service tech for over forty years. I agree that some shops do charge more than they should for parts and labor. I have seen the parts books and the price you pay and what the company pays. It is outrages what some of thee mark ups are.

There is a major generator company that charges 165.00 dollars for a single push rod.Nothing special about it. I know another OEM that charges 140.00 dollars for a fuel filter assembly. Because they claim you can't buy just the filter. Did some looking and found a filter for 11.95. So someone explain that kind of mark up.

Also know that I don't like what I am seeing in some of today's service techs. They only know to do what the computer tells them to do. Have little or no knowledge on how to do it them selves.

Maybe James just didn't feel like doing the oil change. I just did a full service on a 9450 Kubota. I would have prefered to be some where else.

Russ remember gas wars. I remember getting a hamburger,fries and a shake for 1.25.

(quoted from post at 18:41:19 06/17/10) I probably need to apologize for the rant. It was not my intention to start a hoorah. I just get frustrated sometimes at how much stuff costs.

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I am get'n a new floor in part of my house,,,, the floor man is make'n more than i do if I compare my hourly charge again his,,, I can beat his total BUT it will mean I will have to take a day are so off to move out then back in,,,, I had rather do my thang and let him do his...

Funny thang is when I have some work done on my house they work by the hour,,, a 8 hour job turns into a 16 hr. job then into a 32 hr. job,,, if I price a job at 8hr. seams I am stuck if it takes me 12 hr. to complete the job then I am married to the job....

Took me years to figger out how to do a work order change,,, I do not hold a ticket open if their is a work order change any more,,, I do the agreed work make the ticket then start a new ticket as If had to start all over,,, a parts house makes money on their part,,,, tell me why I should not make money on a part I sale are install,,, tell me why I should install your part and not make money at it...

I hit ya hard only to let you know their are some good wrenches out their,,, ask around,,, I bet someone you know has someone that's either at the top of their list are close,,, they call'em their GUY....

I will bet a good wranch will save ya more than you can save hunt'n cheap prices,,, I will bet i can help you get a extra 20K out of a set of tires,,, try that at a quick lube,,, I will bet i can find a problem that will leave ya on the side of the road were a quick lube could care less,,, to them its about numbers,,, to me its about a long term relationship...

Don't never feel bad about letting off some steam.
Good way to relieve stress.
Your friends will stick with you.
I'm frustrated that my traveling days are about done for income reasons more than health' and family issues. If it weren't for that, I'd come down and help James with his Deere herd.
When I was younger I drove straight through to Sperry OK after working an 8 hour shift 21 Hours from here . Did that 4 years in a row .

I have been the service manager at two different John Deere stores, in the last twenty years. I see the people here complaining about how much a dealership charges. Most dealers make all of the profit in the service department on the parts sold through it. The labor makes very little profit when all of the costs are figured in. That labor charge has to pay all of the following: wages, health insurance, retirement, vacation time, sick leave, electric, water, heat, building maintenance, service tools. SO PAY for all of that and see what you make.
As for the dealer marking up the machining work 100%. I bet that you where paid as soon as you gave him the bill. The farmer might have paid it in thirty days.

What really gets your goat is to see MADE IN CHINA on it and put in box says made in USA and charge like it was made in USA..NOTHING BUT GREED DRIVES COMPANIES ANY MORE



MAY GOD BLESS THE USA

(quoted from post at 06:05:25 06/18/10) I have been the service manager at two different John Deere stores, in the last twenty years. I see the people here complaining about how much a dealership charges. Most dealers make all of the profit in the service department on the parts sold through it. The labor makes very little profit when all of the costs are figured in. That labor charge has to pay all of the following: wages, health insurance, retirement, vacation time, sick leave, electric, water, heat, building maintenance, service tools. SO PAY for all of that and see what you make.
As for the dealer marking up the machining work 100%. I bet that you where paid as soon as you gave him the bill. The farmer might have paid it in thirty days.

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We have been living for a long time in a age in which you can no longer be successful in repairing a vehicle with out access to the electronic controls and information...

by now it should be obvious that Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison could not diagnosis these vehicle with out the proper tools are info...

You can not base a simple oil change again what the charge is to repair other systems,,, its hard to break down a A,B, are C job,,, A C tech can not do what a A tech can,,, a B mite be able to,,, I am sure most understand what it takes to reach top level pay,,,, I am sure you will not take less just because the tast is ratted at a C tech level,,,A techs will not work for C tech pay,,, if you are happy with a C tech then stay with him,,, if you are lucky sooner are later he will move up to a B,,, if not then he will get a job driving a truck and the search will B on again....

Nope, we weren't given a check when the job was done and had to wait nearly 30 days just like the dealership did....... The thing was this was a heavy equipment dealer and the part was a brand new part that was shipped wrong. I don't recall who they were charging but the dealers labor involvment consisted of calling us when they saw the part wouldn't fit. When we were done with the machine work their labor was then putting three pins in the attachment to put it in the machine. It took us longer to do the machining than it took them to install the part. In other words they made more off of doubling our labor then they did on their own.