Justify this, Anybody ???

[Fla._Deadheader]

  Here is a photo of $80.00 ???????????????  It's ½ steel and ½ plastic ????????????  >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(






  Might wanna start buying stock in GM. Can't cost more than $5 million $$ a share  >:( >:( >:(

[Kirk_Allen]

What is it?

[Fla._Deadheader]

It's a hydraulic clutch line from my Daughters pickup.

[redpowerd]

couldnt make one or fix the ol'n?

[Fla._Deadheader]

  I brazed the old one in 8 places. Figgered for about $30.00 we would replace it.?????????

  Oh, it DOES have special ends  : : : : >:( >:(

[Ron Wenrich]

Makes you wonder how GM is going to lose $1 billion this quarter.  Heck, if you'd go out there and buy more parts, maybe they could keep their head above water.   :D :D

[SwampDonkey]

There's a stabilizer arm on the front of the '98 Dodges that's made in Brazil and if ya go into a soft road with ruts, you'll be sure to snap the piece of s*** every time. The cylander is as thin as your pinky finger. Who designed that? Sure it's fine for highway driving, then why would ya need 4 wheel drive? We should all be driving Hummers. ;D

[redpowerd]

i figgerd ya tried ;D

[SwampDonkey]

GM goes through these reality checks every once in awhile. They are so big that they sometimes loose sight of the horizon. Then they step back and see what needs attention and carry on.

[Tom]

We ran into that same type of maintenance repair problem with our Buick, a Get More Cash product also.

That's why those things that didn't impact safety or economical operation, didn't get fixed.

It still had over 300,000 miles on it when it left here to continue life as a youngster's car.

[SwampDonkey]

Yip, my father owned three of em and almost made a mistake buying a 4th recently (used) from a dealer.

Found out a wheel bearing was gone, winter tires supposedly had studs, but didn't, and they never even changed the fluids before resale. See ya!!  >:(

[Fla._Deadheader]

  I doubt that the brand has anything to do with it.

  There is a post about raising the price of custom sawing. Most argue that you will lose customers if you go up very much. How much do you reckon this part actually cost to make, and how do you figure that a guy making over 30 bucks an hour, with NO investment in education or tools OR Equipment is any different than the guy with the 30 THOUSAND dollar investment in sawing equipment, can't make a decent living??????

[Buzz-sawyer]

They made me mad with a hydraulic line once.......I fixed it with brass compression fittings and copper tubing! For about 5 bucks

[Cedarman]

Sometimes worse then the parts is the difficulty changing a  ten dollar item. Remember the pull the engine to replace the spark plug car?
If I were ever a dictator with real power, I would make engineers replace parts on 15 year old vehicles with standard tools,( no special factory made jobs) on a sloping  muddy driveway with a windy drizzle at 35 degrees. With a woman nagging them to hurry up and finish because she has to have the car for errands.

[Buzz-sawyer]

Cedar
That is thier lot in the afterlife ;)

[SwampDonkey]

I know what your faced with Harold. I had a little GMC S15 and couldn't keep ball joints in it. Had to replace'm (at least 2 outta 4) every 6 moths or less at $75.00 per joint plus labour.

[Tom]

I figure that the guy with the money in a saw has two things that curtail his going overboard with charges.  One is that he is of the type of person who needs a clear consciences to sleep at night.

The second is, that  he is competing with "peer" sawmills and big production mills as well. One wrong judgment will send his customers to the lumber yard.

The fellow that makes the part for a high wage has a Union that charges him into paranoia and then threatens his employer with walkouts if the company isn't run the way the Union wants.

The part is just different enough from other similar parts that the product has a monopoly which is backed up by laws allowing the "under the thumb" controls that keep the customers incarcerated....so to speak.

If the word "fair" were used in the automotive industry, you  may see some of the same ethics that the "Mom and Pop" sawmillng business exhibit.

[SwampDonkey]

 :D :D :D :D <porky pig laugh> :D :D :D :D

[Ianab]

Need new spark plugs for my little Toyota.

NZ$25 dollars - EACH 

not gold plated either - apparantly platinum is MORE expensive than gold.
At least they are rated to last around 100,000 kms, just the cars done 90,000 now  :

Oh and thats not Genuine Toyota plugs - thats generic ones

ian

[Grawulf]

You know the gas tank filler tube on a Ford van is a piece of flex rubber with two ring clamps permanently attached. They're only $80............. :-\

[Quartlow]

Waht are you guys whining about , I just ordered 2 tierod ends for the log hauler, $300 bucks. oh well its only money  :D :D

[EZ]

Had 4 tie-rod ends put on my Dodge, AGAIN. Ask the mechanic why I'm going threw these so fast. He said that crysler says that I shouldnt hit water on the roads to fast and stay out of the mud. : I told him, then whats a four wheel drive good for. :
EZ

[moosehunter]

 I own a repair garage ( please don't call me bad names) and have to try every day to explain to people why a part cost so much ( I don't make the parts or the prices).
Quite often I believe it is compitition or a lack there-of. A part like that hydraulic hose will be outragously priced from GM untill the ABC company makes one for 1/2 the price. Then Gm will lower the price to be competative.
And sometimes people complain about a $75.00 lamp assembly on their $40k Mercedes! I can't win.
I am kinda like a dentist, NOBODY wants to come see me, they are really unhappy when they have to and it always cost tooooo much!
MH

[isawlogs]

     127.34 for a muffler for a Saturn ..... 178.38 for a Idler arm for a Mazda pick-up ....  How can we keep up with the cost of parts .. and now for gas ... I filled up this morning at 99.9 cents a liter . I really dont know how it is that we can manage to make ends meet ....
  It getting to be that I am afraid to call for the price on parts , I make sure that I am seating in a chair and at least leaning against a wall as to be supported by two sides so no to fall down ....   
  Harrold
I agree with you there is no reason for parts to be at the price there at ....

[Fla._Deadheader]

  Parts store I youster frequent, back in the last century, had a cartoon taped to the cash register. (Remember them things) ? : :D

  Why does it take $25,000.00 worth of parts, to build a $10,000.00 car ??????