Parts prices

[Bus Driver]

Recently, those on this forum helped me with my first experience working on an 8N for a friend. Bought ignition points for a 1952 side distributor at Car Quest. Had them on the shelf at the store, no waiting. Price was $19.78 for the points only, list price noted as $27.80. That seemed very high to me, but I bought them.
At a show, picked up a Dennis Carpenter catalog. 8N points are $6.00. Never used any of the Carpenter products, but the price difference is dramatic.

 

[Bruce (VA)]

FWIW, the concept of parts prices was explained to me many years ago by a neighbor in the business.

The first question is wholesale cost which is driven by quantity. WalMart buys more whatevers in one day than their competitors, so their unit cost is less. Add to that disbursement (the cost of getting it to their warehouse & then to the retail outlets). Then, there is the 'shelf cost'. If that part is going to sit on the shelf for 2 months, it will cost more. In fact, it might just disappear from the shelf & be available by special order only.

Just a guess.....but I think a major part of the price difference is that Carpenter orders more in bulk & turns them over quicker than Car Quest.

As an AZ manager once told me.....he gets two 6v group 1A batteries in stock once a month; if they both sell out, he needs to 'special' another.
50 Tips

 

[mhb@ufe]

Auto parts stores would like you to believe if you went to a tractor dealer you would pay the list price they show. In many cases the tractor dealer is selling parts for less than the auto parts stores. About ten years ago I was helping my brother install a sherman on a sunday and we needed a throw out bearing so we went to the local napa store. At first they said they couldn"t help us but I gave them the ford part number and they crossed it over and sold us the bearing for $12. At that time we were selling them at the dealership for just over $3. If we hadn"t been 65 miles away I would have told them to keep there bearing.

Mark

 

[Dean]

BD:

My experience has been that auto parts store prices are usually higher for tractor parts than just about any other source.

Genuine CNH point sets at CNH are less than $8.00.

Dean