Car D.I.Y.

[Drago]

Mrs D has a Mini Electric. In order to balance the wheels one needs a special adaptor, else one's testicles are well and truly in the Vice as one would be hostage to the dealer at new tyre time. This would not be cheap.

Using the power of Google I got the part number, but the o ,y online seller I could find was in the US and wanted 40 dollars plus a kidney in postage.

Not expecting much I rang the dealer we bought rhe car from. Not in stock sir, but if you lay now I'll order one for you, should arrive in few days. That'll be £12.86 including VAT.

Very happy with that, so I ordered one and paid over the phone.

1145am, 2.5hrs later, the phone rings. Its rhe dealer and the part has arrived. How is that for fantastic service? So just been out in the 2008 to the dealer in MK to collect it, dodging rainshowers, and stopped at the Drummers Arms for a Guinness and a bag of Nobby's on the way back.

 

[figbat]

Mrs D has a Mini Electric. In order to balance the wheels one needs a special adaptor, else one's testicles are well and truly in the Vice as one would be hostage to the dealer at new tyre time. This would not be cheap.

Using the power of Google I got the part number, but the o ,y online seller I could find was in the US and wanted 40 dollars plus a kidney in postage.

Not expecting much I rang the dealer we bought rhe car from. Not in stock sir, but if you lay now I'll order one for you, should arrive in few days. That'll be £12.86 including VAT.

Very happy with that, so I ordered one and paid over the phone.

1145am, 2.5hrs later, the phone rings. Its rhe dealer and the part has arrived. How is that for fantastic service? So just been out in the 2008 to the dealer in MK to collect it, dodging rainshowers, and stopped at the Drummers Arms for a Guinness and a bag of Nobby's on the way back.

That's the price of having wheels styled to look like a UK 3-pin plug! Whatever you do don't kerb one - they are notoriously tricky to repair due to the green rim stripe. [I also have an electric MINI but opted for a more conventional wheel].

I have had similar experience of dealer service though. A couple of times I needed parts for our old Skoda Yeti. Of course my first port of call was Google and various options from dodgy suppliers were shown. When I tried the dealer they were not only cheaper for the OEM part, but they had it in the next day.

 

[Drago]

The day we bought the car it had rimblades fitted, although as an ex police response and pursuit driver Mrs D has never touched a kerb in her life. I have though

 

[Deleted member 26715]

This is one of the weird things about pricing, there seems to be no logic to a MainStealers pricing, you go in for a little plastic trim that's not essential but finishes it off nicely £120, then you go in for an humongous piece of engineering, you have the paramedics on call outside & they respond with that'll be £27.43+vat for that Sir, you leave thinking, how, why?

 

[Fastpedaller]

Mrs D has a Mini Electric. In order to balance the wheels one needs a special adaptor, else one's testicles are well and truly in the Vice as one would be hostage to the dealer at new tyre time. This would not be cheap.

Using the power of Google I got the part number, but the o ,y online seller I could find was in the US and wanted 40 dollars plus a kidney in postage.

Not expecting much I rang the dealer we bought rhe car from. Not in stock sir, but if you lay now I'll order one for you, should arrive in few days. That'll be £12.86 including VAT.

Very happy with that, so I ordered one and paid over the phone.

1145am, 2.5hrs later, the phone rings. Its rhe dealer and the part has arrived. How is that for fantastic service? So just been out in the 2008 to the dealer in MK to collect it, dodging rainshowers, and stopped at the Drummers Arms for a Guinness and a bag of Nobby's on the way back.

About 30 years ago I had a Reliant Kitten estate car (good little car, almost used no fuel!). I wanted some ignition leads, and dropped into Halfords. The rear of the box said suitable for Reliant Kitten, Robin and MGB GT. Hmm....... I took them to the car and found (not unexpectedly) the leads could have circumnavigated the engine twice! I went to a local Reliant/Suzuki Cappucino dealer and ordered some which arrived the next day, fitted perfectly and were half the price of the Halfords ones (well, it's understandable, as they were half the length )

 

[Fastpedaller]

This is one of the weird things about pricing, there seems to be no logic to a MainStealers pricing, you go in for a little plastic trim that's not essential but finishes it off nicely £120, then you go in for an humongous piece of engineering, you have the paramedics on call outside & they respond with that'll be £27.43+vat for that Sir, you leave thinking, how, why?

When I worked at Ford (not a Ford Dealer, but the actual Company). I found out there appeared to be really no logic to parts price increases.
Parts prices would be raised by taking a list of FINIS numbers (the 7 digit part number) and just increasing them en-block by, say, 6 %. Over time this could result, for example, in a particular car having a LH indicator lens at 11% cheaper price than the equivalent RH Lens - very confusing. I can see the logic though...... To analyse each part for purchase cost etc and apply a reasoned markup would be very costly and counter-productive because of the thousands of parts involved.
As a point of interest (to some readers anyway )........ The 7 digit code was used because it was found that people could remember 7 digits, if "going out the back to a storeroom" for instance, but any more was a challenge.

 

[tyred]

I must admit I only bought parts at a main dealer on two occasions, both times for antique cars, and was pleasantly surprised both times.

About two years ago I needed a driveshaft for my Peugeot 205 and the local motor factors were coming up with two possible part numbers and suggested I checked with the main dealer to be sure. When the guy put my 25 year old car's details through the computer, he said it was actually showing as having one in stock. He said he'd have a look in the store and came back some time later covered in dust and cobwebs and brandishing a driveshaft. He let me have it for €25 as he thought it unlikely anyone else would be looking for one.

A few years earlier I was able to order a hose for my MK I Golf /Caddy pickup from the local VW agents, and they were helpful enough to leave it with the sales people for me to pick up on a Saturday evening when the parts department was closed. I wasn't able to source it anywhere else at the time as although the MKII golf used the same basic diesel engine, the coolant system was plumbed differently and the easily available MK II hoses don't fit. The price was very reasonable.

 

[Hicky]

Volvo can at times be fruitful price wise at the st(dealers).

 

[Badger_Boom]

About 30 years ago I had a Reliant Kitten estate car (good little car, almost used no fuel!). I wanted some ignition leads, and dropped into Halfords. The rear of the box said suitable for Reliant Kitten, Robin and MGB GT. Hmm....... I took them to the car and found (not unexpectedly) the leads could have circumnavigated the engine twice! I went to a local Reliant/Suzuki Cappucino dealer and ordered some which arrived the next day, fitted perfectly and were half the price of the Halfords ones (well, it's understandable, as they were half the length )

Were that Hellfrauds leads for one of these?

 

[Deleted member 26715]

About 30 years ago I had a Reliant Kitten estate car (good little car, almost used no fuel!). I wanted some ignition leads, and dropped into Halfords. The rear of the box said suitable for Reliant Kitten, Robin and MGB GT. Hmm....... I took them to the car and found (not unexpectedly) the leads could have circumnavigated the engine twice! I went to a local Reliant/Suzuki Cappucino dealer and ordered some which arrived the next day, fitted perfectly and were half the price of the Halfords ones (well, it's understandable, as they were half the length )

A friend had one, he went in for some tyres & the fitter had never seen a Kitten before & thought it was a modified Robin, he spent a good 30 minutes winding this fitter up explaining how he'd modified the chassis to accept an extra wheel the modifications he'd done to the body etc.

 

[rockyroller]

a little nervous. ordered a tire & wheel PKG to be delivered mid-week. everything will be mounted & balanced w/ new TPMS sensors & lug bolts. my plan is to mount them myself in the driveway ... here's hoping the crummy tin-cap style lug bolts don't give me fits getting them off. but the place where I bought the car recently had them all off so I'm sure they won't be "frozen" in place ... the new bolts will be solid, which I prefer

 

[Deleted member 26715]

a little nervous. ordered a tire & wheel PKG to be delivered mid-week. everything will be mounted & balanced w/ new TPMS sensors & lug bolts. my plan is to mount them myself in the driveway ... here's hoping the crummy tin-cap style lug bolts don't give me fits getting them off. but the place where I bought the car recently had them all off so I'm sure they won't be "frozen" in place ... the new bolts will be solid, which I prefer

As long as they didn't use a 450Nm ugga chugga you'll be fine

 

[rockyroller]

As long as they didn't use a 450Nm ugga chugga you'll be fine

"ugga dugga"?

thank you. got my knee pads ready

 

[fossyant]

Nah a 'dugga dugga'

 

[Drago]

Fitted a permanent dashcam mount in the 2008 to replace the sucky one.