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Date: Sat, 03 Apr 2004 21:21:03 GMT
From: "th" <someguynospamwhere.se>
Subject: Re: Rant - parts prices


"Grunff" <grunffnospam.com> wrote in news:c4gqgn$2j63nn$1nospam52899.news.uni-berlin.de... > It's been quiet here for a while, so I thought I'd have a rant. > > Why is it that dealer parts prices for Saabs are so high, when for BMWs > they are very reasonable? I've seen this over and over again (I own > several Saabs + a BMW). > > Yesterday I was driving my embarrassingly white, bodykitted 325i > (remember, you don't choose the colour of second hand cars!), when > someone smacked their wing mirror into mine. Result - a fully > disintegrated electric drive mechanism. > > Local scrappy wants £20 for a replacement mirror, I dismantle. So I > thought I'd ring the local BMW dealer. Yes, no problem sir, we keep them > on the shelf. Whole mechanism = £28. > > Pleased with this, I thought I'd quickly check the price of an > equivalent mechanism for my C900. So I phone my local Saab dealer. First > off, why do Saab dealers make you feel like you're some chavvy scumbag > just because you're buying parts for an older car? That's a different > rant. Anyways, the parts guy starts with the usual "are you sitting > down?", then tells me that the same part for the C900 is £193 + VAT!!! > > Now I know the answer is to buy used parts, but what I want to know is > why? Why can't I buy new parts for old Saabs at reasonable prices? This, > compared with the relative ease of working on a BMW compared to a Saab, > is enough to make me rethink my future Saab ownership... :-( > > Rant over. Thank you for reading. > Here in Sweden it seems that Saab are selling the unique spare parts about a factor of 20 times the manufacturing cost. I replaced the ACC on a 9000 a couple of years ago, 9000 SEK (divide by 9 and get the USD rate in those days) just for the part. Tried to buy a new rear central locking motor, was 1000 SEK at at Saab and 300 SEK at the local scrappy. This is really low quality stuff and you can get for instance a much higher quality radio model servo for about 150 SEK in a hobby shop (including in addition to the electric motor some servo electronics). There was also some spare electronic device that was charged 25000 SEK for a short while until Saab discovered that they applied the 20-factor on the manufacturing cost of the prototype. However on spare parts where there is higher volume and competition from other dealers, like air/oil filters, spark plugs etc. Saab are only 50% more expensive than the competition. For the 9-5 the situation seems to be the same and since the quality of that model seems to be inferior to older models the cost for the owner is consequently rather high. A few examples: Front/rear wiper handle with interval timer adjustment: 700 SEK, headlight wiper motor: 2000 SEK; -- th

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