harleybill

I am curious to see what people think on this subject. I am sure everybody has run into this at one time or the other. I have my car down at a performance shop being worked on now (new engine, tranny, etc) and I received the bill for pretty much the whole thing (which is fine) but what bothers me is that the prices are fairly high when compared to say American Muscle (for example). When you buy from AM you get the price shown and free shipping (no tax). Now with my recent purchase, some of the prices were even higher than the MFG actually has on their website so that really makes me wonder why? Kickback? Maybe! Just using AM and a few other sites my bill could have been over 1300.00 cheaper as well as not being charged tax on everything. Shop charges a 10% to any installation of your own parts which would still have been a much better deal than this was. I am not slamming the shop because they do excellent work but I am wondering about their parts pricing. Should they be looking for the best prices like the customer would? Should we, as customers just ask for a list of parts and then we go out and get them? Your thoughts?

07 Boss

These guys generally don't pass on prices they get parts for. Usually there is some kind of mark up on it or they are getting a discount and not showing it. They need to make money too so it is normal to mark up parts from 10%-25%.

harleybill

I think it's the tax that gets to me the most. Shop does the work and the gov. does nothing but take your money on parts that have already been taxed. I guess the only way around this is to buy your own parts and maybe pay a little extra for the installation. This is just my observation. Shops used to be the only game in town and they knew the parts you needed and knew where to get them. Now we just have to look online. Seems like the shops need to get the message that they are no longer the only place in town.

houtex

Protip: you are responsible for paying the sales tax.

Business do it as a sort of courtesy, but if you had a Tax ID, you could buy it tax free all the time. Just give them your Tax ID, and poof, no more taxes!

...except the burden is on YOU to pay taxes for whatever you buy. Which is silly to ask every Manny, Moe and Jack to pay, so they make the businesses do it.

But then Internet! Which means if you buy stuff in Texas from LMR, you will get taxed. You buy it in Louisiana, you won't. Why? LMR doesn't have a presence in LA, so they don't tax you. But since they work and warehouse in Texas, a Texan will pay taxes.

Try it for somewhere you live. It will happen. You live in the same place they work, you get taxed. If they even have just a warehouse or a post office box, taxes happen.

But sure, you don't get taxed on stuff you buy online, by and large, but that's because you're all a bunch of scofflaws, pirates the lot of ya.

/Says the hypocrite. Arr.

07 Boss

I used to use Summit for most of my racecar needs, but since they opened up a warehouse in Nevada I've had to shop at Jegs to avoid the sales tax.

Weather Man

Buying parts through your local hot rod shop means you will have a local shop to actually work on your car, within reason. I personally do a mix.

tourer

I buy all my parts through Steeda and have my local shop install most of the parts, No extra charge, only charge me labor $70.00 per hour and any shop supplies used.

harleybill

Well I do know that the shops make money on the parts and I don't mind that so much as getting taxed on those parts when I can get them from other places cheaper and not taxes. I like to support the local shops but at the same time, it's a lot of money to put out. My next thing will be to just buy the parts and then have them installed at a small shop premium for those parts. I can live with that.