So I am donig my rear brakes, and unfortunatley have the wrong torque specs....My bad.. Anyway torqued out my rear brake caliper slide pin bolt. Easy fix right.. LOL. Went to local Ford dealer and none available within 100 miles. Are you kidding me, brake components on an 04'. Not in stock.. Anyway am gona have to order one.......... $$$$ 9.00 Freakin Dollars for ONE ......1.......UNO......BOLT...!!!!! 9 .....9......9.... OMG what is Ford trying to do. Are they trying to make up the 3 Biollion they lost last year with BOLTS?????? ANyway I guess I'lll try to order one elsewhere, in the meantime my $1.27 bolt, subgrade from Lowes will have to do in short term. Congrats Ford on trying to break my bank. Have fun All...



CHAD

 

Ford is WAY out of line on parts pricing. It's been awhile, but I've walked away from a few Ford parts counters in the past very upset feeling like I was being played as some kind of un-suspecting moron.

Only last week I was on the phone calling around to all the local Ford Dealers for a new OEM IAC valve for my truck.

I have my notes in front of me:
1) $269.00 plus tax
2) $216.00 plus tax
3) $254.00 plus tax
4) $168.00 plus tax

I was very disappointed with Ford after this. Then it all came rushing back to me. It's been a couple years since I approached Ford for OEM Parts and then I remembered why.

 

I would not blame Ford for this, per say. The pricing is solely up to the dealership. And a dealership is NOT Ford. They basically just "rent" Ford's name, logo, etc. It is as much of a franchise as McDonald's or Burger King. Based on customer feedback and "internal" reviews, the auto manufacturer can revoke a dealership's ability to use their name, branding, etc.

Several years back, a dealership in Wyoming "converted" from Dodge to one of the "import" companies (think it was Subaru). The truth of the matter was that they had been fleecing their customers by denying them rebates or adding additional charges, and then telling them that it was because of a policy change or some such on Daimler-Chrysler's side. Playing the "Woe is me, the big, bad auto manufacturer is making me do this" card. In the mean time, they were pocketing the extra cash.

The owner of the dealership had his franchise revoked. Subaru (if that's who it was) just happened to be the first auto manufacturer that granted him another franchise offering....they obviously were not privy to what had happened previously. According to the rumor mill, he used different addresses for the lot location between the two auto companies, as it sat on a corner. So, as an example, he went from using 1500 Main Street to 300 Federal Boulevard for the same physical location.

Thankfully, it did catch up with him in the end. Wyoming is one of those places where news and rumors travels. While I doubt the reasoning behind him losing the Dodge franchise ever made it to Subaru's ears, the plain & simple fact that he had been screwing over customers got around and people just quit dealing with that dealership. If memory serves me correctly, I think the dealership folded within two or three years.

 

Dealers (as big as they may appear) do not have a 100000 sqft parts room. They also can't possibly carry every nut and bolt for every vechilce ever produced.

That said,

They get their price schedule from the factory, then add in their mark-up. Because you're buying a "vehicle specific - Manufactor specific" part, don't be surprised to pay a premium for it.

Reproduction / aftermarket parts were created for this very reason. Don't want to put an original part on your rig? Great, just hop on down to your local aftermarket shop and you're done.

These folks may sell 20 - 1 Bolts compared to a Dealer. They don't have a Manufactor setting their base pricing and they can mark-up what they want. Because they move more volume, their mark-up is alot lower. They also have 5-6 dollar an hour employees where Ford has sent every parts person to training classes and must be Blue Oval certified.

There's alot that goes on for that particular part to reach 9 bucks.

 

Do you have a truck salvage yard in your area? Grab some slide pins from them.

 

Now admittedly Ford dealershios are the best place to get parts because thats all they stock but you just got a bad one, even though all of em have bad prices. I had to replace the pins on the front of my truck (lube the pins!) because I had one of the front pins seized. Ford dealership in Lampasas, TX had to get them from Marble Falls, TX about 60 miles away but the parts guy said since he lived there he'd get em for me that next day on his way into work. Well I tried to get my old pin out and with the help of an air chisel gun it come out but I broke the bolt off in it putting it all together again. Went to O'rieleys and for 8 dollars they took the pins out of a caliper set and gave em to me and replaced the pins they sold me in the morning as compared to a 25$ bill from Ford. KEEP LOOKING! NAPA, Checkers, Auto Zone, O'reileys, or whatever backwoods parts house you got might just have it and at a better prce. Just my two cents, which it looks like at Ford would cost us all bout a buck o' five.

 

RE: Deluxe05... "I would not blame Ford for this, per say. "

That is a very good point I should have brought up myself in my previous message. I even had a short conversation with the parts guy where I purchased the $168.00 IAC valve about how the margins from dealer to dealer were so different from each other. At that point he already knew I did not need the (sold seperatly) gasket for the IAC valve because my blower has a remote attachment with a reusable seal for it. He gave me their price for the paper gasket ($7.00) and told me to call a specific dealer he knew that sold the same gasket for $0.99. Of course I didn't call them but the point he made was clear.

The bottom line here Folks,,, when purchasing OEM parts from Ford be sure to phone around for the best price because if you're loyal to any one dealer you will probably end up not getting the best deal. It's a good idea to check out eBay and online OEM parts suppliers. You can usually end up finding a pretty good deal if you're patient and make the effort.

.

 

I got new front caliper slide pins for my '03 from Advance Auto, $10 for a set of four where as you said the stealer wanted that much for one.... Guess who got my business??

 

I went to my local rip off dealer and asked for a key for my 05 mounty. $70.00 and it didn't even look like the original..I go up to the dealer 15 miles up the road original key $20.00 no tax nice guy's. Many shops jack up retail . I always go to direct ford parts and type in the part # to see what reality is...Buyer beware


Dick

 

did you ever check www.powerstrokeshop.com? I believe that they have parts for gassers as well. Best way to find a part like that is searching by ford part number. Prices are less than MSRP

 

I bought alot from them over the past 6 months or so. Good prices and services. If you give them your VIN they'll even double check the parts you bought fit correctly.