Dealer parts prices?

I'm getting the R63 AMG fixed. I'd like to do this at the dealer for various reasons. I have a nice detailed quote, I'm happy with labor charges.
Parts though......the parts bill is a bit over $6k. I put in all the parts numbers online and without even searching for the lowest prices I can get them $2800 cheaper through other Mercedes dealers. Same parts, through dealerships. On top of that, the parts quote I have has every single part priced above Mercedes list price.
I don't want to straight accuse the dealer of trying to rip me off, but I'm not sure quite how to approach it. Any advice?

13 years dealing with that E36 M3 I can honestly say the only dealers worse to deal with than Mercedes were Audi. We were literally next door to the Acura dealer and with the discount they offered all the other dealers we were paying MErcedes MSRP. Audi... I won't even get into how terrible they were.

I would ask the dealer if they will still do the work if you provide all the OE parts needed for hte job. THey will likely say no, because they usually do, but it's worth a shot. Step two is to approach the parts manager with a list of online quotes with shipping and see if they'll match.

From working in a parts department there is quite a bit of markup on parts. We always sold at suggested list price I believe. If you show them the prices from other dealers online they would likely price match.

The only other person I know with a dealer-maintained Mercedes has the same issue. She actually has them print off a parts list, buys everything herself through a different dealer online, then hands the parts off to them for service. They seem to be OK with this arrangement but it sure sounds funky to me

I've no idea if any MB dealers offer it, and this has been like 10 years ago now, but when I was buying a fair number of maintenance parts for a 944 that had been neglected, the local dealer gave a sizable discount for Porshce Club members. I remember one receipt showed list prices totaling like $700, and my total w/ the PCA discount was $150ish. I presume (though I never tried!) that if I had walked in off the street, I'd have paid the $700.

2 of the 3 dealers I worked at charged Parts Plus. Basically a percentage over list. Often scaled up. They were more than happy to tell a customer to pound sand if they didnt want to pay. The last shop I worked at was a Honda-only independent. We did around 30k a month in parts so we got a good discount from the local dealer (10 over cost) and sold for list. We had many customers come to us for work after the local bigboy tried to slaughter the sale and we did the repairs with parts we bought from the mega dealer.

Ive never seen a dealer price match (im sure it happens, just never seen it). However I have seen the owners son and his friends get parts for under cost. Does your dad own a franchise?

Ah, the good old parts matrix strikes again..... Basically if they never sell that part, expect at least msrp to 150% over msrp. Obviously the more they sell of said part the cheaper the price.

One of my dealers sold parts online for under list but wouldn't let a customer buy the parts in the waiting room for the tech to install.

In this case you are not accusing them of anything. They are straight-up ripping you off and you can walk in and show them proof or walk in with a big box of parts and hand it to them. I would probably go elsewhere based on that alone if you have any options at all. I would ream them out pretty well either way though in case they decided to make a decent bargain but mostly because I hate that type of business practice. I might even take the master mech aside and ask if he knows "anyone" that he would trust to do this work, wink-wink (palm him $50) before I approached the service advisor. $2800 is $2800. Even on that car.

I've never tried this with a dealer, but maybe you can have a conversation with the service guy? Something like "I'd like your shop to do this work, and I'd be happy to buy the parts off your shelves, but these prices don't work for me. Can we work something out?".

This is one of the things I like about the indie shop we use. They are very open to exploring alternatives, especially when we don't put an unrealistic time demand on them. We can wait a couple days in order to save a few bucks, and they have one less person calling every thirty minutes asking if it's done yet.

You've got a fairly complex situation there, so I don't know that going hard-nose on the parts prices (drop them or you walk) is the best option.

How has the new AMG hatch discussion-negotiation gone? Maybe explore the "not wanting to purchase a vehicle from a dealer who's significantly overcharging parts prices" angle?

Ok, that's what I thought. I'll give them a call and see how it goes. I don't deal with dealers often and I've never had an experience quite like this.

I noticed one time when I had the dealer so some work (a very rare event), I was charged more for the parts that if I had gone to the sales window and bought them at full retail.

I wonder if this is a trade in quote/new car price situation, where they can manipulate either side of the equation to get to the number they need to get to. Or whether they just pay more for parts than other dealers that you are finding quotes from pay. I would think figuring out approximately what they are paying for parts and adding a reasonable mark up and explaining anything over that price just isn't going to work for you makes sense.

It isn't an easy situation and that's why I wanted some advice before I got ahold of them. If we were looking at a bit of an overcharge for 8 spark plugs or something like that I'd just grumble, but this is $3k extra in parts on top of $5k in labor that I've agreed to. When you do all the math and add tax it's actually closer to $3.5k so it takes an $8.5k bill to a $12k bill. It also widens the gap between doing it myself and having me dive in dramatically.
No easy answer. Crap.

I can order Porsche parts online for far less than my local dealers. Sometimes for half as much. My friend orders the parts and brings them into the dealer and they install them. They don't seem to care...

Waiting to talk to the dealer. Maybe it'll be fine. There is just zero value to me as a customer to get overcharged for the exact same parts from MB.
I talk with a friend of mine who sells new cars and they have a big problem explaining to older management that a lot of the information asymmetry has gone away in selling cars. I feel like that's what I'm dealing with here.

And they're willing to sell for list, no discount, no bringing parts in.

mazdeuce wrote: And they're willing to sell for list, no discount, no bringing parts in.

I do believe I'd be telling them to pound some sand.

The price difference is $1340 for the same MB parts. Plus tax. That doesn't sit well.

I thought it was 3.5k. still a big difference, but if you could have it back next week not necessarily a deal breaker on a car of that caliber.

The difference between the original parts quote and the price of me bringing them in was $2800. The difference between list (which they agreed to) and what I can get the parts for is still $1340. That's something like 15% of the total bill if things go well.

Tell them to go pound. Buy all the parts yourself then go to another dealer and tell them you planned to tackle it yourself and this is as far as you got. How much to finish the job? :)

There are a lot of dealers who sell parts cheap online. You usually can't find an address on their website but they sell online way cheaper than if you walk on the door. Find out if they are one of them.

Most of my Toyota parts come from a Toyota dealership in Texas. Even with shipping they are cheaper than the locals.

The one I'm pricing parts at is in Arizona. They say who they are on their website.
It's not a huge deal. I was a bit confused by the variability in pricing, I hadn't seen it to this degree. Now I know and I've decided not to work with this dealer on getting the R63 back together.