"TheRallyStache" (bryce-the-hoonigan)
10/01/2014 at 10:27 • Filed to: Mazdaspeed 3, Stealerships
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"TheRallyStache" (bryce-the-hoonigan)
10/01/2014 at 10:27 • Filed to: Mazdaspeed 3, Stealerships | 1
| 6 |
I've been pursuing a certain modification to my wife's Mazdaspeed 3, namely a spin-on oil filter mod. The car came with a cartridge filter that is rather obnoxious and a pain. The Mazda3 2.0 uses a spin on filter, and the adapter from that engine literally bolts right up to the 2.3t under our hood. I've waited and discussed with other people who have gone this route before, and there have been zero failures or issues resulting from this, only benefits. The part itself is used in multiple Mazda and Ford applications, so I shopped around using both the Mazda and FoMoCo part numbers. The dealers all told me there wasn't a single one to be found in my entire state, and that it could take a week for it to arrive (if they could even get it) and that it would cost me roughly $100 out the door for the adapter and gasket.
After some quick online shopping, I found a place that would sell me everything I needed and ship it to my front door for a grand total of $58.36. I ordered it last night. It's arriving tomorrow. Now get this, I ordered it from a Minnesota dealership's online parts page. This wasn't a knock off part, this is a genuine OEM part purchased from a dealer.
Can someone please come up with an explanation as to why dealerships are so inefficient that they can't even seem to compete with the online versions of themselves?
Photo courtesy of mazda3club.com user !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .
Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
> TheRallyStache
10/01/2014 at 10:34 |
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I once went into a dealer asking for a part for our renault megane. It is a common part to fail, so much so that there are people who buy up failed ones and refurbish them due to high demand.
They had never heard of the part and asked if I was sure it had failed (I was) and that they wouldnt find us one unless we paid them £60 to scan the cars codes and determine the fault themselves.
We ended up getting one delivered from one of the refurbishers for £40 and it worked perfectly.
RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> TheRallyStache
10/01/2014 at 10:44 |
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Blood drops: Scene of an Oil Filter Murder .
As Du Volant
> TheRallyStache
10/01/2014 at 10:50 |
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Dealer markup on parts is freaking insane. But you find that with a lot of brick-and-mortar stores.
As for not being able to find the part in stock, most likely you were dealing with a bonehead parts counter guy. They exist in all industries.
nermal
> TheRallyStache
10/01/2014 at 11:25 |
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Regarding parts ordering, I've actually had good results with my local dealer. The catch was that I needed to find the part # myself and give it to them. I needed to do this when the hinge on the back window of my Jeep broke, which is a common problem.
All I had to do was give them the part number, they ordered it, and it came in the next day.
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TheRallyStache
> nermal
10/01/2014 at 11:27 |
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I had part numbers for them and it actually took longer for them to look it up and give me an answer than it did for me to online shop and purchase it. And this wasn't just one boneheaded guy I was working with, I called multiple dealerships.
Newsboy
> TheRallyStache
10/01/2014 at 11:37 |
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Exception to the rule: my local Subaru dealer.
Their prices are below MSRP, and identical to cheapest of the online parts houses I've perused.