Parts Prices

So wondering why there is such a big difference in prices for the same parts? I just replaced Both the front hub assemblies on my 2003 Ford F150 4x4. Called napa up, yep we got em, 269 bucks....like wow...so i come home go to rock auto.com...can get them there for 77 bucks apiece, shipping is outrageous though....next stop is ebay...got them there for 33.50 apiece, free shipping, had them in two days, year warranty just like the ones napa and rock auto had...why can napa charge so much? later Bob

I have seen price differences like that in the same town, I had a brake rotor that was over $200.00 more than the dealer. Call every parts house in town, and then call the next town. I have a friend who works for a big chain auto parts co. I can buy parts at O Reilly Auto retail, cheaper than his employee discount.

I priced a hydraulic filter for a john deere
forklift at napa,it was 149 bucks.I then checked
john deere,it was 50 dollars.

Some are USA made. Some are made other places. Personally I buy the cheap ones until they prove that they are inferior.

In the early 90s I was driving an 86 F150 and the drag link went south. Checked with Ford dealer, something like $80. NAPA, about $70, Advance Auto, about $50. Interesting thing about it, they ALL had TRW stamped on them! As already mentioned, I generally check prices but often go with the less expensive ones until they prove themselves unworthy. My son delivered parts for Advance for almost two years. They had a lot of commercial accounts. He said they seldom had a part come back defective.

I would pretty much bet your parts were Chinese. Just about every thing NAPA has comes from China also so they may have came from the same supplier that NAPA uses. I use NAPA very little and go to O'Rileys instead.

The differance is the qaulity of the part

Lately I have been going back to NAPA, go figure ? Autozone and Advance are now HIGHER then NAPA on many things.

I have bought several things off the net. Check out AM auto parts.com & techchoiceparts.com ? I think is the one from TX that handles air conditioner parts.

You just have to check around prices are all over the place.

The flasher/turn signal on my Ford 655A backhoe is one large self contained switch. This past fall when it appeared to be a problem, I was trying to check it out and see what I could do about it. New Holland wanted over $100 for it. After some thought I remember seeing a similar switch used by AC. Their price was about $40. Then with some more research I found my Magnum tractor used the same switch. Fortunately I was able to switch the switches and determine I had other troubles. The CaseIH switch was identical, and was priced at about $60.

(quoted from post at 03:02:03 01/11/13) So wondering why there is such a big difference in prices for the same parts? I just replaced Both the front hub assemblies on my 2003 Ford F150 4x4. Called napa up, yep we got em, 269 bucks....like wow...so i come home go to rock auto.com...can get them there for 77 bucks apiece, shipping is outrageous though....next stop is ebay...got them there for 33.50 apiece, free shipping, had them in two days, year warranty just like the ones napa and rock auto had...why can napa charge so much? later Bob

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I think a couple things came into play. NAPA has different prices for different levels of buyers. The guy that buys one part a year pays way more than the guy that runs a repair shop. NAPA probably quoted you list price. Go in the store with grease on your clothes and you'll get a discount. Sometimes a big discount. The parts NAPA had were likely American made while the others were likely Chinese. NAPA sells Chinese parts as well but you can still get US made parts there in some cases.
Unless you bought from a dealer that maintains a brick and mortar store or a legitimate online store I highly doubt you got an actionable warranty. What are you supposed to do if you need warranty service? Send the parts back to the ebay seller? Unless the ebay seller maintains an account with the manufacturer and maintains a parts inventory like a brick and mortar store my guess is you're out of luck come warranty time.

Also, not always the case but in many instances there is a huge difference in quality. This is especially true with Chinese parts. Some of their parts are so poorly made I wouldn't put them on a wheelbarrow let alone a truck.

People get too hung up on price and forget about value.

NAPA was hard to beat when each store was owned by an individual and only had to answer to the customer.Now many NAPA stores are owned by a company that owns many stores. Just like many J. D. stores that are talked about often here.

I'm used to getting the discount at NAPA with the counter guys that I know- but went in the other day, picked up a $3.59 item, and the gal at the counter, who I'd never seen, sold it to me for $1.99, without a word. She didn't know me from Adam, and I was wearing my lawyer clothes, so obviously not a trade discount. It occurred to me, if they're going to give everyone the discount, why not just mark it at that price? Seems like they're needlessly scaring some people off with the higher marked price, if they don't intend to charge that much anyhow.

But I'm certainly no Sam Walton, so what do I know?

That was probably the price for their premium hub. Their economy hub is much lower in price and from what I have found about the same quality as the other cheaper ones. If you use the cheap ones and put on any amount of miles, be prepared to replace them in a year or two. The premiums have never come back for replacement. Check out the warranty difference. That will tell you a lot.