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Ever had someone quote you a price for something that takes you so far aback you don't immediately realise quite how ludicrous it is?


Edit: LOL should have checked Martyn's VAGparts response before I posted this - guess Car Spares were getting hold of the OEM Volks service centre bits for a knock down price... but, all the same, the being-shocked point stands.



Me, on phone, to Car Spares Erdington, earlier today (lunch):
Hi there, I called in at the weekend looking for some piston rings but your system was down, I got told to phone in today?

Them: Right o... pistons... they're a special order part you know, and you have to find out what the oversize is first..

Me: No, no, not the full pistons, just a standard set of 12 piston rings. Not oversize, I haven't had the engine rebored at all and don't plan to. It's not worth it.

Them: Alright, I'll look it up, see if we can get them ordered and what the price is.

Me: Fine, ok. It's a Volkswagen Polo*, one litre, nineteen ninety-one.
* said extra slow and clear because some numptys keep thinking ive said vaux nova for some reason.

Them: Ok then *repeats back, gets the nod and toddles off*

Me: tum te tum................ zzzzzz

Them: Right mate, we can get those in, and got a price for you. It's seven........



....ty-six pounds sixty-eight pence, plus tax.

Me: Oh..... right. You sure that's the right part? It sounds a little pricey for what it is.

Them: Definately mate. You want that I should order them?

Me: Er... hm, no, not today geezer, I can get 'em elsewhere for about a tenner. Be back if i can't find any. Cheers though.

Them: Right you are. Buh-bye.



After the phone was down....

"bugger. back to the drawing board"


.....and a couple more minutes into my lunch, surrounded by soon-to-be-bemused colleagues.........

"WTF? £76? HOW MUCH? When I could have got them at GSF for £8? That's almost 10x more!!"

Fifteen greenbacks and a nugget for 12 not exactly high engineering rings of steel....

Now it's conceiveable that he cocked it up. Perhaps they're a bit dear now supplies are low, and he quoted me for 4 sets, each for 4 pistons, at a steep but affordable £19 plus VAT. After all, for a single piston, GSF wanted six quid - the £8 was just a bulk buy price i guess (buy 1 and a third, get two and two thirds free?).
It's also possible he's even more of a tool and quoted me 12 x 4, 4 x 12, or even the full gross of 12 x 12..... with each set being only £6.39 + tax, or in other words, £7.50 all in.

But it's equally possible that, yes, somewhere along the line, someone's charging through the nose for these things.




PS I think my mum's an alien. She claims to have never, ever run across the phrase "How d'ya like them apples?", any variant - them/those, apples/onions/strawberries, etc, or to even understand what it means. She's in her 50s. WTF? I think it's just world upside-down day... I was also able to drive into work in 20 minutes flat (usually: train 35, car 50m) and finished the working day at 4.55pm. Strange things are afoot at the circle K.

I've got a feeling he's quoted for the actual piston's and ring's or his mark up's unbelievable.

I wouldn't worry about you're mother mate, I'm sure my parent's are from another planet at time's aswell(both over 50)

too bad i had another phone call to make and not much time left for lunch, or i would have hung on a bit longer double checking he'd heard me right.

luckily there's a couple other branches of the same shop i can phone within half-reasonable driving distance, so i wont sound like a dickhead trying again

That's ridiculous.. I thought eurocarparts.com was insane at £44.25..

hm, ecp.......

pistons would cost £150 each for me and thats my discount too.

if your after rings he may be right at that price

good god

alright then riddle me this, how come german-swedish wanted all of six quid a pot or eight for the engine? (plus VAT of course)

sometimes i think the prices are down to the Kwik Fit effect, and maybe they'll come down if you argue the toss long enough. i just found my old receipt for the first work done on the polo - overhauling the rear brakes. Mum took it in. Jesus. I should have told her to wait a couple days, googled around for typical parts prices, then gone with her. You should see how much they've charged for cylinders (no more than £7.95 a throw to buy yourself if you avoid halfords, particularly the easy-sieze sh*te KF used)........ its incredible. It cost nigh on £250, with labour not making up a great part of it, and was probably no more than a £50 job. Don't think they even touched the shoes.

Sorry, Tahrey, how come you can't get them from GSF? Were they out of stock did you say?

I still say you should give GSF's online ordering a shot. They're still shown on the website.. would have bought myself a set earlier as an experiment, but it would have pushed my order over £20 and meant that I had to pay loads more postage for them.. I'm sure they would have removed them from the site by now if they didn't still have a couple hanging around.

apparently piston rings are a "deleted line", and i've been too busy since to try asking them exactly what they mean by that, and if it's just the type i'm after, or (surely not?) all rings.

may give that a shot - i was considering an email grovel