Ford Dealer refusing to give out pn#

RICH17

Dr. Pussy Slayer, MD
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Nov 14, 2008
26,707
1,992
The 007
Real Name
Adam Rich
I work in parts and sometimes do it. Depends on the customer. Why am i going to look up all these parts for you and then all you do is go somewhere else? Its not being a dick but we pay lots of money to have the access to the lookup the parts. We're not here to give info away for free.
 

blakbearddelite

I'm not one of your 'shit-hole' buddies!
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Jun 28, 2007
29,203
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FL
I see both sides, there's no value for Ford to give you the part number. You will just take that part number and go somewhere that doesn't rape you with their cost. But there should be some goodwill as this customer likely purchased the car from Ford and they should support their customers. If Ford wouldn't charge ridiculous prices for spare parts, maybe they'd retain that business.

I'd much rather buy parts directly from Ford, but if I can pay half that price buying it from someone else...
 

SMKE EM

Banned
Nov 9, 2016
717
0
NWI
Dealerships need to pay access to lookup parts for your own manufacturer?

I'm sorry this is not directed at you, but as a consumer, that's not my problem. I purchased your brand vehicle, and need you to support it when it breaks down. That's just bad business structure IMHO. As a dealer you should get free access to these things through your parent company to help customers. Either that or offer up a parts manual at a reasonable cost for purchase.

If the parts markup wasn't ridiculous I wouldn't mind buying from a dealer, but after I hung up I did some research and found the entire part # online. $36 for the motorcraft DPFE sensor, the dealer wanted over $120. Tasca parts another Ford dealer online isn't even that bad of markup, jeez.

Food for though, you want to increase your bottom line, try using a fair markup on parts, instead of 300% markup and a shit part warranty (30 days - 1 year)

Honestly, if this is the route American car companies are going to go, I'll be buying Honda/Toyota next just to avoid the problems with parts. I can't see this adversarial strategy with people who fix their own stuff working in the long run.





What do you need fool
I got it man, thanks though
 

VenomousDSG

Don't Tread On Me
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Apr 30, 2006
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Yorkville, il
When you buy a product from a company, they should assist you in any way with that product, including looking up part numbers for it, and letting them decide whether they should get that part through you or through another source.

That's called a free-market.

It just goes to show you their parts are so highly overpriced that they won't even bother giving you the number to look it up elsewhere, since they know that's what you're going to do. That is a terrible way of treating a customer, and a good way to lose business. Maybe instead of refusing to give out part numbers, they should think about lowering prices of their parts so they remain competitive with other sources. That would give the customer no reason to look elsewhere for it, and you would retain their business in the future.
 

VenomousDSG

Don't Tread On Me
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Apr 30, 2006
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Yorkville, il
pretty sure industry standard is 100%

Im talking about markup over what the other businesses charge. Since industry standard is 100%, therefore i'd be willing to pay about 115-125%, if that place were friendly, reliable, and helpful, and i knew they'd have the part. I sure as hell won't be paying 200-300% over.
 

CMNTMXR57

GM, Holden & Chrysler Mini-Van nut swinger
Sep 12, 2008
26,172
31,303
Elgin
So there is nothing online, like we have for GM Parts Direct?

I guess I understand the situation Rich mentions IF you're giving out technical information or using your proprietary tools to diagnose something and then the customer goes, "Ok, thanks, I'll handle it myself..." But for a part number?
 

Mr_Roboto

Doing the jobs nobody wants to
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Feb 4, 2012
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Nashotah, Wisconsin (AKA not Illinois)
So there is nothing online, like we have for GM Parts Direct?

I guess I understand the situation Rich mentions IF you're giving out technical information or using your proprietary tools to diagnose something and then the customer goes, "Ok, thanks, I'll handle it myself..." But for a part number?

This is crap too though, a lot of it has to do with opacity of the diagnostic systems and flashing.

My Volvo won't pass emissions and I know it's gonna be a $500 bill to basically get em to flash the box so that it will stop putting the code out for the vapor pump despite it being a flaw in their software and engineering. My Escalade drains the battery due to bad firmware in the BCM for the steering wheel sensor, probably a similar deal cost wise.

I'm not into the walled garden to cars, which is why I'm really reluctant to buy any new cars past a specific era. That's excluding security and privacy concerns. The early 200s ones I have are bad enough much less one with all sorts of other shit attached. "Right to fix" laws are becoming a controversy in certain states because dealers lock people out effectively.

The fucking keys are another place too. I mean, shit it costs how much to get a secure key for a car these days? Its fucking absurd when it's probably $10-15 of parts, them designing the engineering process to force people out of the business. They could make it where you could program your own keys (My mom's Venture was like that, the dealership actually lied to her and said they had to hook it into a machine.) My Astro Van takes a key that you could get made for a damn dollar back in the day.
 

CMNTMXR57

GM, Holden & Chrysler Mini-Van nut swinger
Sep 12, 2008
26,172
31,303
Elgin
I guess you're between a rock and a hard place then. I get both sides of it too, but as a service center, or private service place, you have to pay to have those necessary tools to do the job. It isn't just wrenches, hammers and duct tape anymore.

GM MDI is a fortune. Chrysler StarSCAN or whatever is even more expensive. Not sure of what ford uses, but point being, these places have to invest a significant chunk of change for these systems. And they aren't just buying 1. They're buying several.

Back in the day, we had four service department Tech2's. Problem was, they were constantly in use by others, and I had enough and found a cheap one online (LS1Tech I believe), however, shortly after purchase, the VCI module inside shit the bed, and then I had to pay for a new one through Bosch which nearly doubled my investment.

So if you were to come and ask to sort out your BCM issues on the Escalade, (I would need to be connected to GM unfortunately), I'd ask for a little back scratching to compensate.
 

SMKE EM

Banned
Nov 9, 2016
717
0
NWI
Also overlooking the fact you need full part #s sometimes because some model years use multiple variations of parts and cant buy aftermarket parts without knowing this firsthand

Ford is the worst about this in my experience too, dodge being second. I rarely come across these issues with gms
 

frank

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
I was a dealership parts manager for many years here in Chicago, and did start in the business pre internet Amazon days. My departments that I worked in we would give out the part numbers when asked for and even when not. We did so if the customer called back to order or purchase they could give us the part number to be easy set go. Towards the end of my parts manager career online was killing us and I always let the customer know if found cheaper let me know especially if I had it in stock so they could do the repair, would get the call and if I could match I would do it even if that meant making $2.00 on the part. I was open to helping out a customer when I could.

As for markup on parts, break down is in most brands, msrp pricing or called list price is set by the manufacturer with is close to cost + 45% which is how the warranty price or close to it. So if you purchase a part from gm say a coolant sensor for $50.00 cost and it is replaced under factory warranty the parts department charges 72.50. A dealer has the pricing change every month both cost and list price which is set by the manufacturer.

As for customer pay I had my parts marked up over msrp/ list pricing, it was ramped up from certain dollar amount and I controlled it so it was in line with the repair any part that was msrp priced with a high dollar amount i kept it at msrp as I wanted to keep a customer and I had a heart.

Now some dealers I worked at before internet days, let’s call them pirates !
 

Mr_Roboto

Doing the jobs nobody wants to
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Feb 4, 2012
25,677
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Nashotah, Wisconsin (AKA not Illinois)
I guess you're between a rock and a hard place then. I get both sides of it too, but as a service center, or private service place, you have to pay to have those necessary tools to do the job. It isn't just wrenches, hammers and duct tape anymore.

GM MDI is a fortune. Chrysler StarSCAN or whatever is even more expensive. Not sure of what ford uses, but point being, these places have to invest a significant chunk of change for these systems. And they aren't just buying 1. They're buying several.

Back in the day, we had four service department Tech2's. Problem was, they were constantly in use by others, and I had enough and found a cheap one online (LS1Tech I believe), however, shortly after purchase, the VCI module inside shit the bed, and then I had to pay for a new one through Bosch which nearly doubled my investment.

So if you were to come and ask to sort out your BCM issues on the Escalade, (I would need to be connected to GM unfortunately), I'd ask for a little back scratching to compensate.

My point/question is that due to the proprietary nature of those systems and the corporations having a monopoly on them they can effectively set what price they want on the machines and effectively makes it difficult or impossible for people to service what they ultimately own.

In reality setting an ECU up to have a standard USB connector and to use some standard form of easily available, inexpensive diagnostic software would not be hard nor would upgrading it. Yeah you may end up with the periodic bricked ECU, but I'm sure it happens even at the dealership.

This also ignores the idea that you can push a FW update to a new car like Tesla does automagically. Admittedly they are a walled garden too, but they aren't raping you for the firmware either. I think that this alone is enough to cause a lot of the butthurt among dealerships.

Are you in an indie shop? If you can stop the parasitic loss I'm fine with dropping some bank on it. PM me with a location and a price to check it out/flash the box if needed with an update. I'd rather give the money to not GM corporate.
 

PANDA

TCG Elite Member
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May 24, 2007
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Wisconsin Northwoods
My dad owns a body shop and has "wholesale" accounts with all the manufactures. Take GM for example last time he told me he got 33% off list or something. I still can order a part online cheaper than having him get it through his "wholesale" account. He's pissed at it also and brings it up with the dealer when he orders parts sometimes. Nothing much he can do though. They delivers most parts he needs same day usually in a few hours. Cars in the shop don't need to be sitting around waiting for parts.

If dealers didn't RAPE people so much more people might do business with them for service and parts.
 
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