by KE4AVB » Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:22 am
Yes there are those, actually most customers, that are wanting the cheapest repair possible and then are the those that things fixed right. Everyone's situation is different too.
As if buying just the seats are worth it, you got add in the shipping costs and your profit markups. Sometimes it is and other times it isn't. For me it depends what I am ordering and if same the same supplier has the parts as it is cheaper in the long run to combine orders. I have vendors where shipping costs are higher at first but the prices are better. Most these higher shipping cost vendors then have reducing shipping rate as you order a larger quantity parts. Here I got one that starts the shipping at 9.50 then reduces it as order value increases with it dropping to zero except on engine orders.
You also got figure in will the equipment come back for rework which will affect your reputation as a good shop or not. This why I install the needle seat sets over just the seat in the case of these rubber seats. Bowl gaskets are a common item to go bad so I do buy them as a separate item.
There are other items that I buy in bulk from bearing and seal suppliers as the OEM parts are simply way over priced. A good example is the Cub Cadet tapered bearings I needed last year. Cub was wanting over $70 for 2 bearings, 2 cups, and 2 seals. I manage to get these for under $15 for the rebuilt kit. And considering the 6 after market spindle I had fought with because none of them were right it simply wasn't worth it buy the $35 units. Now the MTD spindles were over $75 but the aggravation was not worth it for AMs when compared to the rebuilds. I ended up making decent profit on the job though I did lose a lot time because of the defective spindles and learned some useful info for later repairs.
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