I work in an industry where we have a lot of cars in for services almost daily - across pretty much every make.
I’ve noticed the cost of replacing wiper blades is ridiculous. It is anywhere between $60 - $100. I question it often and always get the excuse that they are genuine and that’s what they cost. I refuse to approve the replacement now. It is more concerning that a lot of people may not realise the cost and how much is should be (generally less than $20) and are paying too much for it. It sometimes makes up more than a quarter of the total service cost.
Do yourself a favour and don’t let them rip you off. They are easy to do your self and more often then not if you go to an auto parts shop and purchase some they’ll fit them for you for free if you don’t know how to do it.
It seems every new model year brings new style of wiper mounting and as has been stated some of the exotic wiper styles are $30 or more to purchase for a pair of replacement blade of OEM or good quality maker, add in 15mins of labour at a service department and that would be about right.
Remember selling new cars the margins are extremely slim nowadays and most dealers make their profit in servicing so I would not expect there to be much discounting even for the simple to fit parts it is probably where they can squeeze a bit more…
I have been reading that for yonks but it does not meet the pub test.
Consider the show room, the cost of real estate for the showroom and service bays, the number of sales, financing, and customer service staff before you get the service writers and technicians on the list. If a dealer sold 100 cars a month and only made $200 on each (as if often claimed) that is a princely $20,000. Tell me a business can run on that profit margin and pay its bills. Agreed some dealers sell many more than that, but.
The invoices dealers put in front of us are essentially like an RRP statement they can use to negotiate. When it comes time to pay their own bills they receive dealer hold backs, volume bonuses, and various floor discounts. Even then it is not an easy business and they might well make more from service, but they would not be in business making “extremely slim margins”, at least as I see it. If their business was all service income, why would they bother with the sales side overhead as the return on investment would be questionable.
With that, in fairness, here is the industry side…
Well, have a 2003 Subaru that we can’t seem to kill and haven’t bought wipers for a few years…so haven’t had the need to buy any lastest technology, newfangled varieties.
The typical margin on a everyday car is around $2K but it various depending on the sticker price and factory rebates etc.
I don’t now where you got your figure from.
But even say 200K/mth will not run a dealership hence why servicing department is so important.
The carsguide item I linked clearly referenced $290 for an entry vehicle, and some pundits claim even less.
Yes, which makes the accepted (supposed?) business model suspicious. Since it is possible to get 6% dividend returns from a share investment doing nothing but depositing your cheques, why would anyone run a business where it was so hard to make a profit? Most dealerships are a bit nicer than your everyday Bunnings if that reinforces my jaded view about their real cash flow.
I as a general rule do not read linked stories on any forum that I participate in and as a strict rule I don’t bother with any stories released by the likes of carsguide, domain’s or new’s group motoring sections.
As the journalists in my opinion are little more than mouthpieces for the car industry.
Most should also be asking to get paid by the manufacturers PR departments they are that efficient at delivering what the manufacturers want.
Back to the subject the big areas of $$ margin in new car sales is, selling finance, insurance, garbage fabric and paint protection systems and vehicle servicing and parts it is not viable to simply sell cars and live of the commissions from that alone.
Just recently replaced wiper blades on my Nissan Murano,never bothered with a price from Nissan but bought from Supercheap, normal retail was $39ea, on sale $25ea they’re the new one piece design that fits a hooked wiper arm and take about a minute to fit and are as good origanal Nissan blades but have since priced and source the exact blade from Korea thru Ali Express website for the extortionate price of $9.00 per set including shipping.
I get flash new mono blades on ebay for $25 delivered. Just search for your model. I would imagine that there would be a you tube videos on the replacement… they pretty universal outside the length.
I get my blades from an Australian company Wiper Tech. The price they quote includes postage. They even have a video on their site to help you fit the new blades.
Not difficult to do yourself. Hint, if the auto shop can’t look at your vehicle in the car park, then remove both blades and take them in . Don’t rely on the instore catalogue as I have found them to be inaccurate. Be very careful fitting the type used by Subaru. It is very easy to cut the wrong end to achieve the correct length and have to buy another blade.
I usually go to my local Autobarn ( Altona ) .They come out and check the wipers , remove and replace them with no fitting charge . I’m not sure if that service would extend to all franchises .
