Toyota Part Departments….Is there a secret to order?

In Hou Tx

so from my rebuild projects
Have searched and confirmed part fitment/part#
Call around and 95% of the time, only in stock at this one large dealership 10miles from hm
There is small dealer 2miles away, but always told ‘yeah, just go there’ basically refusing to order(face to face at counter)
No biggie, not too far away

mostly ordering small gaskets

Last 3 times I got parts, thought pricing higher. I just glad/giddy to get part and get back to work.

now I know there are 3 prices
Retail
List
Shop
I just figured they were charging Retail….whatever….its a $7/$14/$10 part

After the 3rd time, I was prepared
Asked part guy “u think u got give me List price instead of Retail?” He did, knocked $1.61 off price!
Again, I got part, negotiated price, and left to get back to work on the taco

so after installing, here are online prices and what I was charged

wtf is going on???

IAC gasket 22215-75050

 

Online:

 

What price I ‘negotiated’

 

This better not be typical post Covid price gouging
Like at every freakin grocery store

thanks for input/hints

 

You can find msrp on parts.toyota.com

that site is not very well produced so do your searching elsewhere

drop your pn into there and then select a dealer. The site will show that dealer's markup/discount.

 

Parts departments have big overhead to meet, so they charge accordingly. Most will give 10% if you bother them enough.

I usually get 15% off industry standard from other dealers.

Small items kill places like this, nickle and dime, they come in large freight, have to be put aside, then customer hassles them for 1-2 dollars.

Just remember, dealers aren't enthusiasts trying to keep Toyotas running, they are businesses trying to make profit to appease higher ups.

 

Figure out the website and the shipping OP. Looks like your dealer is charging 120% msrp. You will find some dealers charge 75% of it. The site runs shipping promotions periodically.

 

Understood. Makes sense^^^

jeez never encountered with other manufacturers

so what is this ‘price’ they are charging above Retail?
I mean, is there a name

 

Oh they charge for shipping
That’s why I order/wait/pickup to avoid

 

I’m going to have to rekindle a past relationship with an old auto shop of mine
Get shop price, no tax and buy shop owner lunch or something

 

There's a parts distribution in my city.

Bob Howard parts distribution center.

They are the ones that if dealer orders it.....they'll have it from them to next day.

And they supply all the repair shops in the state.

So you can go to stealership....and pay their price +30% or more.

If your a mechanic with an account you'll get close to the on-line bargain prices...

If you buy OTC from these guys, you get somewhere in-between the two.

The stealership most likely pays a lowlow wholesale price.
so they are really marking that price up a ton...

but that might give you some wiggle room for some of them.

$5 part from dist.....is like $9 from a dealer 5 mi away..
its seems the cheaper the part.....the more they mark it up, percentage wise.

And to boot, you can go and get that part today from the distributor center,
where as you'd pick that exact same part they would of sold you the next day at stealership.
Aint that a bitch....

 

I don't find anyone charging over msrp on the site. Last year was different. Maybe the in person prices are higher. I haven't bought a whole lot of parts.

if you are new to toyotas, people prefer to use OE parts or stuff from the contracted production company (denso, aisin) . . . just commenting in regards to your auto shop friend. Make sure he's getting you appropriate parts.

 

Man, you sure are giving my experiences a full run for the money....

because I dont know much about 5vz's, 4x4, 6lug, manuals, locking diffs, ect..

So about 3/4 of stuff covered on these forums Im just a back seat rider,
just purely a parrot from saved links...

But the stuff I know, I really know, and a lot of it is.....'Dont do what I did' unfortunately.

 

For this Houston dealer….
To order online, you have to fill out a request, then they ‘will get back to you’
Also, no option to p/u said part instead of $12 shipping for an o-ring

I’m going with Pastoreater here, he inspired my New Price description :

‘In Person/Counter pricing’

is what it is
I will be sure and call my Congressman to complain
Whateves

 

And that Bob Howard is Toyotaparts.com.....or at least they are part of that network, because Ive order from TP.com and they shipped my order to my house from their address here in OKC....
SO it cost over $30 to ship about 30 blocks away...

about a doz small parts, mud flaps, ect..

 

Ordering online from the dealership to pickup in person is almost always cheaper than the price they give you over the phone or at the counter.

I generally order small quantities or one-or-two items orders this way, while larger volume stuff is cheaper to order from toyota parts deal.

 

It's not. This isn't news, dealers have been doing this ever since I can remember - at least 2 decades. And not just Toyota.

OEM's set the "list" price of their parts but dealers are allowed to mark up or down as they please (to an extent, I'm sure there's actually some kind of legal contract they have which imposes some kind of limits). Every dealer and often every different associate at the dealer will be different. Some dealers mark up a lot, some not at all. Some associates will honor the "list" price for those in the know who ask for it, other associates won't and make you pay the marked up, "retail" price. Kinda luck of the draw. Often it takes a little time to find the best local or online dealer for your situation. For me, I found a dealer that lets me buy online (at a discount) then pickup in store. Originally they were honoring the online prices for walk-in purchases but they stopped doing that so now I have to order online to get the cheaper price. Not ideal, but also better than having to pay shipping from another website or having to pay full price locally.

Also, OEM's often do annual, across the board, price hikes - presumably to help cover inflation and storage costs for all the parts their holding. Again, nothing new, something they've been doing forever. But what it means is that if you're looking to buy a part, buy it now because unless you find a sale, the cost is likely going to just keep going up and up in future years.

 

I have gone to Walmart only to find the floor prices were many $ higher than online.

Very common in the auto dept, so most of the time if I show em the the page on the phone, they'll match it.

A few other places will do that, BestBuy, Target, ect....

I used to buy online, and then pickup at service desk, but now they changed all that, pickup at car, PIA, not convenient for me....

 

Dealers sell in person at a much higher rate than they sell online. At least mine does. I called them on it. They just shrug their shoulders.

Sadly, Toyota and their dealers have made buying anything a miserable experience.

 

Yeah I've got a choice at toyotaparts.com and pay the cut-throat shipping prices,

or go down to the center, and the parts add up to even more than that difference.

I love Mcgeorge's prices, but they get like $20 just to ship a thimble.
And its gone as high as $40 just for a $300 order, that would fit in medium flat rate box....

So building up a large order doesnt allow you to dodge that.