Crazy markup on parts

Ok you have to be careful with stuff like this. I went to order a power pack for an outboard and googling it showed some beautiful powerpacks for 40 dollars. Then one for 160. After digging, come to find out, the 40 dollar one was a chinese knockoff and had horrible reviews. (one guy said to buy two, to make sure you get one good one.) The one for 160 only had one left in stock and had great reviews, because it was an OEM part, NOS. I got the 160 dollar one.

 

I found that having a good relationship with my dealer (shop Manager) I can get parts a lot cheaper. They will give them to me for discounted price if I ask him to help me out. Always good to build a little bit of relationship with the people in charge of everything.
I also give the shop guys and everyone else in the office lots of free stuff when I get reject pallets of snacks. That little bit of love really helps build some great relationships.

 

And this was why I decided recently to do an end-around and install 4x Midea U-Shaped window units. They are basically a mini-split that identifies as a window unit. It cost maybe a little over $1,000 and some time to install. The old central unit would run until the wee hours of the morning before reaching the set point. We had almost a $500 electric bill, that was 2 months ago. Last month was the first full month with the new units, our electric bill was $260! And the house is much more comfortable!

Even when I was a company driver I would bring the mechanics food. Nothing spectacular, but a hot Egg McMuffin can go a long way on a cold morning. Guess who's truck always got right in and out?

 

That's why when you pull into the dealership you see acres and acres and Acres of ground, and supergiant colossal buildings and garages with Bay after bay after bay.

How do you think they have all that ground, the techs get paid top dollar with full complete benefits and vacations, same as all those big giant number of people that work in the office...

And every year the owner makes more and more and more money and you never see him unless he's driving a Mercedes a Bentley a Ferrari a Rolls-Royce...

Who do you think pays for all of that?

When these people write bills, they just add zeros and hope you don't complain.

And if you do, they could care less. They have a backlog of people they're waiting to sock really really hard.