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It seems that nowadays, the first question to ask when buying a car is "how easy is it to change the bulbs - and how much do they cost"!
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Someone prised out the reflector from the rear of my Accord Tourer. It's a piece of red plastic about six inches long and less than half an inch deep. I replaced it a few weeks ago and was charged £18.82p.
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I just had cause to go to Peugeot dealer for a complete high level brake light for a 307. Red lens, holder for 4 bulbs, wiring for the lights plus a pipe and plastic jet for the rear wash/wipe. While I waited I saw two tiny side indicator repeaters @ £22 a pair and wire mesh airintake scoop cover at £65 so I didn't look forward to the price of what I was after! Came out at £10.66 and delivery tomorrow. The man behind the counter said he had given up trying to guess what spares cost as there seemed to be no rhyme or reason for many of them.
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I've given up being surprised by the price of parts. Just when you think you've seen it all something else comes along which is even more astonishing.
To be fair it is often not the manufacturer who is responsible, UK import agents can put on an incredible mark-up on parts - Mitsubishi and Subaru for example. I think the guy who set up IM (International Motors) to import Subaru's is worth £500m or so - not bad for a minor player in the car market.
If you can contact an agent overseas it often pays dividends to import part directly - for example I have purchased Mitsubishi parts from New Zealand and even with air shipping the price is less than 30% of the UK dealer price. I once stopped in at a Merc dealer in Hamburg for a pair of rear subframe bushes for a W202 - they were £25 each against a UK price of £65. There used to be a Sikh bloke in Birmingham who would take orders for Merc parts and then do a weekly run to Germany in a transit and buy them from the dealers there and slap 20% on. But it think they (MB) stopped him in the end by some means or another and of course ECP/GSF have expanded their availability a lot in recent years.
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