Canadian gouging

daught

daught

Well-known member
Forum Sponsor
I know, this subjects is beaten to death here but this one is ridiculous. I am looking for balljoints for my Jimmy. I stumbled over Mevotech, a Toronto based company that makes suspension parts. I try to support local economy as much as possible so I thought I might give them a shot over MOOG. The prices I found within Canada are at least 3X what rockauto lists their parts for. Rock auto has them for $10, cheapest I found in Canada online is $30+. I called Mevotech directly and they referred me to some local stores. They want $60! WTF?! Not sure who's gouging here, but 3X-6X the price is ridiculous.
 
Mevotechs direct jobber price is $49.68 how about them apples? Yup they are gouging their retailers.
 
It's the distributor. It's always the distributor.

You see it a lot with computer hardware. CanadaComputers and TigerDirect can have the same part, but CC can sell for less than TD's cost.
 
Just don't get the cheap version, you'll be changing them every month. Those things were originally designed for the Chevette I think.
 
skapan said:
Just don't get the cheap version, you'll be changing them every month. Those things were originally designed for the Chevette I think.
Click to expand...

I don't usually do that, I go for moog pro or Dana, but is price really an indication of quality these days? You can have wild price variation for the same part that's relabeled (napa gold, spicer, Dana). What about mevotech? Are they good in Canada at $60 and crap in US at $10?
 
I did both front ends of my Grand Cherokee and Patriot with greasable Mevotech and MOOG components. Was definitely less money to order from Rock Auto for everything than local guys and Detroit stores. However, when you factor in shipping from Rock Auto, HST and Customs fees for just 2 tie rod ends I'm not so sure there will be any savings.
 
Another example, I'm also doing the blend doors, heater core and evaporator on my Grand. Total price at dealer was $2400 parts and labour. CDN parts prices for DIY was around $470. Through Amazon and Summit Performance shipped to my Kinek address in Detroit less than $200. Sad.
 
How were the mevotechs compared to moogs?

I usually ship to cibi. I send a bunch of stuff there and pick up once every few months.
 
mark up is usually 15 to 20 points, it's the jobber that's doing the gouging. labour is what it is. i don't use the labour guide on most jobs if it takes an hr i charge an hr.
 
lucky2 said:
mark up is usually 15 to 20 points, it's the jobber that's doing the gouging. labour is what it is. i don't use the labour guide on most jobs if it takes an hr i charge an hr.
Click to expand...

This is without labor. It's just the part directly from distributors. Doing the labor myself.
 
I was always surprised, I could phone three jobbers UAP, part source, whoever. Moog, TRW, i dont really care most times for the average fix and sometime the OEM dealer part was a better price.
Ford steering was always better at Ford for some reason. Sometimes the gap was huge like $98 for a centerlink at dealer, 156.00 at jobber.
 
daught said:
How were the mevotechs compared to moogs?

I usually ship to cibi. I send a bunch of stuff there and pick up once every few months.
Click to expand...

In my case for the Patriot the Moog lower control arms with ball-joint were non-greasable but the Mevo's were. I'll take mid-grade greasable any day over premium non-greasable. I'll let you know in 55 000 km how they worked out, since the dodgy OEM components were done at that point...
 
daught said:
This is without labor. It's just the part directly from distributors. Doing the labor myself.
Click to expand...

Do you have access to a ball-joint press or are you using another method?
 
I have a fork and a separator. Oxy-mapp torch for stubborn bolts :) Only the pitman arm has me slightly worried.

DJM said:
In my case for the Patriot the Moog lower control arms with ball-joint were non-greasable but the Mevo's were. I'll take mid-grade greasable any day over premium non-greasable. I'll let you know in 55 000 km how they worked out, since the dodgy OEM components were done at that point...
Click to expand...

Legend has it some dont have a greaser because they are supposed to be fully sealed. Dunno if this is true or not. My audi has sealed ball joints and I never had an issue.
 
Last edited:
as long as the seals stay water tight they seem really good . 270k on my VW non greasable parts
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom