Dealer Parts Shipping Charges!!!

[Tijerina79]

I recently took my Bobcat skid steer to the official local Bobcat dealer to get repaired, I reviewed the repair estimate invoice noticed a $250 freight shipping charge for the parts. So out of curiosity, I went to the official Bobcat website and checked the shipping price if I order the parts directly from Bobcat. Turns out the site offers free shipping on orders over $99... so Why is the dealer claiming they have to charge me $250 for shipping when the Bobcat company will ship the parts for free? I confronted them about this and their response was " WE ARE A FRANCHISE DEALERSHIP, THAT (Free Shipping) DOES NOT APPLY TO US. THAT APPLIES TO YOURSELF INDIVIDUALLY IF YOU PURCHASE PARTS ONLINE YOURSELF. THOSE PARTS WONT HAVE WARRANTY AND WE DO NOT WORK ON MACHINES IF YOU SUPPLY YOUR OWN PARTS." My question is, is this typical for a Bobcat dealer?

 

[mrbb]

my guess is, yes, its about normal
very few dealers will work on a customers machine, and use parts they provide them
mostly due, to they don't want the hassle of dealing with wrong parts, if a person brings them in , or, the fact they make money selling parts
so using others parts , causes them to loose income
and basically every company is about making money and profits more than they care about repeat or happy customers any more

as for the free shipping? Honestly I think it would have to come down to what part is being shipped
if there small normal sized parts, I gather most dealer DO get them shipped free, but NOT all parts, so, they basically cover there asses by adding a shipping fee to the customer
never seen one have a flat rate before,, because again, pending part needed , shipping might be more or less!
but it doesn't shock me a shop might do this these days, as the name of the game seems to be, make as much $$ as you can, and if anyone doesn;'t like it, , they are free to go else where
this is why so many folks learn top fix there own things and avoid dealers like a plague!(haha)
if your honestly looking to compare dealers , I'd suggest you try calling a few dealers in your area and asking them what they charge, or if they have like fee's! built into repairs

I would think ALL dealers would be able to give you a basic quote for a same repair as your getting now, minus any unseen things they find, but that would also be the same deal at current dealer!
they do repair work based on hours of repairs and all repairs have set costs more or less( i have service manuals 30+ yrs old that show repair time scales in them dealer use to give quotes by!)