I needed a new rear wiper blade for the Superb, so I popped along to the nearest Halfords to get one. There were none in stock but they assured me they could order a Bosch one for delivery that day. I paid when I ordered it, it was a bit over £14 after using my Halfords discount card.

The next day they called to say that they had a supply problem and wouldn't be able to get hold of it. I went back in and got a refund.

Oddly, Euro Car Parts also said they didn't do those blades either. Luckily GSF were across the road so I walked in there and got the exact Bosch wiper, from stock. Price was £13 including VAT.

Call me naive, but I was surprised that Halfords was still more expensive even after having used a discount card. I'll be using GSF more in future.

Why not get one from the dealer?...They are even cheaper and OEM

Really? Cheaper than GSF? That would be a shock. I read on another thread that they wanted £42 for a set of front wipers. Bosch wipers were £38 full price in Halfords!

Rear wiper

Rear wiper

I assumed they'd be expensive. They usually are for most things....

Dealer wouldn't be cheaper than £13 ? Not for Bosch

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Skoda-Superb-3T-2-0-TDi-CR-Estate-ACP-Exact-Rear-Wiper-Blade-Genuine-Windscreen-/360827550735

Edited 20 February, 201412 yr by seboni121

When my blades go I strip them down and replace the actual blade with Bosch standard rubber , hey presto I've a new aero paled for the fraction of the price

Where do you get the standard bosch rubber?

Thanks Pete

Dealer wouldn't be cheaper than £13 ? Not for Bosch

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Skoda-Superb-3T-2-0-TDi-CR-Estate-ACP-Exact-Rear-Wiper-Blade-Genuine-Windscreen-/360827550735

Mine was

£9 from euro car parts for a bosch. They always have discount codes knocking about.

Halfords are like the convience store of car parts. A litte more expensive but always open. No surprise it was a whole £1 more tbh. No doubt gsf will be well handy when someone's stuck on a job on a Sunday afternoon and needs one last bolt/part.

^^^ Agree with matt.

 

I'm always surprised when people accuse halfords of being expensive, especially when their running costs are about 1000x more (technical estimate ;-) )

 

Motor Factors

- Reception the size of an office desk

- Cold

- Open for about 6hrs a day (conveniently open just after you start work, and close just before you finish) and for about 10min on a saturday.

- Sunday? HAHAHAHAHA!!!! 

- Usually hidden down a back alley or some business park with no other retail businesses.

- usually 2 members of staff (usually knowledgeable to be fair, but still plenty who just open the distributors catalogue when you ask if they have something in)

 

Halfords

- Open most of the hours on this planet, including the days we actually work on our cars (Weekends)

- Staff everywhere (knowledgeable ones are rare, but worth it)
- About from obscure stuff, parts are usually in stock.

- Can reserve online.

 

The trick is to play both to their strengths.... I cant get a trade card :( (Oh, if I could) but if I walk in there for some Car jacks or bits at Sunday 2pm, im not going to complain about paying an extra 4 quid because I've seen their running costs on a typical unit 

^^^ Agree with matt.

I'm always surprised when people accuse halfords of being expensive, especially when their running costs are about 1000x more (technical estimate ;-) )

Motor Factors

- Reception the size of an office desk

- Cold

- Open for about 6hrs a day (conveniently open just after you start work, and close just before you finish) and for about 10min on a saturday.

- Sunday? HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

- Usually hidden down a back alley or some business park with no other retail businesses.

- usually 2 members of staff (usually knowledgeable to be fair, but still plenty who just open the distributors catalogue when you ask if they have something in)

Halfords

- Open most of the hours on this planet, including the days we actually work on our cars (Weekends)

- Staff everywhere (knowledgeable ones are rare, but worth it)

- About from obscure stuff, parts are usually in stock.

- Can reserve online.

The trick is to play both to their strengths.... I cant get a trade card :( (Oh, if I could) but if I walk in there for some Car jacks or bits at Sunday 2pm, im not going to complain about paying an extra 4 quid because I've seen their running costs on a typical unit

I agree with you in retail units, my old employer rented ours (before closing the store), rent (inc. utilities, etc) was ~£500k p/a for a 30k square foot building near the town centre, add everything else on (wages, getting the stock in, etc) and we was looking at ~£1.5m before we have sold a thing

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A whole pound extra for the convenience of being in every town and open until late evening. Seems like a bargain to me.

I'm really impressed by Halfords' big push on fitting as well. Flogging a pair of wiper blades and then charging £3 to fit them there and then for somebody who hasn't a clue is a good deal in my book. It's a much better alternative for those who don't get involved with cars than having to deal with local mechanics.

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Where do you get the standard bosch rubber?

Thanks Pete

Not just the rubbers , just purchase Bosch cheap blades not the aero ones and strip the rubbers out and just stitch those rubbers into the aero that you've got already its easy

What?

Why would you do that?

Just for the sake of a couple of quid

Halfords have the market well covered now.

Very little competition.

 

Motorworld are perceived as being cheap and tacky, usually staffed by Gorillas. Very few of them left now anyway...'round here at least.

 

Only other option are motor factors such as LVW who are very keenly priced I find.

No good for anything other than maintenance items though really. 

Not just the rubbers , just purchase Bosch cheap blades not the aero ones and strip the rubbers out and just stitch those rubbers into the aero that you've got already its easy

What? Literally stitch?   :no:

 

Sounds like a bit of a faff to me

Edited 21 February, 201412 yr by Mr Ree

Why are we shock that Halfrauds is not always the cheapest?  Typical big retailer tactic- build an aura of much cheapness, lure in the mugs with a few loss leaders and then profit from them.

Edited 21 February, 201412 yr by slider

Why are we shock that Halfrauds is not always the cheapest?  Typical big retailer tactic- build an aura of much cheapness, lure in the mugs with a few loss leaders and then profit from them.

 

Never really thought of Halfords as the cheapest - the trick (as with any purchase) is to jump on the loss leaders.

 

Example - Online were the Autoglym car kits (about £60 worth) were reduced to about £17 online. Snapped up two....... Went to look at some speakers (for the MGTF), and they wanted £60 so I walked.

 

I will say the experience does change from store to store..... one of their staff fitted a bike rack to the Ex's 2004 3DR civic (should not have done, turned out it wasnt a supported model).

 

Result? - Driving up to Llandegla, the frame rolled off the car and went down the side.... I called halfords from the roadside, and the poor sod who fitted the rack was the one who picked up.

 

Long story short?

- Car respray

- Bikes repaired / parts replaced (About 3K of bikes)

- Refunded for the rack (actually more than we paid for it)

- FREE complete thule kit for the car, including 2 bike racks to go on it.

What? Literally stitch?   :no:

 

Sounds like a bit of a faff to me

Lol not stitch , switch them over take two minutes , I keep the oem frames and remove the rubber and hey ho

Pointless. My dad does crap like that and I've often seen him come home soaking because the rubber hasn't seated right while hes out so he's out there trying to sort it at roadside. I bought him aerotwin ones 3 years ago and they've never needed to be changed.

Lol I've been doing this years and never had issues , when you get to my age you need something to do in the evenings