Just thought I'd share my recent experience which was very surprising and pleasing.

 

My 2011 Octavia has a very shabby gear lever knob, the top trim piece is worn and cracked.

 

Searched on ebay and they are readily available in the £15 to £25 price range plus shipping.

 

Out of curiosity tried my local main agents, Lightcliffe.  Genuine Part £9 and some pennies. 

 

They even have a COVID safe parts collection system where you pay online and  collect parts from outside the door with no need to go inside the dealership, very useful in these strange times.

 

Previous experience of main dealers was expensive parts, this is great service, is this typical of the Skoda strategy to parts. ?

 

 

I buy from TPS and pay dealer retail price less 8%, I am public and did not ask for the discount, it was given automatically.

 

During the rebuild of the accident damage on the Yeti I cross checked every part that I bought against offerings on the internet, Ebay, Superskoda etc and with only one exception the Skoda price for the genuine part was significantly less than those offered elsewhere tow hich postage had to be added.

 

By far the most opportunistic was Superskoda and the other supposed cheap Eastern European suppliers.

 

The part I did find a little cheaper was the inner steel bumper beam, often called the crash bar.

 

The only part that I thought was expensive even taking into account the costs of stocking & distribution was the plastic inner grille assembly at £58 + Vat but they were much more on E-bay, Superskoda etc.

 

The headlights probably would have been expensive but I needed right hand dipping ones for my LHD country & I can get OE Hella units from Germany at a very good price.

 

Edited 7 January, 20215 yr by J.R.

Ebay sellers are going to be buying from TPS or dealers then adding margin for handling, shipping and profit; so just as expected really. (For genuine parts anyway).

Edited 7 January, 20215 yr by Wino

Just found I can walk to my local TPS, not a name I recognised but that's why we have these forums

Always worth a call to a main dealer, as you never know. I've bought the odd bit as it was a good price, and the quality is always good.

 

If they turn out to be a lot more, then you have the satisfaction of counting your savings £££

I think it depends on what you need, what is around at the time you need it and who is selling it.

 

For eg. single parking distance sensor (4 in front, 4 in back 8 no. in total) original part is about £40.  On ebay, if I searched hard enough using equivalent OEM codes / VW part number etc. I found genuine vw parts at £9.95 delivered.  A great saving, but I suspect the seller had got a job lot from somewhere and when they run out that is it.

 

On the other hand if I need consumable parts, seals etc. urgently, then I will frequent Skoda or VW parts department. VW is easier when I need an engine part as I can cycle there from home.

 

Conversely, on seals, I paid about £4 for 5 febi aftermarket throttle body gaskets (looked very much the same as originals) and £15 for an elring intake manifold gasket ordered via ebay.  where as originals were something like £14 and £33. so under £20 versus £40...

 

Also, another factor is our local TPS refuse to sell to me now for a year or more, per there written trading policy on a plaque at the front desk!

 

Have they actually refused or were you put off/complying with the notice?

 

I ask because many have done the latter, I just walked in and joined the queue of taxi drivers who had difficulties communicating in English and had very little idea what parts they wanted.

 

I had no problem at all, they are all on sales targets and are hungry for business, at my branch at least the sign is to be seen to be complying with the planning restrictions on the industrial park, they may well invoke the policy to get rid of people taking up too much time, making them frustrated and buying very little, with me they simply set up the account with the discount (unasked for) and the invoices are titled "Generic trade counter sales".

 

They prefer me to phone in the orders, all the staff are behind computer monitors with phone headsets, to serve at the trade counter means lots of back and forths to the printer etc, I phone up with the part numbers and instantly they tell me what the parts are to confirm, those with a suffix they may say "thats the black/silver finish right?".

 

They then deliver the parts to me often within the hour or the next morning if its a non stock item (I'm amazed at how much stock they carry) once again its a well oiled machine that picks the parts & loads the vans, trade counter customers interfere with that.

 

I have rarely if ever seen a mechanic at the trade counter, its always taxi drivers or DIY'ers that dont really know what they want.

Until about a year ago I could phone orders or go to the desk but no more without applying for a trade account pushed and pushed last time I was there with the part number in hand - no deviation from policy sir.....