More details on Honda parts pricing

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More details on Genuine Honda parts pricing
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A series of emails (amounting to an interview) with a reader who wishes to remain anonymous resulted in this page. My correspondent has some experience buying parts wholesale, the way a garage would (as opposed to retail, the way an off-the-street buyer would).

Tegger:
What's the retail markup on Honda OEM parts and how do you know?

Reader:
It looks like the parts markup on most Honda parts is probably closer to 66%. Some evidence of this can be seen in some special order parts (and some normal stock items). Sometimes the dealership leaves the "pick ticket" that the warehouse uses to fill the order before sending it to thedealership. On this ticket there is a field "QUAL NO.-1" which was explained to me as dealer cost, and "QUAL NO.-2" which is definitely suggested retail price from Honda (at the time the ticket was printed).

Tegger:
Do you have an example?

Reader:
On the ticket I am looking at right now (for a hood release cable for a 1986 Accord, p/n 74130-SE0-A01) the first field is 0001*645 and the second is 0002*742. This would indicate $16.45 cost and $27.42 retail. This is a 66% markup on a special order part. I believe that I paid about $20 and some change from the online place I used. Having seen a number of these tickets, this is also proof that many of the dealerships inflate their retail price over the suggested retail price. I've asked some parts and service people about this and they call it "matrix pricing". It has also been explained to me that Honda gives discounts to dealers for buying an item in volume, and it may even be possible that the overall volume of orders can allow for a better dealer cost. I know many dealerships purchase oil filters in massive quantity to get a better price.

Tegger:
That's interesting. Some months ago I came across one of those "pick tickets" you mentioned. The Canadian ticket seems to be slightly different from the US one. Mine shows a "dealer net" price, and a "suggested retail" price. Both prices are given in plain dollars.
The details:
The item is a hood hinge, part number 60170-SK7-000ZZ
Dealer net is given as $25.32 (Cdn)
Suggested retail is $42.90.
That's a markup of 60%.

Tegger:
I always wondered what the trade pays for parts when they buy them from the dealer. Recently I was at a local Acura dealer, and was able to read and memorize (upside-down, no less) an invoice made out to a garage that buys a lot of parts from this dealer.
The details:
Part#: 35770-SEC-A01 (SW/PWR RR)
List: $82.45 Cdn.
Actual price: $65.96 Cdn.
This means the garage was getting a 20% discount over retail. Being a regular retail buyer, I get 10% off as a matter of course.

Tegger:
And what about The Parts Bin? It's the only OEM supplier I can find that's not affiliated with an authorized dealer.
http://catalog.thepartsbin.com/

Reader:
This company appears to be the exact same parts that WorldPac (http://www.worldpac.com/) sells to repair facilities across the US. WorldPac has a combination of OEM parts and aftermarket parts for a variety of imports (and their domestic clones).

For many items you can purchase either OEM or aftermarket. I assume they get their Honda parts from dealerships in the local area, but I have no evidence of this. Based on the quantity that their SpeedDIAL software shows that they have "on hand" of common parts, they must purchase from these dealerships in huge amounts. This is probably what allows them to have the prices that they do.

They sell most of their OEM Honda parts to the shops (depending on how much you buy from them each month) at a 30-35% discount from suggested list. The quality aftermarket parts are sometimes so inexpensive that it's hard to believe. Also, many of the aftermarket parts are really parts that are purchased from the same suppliers that Honda uses. NOK for bearings, Nissin for brakes, Ishino for oil seals, etc.

Tegger:
Any downsides to dealing with a WorldPac-type company?

Reader:
The biggest downfall with most of these websites that seem to have a very WorldPac-like inventory is that the website's markup seems to be what the SpeedDIAL software lists as suggested retail, or a small amount below this. For the OEM parts that's probably still an OK deal. But once you've seen the price you could get from WorldPac as a business customer, it looks like an absurd markup. And on the aftermarket or dealer supplier market parts this markup could be 100% or even much, much higher on common items like oil filters, spark plugs, and gaskets.

Tegger:
Is there a list available of what "aftermarket" parts are the same as OEM?

Reader:
Not exactly. If in WorldPac the item was listed as "genuine" it would come in a Honda box (or other OEM.... Toyota, Volvo, etc). Sometimes items would be listed as "OEM aftermarket". These parts were usually the exact same part that would have come from the dealer, but only purchased from whoever makes it for Honda. These parts were also sometimes listed by the actual manufacturer. So sometimes it was trial and error with a couple "brands". Genuine was always safe, as was OEM aftermarket. buying the other aftermarket parts might get you an oil seal made by a company that makes oil seals for Honda, but you aren't getting the SAME seal... or they don't make that particular seal for Honda. As a rule though, most of the WorldPac parts, even the no-name aftermarket parts were much better than you'd get from say AutoZone.

Tegger:
I downloaded WorldPac's SpeedDIAL software, and the first thing it wants is a customer number, which I don't have, obviously. If you're able to get in, I assume you have a customer number? Do you work for (or own) an auto repair facility?

Reader:
A good friend of mine owned a shop that began using WorldPac as their main supplier for OEM and certain aftermarket parts. Some parts were not available OEM from WorldPac, and the aftermarket stuff was not suitable, and so he ordered those items from the dealer. The shop has recently closed its doors and so I don't believe that I have access to the software anymore.

Tegger:
Are The Parts Bin and WorldPac different, unrelated companies that do the same thing?

Reader:
I'm not sure. My friend was interested in selling parts online, and WorldPac offered to help him set this up, so I guess that the companies aren't related except as supplier and reseller. I also don't know for certain that The Parts Bin is getting their parts from WorldPac, but it really looks that way.