Should a body shop charge markup on parts they buy for repairs

[1991 318is]

Our consumer economy is built on credit with the collateral insured against loss. Buying a car is a typical example. Your finance company requires physical damage coverage.
Insurance companies are regulated by the government in setting rates and the actual policy language and forms. Insurance companies pay the body shops. Then there are a lot of behind the scenes vendors supplying parts, paint, etc. All aspects of this are an opportunity for fraud. 90% of the consumer protection statutes are directed at auto sales, financing, and repair. There are crooked adjusters, shops, car dealers, finance companies, politicians, and people who are just walking down the street past the building!

[Jscotty]

While we are on the topic, one thing that I hate about insurance is that my rates go up every year simply because other people who share some of my criteria cause accidents. And being that I have not had an accident or moving violation in the last 20 years I believe that I should get some of my money back. Granted I am not the most perfect driver but doggone it, I drive defenseively enough to not have accidents. I even manage to avoid the ones that would not have been my fault.

Even when I go rent a car, they always try to hard-sell me that damage waiver coverage. The insurance company that furnishes the damage waiver must be making a FORTUNE which makes me think that the agent earns a huge commission for selling it. At $20 a day (and lets be conservative and assume that 40,000 people rent a car every day) per car per person, that has to add up into the billions annually.

I always tell the guy that I don't need it simply because I do not have accidents. And of course they always have some sort of lame "what-if" rebuttal. And I respond by saying, "Well look, Mr. Rental Car Agent, if I can get away with wrecking 5 different rental cars in a one-week period, no questions asked, I will take the coverage. If its easy as just getting another rental, no strings attached I will wreck a car every single day knowing that my $20 damage waiver will cover it."

Dead silence.

I don't run stop signs, I don't drive like a maniac and I do not rush to get to where I am going. I don't drink, do drugs, or engage in any other activities that would distract my ability to pay attention. Heck, I don't even talk on the cell phone while driving unless I am expecting an important call. Even at that I will make the call as brief as possible, pull over, or offer to call them back later. But some dick on the other side of the rental counter wants to persuade me to buy their insurance because I might be a crappy driver. Heck, I will make sure I wreck this car before I return it.

And then the other bad thing about this damage waiver insurance is that the rental companies never get the car fixed unless the car is badly damaged to the point of being undriveable. I mean they warn me with "If there is one scratch on the paint or one stain on the seat when you bring the car back or if you smoke in the car, we will have to charge you a $1000 deductable. Being that I am a betting man, I am willing to take my chances. So finally I get the car and it has stains all over the interior, it reeks with cigarette smoke, and there are some pretty deep "love-tap" scratches on all 4 corners of the car. This tells me that a few irresponsible drivers took the damage waiver or got hit with the $1000 but the rental company didn't bother to restore the car back to its original condition. So I say screw it. If I get a scratch or ding on the car while I am renting it, I will just tell them that it was there when I got the car. No way that they could tell me that it wasn't being that the rest of the car was all messed up yet they rented it to me anyhow.

[Midnight Sun]

and i think its wrong for a shop to charge so much markup on parts. I learned a new trick from a guy at a shop this week. They get two receipts from their supplier one (a lot less, that they put in their file), and another (a lot more they give to the insurance company).

That is a new one. All of our vendors print both our cost and the list price on the invoice.

As a shop, we never mark up shit. Tonkin and the likes do it for us.

[Funkmasta]

Dude. They are fixing YOUR CAR. do you have the ability to do it yourself? I'm guessing not.

So, pay them the parts markup, or pay an inflated labor rate, your choice. Thats what it takes to keep the lights on.

... because they have to fix your bodywork because you don't know how.

[uofom3]

some independant shops make a lot of their money off of parts sales...