Mitsubishi parts & pricing

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Tue 15 Mar 2005 10:41
Mitsubishi parts & pricing - Aprilia
Mitsubishi make some good and reliable cars, but they really need to sort out their UK parts pricing, which borders on the ridiculous.

I will be servcing a Mitsi at the weekend. Just been down to the dealer to get some parts:

1. Asked for Mitsubishi antifreeze concentrate (it needs a coolant change). Told that Mitsi don't sell their own coolant anymore. "What do you use then?". Reply - "Oh, just anything - the cheapest".
"Erm....OK" (Scratches head and rolls eyes).

2. Ask for oil filter. Cost is £17.95!! Is this a 'Made in Japan' filter flown over from Tokyo with its own seat and in-flight entertainment on a B-747? No. Open the Mitsi-branded box and on the filter inside it says 'Purflux - Made in France'.

3. Even worse was to come when I asked for a new alternator belt. Nearly £45 for just a belt!!

In the past I helped someone source a Mitsubishi idle valve (a common failure point) from Australia for about £100, when the UK dealer wanted over £400.

I dread to think what non-service items cost in the UK. This kind of pricing does need to be brought to the attention of potential buyers - its just stupid.
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Tue 15 Mar 2005 10:50
Mitsubishi parts & pricing - GrahamF1
Why go to the main dealer for an oil filter, could you not get one from a motor factor?
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Tue 15 Mar 2005 11:04
Mitsubishi parts & pricing - Aprilia
Owner wanted only 'genuine' parts fitting - understandable. Knowing that Mitsi use Purflux I will source one of these from a factor next time, at about 1/4 the price!
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Tue 15 Mar 2005 11:11
Mitsubishi parts & pricing - Chas{P}
I worked in a Mitsubishi dealership 15 years ago and was suprised then about the non-genuiness of the service parts.

It was a total embarrasment when a customer at the parts counter got a filter out of its box to check it and it was the same as you could get down the road at a factors at half the price.

Sounds like things haven't changed.
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Tue 15 Mar 2005 11:52
Mitsubishi parts & pricing - GrahamF1
Maybe one day people will realise that there is no such thing as a 'genuine' oil filter.

It amazes me that people really think that Mitsubishi (or other manufacturers) actually make oil filters.

All 'genuine' consumable parts are bought it from one of a handful of bulk suppliers, and the same item can invariably be had for half the price at a motor factor or an spares/accessory shop.
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Tue 15 Mar 2005 12:06
Mitsubishi parts & pricing - Chas{P}
>>It amazes me that people really think that Mitsubishi (or other manufacturers) actually make oil filters.

I agree but normally a VM adds some branding to distinguish it from the rest. Then the customer has some confidence that the part is approved for warranty purposes at the very least.
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Tue 15 Mar 2005 13:24
Mitsubishi parts & pricing - Aprilia
Maybe one day people will realise that there is no such
thing as a 'genuine' oil filter.
It amazes me that people really think that Mitsubishi (or other
manufacturers) actually make oil filters.
All 'genuine' consumable parts are bought it from one of a
handful of bulk suppliers, and the same item can invariably be
had for half the price at a motor factor or an
spares/accessory shop.


I've knocked around cars for enough years to know that there is really no such thing as a 'genuine' filter. However, many owners like to see a 'genuine' branded item fitted, and I can sympathise with that. In the case of a Nissan, for example, you can get a pattern filter for about £5 and a 'genuine' one for about £8 - so big deal. Mitsubishi, on the other hand, are charging you £17.95 for the £5 filter - which is a big deal.

I don't really want to side tracked into a discussion about filters though - its the general pricing of their parts (esp. in the UK). Nearly £45 for an alternator belt is just too much!
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Tue 15 Mar 2005 12:50
Mitsubishi parts & pricing - Harmattan
In a similar vein, if you buy direct from the Mitsubishi factory (i.e. through an agent rather than a dealer) a factory workshop manual for a Pajero/Shogun will cost just over £250 for the English version and about £40 less for either French or Spanish. A parts catalogue is £60 (£25 for the CD) but the worst of all is a £60 compulsory charge for packing any one or all of these into your new Shogun.

Nissan price their manuals similarly without the packing charge but Subaru ask only £30 each for factory workshop manuals in various languages and no charge for packing. Maybe there is more info in the Mitsubishi manuals but the differential is hard to puzzle out.
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Tue 15 Mar 2005 14:42
Mitsubishi parts & pricing - Happy Blue!
Had a Spacewagon (1995) bought in 1998 and decided to fit aftermarket air con at the Mitsu dealer. I was told it was an approved Mitsu kit.

In 2002 the a/c failed due to a hole in the condenser. The Mitsu dealer could not source the same condenser and neither could two specialist a/c people. It seems the approved kit was a mix bag of parts made all around the world and was altered at any time as long as the bag contained parts that fitted and worked together.

As the latest kits were different to the kit already fitted, we had an unuseable a/c system thereafter. That'll teach me to fit aftermarket stuff.


--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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