Needed a new bearing for an old motorcycle that I am doing up. The nearest Yamaha dealer is around 30 miles away so thought I would try a small independent motorcycle garage just down the road. The old guy who runs the place had a look at my damaged bearing and made a note of some numbers from it. He wandered into his store room and emerged with a freshly boxed bearing. It appeared that the bearing on my Yamaha was also used in a Honda motorbike, a Hoover washing machine, a BMW and a Atco grass mower. This got me thinking that had it been in a BMW box it would probably have cost several times more than the box I got it in.
If we now apply this to cars it does make you wonder just how many parts are interchangeable. Need a part for your BMW, Jag, Merc etc. could you actually get it cheaper if you knew where else it was used. Just what does fit what and how do we find out?
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its just knowledge really knowing what fits what,im sure in your line of business your knowledge helps you sometimes?
--
\"a little man in a big world/\"
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i use a company called bearing services all you need is the number from the bearing, it works out cheaper on those large bearings, allways best to shop about!!
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Yes, but I wasn't thinking just about bearings, what about shockers,struts and any number of other parts. If, for example you needed a part for your Mondeo based Jag would it be cheaper from a Ford dealer or a Jag dealer for the same part.
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If, for example you needed a part for your Mondeo based Jag would it be cheaper from a Ford dealer or a Jag dealer for the same part.
Yes, very probably.
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I think this was discussed recently.
Apart for the cross-use amongst brands (like Ford, Jag, Volvo etc) one area where savings can be made is to buy from the commercial vehicle arm of the same manufacturer. I remember someone saying that some Volvo headlights are used on both trucks and cars - the difference in price being huge.
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The early Discoveries made use of rear lights from the Maestro vans.
I wish some parts expert with time on their hands could put this info on a website....
H
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Totally agree with you Hugo, This was the main point of my post. I can remember many, many moons back my Dad wanting a carb part for a Volvo 240. A wise sage told him that a Vauxhall (don't know which model) used exactly the same part but because it didn't have Volvo stamped on it it was very much cheaper. There must be even more matching parts nowadays if only we knew where.
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A while back Practical Classics mag produced several monthly guides to what fitted what. Everything from brake shoes to wiper motors was cross referenced.
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Did this just cover classic cars or more modern stuff?
Why do things have to be so complicated now. Life was so much easier when the Earth was flat and you only had to worry about driving off the edge!
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