Planning on changing oil on my car this weekend so I thought I'd get ahead of the curve and pick up an oil filter for my car over lunch today. Stopped in the local auto parts store looking for a Toyota branded oil filter. Not in stock, but they can order one for me for $15... No thanks.


I can buy them from the dealer for less than $5 or have Amazon deliver them to my house for just a little bit more and not have to leave my recliner.

Supply, demand, and ignorance on the consumer's part.

A genuine Toyota filter is probably only available from a franchised Toyota dealership,,they don’t have secondary distribution chains like GM, Chrysler and Ford do.

While it’s only an oil filter to you it takes the same amount of effort for that parts store and it’s employees to acquire that potential five dollar part as it does to get a thousand dollar part. I know you “see” one person when you go to buy it but I can probably bet behind the scenes you dont see the two or three other people it takes to make that sale from the driver who has to pick it up, the clerk that posts the incoming part to the inventory system and one that processes the paper work so everybody gets paid.

Also, it may be a five dollar part to you but also realize that the Toyota might have only discounted the part by 10%. For fifty cents gross profit on that sale it’s really not worthwhile for a parts department to chase that sale especially in today’s business climate and the lack of loyalty by customers. Used to be we would think about how much business down the road that customer would bring to the table but in today’s world that is gone in most cases.

Another thing, the parts store probablyhas a price escalator also known as a matrix that raises the part price above MSRP based on the incoming cost of the part. Theory again it takes the same amount of time and manpower to sell at hours and dollar part as a five dollar part, many times this is true, gotta cover those expenses.

This is speaking from over a half century in car, truck and motorcycle dealership parts departments.

Since moving to MI I've noticed that the Advance, Auto Zone, etc. seem to have a helluva racket going on. Their pricing is near predatory, especially on batteries, brake parts, etc. Lots of cheap Chinesium parts being sold like they were somehow fit for duty.

This past winter my wife's Explorer battery took a dive while she was at work. She called me to pick her up and when I went to start my Mustang it was also dead. Digging into battery features and pricing it turned out that a genuine Motorcraft battery from the Ford dealer was not only cheaper but a better product than the relabeled junk the auto parts stores were hawking.

Between Rock Auto and Ford dealers I'm finding that I can get better quality name brand parts for the same or less than iffy store brand parts from local auto parts stores. I may have to wait a day or two for an order to arrive but that's not much of an inconvenience. It used to be that one went to auto parts stores to save money vs dealers but that not always the case in modern times.

quote:

Originally posted by ShouldBFishin:
Planning on changing oil on my car this weekend so I thought I'd get ahead of the curve and pick up an oil filter for my car over lunch today. Stopped in the local auto parts store looking for a Toyota branded oil filter. Not in stock, but they can order one for me for $15... No thanks.


I can buy them from the dealer for less than $5 or have Amazon deliver them to my house for just a little bit more and not have to leave my recliner.

Toyota has such a small line up of engines which use the same filter ela
ement. WalMart stocks factory original Toyota filters. For my Sienna 3.5 the filter kit is less than $8.00.

quote:

Since moving to MI I've noticed that the Advance, Auto Zone, etc. seem to have a helluva racket going on. Their pricing is near predatory, especially on batteries, brake parts, etc. Lots of cheap Chinesium parts being sold like they were somehow fit for duty

Auto Value or NAPA are my “go-to” places when I can’t wait for OEM as I still have a few connections in dealerships.

Many manufacturers filters are made in Gastonia NC by WIX, the NAPA Premium is a WIX premium. Harley Davidson factory filter - WIX.

Toyotas are made by Denso (NipponDenso) and are made in Japan and China.. So if you see a Denso for your car, it's what Toyota sells you minus the Sombrero

If you are going to get a filter for your vehicle, and want to save a few bucks and end up with OEM quality, if they have WIX, get the one for your vehicle... Same stuff different color cover...

All the Toyota factory oil filters I’ve used are made in Thailand, Japan, Korea, or USA.

Thailand would be Denso, USA versions are Purolator, a few sources referenced China, Denso has quite the presence in China

A funny thing about a lot of dealers, including Subaru, is you can order online and immediately pickup in store cheaper than if you just walk in.

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:

A funny thing about a lot of dealers, including Subaru, is you can order online and immediately pickup in store cheaper than if you just walk in.

Yeah, I did that when the battery died in my Ford Edge. Ordered online from Batteries Plus, then went to the store ten minutes from my house. 10% cheaper that way, and they installed the battery at no extra cost.

Nothing wrong with the Fram filters with the steel core.

I put 300,000 miles on my Frontier with them.

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:

Auto Value or NAPA are my “go-to” places when I can’t wait for OEM as I still have a few connections in dealerships.

Thanks for the heads up, I've yet to try AV or NAPA up here. I'll give them a whirl next time I need a part.