NITROUS OXIDE ( nos / n2o ) advice forum

Could this be the most expensive headlamp ever?
Just been quoted £645 inc Vat from BMW
however just got one for £245 from a breakers

Annoyingly I'm 99% certain it was a pot hole that caused the damage.
The hole was so deep, it even scuffed my rim
Fortunately steering and suspension survived.

typical of bmw richard

Cheap as chips that Richard, as the bulb alone for my Volvo was £120 and the complete lamp in the £1,000 region and what makes it worse is that I cant get a used one because my particular type of headlamp is extremely rare as they were only fitted to a few T5s which themselves were only made in low volumes.

When I told my garage mechanic that I wanted him to fit a bulb that had cost £120, he refused to do the job unless I was prepared to pay for a replacement if he broke it, because it wasn't worth gambling the few ££s he'd earn doing the job against the cost of the replacement if it broke.

Where will it all end I ask myself.

WOW, I wonder if anyone can top that as daft price for a simple component?

D@mn glad I drive a SKODA
£25 INCLUDING bulb

My Isuzu Rodeo truck!!!

A new glass for the door mirror. This is just a piece of glass with a sticky tab on the back. No heaters or any fancy stuff. £88+vat.
But.....A replacement front foglamp. Complete assembly including all brackets and bulb. £35 + vat

My Nissan Navara...
A new intercooler. £1400 + vat
Existing intercooler rebuilt by Serck. £150 +vat
A replacment block when it chucked a rod 1 month out of warranty £8000 +vat

The look on the Nissan guys face when I produced an independant engineers report to prove that all they had done was fit a new block with one rod and piston + the old crank and got a new engine for free and he got disciplined..... Priceless

And even more funny was the second new engine I got when the new one they fitted chucked a rod at 40,000 miles cos it was a dud

I'm glad parts for my MG are only pennies...

No doubt parts for the likes of Bentley's and similar would dwarf even the Volvo prices for these parts, having said that I believe the type of bulb mine has is common to those.

holy crap!
glad im been a ford man most of my life, i thought toyota part were expensive
i cant believe these prices, its just taking the p**s
how can a volvo headlamp cost 10 times more to make than a ford one?

What AMAZED me most was that the whole car only cost approx £25,000 new, so with just the headlamps costing over £2,000, some parts must be dirt cheap if the rest was priced proportionally - but obviously we know they aren't and whatever part I wanted it would cost the earth, so that everyone in the supply chain can make a killing.

yeh a 200% margain at each level soon makes a £20 headlight a grand
thats about 6 supplier exchanges at 200% markup, bugger ay?