Stealers by name ....

[EmilysDad]

stealers by nature.
I needed some trim clips for my Smart (they're about 20mm square), so obviously looked on eBay. There they were, 5 for £6.20 inc 'free postage' from a main dealer. How much? Seemed a bit pricey for what they are. Phoned my local Merc/Smart dealer to be told that the very same clip was 24 pence each!

I contacted said stealer to question his price ..... his reply was that the price was correct!

So if you want to pay £1.24 each instead of 24p each then eBay is the place to go!

 

[Blobcat]

stealers by nature.
I needed some trim clips for my Smart (they're about 20mm square), so obviously looked on eBay. There they were, 5 for £6.20 inc 'free postage' from a main dealer. How much? Seemed a bit pricey for what they are. Phoned my local Merc/Smart dealer to be told that the very same clip was 24 pence each!

I contacted said stealer to question his price ..... his reply was that the price was correct!

So if you want to pay £1.24 each instead of 24p each then eBay is the place to go!

Are they the crappy yellow or white plastic clips that the torx screws go into? I've broken and replaced more of them than I care to think about taking my smart apart and rebuilding it. Awful crappy things.

 

[EmilysDad]

Are they the crappy yellow or white plastic clips that the torx screws go into? I've broken and replaced more of them than I care to think about taking my smart apart and rebuilding it. Awful crappy things.

No, the original clips are white but the new clips are black. They're square and slide into the sill cover & push onto a 'self tapper' welded to the sill .... these https://www.smart-stuff.parts/451-clip-side-sillskirt and though are more expensive than my local Merc/Smart are still cheaper than said eBay main stealer.

 

[Blobcat]

No, the original clips are white but the new clips are black. They're square and slide into the sill cover & push onto a 'self tapper' welded to the sill .... these https://www.smart-stuff.parts/451-clip-side-sillskirt and though are more expensive than my local Merc/Smart are still cheaper than said eBay main stealer.

Yep, they are the ones

 

[EmilysDad]

Yep, they are the ones

I thought you meant these

 

[Blobcat]

I thought you meant these

Those as well - undertray fun...

 

[EmilysDad]

I just need the weather now to remove & replace my sill covers with 5 on each side

 

[Chrishazle]

Mate on the 968uk forum has just had a stealer experience with his Audi A4 daily driver, dashboard warning about adaptive headlights problem, stealer told him it was control module replacement needed and they'd have to do both sides at £400 per side for parts plus labour. Bit of internet searching led him to a turning light bulb failure that he fixed for £5, problem solved!

 

[Jim2]

Yeah, just like the flash sales you see, where prices are actually increased....

 

[keefysher]

Yeah, just like the flash sales you see, where prices are actually increased....

aka Black Friday

 

[ajlsl600]

car parts prices,benz anyway seem to have no bearing at all on costs of making them and more on what they can get away with.. and having some experience of plastic body fasteners/clips over 30 yr i can say benz stuff (maybe all ) IS for sure designed as single use ,the type quality of plastic is ,frankly rubbish , trying to save them can be a between time consuming and almost impossible.
as for parts costs , mass production and newer methods is supposed to make this stuff cheaper to produce,what happened ?as none of that ideal seems to filter down to the "victims"