**** me !

TimR

Member
Messages
2,656
I know- you guys are all gonna say something like" oem prices" and/or "supply & demand" but £475 + p&p for a plastic grill insert verges on the obscene... !! :hammer2: :conf:
 

Gazcw

Member
Messages
7,696
I know- you guys are all gonna say something like" oem prices" and/or "supply & demand" but £475 + p&p for a plastic grill insert verges on the obscene... !! :hammer2: :conf:

The facelift QP V grill on ebay is £642!!! Mine has cracked in the same place on quite a few of the fins. Suppose the previous owner had someone reverse into grill. It is weird that it is exactly in the middle of each one though! Will have to glue it for now.
 

MrMickS

Member
Messages
3,951
It never ceases to amaze me that people are surprised at Maserati parts costs. Just because you can buy a car that cost £80k new for £15k doesn't mean that parts are going to Ford prices. When they are common parts with other models in the FCA stable then ok there is real scalping going on and you are paying for the box. For the other cars not so much. Limited volumes mean you don't get the same economies of scale that come with buying even a Merc, Audi, or BMW.

When you take on a Maserati you should do so knowing that nothing is cheap. Its the cost of ownership.
 

Felonious Crud

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
21,013
Not always expensive. Some parts are perfectly sensibly priced. And it's not only 'exotic' cars: I had a Toyota with a dodgy horn switch. The horn switch is built into the same unit as the airbag. I think the replacement part was well over £500, from memory, maybe more. Luckily it somehow managed to work ok for its MOTs.
 

midlifecrisis

Member
Messages
16,102
Not always expensive. Some parts are perfectly sensibly priced. And it's not only 'exotic' cars: I had a Toyota with a dodgy horn switch. The horn switch is built into the same unit as the airbag. I think the replacement part was well over £500, from memory, maybe more. Luckily it somehow managed to work ok for its MOTs.
Hold on, you had a Toyota?

Glad you got better...
 

D Walker

Member
Messages
9,827
I think it’s horrendous for what it is, but as a balance, my bosses Suzuki swift went into limp last week, 6 yr old, 65k miles, Diesel Particulate Filter, was quoted £3.5k to change and as it affected something else another £1.2k, as he is a repeat customer they offered him 4.5k against another car....which he took.
 

dickygrace

www.richardgracecars.co.uk
Messages
7,309
They’re obsolete, it’s for a 3200, so if you’ve got one you can name your price. They were about £600 when available.
 

TimR

Member
Messages
2,656
They’re obsolete, it’s for a 3200, so if you’ve got one you can name your price. They were about £600 when available.

Sure..ok. Its been billed with the wrong description..
I can see I still need to get my mind right !
 

bigbob

Member
Messages
8,952
I know- you guys are all gonna say something like" oem prices" and/or "supply & demand" but £475 + p&p for a plastic grill insert verges on the obscene... !! :hammer2: :conf:

As others have said expensive car new equals expensive parts and parts out of production equals buy whilst you can.

BTW how much is a grill for a pre-war Talbot?
 

TimR

Member
Messages
2,656
I think it's because it's made of plastic that I recoil in horror. The cost to manufacture a piece like the 4200 grill is pennies. Even if you make a relatively small volume run.
Honestly- I'll wager you coukld find a craftsman to make a "rare" 3200 grill from alu or SS for less than £2.25K And lets say it cost you £2K to do it. It's not going to disintegrate if left in the sun or in the event it makes contact with a pheasant...!!

"BTW how much is a grill for a pre-war Talbot? "

That car was built to VSCC regulations. Honestly, not much of it is plastic.
Still shaking here. boss !!:new:
 

bigbob

Member
Messages
8,952
Agree that re-manufacture is probably the way for many of these things.

You must know that I had to pull a pheasant out of my 4200 grill - I was surprised how far back the radiator was as I could hardly see what had been a game bird and it had not hit the rad. Getting it out was another issue....
 

dickygrace

www.richardgracecars.co.uk
Messages
7,309
Sorry, it is for an early 4200, but it's metal not plastic. Anyway, the seller will be happy that you're posting about it on a page sponsored by him; advertising exposure.
 

MrMickS

Member
Messages
3,951
The actual cost of making some of the plastic pieces probably isn't very high if you just count that process and raw materials. The time spent in maintaining the production facilities and setting up for short runs etc will make it cost a bit more. Its why there are more an more common parts used, and raiding of the FCA parts bin for suitable components. Trim pieces unfortunately are specific and have a limited market, especially given the low numbers of Maserati around.

Its a shame that Maserati don't do more to support older cars and keeping parts in stock. However they wouldn't be cheap in comparison to the value of the cars so would people buy them?

I feel there's a bit of chicken and egg here though. One of the reason why Maserati values are lower than say equivalent age Ferrari has to be related to parts availability. Ferrari ensure that parts are available which means that if you buy an older Ferrari you are going to be able to keep it on the road. Its a bit more of a lottery with a Maserati as for some parts the only source is broken cars.
 

Corranga

Member
Messages
1,219
It never ceases to amaze me that people are surprised at Maserati parts costs. Just because you can buy a car that cost £80k new for £15k doesn't mean that parts are going to Ford prices. When they are common parts with other models in the FCA stable then ok there is real scalping going on and you are paying for the box. For the other cars not so much. Limited volumes mean you don't get the same economies of scale that come with buying even a Merc, Audi, or BMW.

When you take on a Maserati you should do so knowing that nothing is cheap. Its the cost of ownership.

To be fair, whilst a lot of your post makes sense, the rarity of the part does not necessarily equate to cost - it's just scalping.
My Elise S1 isn't exactly a common car, and non-obsolete parts for it aren't horrifically priced despite it being limited run, hand made etc.
Our old VX220 is even rarer and the only bits that reach silly prices are front and rear lights, which are will only 300-350 or something each.

In fact, they are hiding behind the original value more than basing prices on it.
£80k new (well, maybe £65k) to £15k used now.
A clutch for my 4200 was about 600 quid 10 years ago when the car was worth significantly more, according to a page somewhere online posted by one of the main dealers.
So t,he clutch alone has more than doubled in price since then, and the value of the car has perhaps halved? More?
The part will also have continued to be manufactured, so it's been made, not as a part for an £80k car, but as a part for a car now worth £15k.
In that case, it seems to me more like Maserati not allowing other manufacturers to get in on the game, and having a monopoly on a part that is required, and wears out relatively quickly is allowing them to scalp.

The real shame is that these cars will disappear because of this. Cars will be written off and scrapped because of part costs.

A clutch, plus bearings, plus gearbox cables for a manual, plus a set of disks and pads for a 4200 is coming up for £4.5-5k alone at Maserati prices, and that's before labour.


On another note, in posting this, I checked how rare they are and found this via google over on Ferrari Chat regarding the Coupe / 4200 / M138. Apologies if it's been posted before, I found it pretty interesting :)

All data is from Maserati Classiche apparently.

Coupè Cambiocorsa: 5371
Coupè Manual: 1078
Spyder Cambiocorsa: 3134
Spyder Manual: 574
Spyder 90th Ann.: 181
GranSport Coupè: 2432
GranSport Spyder: 472
GranSport MC Victory: 181

Chris
 

bigbob

Member
Messages
8,952
Sounds like the best option for 3200/4200 owners is to buy a second car - CAT car etc - as a parts mule.
 

FIFTY

Member
Messages
3,100
@Corranga 10 years ago shortly before the financial crisis the cost of raw materials was roughly half of what it is now. Also currency has devalued at the same time causing an expensive world to live in