The remote entry (door unlocking) fob to our '98 Subaru Outback cracked the other day, so it fell off my keychain. I knew replacing it would be expensive, figuring perhaps $50-60. So I called the dealer, and was told, get this, $144. Yikes!
Now you've got a couple of square centimeters of molded plastic and a tiny circuit board -- I'd be surprised if the cost to make one of these gizmos exceeded $4-5. Toss in a couple of bucks for shipping, a few more bucks for labor to order and stock the thing, and I still don't see how it could cost more than $10. Oops, how about programming it? OK, let's add $10 for at most ten minutes of work. Ah, the time to write up the invoice and run my credit card... Another $5? We're now up to $25, and unless I'm really missing something, that's generous.
That's quite the markup!
Anyway, Yumi sewed a little leatherette casing around the cracked case, I drilled a hole in the corner of the leatherette, and voila, it's back on the keychain and we saved $144 (not to mention taxes...).
Posted by Paul at December 19, 2007 08:01 PM