[drupac]

Last night, I noticed that one of the headlights had burned out on my 2001 RAV4. So this morning, I called the Parts Department at the nearest Toyota dealer to get the price on a replacement bulb - nothing special, just a normal halogen bulb. They told me it would cost $41. That sounded a little high (but what do I know) so I confirmed with them that that was the price for the bulb only, and they said it was. I still wasn't sure, so I called a second dealership and they quoted me the same price. So I ended up going to a local auto parts store and they had the recommended replacement bulb for $7.

I guess I'm finding it a little difficult to write the price difference off as being a simple case of "dealer markup". Since I paid 1/6 the price, can I expect the bulb to last 1/6 as long? What am I missing - what else could account for the price difference?

 

[Slayer]

Woah, that's an expensive bulb. Maybe they were trying to unload some Sylvania Sylverstars on you instead of a factory one cause I don't see how one factory bulb can cost that much. You could buy two Sylverstar bulbs for that price.

 

[nouse4aname]

According to this it has a list price of $35, but they're selling it for $27. So yeah there's some markup going on there on an already pricey bulb.

link

 

[Jeff]

The OEM bulbs are made by Osram (Sylvania) and are the same ones you can buy off the shelf at an auto parts place.

 

[TOY]

yes remember... you are paying for all of the expenses of the dealer... you are probably paying for the salery for the guy that picked up the phone...

 

[parkwaycruiser]

PowerBulbs

Check out a pair of Osram Siverstars or Philips Vision Plus H4's from PowerBulbs in the UK. They will run you about $22 a pair which includes free shipping to the US (about 5-6 days). These are some of the best H4 bulbs you can buy, and are 50% brighter, but still stock wattage 60/55W.

http://www.powerbulbs.co.uk/aftrack.asp?ID=32