She says ...

Press, 14 August 1980, Page 21

She says ...

I was fascinated to read a recent article on the price of headlights. It detailed the outrageous prices being charged for some of the more “fancy” square and rectangular headlight units. As the owners of some models have found to their horror and disbelief, while the good old round sealedbeam unit for a Holden, Jaguar, or many other models of all prices costs under $lO, some of the fancy square units are well over $2OO apiece. The only excuse I have heard for the truly ridi* eulous prices is that the square and rectangular units are much more difficult to make, and to design in such a way that they will give the best beam. Maybe, but the prices are still nonsense. The light output, pattern and looks together aren’t worth 20 times the price of a reliable and effective round sealed-beam unit. ■ 1 think there’s another message for motorists in this little rip-off — before you buy a car, check on

the prices of commonlyreplaced bits, such as lights, windscreens, bumpers, tyres, exhausts. To be sure, insurance will often cover light or windscreen breakage, but you do not get that service for nothing. Anj' manufacturer who makes a Car with $2OO headlights needs to have his head banged against an insurancepremium increase notice. This whole business tends to come back to the sore point of spare-parts prices again, or course. The inquiry into parts costs seems to have whitewashed over the outrage many motorists were feeling at some of the more blatant cases of over-charging, but I am sure that any garageowner in the city can quote several examples of parts’ which can almost double in price between one supplier and another, and of virtually identical parts which vary in price by 200 per cent or more. One should, of course, shop around a bit.— -Barbara Petre