$1,300 Corinthian Leather Seat?

[ciscoboy]

A dealer in Atlanta tells me that it costs $1,300 to replace driver's side leather seat in my 2007 Camry XLE V6 (just the seat and not the back rest) which has a little too much wear on it compare to the other seats.
Parts guy told me it made with Corinthian leather. He said it is a special kind of leather that will not crack even after years of use. According to my online research, it is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. I guss it will cost close to $10,000 to replace all the leather seats!!!
I knew it was going to be expensive but I had no idea it would cost that much! I guess I'll have to check out ebay or after market leather seat cover.

[reprod]

Check out some other dealers and get some quotes. Dealers usually send those kind of jobs to shops and they have you pay that shops price plus a spread so they can make their money.

[JoeS_07SE]

lol! He actually told you that with a straight face? hahaha Yeah 1/3 of the price of our cars is for the seats. lol!

[07toycamry]

ebay man! theirs some leather seat covers by JT that are around 600 for the whole car and they look nice

[spoon059]

We were having a hard time finding our car with the setup we wanting, super white with dark leather interior. Our salesman called a couple car accessory places and found some guy who could replace all our cloth seats with leather for $700 or $900 (can't remember now). The guy you talked to is taking you for a ride. Politely tell him to f-ck off, and go find yourself another car upholstry shop.

[niko3257]

http://www.car-part.com/index.htm

works for me 90% of the time

[eyeball96]

I purchased new leather (two tune) for the Coupe for 809 shipped...I agree, the guy that gave u that price is FOS!

[Shelbrain]

I just got Katzkin leather installed on my 08 LE I4. Total price installed was $990 + tax and it feels a lot nicer than the Camry with stock leather. I believe it has more padding beneath it. I am very pleased.

[clarkgrizwald]

yea, katzkins! i wanna do that to my car. was that price including installation shelbrain? can someone post pictures of theyre katzkin interior?

[ebumdude]

Originally Posted by clarkgrizwald

yea, katzkins! i wanna do that to my car. was that price including installation shelbrain? can someone post pictures of theyre katzkin interior?

hell yeah katzkins...2 TIMES! i was looking at them too.

http://www.shopsar.com/v/LeatherStep1.htm

[eyeball96]

Leatherinteriors.com was the only company I found that still had the pattern for a gen 3 Coupe...I'd loved to have had Katzkins leather installed!

[Shelbrain]

Originally Posted by clarkgrizwald

yea, katzkins! i wanna do that to my car. was that price including installation shelbrain? can someone post pictures of theyre katzkin interior?

Yes that price was including installation. I will try and get some pictures uploaded.

[Shelbrain]

[RodMillenFan]

Originally Posted by ciscoboy

A dealer in Atlanta tells me that it costs $1,300 to replace driver's side leather seat in my 2007 Camry XLE V6 (just the seat and not the back rest) which has a little too much wear on it compare to the other seats.
Parts guy told me it made with Corinthian leather. He said it is a special kind of leather that will not crack even after years of use. According to my online research, it is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. I guss it will cost close to $10,000 to replace all the leather seats!!!
I knew it was going to be expensive but I had no idea it would cost that much! I guess I'll have to check out ebay or after market leather seat cover.

Tell me this guy didn't actually say "Corinthian Leather"!? Forget about the straight face when he said the price... I want to know if he actually did a Ricardo Montalban accent when he said it. For those of you too young to remember, Ricardo Montalban (aka Mr. Roark from 1970's "Fantasy Island", aka Khan from "Star Trek") used to do commercials for Chrysler during their saddest, darkest days in the late 70's and early 80's. He'd hype the Chrysler Cordoba with "soft Corinthian leather". It's a complete joke.

Check out the clip from OLD school Letterman where Montalban talks about it...

Given the level of crap that dealer tried to pull on you, I'm using this opportunity to unleash my new and improved "crap" smiley. Enjoy.

[thoots]

Originally Posted by ciscoboy

A dealer in Atlanta tells me that it costs $1,300 to replace driver's side leather seat in my 2007 Camry XLE V6 (just the seat and not the back rest) which has a little too much wear on it compare to the other seats.
Parts guy told me it made with Corinthian leather. He said it is a special kind of leather that will not crack even after years of use. According to my online research, it is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. I guss it will cost close to $10,000 to replace all the leather seats!!!
I knew it was going to be expensive but I had no idea it would cost that much! I guess I'll have to check out ebay or after market leather seat cover.

Yep, that's actually a proper price quote for the OEM part from a Toyota dealer. You might get a quote up to around a couple hundred cheaper from a different dealer, but that's the price for a 2007 Camry leather seat cover for the "seat cushion" -- indeed, not including the "seat back" at all.

The reason, all of you eBayers and Koskiners, is that the OEM cover INCLUDES THE SEAT HEATER and its associated wiring, which is sewn into and is an integral part of the seat cover. The seat cover is actually the leather outer part, the seat heater component, and a one-centimeter layer of padding, all sewn together. And that's part of why it costs so much more than the junk you can find on eBay and elsewhere. The other part is that it IS a far better quality leather than you'll find elsewhere. (Still, I'll bet the parts guy was just joking with his Corinthian leather bit.) Also, I really, really, really, really doubt that any aftermarket piece will have the extensive fastening clips that are built into the OEM cover -- there are clips that custom-fit into the metal seat frame, built all around the outside edges of the OEM seat cover.

So, that's why it costs so much. You might look for part number 71072S, if anyone would like to find this online anywhere. (By all means, report back what you find!) There would have to be a "color" option, and perhaps there's a "no seat heater" option, but I sure don't see anything about that in the schematic I've got.

This actually led to a bit of a debate we had a while back about the "optional" reality of the seat heater -- it is indeed "optional" in the list of Camry equipment. Here in the cold, rainy Northwest, I have never, EVER seen a current-generation Camry with leather and without the seat heaters, and I've looked at a bunch of them. Given how you can't seem to buy a replacement part without the heater, I really thought that "this really isn't an option in real life," but it did turn out that a member ordered a car without the seat heaters, so it's definitely a "real option." Still, I don't know that you'll ever find a replacement part without it.

Now then, back to ciscoboy: So, what is so wrong with your driver seat leather? Sure, the leather is going to "smooth out" with use, and it'll probably wrinkle a bit compared to other, lesser-used seats, but is there something "wrong" beyond that? If it has truly done anything like "worn out" or started fraying around a seam or anything like that, I sure think you should go to the service department and ask them to replace it under warranty. I did that with my POS Honda Accord rattletrap, and they replaced it with no problems.

If it's not that bad, again, "what's so wrong with it?" You might be able to have an upholstery shop spend a little time on it -- "re-seat it" if it's wrinkling badly, or use some heavy-duty conditioning stuff on it or something. As I've mentioned here a number of times, EVERY car dealer has some kind of upholstery shop under contract, which does things like installing replacement seat covers for warranty service, installing leather on new cars, fixing blemishes, cuts, and other problems with trade-in cars, and so on. Go to the service writer at your dealership and ask them who they use, and they should tell you without hesitation. Then, go to that shop, and see what they can do. They undoubtedly would be more than familiar with your seats and its seat covers, and might well be able to do something that would help. Give that a shot, if need be.

I hope this helps -- good luck!