This Lamborghini Repair Started At $1,200 Until The Mechanic Found The $40 Ford Part Inside It

Owning something from Lamborghini comes with a certain aura, and a certain invoice. The badge opens doors, but it also opens your wallet, often wider than expected. Replacement parts can carry eye-watering price tags, but paying more doesn’t always guarantee better engineering underneath. Take the humble gas cap on the Lamborghini Aventador as a perfect example.

According to a Reddit user who shared the experience, a white 2015 Lamborghini Aventador arrived at a U.S. workshop, it was quickly determined that a new gas cap was needed because of a bad EVAP leak. The diagnosis itself was straightforward. The solution, less so. Ordering a replacement gas cap through official channels would have set the owner back more than $1,200.

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A quick check confirms the numbers aren’t exaggerated. Scuderia Car Parts lists the cap, part number 470201553C, at $1,036.03 before shipping and taxes. Going used trims that down a lot, with one ebay listing at $475 or best offer, though even that feels like a steep ask for a piece most drivers never think about twice.

Although we’re sure there would be plenty of Aventador owners willing to pay this much, the mechanic looked at the inside of the cap and noticed the plastic parts said FoMoCo on them, referencing the Ford Motor Company. They were able to find a European-spec Ford Focus Mk2 gas cap for $40 and discovered that the inner plastics are identical to what the Aventador uses.

The catch is in the presentation. While the inner workings are shared, Lamborghini wraps its version in billet aluminum, giving it that premium feel and helping justify the markup, at least on paper. Functionally, though, the difference is far less dramatic than the price might suggest.

Fixing the original Aventador gas cap was simply a matter of swapping out the plastic parts from the Ford cap with the faulty ones of the Lamborghini cap. This allowed the mechanic to retain the fancy machined metal cap that the Lamborghini uses, so it looks as good as new. The repaired cap also cost the car’s owner just $100 all in, which is more than a tenfold saving.

Admittedly, most of us will never be in the position where we need to have the gas cap of our Lamborghini changed. However, there’s an important lesson here for owners of other premium cars. For example, if you own a Porsche and need to replace a part, it’d be wise to see if that part is used in a cheaper VW or Audi-branded model. If it does, you’re often getting the exact same component for a fraction of the price, just without the premium badge tax attached.