Buying Suspension Online - USA

[Dub_Star_V6]

Hmmm I guess so Tim. I guess it's a bit like bicycle shops resenting having to repair or install parts people didn't buy from them? Although as you say, I think that has more to do with distribution and business models rather than anything else.

So does that mean neither Bilstein nor Koni Australia have any direct local representation? If so, doesn't that therefore mean warranty claims and repairs are at the discretion of the same importers / distributors etc.

If the local supplier therefore refuses to play nicely in the event of a claim, it's like not having a warranty at all. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200

[gavs]

I just purchased some shocks and struts from the US and am eagerly awaiting their arrival!

I went off shore because the shear price difference between buying locally and overseas is ridiculously stupid. I was originally looking at bilsteins but unless you are going with their ultimat high-end products, a lot of their product is coming out of china these days. I know the chinese can do stuff really well, but only if they have someone constantly on their back and you have increadibly strict quality control systems. (Speaking from past experience!)

I used a company called priceusa.com.au to order mine through as it worked out cheaper through them to send it to me and they also offer safeguards against the known issues with importing directly, i.e getting the wrong products!

[Gravey]

Thanks for the replies guys. With Coilovers there seems to be a huge difference in price. I have noticed that part numbers appear to be different for the Bora V5 and the Jetta for some of the items I'm looking at on the US sites, which is a bit confusing.

With the Bilstein B8's I'm only saving about $350 so I'm not sure if it's really worth it. However, some of the prices on the Bilstein & Koni Coilovers are amazing - they are only $500US more than the B8's with Eibach Springs. Not sure if I really want coilovers though so I may end up buying locally. I'm waiting for confirmation of prices from Car Torque, we'll see how we go, hopefully I'll have something sorted in the next fortnight.

Does anyone have a copy of the T&Cs of the Koni or Bilstein gear? All I can find is this on the Bilstein website:

"We generally give two years' warranty on all products."

[Bug_racer]

This topic seems to pop up from time to time and I'll keep saying the same things over and over .

Your main concern seems to be about warranty . Well , things are gonna break eventually and you need to look at what international warranty they give . Some places dont give any warranty at all on products sold outside of their respective homeland , so your gonna be stuck with a dud product regardless of if its been a week or a year since fitting .

Probably the most important thing would be liability insurance . You imported the product and your liable for its use . You also better check with your insurance company cause your policy may be void by fitting the car with products purchased outside of Australia . So when you do purchase products here think of it as buying insurance for them as well . And product liability starts from around $4k a year so even before a company pays rents , office supplies , electricity , marketing etc etc they need to fork out $4k a year minimum just to bring a product in !

In regards to there not being many products available for purchase for our cars , well , your doing it to yourselves . Too many of you are buying products on ebay and overseas which are of inferior quality and you dont support the local scene . I can only name 1 company that soley relies on product sales for VW/Audi , all the rest are either working from home or do it attached to another business (including myself) .

Lastly , if you guys dont support your local parts sellers they wont generate enough income to build race cars and support the local motorsport events . The aircooled guys dominate at almost everything they do , people seem to support the local re-sellers more so than going overseas for product purchases , and they have been playing with cars a lot longer than all of us , so its something to consider as to why they do .

[gareth_oau]

Bug Racer, you pose a bit of a chicken/egg argument there.

I agree that buying locally supports our industry, but at local prices, its seems they want just me to do all the supporting!!

Aussie cars used to be over-priced rubbish, all down to government protection, and it wasnt until John Button came along and effectively removed local protection that we now have "relatively" better priced and quality local gear.

Now that consumers are savvy to internet buying and importing, then perhaps some local suppliers need to sharpen their pencils and improve their service to convince consumers to stay local.

[Bug_racer]

Bug Racer, you pose a bit of a chicken/egg argument there.

I agree that buying locally supports our industry, but at local prices, its seems they want just me to do all the supporting!!

Aussie cars used to be over-priced rubbish, all down to government protection, and it wasnt until John Button came along and effectively removed local protection that we now have "relatively" better priced and quality local gear.

Now that consumers are savvy to internet buying and importing, then perhaps some local suppliers need to sharpen their pencils and improve their service to convince consumers to stay local.

Well , me personally I cant do much more in terms of doing better pricing . My discount is small , I have a large premises to pay for and insurance is $$$$ . There is more than 1 importer of any given product most of the time and you need to shop around . I know its easier to shop around overseas but Im sure if you ring around localy you will be suprised at some of the quotes .


I always thought the local cars were better in the old days . Give me a VH SLE over VX Calais anyday !

[gareth_oau]

I know bug, its not a direct dig at you/ or the other sellers - the industry here is perhaps just too small to genuinely underwrite this kind of imported equipment.

what makes it even more difficult is that if you import in bulk, you pay duty, whereas if I import individually, I can avoid import duty, which increases the margins even further

[Gravey]

Got some final quotes from the local Bilstein distributor in Adelaide and the difference in price really is shocking. $1,230 will land me a full set of B8's. They wanted $600 for the Eibach Pro Kit, even when I pointed out they were $320 delivered from the Australian Eibach Direct site.

I think I can get the B8's delivered to my door for $835US, so around $966AU at the moment. So I'm still tossing up wether saving $300 is worth the warranty implications.

Then I notice the prices on the Bilstein B14 PSS kits for $1325US delivered. Even with gst and customs it still works out to be around $1700 - much cheaper than the $2,500 quoted by the local supplier and only $500 more than the B8's!

Decisions, decisions....I'm really just deciding wether I want coilovers or not now, if I go the B8's I'll prpbably buy locally, but if I go with the coilovers then it would be stupid not to save $800-$1,000.

Would I actually need to pay the gst and customs duty if it went ofver $1,000?

[gareth_oau]

Gravey, I bought some gear ex USA recently, and it snuck over the $1k threshold $30.

so by the time they's added the duty, gst (which is added to the freight component as well as the goods value) and agency fee, it cost me an extra $400.

when I asked the customs agent, I was advised that the govt was clamping down a bit as it was extra revenue for them in these GFC ravaged times

[Gravey]

$400 on a $1030 item? what was the shipping? On the customs website it says 5% duty and 10% gst.

So I'm thinking for a $1500 (incl shipping) item it should be $1500 + $75 duty + $150 gst = $1725. Am I missing something here?

[Gravey]

OK I think I have found what I was missing...from the Customs Tariffs - http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/re...r87goods_c.pdf

8708.80 - Suspension systems and parts thereof (including shock-absorbers):
8708.80.42 ---- Other, of a kind used as components in passenger motor vehicles
Rate #
10%
DC:5%
CA:2.5%

From 1 January 2010
5%
CA:Free

So, I'm a bit confused as to what the rate actually is?

[gareth_oau]

The way to calculate is as follows:

lets say A$1300 for the goods, plus A$200 for shipping.

A$1500 x 10% duty = $1650.

then:

$1650 x 10% GST = $1815

then add $50-$75 for the local agency handling fee.

your landed cost would be around A$1890.

My import duty was 20% because it was snowboard clothing.

5% from Jan 2010 - thats good news, maybe defer your plans for a few months?

[Gravey]

so you are assuming the Duty is 10%? That's sort of the impression I was getting, however I'm wondering what CA & DC mean?

At the bottom of the Tariff Rates page it says this:

Unless otherwise indicated NZ, PG, FI, DC, LDC and SG rates are Free. 1/1/07
Unless otherwise indicated general rate applies for CA.
Unless indicated in Schedule 5, rates for US originating goods are Free.
Unless indicated in Schedule 6, rates for TH originating goods are Free.
DCS denotes the rate for countries and places listed in Part 4 of Schedule 1 to this Act.
DCT denotes the rate for HK, KR, SG and TW.
If no DCT rate shown, DCS rate applies. If no DCT or DCS rate shown, general rate applies.

Now the bit about US Originating goods confuses me further - suspension (8708.80) isnt listed in Schedule 5. I guess the only way to know for sure what the charges would be is to contact Customs, or talk to someone who has already purchased suspension over $1k from the US

EDIT: Scratch all that - 'originating' means the item was actually made or produced in the USA...so I'm thinking 10% is the correct duty.

[gareth_oau]

I'm not sure what all the acronyms represent, recommend you speak to a local import/customs agent.

goods made in US are duty free because of the Aus/US Free Trade Agreement. However, this doesnt apply to goods made in say China and imported into the US, then exported to you.

In my example Ive used 10% and i know thats current for car parts. I'm presuming from that advice it will drop to 5% in the near future - you can check that with your agent as well

[noone]

This situation is unfortunate...

To me the whole local distributor vs direct import debate is the same as globaisation. Do I buy my burger from Maccas or the local corner shop?

The corner shop has personality, but you know EXACTLY what to expect (not much IMO).

So how do the local importers win? Buying syndicate. If you cant get the products cheap as you are only bringing in a few, then a buying syndicate brings the import cost down and the wholesale cost down, hopefully to a point where you are competitive enough to make people question the cost difference vs effort.

On saying all this, I know nothing about the business, so expect my point to be flawed and over simplified.