Quote:
Originally Posted by mudbrick
Have been looking these past months at purchasing kit from local supplier.
Had virtually decided on a couple of kits and go and have a look at, printed out $$ from their sites before Xmas. Looked at one site after new year and was shocked to see price increase of between 40%-100%+ (complete kit stayed same) extras like wheels/mats/optional rear ends/bumpers etc etc.. had increased
Went to the American site, the original price list I had printed out was theirs. At those inflated prices why would you buy here. Even after shipping etc way cheaper.
I am now reconsidering wether to buy from this local kit supplier
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From where I am (NSW) I would be concerned about buying a kit from overseas without doing my homework first, on the basis that most places are left hand drive, and don't have the registration requirements that we do. There's plenty of things you have to have that you don't need in other jurisdictions, for example, emissions tests, beaming and torsion tests, brake testing, side intrusion protection and so on. Plenty of overseas standards are not accepted by Australian registration authorities too - they want the standards listed in the ADR's.
The cost to fix up these things from overseas? well, you have to allow for your own time too, and only you know what that is worth, but consider that the Australian distributor already has these things done for you. And he'll sort out the importation which is worth the effort - importing my UK based kit took a huge effort, and I wont be doing it again.
There are a small number of overseas distributors who have done their research into what is required for Australia, and can give you valid support. An example for me is a distributor of testing equipment. I could have saved about $2.5k on a recent purchase ($17k all up), however it would have been calibrated in mph instead of kph. The Australian vendor couldn't squeeze his price down any further, as he still had to do his work to make the unit to Australian specifications. Final outcome - my business justification was that I needed the Australian calibration for my work, and it was worth it to buy from the australian distributor - he knew the Australian specific requirements, so that I don't have to worry about it.
I would suggest for Australian importers of kits that it is much the same - if you are buying a model for the Australian market, then there will be some changes to be made. Instead of comparing the overseas version and the australian version of the same product, what about a price comparison between equivalent aussie versions? Is this distributor way off the mark? Have all costs for shipping been included? I know from experience that GST is charged on top of duty (which means you pay a tax on a tax)... Plus you have to deal with importing something yourself, which I also know from experience is a pain. I would expect that there would be a much smaller gap than the 40 - 100% you suggest when you get down to a real even comparison.
Buying Australian is a good thing for Australia, so why cut out the Australian guy? Why not give the Australian distributor a call and discuss why his prices are different. There is likely a reason behind it - and it will probably save you a load of money in the long run.
Treeve