Eckhard Grohe Posted September 30, 2005 Share Posted September 30, 2005 I just got a quote to buy a new mirror and front fairing bracket for my RT and I think you should know how lucky you are. The price on the MaxMoto website is $25.50 US for the mirror. Using the exchange rate on my latest credit card bill that comes to 30.84 $Canadian. The price from the dealer up here is 53.00 canadian or 43.81 US.. The front fairing bracket is $300.00US. My Canadian price is 575.00C or 475.35.US. That is an expensive Canadian identity. Damn expensive. Now if Chicago BMW would only ship to Canada I could save even more. Gasoline is now at 1.249$ C/liter or 3.90 US/ gal. It rose 0.28$ per gallon in one jump. Ouch again Link to comment
Chrish1234 Posted September 30, 2005 Share Posted September 30, 2005 Yup, On a recent trip to Ontario we paid $45 US for a breakfast for two at Denny's You should have heard my rant on the ride out Chris Link to comment
David Posted September 30, 2005 Share Posted September 30, 2005 I'll send you whatever parts you need, if you send me any prescriptions I need. Link to comment
RFW Posted October 1, 2005 Share Posted October 1, 2005 You're right: BMW part prices here in Canada are absurd. I buy anything substantial from US dealers, and have them ship it to a freight forwarder in the US border town of Blaine Washington (a half-hour drive from my place in Vancouver). They charge me the grand sum of $2.50 to receive the goods, then I take them through customs myself. All I pay is the provincial and federal (GST) taxes. There is no duty on bike parts, or on bike tires. I also save the ripoff of border brokers, who charge up to 30% of the worth of the goods to clear customs. If you think BMW parts are expensive here, try bike tires! My last set of tires, purchased from Motorcycle Pro Shop in California cost me a total of $260 (Canadian) including shipping. The cheapest I could find them here in Vancouver was well over $400 (Canadian). In general, I find that Canadians are sheep that would rather pay absurd prices than to complain about it. Bob. Link to comment
Eckhard Grohe Posted October 1, 2005 Author Share Posted October 1, 2005 45$ for a breakfast for 2 at Denny's. WOW. How did they justify that??? Let me apologize on behalf of other Canadians for that injustice done you. Eckhard. Link to comment
Eckhard Grohe Posted October 1, 2005 Author Share Posted October 1, 2005 Who do you buy your parts from? I could have them sent to Mailboxes etc in nearby Plattsburgh if they are willing to ship to an address other than the credit card owner home address. Bike tire arn't too bad here in Mtl. I recently got a bias ply front tire for my bike for 125$. Link to comment
A-Red Bill Posted October 1, 2005 Share Posted October 1, 2005 Bought a rear Battleax from Vancouver BMW and it was $220 american. Yikes, I can get a pair delivered to my door from SWMototires for less then that in the states. I feel for you brother. Link to comment
RFW Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 Who do you buy your parts from? I could have them sent to Mailboxes etc in nearby Plattsburgh if they are willing to ship to an address other than the credit card owner home address. Bike tire arn't too bad here in Mtl. I recently got a bias ply front tire for my bike for 125$. I buy what parts I need from Portland BMW, although that is a bit out of the way for you in Montreal. Any US dealer should do, however. I have found that there is no problem in shipping to an address not on the card, if you phone them and engage a real person in a bit of a conversation while you place the order. As for your $125 tire, that's fairly food. Here in Vancouver EVERYTHING is expensive. My previous Metzeler ME330 100/90-V17 cost me $185 in town here (and that was with a 20% discount!). Mind you, the same tire at Motorcycle pro shop (and many other mail order places) is about $82 US (now only about $100 CDN). Bob. Link to comment
namtinker Posted October 3, 2005 Share Posted October 3, 2005 Eckhard You could also try Sierra BMW. They ship here without any problems. I only tried local once and was informed that the price difference is due to the fact that all items should also have French text/instructions on them. As if that was supposed to account for the 40% difference... Suffice to say I've been US shopping ever since! Link to comment
Mark P Posted October 3, 2005 Share Posted October 3, 2005 Those prices sound cheap compared to what I have found here in the UK. My local BMW Dealer (Rydale Cardiff) has a new mirror waiting for me to collect it, which will cost me £153.01 supplied pre-painted in Silver - at the current rate according to xe.com that comes out at Can$212.75! I could have bought a mirror in primer for about £88, but decided that by the time I had it painted it would cost almost as much and might not be a good match. This was a high price to pay for a moment's lack of concentration last week! Link to comment
Eckhard Grohe Posted October 3, 2005 Author Share Posted October 3, 2005 The price I mentioned was for the mirror glass alone and not the complete assembly. I have no idea what the entire assembly costs in Canada. Link to comment
Tim Yip Posted October 3, 2005 Share Posted October 3, 2005 Now if Chicago BMW would only ship to Canada I could save even more. Eckhard: A couple of weekends ago, I attended the Horizons Unlimited rally near Nelson, BC. The rally was hosted by Grant Johnson, who has spent 12 years touring the world on a BMW GS. At the rally, a fellow gave a presentation on preparing an F650GS for Round The World travel. He showed a slide of BMW parts prices from the local dealer here in Edmonton vs Chicago BMW. All prices were almost double the price in Canada compared to the U.S.; all prices were shown in Cdn dollars. Grant Johnson, however, said it's cheaper for Canadians to buy their BMW parts from England than the U.S. Apparently, when stuff gets shipped from England, it's almost always sent by postal service, so there are NO BROKERAGE fees. When you buy parts from the U.S., dealers will often ship only via courier companies, and they ding you (hard) for a brokerage fee. FWIW. Link to comment
eakins Posted October 3, 2005 Share Posted October 3, 2005 I'll send you whatever parts you need, if you send me any prescriptions I need. now that's a win/win! trick: when sending parts to canada (or opposite) or any other country for that matter, say on the export form that it's parts returned for warranty puposes. no tax needs to be paid then. just make up a biz name for the form such as David Co Inc. i think you can also say gift and other such things, but not sure. i know the warranty thing works. Link to comment
Jerry Johnston Posted October 3, 2005 Share Posted October 3, 2005 Mark, I think Eckhard purchased the glass replacement only for $25 where as you purchased the whole assembly. Link to comment
Eckhard Grohe Posted October 5, 2005 Author Share Posted October 5, 2005 Thanks for all of the input. I found a source in the US and they will be selling me the parts I need to fix my bike. A good price and USPS to Canada. Would have liked UPS to northern NY but that's ok as it is. Probably get in one more ride before the snow..... Thanks again for all of your help. Link to comment
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