Think YOUR part was expensive???

[Eddystone]

i hope everyone who shops at Amazon has bookmarked the Matthew's Volvo Site link so that we get some monetary support for the forum. If you do, every time you go to Amazon you'll see random things for random Volvos. Once you've seen one of THESE pop up, the parts you need for your P80 or other Volvo won't seem to be so expensive. Oh, what a feeling! Bookmark it NOW.

https://www.amazon.com/?tag=matthewsvolvo3-20

Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC)

[Sveedy]

Thank You ! That makes me feel better, after just buying a set of these.

[scot850]

Lots of parts are expensive, and not just for Volvo! Move north of the 49th and you will find out just how expensive parts are for any brand including Volvo. And it is not just the tax and exchange rate!

How about a Kia remote keyless fob? When $ was 1:1 in the US it was $140. In Canada it was $400!

Exhaust manifold for my 03 Toyota 4Runner V8? In fairness it has the cat included (the part that causes it to crack in the first place!) but it is $1400 each! Then a 12 hour job which includes removing the engine as the LH manifold cannot be removed otherwise.

Volvo parts while expensive are getting better. We do not have companies like FCP selling OE parts, but parts from dealers that sell on line are now often cheaper to buy as the shipping is free. Parts in the US are similar or more expensive, but add shipping and border charges and tax they are more expensive. This is made worse if they have core charges!

I was looking for a P80 tailgate repair kit. $9 US for aftermarket kit in the US, but then shipping is $30 or more! Kit from Volvo is $35 Canadian.

Shopping around is now what takes up a lot of my time.

Neil.

[Eddystone]

Neil, I was just on Amazon.ca to get Christmas presents for my son and his family in Vancouver, BC. The exchange rate is 1.00 CND equals 0.78 USD. That's worse than it has been, but I noticed that many items are much more expensive than in the USA. Recently, there has been a surge in CNC-manufactured electric guitars that are really, really cheap but surprisingly very good. I noticed one guitar that was about $189 USD on Amazon USA was $408 CND at Amazon Canada. I can't explain that because you can order them direct from the factory in China for something like $179 USD plus $89 shipping. In the USA market, these are sold by Amazon from a distributor's warehouse in the USA. I just ordered a Black Friday sale item like this for $150 USD with free returns mainly because I was curious to actually see what they were like. You would have paid $400 CND in Canada.

So what it it? Duties and fees, I suspect. We used to ship things across the border but my son would have to pay more in fees when he received it than we spent on the gift. Now, I order stuff from Amazon.ca that is shipped from a Canadian Amazon warehouse and avoid all of that hassle, though I'm pretty sure something is built into the price at some point along the way. If it's an item like a shower curtain and it's being shipped to Canada from an Amazon seller in China, it's like playing Russian Roulette.

Anyway, I feel for you, Neil. I used to order my Rover sedan parts from All British Cars which I think was in Burnaby, BC back in the 90's, and she had by far better prices than trying to find that stuff in the USA or order it from the UK. Exchange rate then was about 70 cents on the US dollar. We could order bespoke 5-speed conversion kits from New Zealand for Rovers, Triumphs and MGBs at the same exchange rate much cheaper than we could buy them in the USA even with shipping from the other side of the world.

[scot850]

No it is a case of the manufacturers just see the Canadian market as an easy one to rip off. Canadians are too polite!!

Amazon has made record profits in Canada as they make much larger profits here than in the US. I seldom buy anything from Amazon these days unless I can't find it anywhere else. I regularly see stuff on there that is cheaper for me to order from the US including shipping than to order from Canada. However, if it is available in Canada they won't ship from the US. If you buy from the US then you have to ship stuff back at your expense and they say they will refund you the costs. That is until you do it! Amazon Canada refunded me the last time this happened as the US refused to.

We regularly get told by dealers that the parts guys here get paid a lot more than the $10/hr they do in the US. Fair enough, but given the volume of parts they overcharge on they should barely see a dent in their overheads. Then we get told it is taxes. Our taxes are either GST of 5% or HST in the provinces that add local taxes too. In Alberta it is only GST. So that does not equate to the higher levels of costs excessively. The there are the cross border 'handling' costs. Those are also huge, but I do appreciate this can be a complex process and time is money. But again below $100 or I think it is now $150 Cdn there is no cross border tax so what paperwork is needed?

However, what ever the costs, they still can't justify the overcharging we get here.

The only bonus is that the on-line Volvo dealers are currently giving us a break on parts which are a lot less than at a regular dealer! I am working on our new dealer parts department to sell me parts at on-line prices by price matching! As the on-line dealers don't charge shipping, then I have them by the curlies of they want me to buy parts from them!

So far they have been good in honoring this which I appreciate.

Neil.

[FireFox31]

I wish we American MVS members could find a way to get parts to our Canadian neighbors to avoid this unfair pricing.

Neil, if you find any good new purchasing resources, consider adding them to the buying obscure parts thread which blossomed into a thread about parts seller deals.

All of this makes the case for rehabilitating junkyard parts for reuse. I suspect we should be hoarding more than we are while P80's are still in junkyards.

[BlackBart]

I know a guy with a submarine.....

[befarrer]

i hope everyone who shops at Amazon has bookmarked the Matthew's Volvo Site link so that we get some monetary support for the forum. If you do, every time you go to Amazon you'll see random things for random Volvos. Once you've seen one of THESE pop up, the parts you need for your P80 or other Volvo won't seem to be so expensive. Oh, what a feeling! Bookmark it NOW.

I've changed a bunch of those parts, and even more expensive parts. Volvo injectors for a truck, around $12,000.

[scot850]

Now the guy with the submarine, does he do runs from South America to US shoreline by any chance................?

As for the injector price. How can they possibly be that expensive?? Wow.

Neil.

[scot850]

I forgot to add, I think the resources in Canada I have already added. I will check though.

Neil.