I recently went on a tirade against motorcycle dealers, some in specific and others in general, for being a bunch of greedy, greedy bastards. Just to prove a point, I recently bought a single pair of brake pads (EBC, HH-rated, sintered metal) for my bike. I bought them from my local Powersports dealer right here in Ottawa. I paid $61.01 for them. For one set!! Christ on a stick!! Having worked in the industry back in Nova Scotia, I know that the drill is: you take an item from the crate, you mark it up by 70% and you put it on the shelf. That was a few years ago now (9 to be precise...), so in the meantime the mark-up could only have increased. It never goes down...
I have just ordered online from one of my favorite suppliers, a company called Xtreme Revolution in California, 3 sets of these very same brake pads, for the price of $32.31 (US) each. With a conversion rate of $1.14 CAD per US dollar, it works out to a grand total of $96.93 (US), or $123.31 CAD. That's including shipping and handling as well mind you, which was an additional $11.81 (US). Had I bought all 3 of them here in Ottawa, it would have cost me $187.20.
http://www.xtremerevolution.com/
So... that first pair that I bought from my local 'stealer'? They're going right the Hell back in a big, big hurry. Okay, so the ones I ordered have to be ground-shipped across terra firma via UPS and take all of 10 days or so to reach Ogdensburg, NY. Big deal... I ain't in no hurry. I got at the very least a couple more weeks of wear left in the present brake pads.
So, if I say that we have been taking it in the neck when we endeavour to support our local businesses here at home, you can understand where I'm coming from and know that contrary to what these snake-oil salesmen might swear to you, I'm definitely NOT making this shit up.
Still not convinced? Take a scroll through any motorcycle dealer site in the U.S. Pick any make and model you want. Compare their MSRP to their counterparts' here in Canada. Add on freight, PDI and dealer prep charges. Don't bother adding taxes, the dealerships have no control over that. That's the feds and the provinces. Then tell me what you think...
I have just ordered online from one of my favorite suppliers, a company called Xtreme Revolution in California, 3 sets of these very same brake pads, for the price of $32.31 (US) each. With a conversion rate of $1.14 CAD per US dollar, it works out to a grand total of $96.93 (US), or $123.31 CAD. That's including shipping and handling as well mind you, which was an additional $11.81 (US). Had I bought all 3 of them here in Ottawa, it would have cost me $187.20.
http://www.xtremerevolution.com/
So... that first pair that I bought from my local 'stealer'? They're going right the Hell back in a big, big hurry. Okay, so the ones I ordered have to be ground-shipped across terra firma via UPS and take all of 10 days or so to reach Ogdensburg, NY. Big deal... I ain't in no hurry. I got at the very least a couple more weeks of wear left in the present brake pads.
So, if I say that we have been taking it in the neck when we endeavour to support our local businesses here at home, you can understand where I'm coming from and know that contrary to what these snake-oil salesmen might swear to you, I'm definitely NOT making this shit up.
Still not convinced? Take a scroll through any motorcycle dealer site in the U.S. Pick any make and model you want. Compare their MSRP to their counterparts' here in Canada. Add on freight, PDI and dealer prep charges. Don't bother adding taxes, the dealerships have no control over that. That's the feds and the provinces. Then tell me what you think...
No comments:
Post a Comment