Parts prices: Morris 4x4; Quadratec and other suppliers

[humdingerslammer]

I always, unless urgently needed, purchase parts for the JKU from the USA, usually Morris 4x4 or Quadratec. Most often Morris 4x4 because of its far superior service and accessibility, especially via its Live Chat and because they will usually price match. Delivery is as prompt as it can be for a supplier that sometimes needs to ship items in: usually I have my parts within 10 - 12 days.

I have found the service by Quadratec has slipped quite a bit. I have had to wait 20-30 minutes to connect to the live chat even when it posts that "you are 3rd in line and will connect in 3 minutes". Most times now I opt out of waiting and try elsewhere. Quadratic's delivery time tends to be longer and costs are usually about 10% higher than Morris 4x4 and also, their shipping costs tend to be 20% higher.

Anyway, I have had to replace the alternator on the JKU and the price difference on quotes is amazing. The cheapest was about about $324 but I could not connect to the site's ordering system. Damn. The dearest quote (from a Melbourne Jeep dealership) was $1091 and, wait for it, plus shipping etc. for the exact same part from this cheapest supplier. Other Oz based suppliers quoted anything from $565 - $750 plus shipping. No doubt they were buying the exact item that I have purchased.

So, the Oz Govt reckons it should help Oz businesses by adding the 10% GST to online goods imported from overseas. With mark ups of 300% how does it work out that businesses need a helping hand from big brother. The govt is having a crack at banks & businesses and extra credit card use costs but does nothing about protecting consumers against unfair rip offs.

What do you reckon?

[Kiwi Jeeper]

My experience with Quadratec has been completely opposite to yours. Fast service, price matching and cheaper freight. I don't use Morris 4x4 because of the freight to NZ. I use Summit Racing or Quadratec, both equal in service.

[PaulGC]

I've had great service with Morris & shipping was super fast,always used email & haven't tried the live chat. Don't forget they generally have a 10% off promo code for this site

[Tyvokka]

I've gone awy from Quadratec unless it's absolutely necessary. The service has slipped somewhat and shipping has gone up big time!

[Wooders]

Originally Posted by humdingerslammer

I have found the service by Quadratec has slipped quite a bit. I have had to wait 20-30 minutes to connect to the live chat even when it posts that "you are 3rd in line and will connect in 3 minutes".

Aren't we spoilt by the internet these days.
Keep in mind you might be incontact with 2am their time and a single operator could easily spend 6-10minutes per chat.
Heck You nearly should be glad they have the size of operation to even offer it.

Originally Posted by humdingerslammer

Anyway, I have had to replace the alternator on the JKU and the price difference on quotes is amazing. The cheapest was about about $324 but I could not connect to the site's ordering system. Damn. The dearest quote (from a Melbourne Jeep dealership) was $1091 and, wait for it, plus shipping etc. for the exact same part from this cheapest supplier. Other Oz based suppliers quoted anything from $565 - $750 plus shipping. No doubt they were buying the exact item that I have purchased.

Ignoring the dealership they are just off with the fairies anyhow.
Are you sure it was EXACTLY the same part?
A quick look at just one (US) site listed three different brands and 4 different outputs.
A quick calc suggests the price range would have been about 325-560.....and that's not allowing GST or if a local shop needed a margin depending on where they sourced it.

Originally Posted by humdingerslammer

So, the Oz Govt reckons it should help Oz businesses by adding the 10% GST to online goods imported from overseas. With mark ups of 300% how does it work out that businesses need a helping hand from big brother. The govt is having a crack at banks & businesses and extra credit card use costs but does nothing about protecting consumers against unfair rip offs.
What do you reckon?

WTF shouldn't imports be taxed? It's not about helping local businesses. it's more about how many millions and millions of revenue aren't being collected putting a bigger tax burden on the rest of the system.
And yes it's not fair on local businesses.
Whilst some areas like textiles etc have huge markup percentages, that's not really the case with Automotive parts - especially in the 300% range. Heck you'd probably find more liikely most parts are marked up about 1/10th of that.
Then there's a whole string of other factors that we aren't even considering in the broadbrush stroke.

Anyhow you asked and that's my observation.

[humdingerslammer]

Re the internet: we live in a global world and Oz business needs to catch up with this fact instead of demanding de facto forms of tariff protection, which it seems to me is the case for imposing the 10% GST. Historically, the GST was introduced as one way in which monies could be recuperated by government as the tariff protection systems/barriers were changed over the years.

If the internet is hurting Oz business, perhaps it is because the consumer has the ability to know just how much they r being taken for a ride. It's on this basis that I and probably lots of others decide not to trade with local business. If they offer a fair price I am prepared to give them the work. Like I say, Oz businesses should stop bleating about how the internet creates competition for sales, and learn how to make it work to their advantage, fairly, without govt big brother stepping in with another form of tariff protection.

Why ignore dealerships? I reckon that such blatant rip off dealers should be well and truly caned. If they can get away with ripping off consumers, where will it end. Fair price is all that I think we all want. That's why I vote with my wallet.

I am sure the item specs. that I requested were the same from all the dealers and yes there was a price range for the EXACT same item. I chose to buy from a dealer who had a reasonable attitude (not necessarily the cheapest, I might add).

In buying from Oz suppliers, I am prepared to pay a bit for freight and overheads, but 300%, I don't think so. The next cheapest Oz dealer offered the same item for $750 plus freight to my door. And I know that this dealer, like the dealership, would not have paid the retail price for the item; in fact much less than the lowest price retail of about $335.

I am lucky enough to have a Repco card that enables me to purchase parts at trade prices. Explain why mechanics/garages add 25% generally to these prices, even tho' the part is delivered to the garage by a Repco courier, at obviously no cost to the garage. It is my experience throughout 40 years or so of driving that garage/mechanic markups r way higher than 10%,if that is what you were using as your guesstimate.

Yes, I know that there r a whole lot of other things that can't be considered in a broad brush stroke, but I think the broad brush applied by dealers/traders and garages/mechanics generally is altogether too broad.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[Wombat756]

Originally Posted by Wooders

WTF shouldn't imports be taxed? It's not about helping local businesses. it's more about how many millions and millions of revenue aren't being collected putting a bigger tax burden on the rest of the system.

its not about that at all. collecting the gst on online purchases of less than $1000 was initially about it costing more for the government to collect than they would gain from the tax.

and guess what, it will still cost them more than they gain to collect it now that they have removed the threshold. they have actually admitted it, and they have no idea on how they will go about actually collecting it.

so no, i dont think in that case imports should be taxed, as the action of collecting it will put even more "burden on the rest of the system". the only reason it was decided is 1) tony abbott is an idiot, and 2) he was doing it to keep his mates like Gerry Harvey (of harvey norman) happy as they were screaming blue murder about it.

effectively the liberals have decided to throw money away to keep aussie retailers happy.....

edited to add: i am yet to import any parts for my jeep though. nor anything else for that matter. i dont buy much online, and so far all that i do buy has been from aussie retailers. i just dont blame others for doing so, and think that it is stupid of the government to waste money collecting what is in reality, a piddling amount of gst. by all means, keep collecting it on higher amounts though. it is financially viable for items over $1000, so i see the sense in it, just not for lesser amounts