Buying AND SHIPPING tyres from USA

I agree, got them to send me 3 tyres 2 years ago and with Air Express to my door, (Fedex) the landed price was still quite a bit cheaper than buying the tyres here, and it only took 8 days from when they left the US to get here.

here;s theri link:-

http://www.tirerack.com/

It's mind-boggling to me that you can have three tires shipped by air from the US to your address in Oz, and it's considerably less expensive than just going to a nearby tyre shop!!

dare i say it...... for one most America is flat broke so not exactly a good example .....
And 2 why not just pay the extra and then the "nearby tyre shop" will still be there when you are desperate for a tyre and they may well have a job for ya kids, more we support overseas the more jobs we lose for our kids here, unless we ship em over there i guess .......

Ok i said it, will run for cover :-)

Maybe no GST will be paid, certainly no company tax goes into our govt coffers, no warranty, all for maybe $50 a tyre?

No flak from me Joe!!!

Often wonder what all this o/s buying will do in the long term. We might be paying out a lot more than we think with loss of jobs and a future life for the kids.

Bob.

I agree, buying OS has to have some sort of an impact locally. But if its cheaper for us to source it from OS then to buy it here, then the local distributers must be making plenty off the people buying locally?

That's not right Penchy. The charges you can get in Australia are governed by your expenses and your turnover. If you don't have the turnover then you have to charge more. The expenses are basically fixed. The US has massively more population so the turnover is way higher. Their expenses would be similar to ours from what I have seen. Simply this means an Australian shop has to make more on each item just to keep its door open and cover expenses. I don't know many small business owners here that are doing well anymore. I weep when I hear allegations of gouging because the price is way lower in another country. You need rocks in your head to own a business here now....I have some rocks in my head, do you want to buy any? :-)

Sorry Mike, but I dont agree with that comment either. Why is Bob Jane for example, selling the same brand, size, type ect tyre to John Smith, for a very similar price to some small one stop tyre shop on the corner of your street. When Bob Jane has a massive buying power compared to the smaller shop? Fixed cost and variable cost do not come into it. Retailers will take into account their cost to buy, hold and sell stock to determine their sell price to consumers. If retailers are setting sales prices based on your theory, I'm sure the ACCC would be interested to hear it.
This topic is hi-jacking the thread somewhat so I guess wozzie can make his/her own mind up.

It was'nt really my post, was just commenting on the earleir parts of the thread.


Cheers

yeh sorry, glids I meant lol.

I buy as much as I can from the states or England for that matter, as a rule it arrives quicker than any East Coast company can get it to me (perth) The service is top notch in every transaction. I can see the point of supporting Australian businesses but the only way to force change to the governments tax system is to work around it, as a nation I believe we pay to much for a large number of consumer goods simply because of the governments greed. I do check prices for the locals first and weigh up freight costs etc but will buy offshore if I can see the value for me.

No worries, you will be used to it when we have to buy everything direct from overseas. I'm not even saying that is a bad thing but I wonder what we will actually be doing for jobs at that stage since our money will be making other countries rich. Government greed is not that much of a problem as they are required to give the money back to us via services such as roads, schools and hospitals. If they don't then we can boot them out. If we become dependant on other countries for goods and services because ours have shut shop then that's a worry.

Government greed. Lol. The real wonder is that some Australians really believe they are hard done by. If we all worked around "the tax system" (cash economies, black markets etc) we'd end up exactly like Greece.

You obviously haven't bothered to investigate the savings Puttingdave.
In my opinion, tyres of 15" and 16" diameter may not give big savings but anything over that could well be.
When I bought 5 Goodyear DuraTracs in 17" diameter from Tirerack I saved around $500 on the set and that included US $449 in air freight by FedEx and delivery to my door in around 8-10 days.
Some of the newer cars with 18", 19" and even bigger will give even bigger savings with a much greater range of tyres to choose from.
Regards Andrew.

I really don't care where you buy your tyres, but if you buy locally if something goes wrong I'm sure the "Local Bloke" will help you out, also remember when your kids or more importantly your grand kids cannot get a job go and have a look in the mirror and work out the reason why.

Rubbish Dave.
Where do you think all the tyres are being made? Certainly not in Oz.
I know a couple of tyre guys and the money made per tyre is very little.
They make more on fitting, balancing and wheel aligning than they do on selling the tyres in many instances.
The real issue here in Oz is the importer who makes a killing.
When I was looking at a specific size of 17" tyre I had a range of about 6 brands and none were what I really wanted and one that would have been acceptable (barely) was being priced at $360 per tyre.
Exactly the same tyre at Tirerack is US $150 and Tirerack are still making a profit at that price.
When checking Tireracks range of tyres in the size I wanted I had 50+ tyres to choose from so I chose exactly the tyre I wanted.
Even with US $449 in air freight and I also allowed for GST but didn't get charged it in the end I still came out in front.
There are also some local tyre companies quietly parallel importing from the USA.
I refuse to be gouged with prices from importers that will charge "what the market will bear" as the world is a lot different place today regarding the ability to find out what a product is actually worth and not what an importer wants to charge me.
I have no issues with a company making a profit, I do have issues with overpricing.
Regards Andrew.

A post or so back it is mentioned that the shops make bugger all anyway on a tyre and make more on fitting, so if we import and get the local shop to fit what is the problem, the shop should be happy with that.

The tyres in question were Michellin 265/70 15" LTX A/T ones, and were less than 1/2 the price in Australia.



After I paid for the shipping, delivery and for the 3 tyres, it worked out that I got the 3 tyres for the price of 2.



At the time I was being quoted $370.00 each in Australia.



Currently am being quoted around $320 ~ $340 ea for Michellin 31x10.50 LTX A/T2.



Just go and have a look at that site and see the difference. Slightly more than a "Slab"



I too lament the fact that this is so, having been in retail for some 35 years myself, however I feel we are getting the short straw here, where this is concerned, and I'm not blaming the tyre retailers.



Like many here, I just cannot afford to throw money away needlessly, when there is such a difference.



Cheers

$179- USD Wozzie, half the price of here.
Even with freight added still be a big difference!!

Your are right about the range available locally Peter.

I particularly want high load rating tyres for the caravan (single axle), and there are many to choose from in the States at 112 rating - but very few here.

I support Oz products and Oz farmers where I can, but tyres no longer seem to be manufactured in Oz - well in the size and load rating I want, anyway. I don't see why my hard earned bucks should go to someone ripping us off!

Thanks for the constructive suggestions from folks.

cheers,
glids

Very good point Peter.