Why are yankee trucks so expensive in OZ

I saw new 2016 base model Ford F150 in a yard for $26,000 through to better models for $45k ( USD) making it AUD $32- 55k and then similar model online in Qld for $140k.

Well $45k is $62 AU without any fees for a start and a base F150 is the equiv of a Triton or at best a Hilux 2wd.
Big difference in price between 2wd and 4wd
F250 2wd
F150 FWD top of the line
The Denali I saw was a full fledged 4wd with everything Like this one
Denali 4wd
However as you say there is a disparity in the pricing and one would have to check with someone who has imported one themselves and paid the conversion price themselves. Performax at Gympie are supposedly the best to do it

Tom

Because they can.

There was an article about minimum wages around the world a few days ago. In Oz its about $17.70 an hour. Next is the UK and NZ at $14AUD an hour. Then comes USA at $10 an hour.

Why wouldn't you charge the highest paid people in the world top dollar?

Bob

If you know the fine print to importing vehicles, it's not that expensive. If you don't, then it will cost you in $ and time. Yep, you can buy US vehicles in USA cheap (by our standards) and import and convert reasonably cheap. But, you have to have the 'inside' knowledge.
Basically, the commercial sellers in Aust sell at a price the Aust public will pay. With little to no competition, why wouldn't they.
Cheers

Agree Tom. I guess many folks buying these are looking more for the tow capacity and grunt and maybe less at the 4wd aspect. Again, I refer to the Aussie truck market with Isuzu and Mitsi putting out commercial trucks (council size trucks) for the 80k mark and then what Toyota charge for a Cruiser ute.
I was on the Performax site this arvo. I know they are a good company etc but be prepared to sell a kidney or your first born.
With the govt looking at grey imports over the next couple years things may change price wise.

$10 an hour in the USA ???? Well we asked a waiter at a restaurant about wages in kitchens and waiting.
Told him my son is a Chef and gets $47,000 a year, which is not a lot in AUS. He said the chefs will be out to get the address.
His wages, he said were just over $4 an hour and he lived off tips.
He would starve because he was a c**p waiter as it turned out.
House maids in hotels arent much better and the ones on the cruise ships work very hard for about $6 an hour plus tips.
Most are Filipinos who work for about 8 months a year on the ship and send the money home to their families.

Our housemaid was married with children but said it was the only way for them to live.

They sell for those figures, because the market (rich people) don't really care what they pay for them, and they have oodles of coin to splash around on toys.

These trucks are waaay overrated and overpriced - and the parts are even worse.
I bought a 4WD F100 in 1977 and it cost me $11000. A new Statesman was $6000 back then.

It was quite a satisfactory truck after I got all the bugs out of it (like having to fork out another $1200 to get power steering fitted, because it needed it, to reduce the mind-boggling amount of turns, lock-to-lock in the steering - and to cure it from wandering all over the road).

It had incredible off-road ability and it could carry 2 tonnes with ease, even though it was only rated for 1 tonne.
However, it was thirsty, the parts prices were horrendous, and a Landcruiser did virtually the same job (apart from carrying 2 tonnes) for a lot less money.

I sold it in 1993, about 5 years after I'd fully rebuilt it from the ground up. The ground-up restoration cost many many thousands, just in spare parts costs alone.

Everything to do with F-trucks parts is a total and complete rort. There are a number of aftermarket dealers who are multi-millionaires, just out of dealing in American truck parts and components.
I have never purchased another American truck ever again, and it's not likely I will do so in the future. They are just simply poor value.

Cheers, Ron.

agree with everything you say, Tomo, especially your last point

Warranty provided by the local importer would also have to be factored in

I doubt they have any recourse for reimbursement from the US as they would only be buying from a reseller themselves

My nephew has a Ford Raptor. It cost him a mind-boggling $170,000.

I personally think someone made a lot of profit in the deal somewhere.

He did say it's a ripper of a vehicle to drive - but he did also mention it has that old Yank Tank problem - the inability to pass any servo without needing a top-up! [;-)

Cheers, Ron.

All cars entering Australia (including Thai cars) have to be Shipped here, pay gust, port fees, quarantine etc so some of these arguments aren't adding up. The only extra cost I see is the right hand drive conversion.

Well firstly they are paying more for the base price of the product and the fees are percentage based on that

I don't have figures but do you really think that a small business bringing in a handful of vehicles is getting the same shipping and handling rates as Mitsubishi and Toyota Etc ?

The import costs would be substantially different between the two