USA Shipping Costs

Same here....

I recently bought a Amsoil dual bypass kit plus extra filters. Amsoil don't ship overseas, so I signed up to Shopmate and it all worked flawlessly.

Yes, it was expensive (around $130. freight), but was still cheaper than I would have paid if I had have been able to deal with an Aussie agent.

Just a note on that aspect....I did initially seek to buy the unit from the SA agent, but the reply came back that he didn't have what I wanted in stock and he reckoned that Amsoil was a mongrel to deal with and he didn't hold out much hope that I'd get what I wanted this side of Xmas.

Roachie

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Roachie, don't misunderstand me, I'm not knocking you or the concept, but how do you get on for warranty on such overseas purchases?

Allan,

I gave up on warranties a long, long time ago. I'm 61 and have bought hundreds of items over the years that come with a warranty. In all that time I've never had to make a warranty claim....with one exception.

That one exception was in 2002 when we moved here to Kadina SA, from NSW.
I bought a new 2000 model GU Patrol diesel and did all my own servicing on that vehicle from new. I never bothered keeping records in the servicing section of the warranty book. When we moved here initially, I didn't bring my tandem trailer (I brought the camper trailer instead), so I didn't have my ramps and some of the other gear I needed to do a basic service. Not knowing any of the local mechanics, I decided to book it into the Nissan dealer to have the service done.
When I went back that afternoon to collect it (it had about 98,000klm on the clock from memory), the service manager asked me if I'd had any issues with 5th gear. I said "no".

He went on to explain that they'd done a check of the gear box oil level (it wasn't due for a gearbox oil change), and he was concerned that the g/box oil was a "coffee colour" which he said indicated to him that 5th gear might be about to let go. NOTE: It subsequently became apparent that this was a common issue with the 5 speed Patrol gearbox because the spline wasn't machined to the correct length and they failed prematurely.

Anyway, he asked me if I'd like to have the gearbox "done" by them under warranty, because if I left it beyond the 100,000klm mark it wouldn't be covered, and it would be about a $3,500- job. Of course I thought about it for a nano-second and said "yes please"..

The job was done and I had to pay for the new g/box oil.

Other than that I've never had any issues with warranties and I don't shape my purchases around them.

Roachie

I know where you are coming from Roachie. I'm not anal about warranties either.
It always seems that failures occur just after warranty expiration! Although I have just had a coffee machine warranty repair happily completed locally.

Then on the other hand I had a Top Dog shock absorber failure after only 2000km denied warranty. I couldn't be bothered fighting it, but now all four are now being replaced after another failure at 44,000km. But they won't be Top Dogs..... Koni are going in!

Anyway, I imagine that anyone with warranty concerns may have a problem with imported goods.

There are a lot of things you can buy from overseas that are of known quality, inherantly reliable and rarely fail ...... these are good propositions.

There are other things that are so much cheaper than here, its not worth worrying about warranty ...... you could import 3 or 4 for the price you would buy 1 here.

There are fairly simple items that if they are faulty could you easily fix with no bother.
Likewise there are some things that are known to be substandard ..... but the issues are known and can be easily fixed here

There are also some overseas vendors that have very very good reputations and could turn around a warranty claim faster than the local importer ..... this is the case with certain high end fishing reels .... in that case there are individual OS retailers that carry more spares stock and have more proper reel techs on the bench than there are in Australia.
Similar story with a couple of Asian test instrument vendors.

It realy pays to know what you are buying, what the issues are and what the reputation of the sellers are like.

There are a couple of small Chineese ebay vendors that are red hot on service ...... I had one item that I was not happy with .... a couple of messages either way to establish the facts and there was a new one in my hands in a week.

Self importing stuff is a real option but you have to do your research and you sums.

cheers

Bantam, Valvoline make Cummins Blue, which is recognised as a top flight engine oil and there is another major company that makes top line oil. Fuchs. I just don't know what the oil has to do with product shipment from the US.

Sorry mate recognised by whom, there are many who consider that, BP has dropped the ball right across the board in recent years ....... they and their subsiduaries at one time made some of the best oils around, but they don't seem to be interested in competing any more, content to sell on their past reputation and brand names ...


as for Fuchs ..... Hell talk to some of the guys up the mines that where on Fuchs contracts. ...... A lot of people are talking up Fuchs, probably because of the deal they are on.

Valvoline and Castrol do a lot of manufacture and packaging for house branded oils that does not make their own branded oils competitive.

In the very competitive diesel spec oil market the top 3, I mention remain just that leaving aside a couple of boutique American oils ..... of the three Devlac had the performance edge a few years ago but not by much.

If you like Castrol or Valvoline ...... their transoprt industry diesel spec product will outspec and out perform many of their retail oils that typically sell for much more ..... it is the same with the 4 major oil conglomerates

The reason all of this is relivent is that both oil and filters in the retail market a very heavily marked up and over sold.

As I say I pay about half what the retail "discounters" will charge for filters of poorer reputation filters ...... that is significant.

I also pay less than half for a better quality oil by buying the transport industry product by the 20 instead of the plastic bottle retail product.

There are a number of things I buy from overseas, Briggs and Stratton parts I buy from the US ...... and yes I pay more in freight than I do for the parts ( paying full retail) ..... and the exercise still costs me half what I would pay here AND I get the parts faster.

The viability of getting things from overseas depends on trading off the cost of freight against the saving on the item.

Some items are rediculously marked up here ...... sometimes our wholesale price is more then the US retail. ...... but that is not true for everything.

In oil filters and some other parts it is easy to get out of the retail market. by shopping at truck spares shops, where everybody is pretty much charged trade price. At the same time you get into a very competitive market where the "Australia tax" is not applied as heavily.

before you wear the heavy freight costs from the US. Shop the item properly in Australia, Some items we don't do so bad on.

cheers

Cummins is the most preferred engine running heavy haulage in Australia. The Cummins blue is made by Valvoline and is recognised as a top class oil. Maybe you better talk to those that use it and go right into the specs.

Rubbish, bleep s is also a top producer of quality oil. So you work in mining or is it. He said or She said dribble.

Where do you get the information about Cummins oil, being the most prefered engine oil running in heavy haulage in Australia .... that is a pretty tall claim.
Sounds like straight from the advertising

Are you saying that Cummins blue has more market share than any other brand .... do you have figures?
Are you saying that Cummins blue has proven to be better in independent testing?

Yeh I have looked at the spec ....... like any oil in that market it conforms to the same brace of specs.

So tell me where do you buy yours and how much for a 20litre.

Valvoline these days is BPs budget oil brand with Castrol their flagship.
This shows on the shelf.

Right across their operation BP now sells less at a higher margin and relies on the past reputation of it's brands.

cheers

I have not been heavily into the oil reserach for a couple of years ........ but a quick look found this oil comparison from 2015 ..... which will represent some recent improvements across the board.

Not a comprehensive test, but it is an indication.

But the result pretty much has not changed.
Remember many of these oil formulars are world wide.

in the 15w40 oils
Redline and Royal Purple at the top of the list ..... pretty much as previoulsy
Followed by Caltex, Mobil and Shell with very little to seperate them.

Then we have the "Top Shelf Valvoline" which is probably rebadged as the Cummins oil ........ yeh it lags behind even Shells old formular Rotela
And right at the bottom of the list Castrol GTX diesel

http://www.motoroiltests.com/diesel-oil-testing.html#.WBdCUcm1eck

cheers

Read what was written. CUMMINS ENGINES are the preferred heavy haul engine in Australia.
Cummins must be happy with the oil they recommend as the will warrant their their isxe5 engines out to 1.2 million K. Using Valvoline premium blue they recommend oil changes on engines using fuel at a rate of 1.2 to 1.5 l/k at 40,000k and engines using above 1.5l/k at 60,000k.

Guess they are pretty happy about the oil and it's performance. They rated them and I notice your oil test couldn't even give a lot of specs for many of the oils.

Note.
Premium Blue® Extreme Full Synthetic 5W-40 Engine Oil
Valvoline’s Premium Blue Extreme Engine Oil is endorsed by Cummins Engine Company and is approved against the CES 20081 specification. The product meets, or exceeds Mack EO-O Premium Plus, Volvo VDS-4, and Detroit Diesel 93K218. In addition, the product meets Caterpillar ECF-3 (and all prior ECF specifications), Mercedes Benz 228.3 and 228.31, MTU Type I/II, Renault RLD-3, MAN 3275, ACEA E9-08 and E7-08, JASO DH-2, and Global DHD-1 specification. In addition, the product meets API CJ-4, API CI-4 Plus, API CI-4, API CH-4, CG-4, CF-4, and CF / SM specifications.

Then again what would those engine manufacturers no.

Maybe you should look here and see where your le syn delo and shell ended up. All the complete specs are given not like your other chart and notice there is no advertising.

Oil tested and graded link