Frustrated With Dealers Accessories Parts Prices!!!!

[Rickerbucks]

I get my parts shiped to a PO Box on the other side of the border but its only a 20 min drive for me.

BUT....If you INSIST that they send it via US Postal service (and not the courier companies) you will just spend a nominal fee to the postal station where you pick it up. ($5- $10) For parts below $100 I tell them to send it US postal.

Note: there are no duties to buy parts.....only GST and PST.

Also....I think GM parts department sales people should be thrown in jail. The price they charge versus the US truly is criminal. I was quoted $1200 for stock rotors and pads for my CTS V Caddy. I bought the high performance OEM drilled rotors and Hawk premier pads from a caddy dealer in the US for $800 CDN indluding shipping.

[SQUALO]

Originally Posted by CanadianCamaro

Yea, but the standard of living (in general I'm speaking of) is better. I won’t even begin to point out the flaws in your negative comments b/c it would just be a pointless pissing match.

My friend - you touched on this topic once before. If you hate being Canadian so much and like the US, move. No one is stopping you (unless the US customs people do - they give pretty much anyone a hard time these days). But look around dude - People complain about things in their homeland no matter where they live or are from. It's human nature to want something more/better.

I am not a Don Cherry type patriotic Canadian. But I can tell you this. If everyone in Canada had just a tiny bit of that patriotic enthusiasm in them, it would make Canada a much better place. I am happy to be a Canadian citizen and wouldn't have it any other way. But that's not b/c I feel something is wrong with being a US citizen, or UK, or French or Japanese any other place. I'm just happy to be here.

You're entitled to your opinion and we all rant from time to time (including this). But your comments are a bit much in my opinion. Dude, I've met you only once, and I think you're a good guy. I hope we can have many cruises this summer. But when it comes to this stuff, I think there are a few here who don't like to see comments like that. Turn the negativity down a notch and things will look a little better. OK bud?

We're all here to help each other out, and provide info, experiences, etc. not to bash citizenship. We have enough wars going on right now, we don't need to start "forum wars", and anyone who knows and/or has read my posts in the past, knows that I'm proud to be Canadian and will defend that to the end.

In conclusion, lets just stick to the topics at hand and stop getting off track like a lot of these threads are starting to do.

p.s. thank you to everyone, including our U.S. family, in helping us out with suggestions for ordering & shipping of parts from the U.S. to CANADA (it's unfortunate we have to do this to save money & get the point across to the dealerships up here).

[bumblebee rules]

Free trade eh :-)

[sigma_1966]

Call a dealeraship in buffalo. Set up an appointment and drive down. If its going to take a few hours to install the parts rent a car ad have lunch, do some shopping. Even with gas, lunch and everything else you wil still save cash.

[CloudXTC]

to make a small comment abt the citizenship thing... its one thing i really appreciate... where i came from... and where i am now...

that being said... prices are higher here than the states... i was talking to some of the guys at work and they said the only way to get lower prices from the dealers... and this is logic... is if you continously buy from them... that makes sense.. they see you... they know you...

however, my dealer told me personally, that anything that needs to be done for the car... accessories etc to talk to her first and she will try to get me a better price that face value that service desk will give me...

the idea having an appointment setup with a dealer in buffalo.. go there and then go shopping while car is being worked on... sounds awesome...

[THUMPER20X]

Im outspoken about things because someone has to be. I will in no way sit back in the passive boat in faith that thing are turning around here. They're not. I have my plans and Im doing them in time as I can. Until then Ill exercise my freedom of speech as everyone else seems to do and try to get people to open their eyes and have a voice, which unfortunately seems like the Non-canadian thing to do when it comes to criticizing the flaws.

[SSmoked]

Originally Posted by THUMPER20X

There is no truth to any of that. Everything in canada is always more expensive. The biggest issue is people need to start realizing that canada is not all the greatness it portrays itself to be. My citizenship will be on Kijiji for free by the end of the week.

no truth to what lol they i only made a couple suggestions.
chill out bro.

i dont see why anyone would go to the dealer for anything other than replacment parts. service at a dealership is the worst thing ever, u over pay and get crappy quality. buy aftermarket its cheaper and get a reputable shop to install or save some bucks and get off ur lazy butt hole and install it your self. u could pretty much do 75% of work on ur car with some wrenches and a car jack.

[CanadianCamaro]

Originally Posted by SSmoked

no truth to what lol they i only made a couple suggestions.
chill out bro.

i dont see why anyone would go to the dealer for anything other than replacment parts. service at a dealership is the worst thing ever, u over pay and get crappy quality. buy aftermarket its cheaper and get a reputable shop to install or save some bucks and get off ur lazy butt hole and install it your self. u could pretty much do 75% of work on ur car with some wrenches and a car jack.

Over pay - Agreed - although as XTC said, they will deal on prices if they see you. My standard at my dealership is 20% off list. That said, I typically only get things there that are only available there.
Crappy quality - I suppose you can find good quality and crap quality pretty much everywhere so that's a fair point. Buyer beware I always say.
Poor service - experienced that - many times - simple solution - change dealerships. When they call to say your car is due for service tell them you switched b/c their service sucks. Some will never improve but unless they're told they can't improve.

[CanadianCamaro]

Originally Posted by THUMPER20X

Im outspoken about things because someone has to be. I will in no way sit back in the passive boat in faith that thing are turning around here. They're not. I have my plans and Im doing them in time as I can. Until then Ill exercise my freedom of speech as everyone else seems to do and try to get people to open their eyes and have a voice, which unfortunately seems like the Non-canadian thing to do when it comes to criticizing the flaws.

Ahhh.... OK. I understand what you're sayin'... I think.

First of all, I think you're foolish to assume that everyone here (or anywhere) has their eyes closed when it comes to how we as Canadians get screwed over many things. If you don't believe me, or you believe people/Canadian's won't speak-up to be heard, just search for some of the arguments/rants that raged about the Canadian vs. US destination charge.

I didn't say “don't be outspoken”. I'm all for that - trust me I am very outspoken. But some people just don't like to hear some things in the public forum. Call it the “Canadian way” - whatever - I actually see that as a positive attribute of being Canadian - but to each their own. I respectfully disagree with your comment that "Canada is not all the greatness it portrays itself to be" and I think you will find many many people who believe that it is. If it is not, then why do so many people from all over the world desire to live here and be Canadian citizens. I'm not saying all do, but many do. And for the many thousands of people who greatly desire to obtain their Canadian citizenship, I'm sure they would find your comments concerning your citizenship to be offensive. Of course I'm not them, so I can say that for sure, but that is likely to be true.
Take for example this. If I said that “all black cars suck, that they don't live up to all the rage people think they do” you may disagree with that statement right? It’s my opinion and you are free to disagree. But if I extend that thought and said that “black cars are so hard to keep clean, anyone who buys one is an idiot”, I'm sure that you might take some margin of offence to that. See what I mean by comments going just a bit too far?

If your comments were truly offensive they would be reported to the mods and removed. But I don't think that is necessary. What is necessary is a bit of common sense and respect for your fellow man. This thread was started as a discussion on a particular frustration. Others are saying if they agree/disagree and are offering suggestions. You slammed SSmoked's comment and then made the discussion about something it wasn't meant to be about.

I'm sorry that you feel that way about Canada and your country-mates. If your feelings are really that strong then as I said before, no one is stopping you from doing something about it. Speaking out is one thing you can and should do. But there is a proper forum (pardon the pun) for everything. Leaving Canada is another option - although quite drastic I think. But don't try to encourage others on the thought that your/their Canadian citizenship is worthless. Go try living in a place like South Africa.

Those are my thoughts on this matter. Besides the fact that I'll be without internet for the next several days, I am done with this thread. I debated even typing this response. However I felt it necessary to fully explain myself and hopefully give you some food for thought about your own choices and how your comments affect others.

Thanks all -

[SQUALO]

Originally Posted by CaperCamaro

Hey anyone else overly frustrated with these dealer prices for all the accessories available, gouging is not the word. I am wondering if anyone has found any alternatives for getting these parts in Canada other than through our dealers who literally look at you like what do you want from us.....

Ummm I dunno we just fired close to $50 grand a peice for these cars that have been bought all accross Canada how about cut the price in half like in the states.......

Like I said anyone have any alternatives to getting these parts. Let me know if you have found a source. Then we can make those parts sellers some money.

CaperCamaro,
Sorry your thread seemed to have been "jacked" and got a little bit out of hand. I know you're new to this forum, but please don't let this scare you off, this is not the "norm" on this site. On the other hand, I won't deny that it doesn't happen from time to time.

I hope you were able to read between the lines, and get some feedback on your question. Basically, shop around, talk to people and see what you can find out, it's all trial & error...GOOD LUCK!

[Miknov]

Originally Posted by THUMPER20X

There is no truth to any of that. Everything in canada is always more expensive. The biggest issue is people need to start realizing that canada is not all the greatness it portrays itself to be. My citizenship will be on Kijiji for free by the end of the week.

Shame on you.

[CaperCamaro]

Thanks SQUALO, dont worry I am reading between this lines and there has been some good posts for me here, I really appreciate the help people have been giving me and as for the post getting jacked, I dont really pay attention to the things that dont apply to me, I'm just sorry that this topic has got people all fired up that wasnt my intention. I was just looking for the people that have been around this site for a while and have had experience in ordering parts from places other than their dealer to try and save money. I thank everyone for there help and look forward to more posts to keep me in the right direction when it comes to accessories for my camaro.

[CloudXTC]

next up... guage cluster!

[Matster]

I do a lot of my parts order on-line and I buy from a Canadian company when I can. Unfortunately there just isn't a whole lot to choose from....any body want to open an on line store with me here in Canada for performance parts? Just kidding. I just recent purchased a Hurst Short Throw Shifter from www.southerncarparts.com/camaro-parts-c-711.html?infoBox=1, web price, 339.00 X 1.096 Exch = 371.54 Cdn. got this e-mail from them '"Thanks for the shifter order....we actually have this part at our Canada warehouse and can ship it out today via Purolator. I am required to charge GST upfront (45 USD) if I ship from the Canada warehouse. If I ship from my location in the US, UPS will charge GST and Broker fees at the time of delivery. Trust me, best bet is to let me ship Purolator from within Canada. If you want to go this route, I need you to Paypal me the $45 bucks to complete the transaction. The Shifter will arrive with NO OTHER duties or fees. Let me know what you want to do.." So my final cost was 420.55 Cdn. Not sure what other parts they can ship from there warehouse in Canada, but it got here in 2 days and is still in the box until spring:(.

Just remember when figuring out the total cost, if you order on-line and it get shipped via a courier company, they will charge you GST/PST or HST, duty if applicable and a brokerage charges. If your not in a rush and the supplier will ship it parcel post, that is you cheapest route.