Thread: Saving Thousands ($)

LR Australia (the company) does have a major part to play. They won't let businesses access them unless they're one of their Dealerships.
LR UK - happy to help and readily supply genuine products to UK trade customers.

As someone who is trying to establish a small 4wd accessories business in a busy market place alot of the posts in this threat are somewhat disheartning. Whilst im not about to sit here and tell people how to spend their money, getting quoted $4000 for something here and then finding it overseas for half that its hard to justify purchasing it here to support local businesses.

I buy all of my parts for the disco from australian suppliers, i find their prices good, Alan from British 4wd gets my business alot of the time because he is very very helpful when i ring and ask questions. As a result im happy to pay for his parts. I do use other suppliers when I need to.

I think its important for people to support australian suppliers but when it comes to things like ARB stuff being cheaper overseas part of the onus must fall on ARB to be more competetive in the Australian Market, a market that they pride themselves on designing alot of their parts for.

I do my best to discount my products as much as possible, I have always been about selling more of an item at a cheaper price as opposed to less of them at at a more expensive price.

Matt

It's an 'interesting' challenge to hold long term inventory and make money from it. The holding cost on a new engine for example worth say $10k to LRA /GMH /Ford whoever at 20% internal rate of return to cover the overheads is $40 per week....

A new car dealer principal in one of the 'big 2' Jap 4WDs told me that he regularly writes off all inventory over 6 months old ...generally slow moving stuff...and then on sells it for way below cost on a regular basis...

The problem is the small market in Australia...22 million spread over an area 2/3 that of continental USA...think about this...where an Aussi mate lives in the USA, there's a 'market' of 70 million people within a 5hr driving radius...

I fully sympathise with the buying o/s...I do it myself!! ...I guess the answer -as always- is somewhere in the middle

Originally Posted by Hoges

It's an 'interesting' challenge to hold long term inventory and make money from it. The holding cost on a new engine for example worth say $10k to LRA /GMH /Ford whoever at 20% internal rate of return to cover the overheads is $40 per week....

A new car dealer principal in one of the 'big 2' Jap 4WDs told me that he regularly writes off all inventory over 6 months old ...generally slow moving stuff...and then on sells it for way below cost on a regular basis...

The problem is the small market in Australia...22 million spread over an area 2/3 that of continental USA...think about this...where an Aussi mate lives in the USA, there's a 'market' of 70 million people within a 5hr driving radius...

I fully sympathise with the buying o/s...I do it myself!! ...I guess the answer -as always- is somewhere in the middle

The market size is a good point Hoges, if they are importing alot more and clearing them out faster then they can afford to knock the price down a bit. Thats why the parts we buy here that dont need replacing very often, or arent that common cost alot more.

Matt

While I feel a great deal of sympathy for local retailers and stockists, unfortunately I generally find I still vote with my wallet.

It's a fact of life that any business importer is straight away going to be 10%+ more expensive on any parts compared to a private importer, purely because they incur duty and have to charge GST on everything, where the private importer (providing the value of goods is <$1000) incurs no GST or duty. They will have volume discounts and lower pro-rata shipping costs to offset the extra taxes, but not enough to make the difference up.

Not only that, but the business also has to deal with currency fluctuations, where their stock is effectively devalued by changes in exchange rates, and also stock obsolescence/damage.

I know we complain when they don't have widget XYZ123 in stock for a vehicle that went out of production 10 years ago, but given all they have to contend with, it's a very difficult environment to trade in.

Originally Posted by Jamo

I think it's LRA rather than the dealers who create this situation.

For instance, The ATF for the ZF in the D3 (ZF Lifeguard6) is retailed by LR dealers at around $95 per litre. Yet BMW sells the exact same ATF for their cars with the exact same tranny for $33 per litre!! The price, I believe is set by LRA!

It's funny you mentioned that price Jamo,with our L322 the BMW service kit is twice the price of the LR one.I've had both and was a little ****ed off after paying $150 more for identical parts except for the box's. Pat

This discussion always raises the issue about fair trade.

I like a bargain and like many have a budget, like many also I am a member here to get help, advise and guidance in how to maintain my vehicle at the best level and price point.

As much as I always try and shop locally, its just very frustrating paying twice that of what I could have paid had I shopped around especially overseas. I feel ripped off.

I do understand the overheads of local businesses as I am also in business.

I often send people to TRS and have spend a lot of $$$ there but when I hear their prices are more for 2nd hand than new, it gets me very angry.
They do it because they can, if you need a part an dneed it now, they have you over a barrel.

Having said all that, I will continue to buy local to encourage my local economy and keep people employed.
Thats just me, I am happy to pay a bit more to see them grow and perhaps at some point support my business.
Thats how the money goes around I guess.

Making a saving is good on one hand but when all local business dies we are in dire straights.

You may be paying more for some parts however you still get a good deal on the price of the vehicle. Not as good as 5 years ago when they were many thousands cheaper in Australia than the UK price.

Book price on a Discovery 4 HSE in the UK is £50k (about $AU 100K) list price in Australia is $94k. So they are still cheaper on the other side of the . That is with all the aledged costs of a smaller market and special build to meet the local safety and emission polution rules than a customer near the factory.

Don't know about current Australian market but in UK you pay list price or more if the dealer wants to as production allocation is sold out with no more build slots until April 2011.