Need a replacement turbo? Import your own and save over 1K !

[Transporter]

I don't know what is the conversion between the EU and A$ but the price in that link was close to EU1,000. .
Good luck to all wiht their car repairs in the no so distante future, you will have nobody else to blame. LOL

[Transporter]

the thing that would worry me the most, what if you got it here and it was a bit different/wrong. then you gotta send it back. just to save a few hundred bucks.

...or it didn't arrive at all and you need to get your van on the road. Certainly ordering cheap parts on line can work for some or sometimes, but it doesn't have to be always practical. Let's say you can't fit it yourself and the mechanic doesn't want to fit the parts you bought from the internet. Another reason would be that you get the OEM part, but it could be the second or third grade, hmm.

I think that you guys who can't do your own servicing and repairs will be waiting to get your car back on the road much longer than before the eBay times pretty soon. Don't get me wrong, I bought the things of the eBay as well. But, it is a bit of gamble to me when you buy a part that cost $1000 from the abroad. I guess I'm not a pokies player; also I have to admit I hate the gamble that you have absolutely not control over it.

I always say to customers that are too smart and already bought their own parts, that they should buy the tools for that job as well and DIY. Not worth of to waste my time.

[Ivo]

Transporter, from reading you last few replies it sounds like your really pissed about people trying to save $$$.

"I always say to customers that are too smart and already bought their own parts, that they should buy the tools for that job as well and DIY. Not worth of to waste my time. "

Its a shame to read that from a moderator and a sponsor of this site.


"Good luck to all wiht their car repairs in the no so distante future, you will have nobody else to blame. LOL"
Actually I think it will be good luck to the guys who have this attitude, I cant see them staying business.

[Corey_R]

This is a complex issue.

Local business use both the hourly rate (or labour charge) and any profit in parts.
If all of a sudden there is no profit in parts, then the business will either fail, or they will have to increase their labour rates to remain viable.

If everyone were on equal terms, and no one had profit in parts and everyone just had suitable labour rates, then that wouldn't be so much of an issue. The issue is where you have a mix. If you supplied your own parts, would you be happy to pay higher labour rates? Probably not. No one else does either. This puts local businesses in difficult positions.

Then there is the obvious issue of counterfeit goods, or even completely incorrect parts. Customers supply the parts from sometimes dodgy sources and then expect the local business to be able to sort out the issues, which sometimes just simply cannot be resolved. Even worse, if in the case of a turbo, it gets installed and then fails and destroys an engine, the customer will often go back to the installer and hit them up for a warranty claim on the installation....

Look at Transporter's signature. He's a moderator, but he's also a local business owner in automotive services.

This is a complex issue.

[mikinoz]

Transporters point is fair, just badly articulated I think.

If a mechanic won't fit parts he has not sourced that is his prerogative.

I have bought a few things in from OS now and have had some wins and some losses, but all the time I am wearing the risk knowingly as I do the work myself.

[haro]

hehehe good to see that this forum doesn't mind a bit of decent discussion also and does not descend into name calling etc
like how it seems to happen in some other stupid forums.

@ GUV - Thank you for the warm welcome, so far I am certainly enjoying my stay.

@ Transporter - With regards to the price it looks like it has increased, I am reasonably confident that they were having a
SALE when I bought the turbo as it was cheaper than I thought it would be to be honest. Ah well, bit of a sweetener
perhaps?

I realise that sourcing parts from overseas sellers to may not always be the best option, a buyer needs to weigh up a few
things and most smart shoppers certainly would. In my (Fathers) case, his vehicle is a Maxi Taxi that has the ability to pull in over 1K on a busy night so having it off the road for a long period of time is not ideal. The turbo on his vehicle was
clearly the culprit in this case, but as it was the seals leaking it was not a catastrophic failure or anything we could
put up with a bit of leaking oil whilst a replacement was sourced, purchased and shipped.

Obviously if it has spat the compressor wheel off and down into the exhaust then we probably would have gone with MTQ to get it done ASAP. Same goes for the AC Compressor I mentioned in an earlier reply.

The turbo itself is a genuine parts and in perfect working order from a legitimate business so its not like I have bought
a 'Super power T70' turbo from ebay or anything. There is also a warranty on the part from garrett & I would have to ship it if something happened but I accept that risk and will take the chance as Garretts dont die very regularly and
the last one lasted 400K so I am pretty confident.

Transporter I can see you are a moderator and obviously running a business so I know why your reply was geared the way it was. Clearly one needs to protect their business but refusing to allow clients to provide their own parts is a great way to cut you out of that job completely - its entirely up to YOU if you want a job or not. Personally I wouldnt deal with a
mechanic who refused to work with provided parts as they are simply having a 'hissy' that they were not able to double
the price of parts to line their pockets. Again I have had plenty of experience with Mechanics and couple of my friends are in that profession, most of them have figured out that its easier to keep a client by taking care of them as opposed to
trying to get new business. Return clientele is 'where its at' for the majority of businesses out there including the one I
now work in (Hotels).

So anyway - good discussion and some great points. As with everything when being a Smart Shopper it is very
important to do your research and remember that the internets is not a dark scary place to do business in, its
the future. Just do it properly and use paypal or similar as they offer great seller/buyer protection and the fees are not
too over the top (kinda).

[Transporter]

To Ivo and haro; 75% my customers are over 45yo and comes from upper or high middle class, very long term customers who don’t muck around with buying the parts to save a few $$$, so despite "my attitude" as you say, I don't feel as much threatened as some other businesses might.
But hey it’s all good, it’s called evolution. We probably will see the parts getting cheaper as the result of eBay shopping, but who will stop businesses to source the parts from who knows where to compensate for lost profit to ketch up with the eBay pricing.

All this penny pinching leads to one thing only and that’s the poorer quality products, doesn’t matter what it is, the car or the clothing. Oh well, we can't change it, so it's not worth to stress up about it.

[Corey_R]

All this penny pinching leads to one thing only and that’s the poorer quality products, doesn’t matter what it is, the car or the clothing. Oh well, we can't change it, so it's not worth to stress up about it.

Can't argue with that unfortunately. Not only cars and clothes, but many many industries. Look at TV's for example. It's been 3 or 4 years since Pioneer left the TV business, no one has a 5 year factory warranty anymore, and no one has matched the Pioneers visual quality, either via subjective or objective (scientific) measurements. TV's cost less now... but cheaper is all they are... not better quality, and arguably not better value.

[DkN]

On the flip side of that argument Transporter, we all know we get pretty **** pricing here in Aus. International sourcing also helps businesses become more cost effective. Let's face it, so you source from the dealer, that doesn't mean the product didn't come out of South Africa or something if you trace it back far enough. Yes there's second grade **** out there, but the fact that there's also genuine OEM parts that are actually the exact same part for half the price out there, shows that there's potential not only to save money for customers but the businesses themselves (and also to increase profit if you offer the same parts for less). I wouldnt call a saving of $1,200 penny pinching.

All your points are valid IF customers are buying second grade / alternatives that are not up to standard. But if customers can find a LEGITIMATE, genuine OEM part for half the price, why can't business owners? Keeping in mind haro was a one-off customer, if a business owner sourced the product they could probably get a price of around $1,000. You add GST and say 10% or even 20% markup, I still wouldn't hesitate to buy it from you rather than source it myself. Isn't that win-win?

For those wondering about the price in the provided link, don't forget to take off 19% VAT - the real price is divided by 1.19 and multiplied by about 1.35 for AUD, from memory.