Can anyone/some one explain to me why HD parts are so HIGH in price in Australia. I went to a dealer the other day and asked the price of a mag wheel. The dollars asked was $1800+ for a front wheel and that was the rim only.

I went to HD USA and in their site went to parts and found the same rim and the price was $750 rim only.

My question is why why why is it so dear here to buy? Not only that but to charge $1000 more for the same animal.

I've decided to stick with my spoked wheel for now and wait till a mate goes to the states and he'll get them for me.

Don't figure

There's a few factors at work which jack up prices here.  In the past it was a bad USD exchange rate, although that has changed now prices in stores still haven't caught up.  Also,  in the Aus market there are too mamy middle men when it comes to parts, local retailers buy off of local wholesalers who have exclusive deals with parts makers and they take their cut.  On top of that is good old government import duty which the local retailers/importers must pay.  It all ads up to one big shafting for the consumer.  Some of the local retailers are making an effort to improve things which is a good thing.  Not that they really have any choice because the internet has forced them to.

Pretty easy to figure why the term "Stealers" sticks heh.      ( think they learnt that from the gov.au)

yep , copped it myself , bought a skull petrol gauge for $220, mate tells me i can get it online for  $75 .BIG DIFFERENCE .always good to know after youv'e spent the monet !!!!!!

miss your breakfast runs Red......

I'd do the same... at the moment I get a lot less than 10% but in a good year I sell a lot of kit. In a bad year I'm glad I live where it cost a lot less to live.

The problem in Oz is that Cat are the importer and they are a large organisation and have large overheads as well as holding common use items in stock and like all of us have to pay taxes. As I've said before, until the dealers can buy direct from HD we are going to get screwed. By the way, Canadians pay an premium too but not sure if it's for the same reason....

I got a price off a forum sponser for 3 bits of go fast goodies. Then got a price from M&M. Got them landed in Aus within 5 working days from the states and saved $550 delivered. Forum sponsor to their credit rang me to follow up the quote but had nothing to say when I told of the deal from the states. I would rather have made the purchase locally if the diff was around $100 but....what can I say

just to throw something in here! as a Canadian biker myself,all HD dealers have to go through a company "DEELEY'S CANADA" who's the exclusive dealer here in vancouver his father or grandfather started the company in Toronto way the fuck back ,now every part with HD on it coming into canada basicly goes through them! now I've had the displeasure of being screwed over by them for the last 30+years ,we have no import duty because of a deal between the US and Canada to not charge duty on most things manifactured in either country..but the mark up from "Deeley"s" and our "HST" which is GST+provincal sales tax make the bikes and parts pretty damn expecive here as well.with the down turn in the US  we as canadians can buy online from individuals across the border and even from STEALERS and save alot of $$$$ our HST tax is 13.% but we have to pay that even if we buy from the US no matter what!

fuck that was long winded,sorry about that!

just had to add there is a place in the US called "Jireh Cycles "if you are looking for a great deal on parts thats who I buy from when I can top notch service!

thanks for the info fatboy91.. looks like you guys get screwed like us. The only difference on tax is we don't pay on shippedin goods with a value under $1K.

Some suppliers in the US are forbidden to ship to Oz because of exclusivity in Oz.... glad HD shops arn't in same boat. Seems the main outlets we buy from are J&P Cycles, M&M and Zanotti's. Might look at the shop you use. I looked at Canada pricing recently and couldn't believe the pricing. I'll keep the shipping bit to Canada in mind as a mate from Edmonton visits here couple times a year and it would be my cheapest option... ship to Canada and he brings here and I fit when I visit Oz (complicated but cheap option). Have one local stealer in Oz that at least tried to match US plus shipping costs

You will see quite a difference in the prices compared to J&P.I found Jireh looking for my 113 inch Ultima engine complete $3600. shit HD wanted $5000 +just to rebuild my 91 evo and then you don't know whether the cases will last much longer with the crankshaft bearing seal races of th early evo"s

I picked up the Ultima 6 speed for 550  a coupl of years ago and its a good solid tranny and a true 6 speed ulike HD"s don't even use the 6th gear till you hit 130 km and its basically plug and play I threw it in on a rainy sunday and have never looked back! smoothed out the ride big time!

handling thousands of componets each day can be expensive.... but as I've said before as a general guidline manufacturers look for 50-60% margin on finished goods and as much as 200% on spare parts.

If the HD retail is say $100 and a US dealer sells for $75 it is a calculated guess that he guys for perhaps $30-40.... remember that he has to pay for premises, holding stock, goods handling, tax etc out of the gross profit.

Lets just assume that the Oz distributor (Cat) buys at same price as a US dealer $35 (used this for ease of calc.) and sells at list then the Oz dealer buys at $100 (list) then he also must account for his freight from US, premises, holding stock, goods handling, tax.

Buying for $35 and selling for $100 gives a gross margin of 65%

Buying for $100 and selling for $175 gives a gross margin of 43% (note $175 includes GST) so true gross is 37%

As you can see its not hard to understand how and Aussie dealer sells for $175 when you can buy from M&M price of $75 plus postage.

maybe it's time for Bano to lock this thread...............................

agreed. Its no secret that we get stitched here, so why not buy from someone like M&M

If repetition is all it takes to lock a thread.......I've seen quite a few same/similar posts pop up all the time usually with the same replies.
 

I just don't keep going into them

ok, ok. there's exceptions

 We certainly are being asked to bend over & take one for the team by our friendly local Moco stealers.

Wanted a new HD Roadway leather jacker - Peter Stevens Ringwood had my size in stock so I went all the way over there - tried it on - beautiful - no price - so the stealer looked it up ..........................$707

Went straight home - jumped on the mac - Florida Harley - $375 + Shipping = $420 including exchange rate.

Moco dealers locally are just becoming resource centres to get part numbers & try shit on before buying from the US online

Now for my biggest rant - the price of new HD bikes here compared to the US - absolute highway robbery - ask your stealer why & watch his eyes start twitching.

Standard Street Glide in US - $19525 including exchange rate on road ................here $32,495           can anyone explain here why?????    seems no local dealer can.