Canada tyre price ripoff
 

Those of us who live in Canada have no doubt been amazed at the exorbitant prices charged for tyres up here ,compared to the US .

If you try to buy from a US tyre shop they will refuse to sell to Canada .
BUT they will accept your credit card or paypal payment and ship to a US address , if you have relatives or friends in the US all well and good , they can forward the stuff to you .

For those , like me ,who have no contacts in the US a freight forwarding company can be utilised .
A company like Package Express can receive and reship your packages to you in Canada .

For example , catalogue price for a Mich Anakee in Canada $290 .
US price $133 + free shipping .Cost to receive and ship to Canadian address $34 .

If you live close to the border you can go and get your packages .

I've done this a few times now and it has worked very well , you have to be honest about the shipment value and you have to pay the taxes , but you are still paying taxes on a smaller amount .

If a friend did the reshipping , you could describe the item as "gift" and sidestep the tax .
But that's a bit hard to do with things like tyres !

move to north america then, simple.

Canada is a country in north America .
It's the big one above the lower 48 states of the USA .

move to southern north-america then, simple.

though you'd have to deal with the uproar at $4 a gallon of fuel... oh dear lord...!

HuH
 

DougieB how the hell can he do that?? Canada is already in North America

I'm sure the boy is clever and can work it out.

Nothing stopping you emigrating either ,is there ?
What's up , is it raining in England ?
[ silly question ]

tyre prices are the same in scotland as in england, no need reive from this green and pleasant land :-)

So you're not in the mood for a bit of cross border plundering ?
Your ancestors would not be impressed !

Inflation is hitting HARD everywhere,

tire prices
 

So does this mean I should be holding onto the pile of used tires I have? I have a bunch of partialy used up dualsport and street tires. When new ones are too expensive or unavailable I will have a gold mine here. And they scorned me for collecting all this junk!

Used tyres
 

Damn!
and there was me doing burn-ups when i considered them too bald, looks like that will have to stop.

While in Whitehorse last June I paid $300 for a rear tire for my GS! The same tire would be about $140 in the US. I asked a Canadian why prices were so high in Canada (not just tires). He said, "We get free health care, eh."

one of the reasons prices are so high in canada is because parts canada seems to have a near monopoly on tires. one tourance rear in canada cost the same as a pair of distanzias for my drz.

Yup, which is also why you can't get tires and a lot of other stuff shipped from US to CA. If you live in a major center there will be a bike dealer or two that has periodic tire sales (usually spring and fall) when you can get tires for a reasonable price, equivalent to retail US. But if you are passing through, and need something to finish the trip, make sure you are packing lvaseline to ease the pain encountered at our stealerships.

Another thing to keep in mind when you are off the beaten path in the G.W.N., there ain't gonna be no tires for your two wheeler unless it uses snojoke tracks or puffy quad tires. You will be waiting a week or two for your rubber to be shipped to the local sled and chainsaw dealer.

The cost of tires is sick, you need the free health care! A couple of years ago I saw a German guy on a GS with a couple of spare TKC's strapped to the top can and thought what a dork...does he think we don't have tires in the GWN. A smart man he was, 5,000 Km latter I was looking for a tire for the KLR, none to be found at any price, ended up using up what I had and then putting on a nearly worn out rubber to get home. Moral of the story bring those cheap American rubbers with you, the money you save will buy a lot of our northern gas.

Why not just go for a ride in a southerly direction with a couple of tire irons? Canada may be a big place, but almost all the people live less than a day's ride north of the border. I'm always looking about for an excuse to go for a ride, so saving a couple hundred bucks would almost seem like overkill! Or does the tax man measure how much rubber you have left when you cross the border?:nono:

Crikes ! Don't give the tax people ideas !
I live so far from the border that the tyres would be half wore out by the time I got back .:mchappy:

I was on a consulting project in California last year and would purchase tires, use packaging tape to tie them together, put my name on the tape with a sharpie marker, then bring them back as my checked luggage. Paid less than 1/3 what Blackfoot in Calgary quoted me for the Continental Conti-Escapes.

Got some halarious looks as they came rolling down the luggage carousel. Since they were not deemed hazardous and counted as my luggage I could bring them back free. Something to consider next time you take the kids to Disneyland - bring back a nice set of Continentals with your Mickey ears.

Note: Forgot to mention customs. They werent impressed when I said I was bringing Motorcycle tires back, but i declared the cost, and there is nothing wrong with brining them home, so its akward, but no problem in cusoms.