VR23

First off, I'm located in Victoria, BC. I've been looking into obtaining new rotors and brake pads for my 4Runner (Brembo and Hawk). I am having a heckuva time finding anything here so I'm wondering about ordering from one of the US online firms (TireRack etc...) and getting things shipped here. What I am not sure of is if this is the way to go? Are there any duty charges etc...is this typically the cheapest? Hopefully, some other Canuck posters have done this and can let me know their experiences or if they are aware of any local suppliers I can call.

eric-the-red

There's no duty if the parts are made in North America, ie Canada, US or Mexico. Most place charge extra for shipping, and then UPS and FedEx really screw you for what they call brokerage fees, they can run $30-$50. You also have to pay PST and GST, which you'd pay buying here anyway. I always get stuff shipped to a US address, I use Package Express in Sumas and then drive over and get it, but I guess from Victoria that's not a convenient option.
If you can get the parts sent US Postal Service, Canada Post only charges $5 for paperwork crossing the border.

Yota Tony

You will pay brokerage on anything that crosses the border if it's shipped by anyone but USPS.

Many shops will ship via USPS if you ask and sometimes they will do it free of charge.
However, when the product leaves the States, you will not be able to track it anymore.

stumprunner

Maybe try Northshore Offroad in Vancouver,they can get allmost anything and shipping is not bad.

Bill

You might not get that specific brand, but whoopty do. NAPA or Autovalue would be able to get you the parts you need, and you wouldn't need to ship.

As far as the duty goes: you don't pay duty, but you will pay tax on any orders over a $200 declaired value.

surf4runner

ship ? for US to BC.
i was told that the recipient has to 'claim' an item when shipped via UPS etc (to big for the USPS) and that if i do it correctly i can have them 'self claim' to avoid some of the fees. is there a better way to do ths???

-->is there anyone who would rec a large box and get it across the border?(to PoCo) used parts, nothing illegal

MTL_4runner

First let me set this straight for people. There are 2 possible fees you could pay when importing an item to Canada. The first one is a "duty" which is essentially an import tax base on where the item was manufactured (NAFTA, etc). The second one is usually referred to as "tax" but it is actually a sales tax (GST + any PST if you have it in your province) which is paid just as if the item was bought in your province.

Most items shipped or imported to Canada you won't pay any duty unless they are large items like a car, boat, plasma TV etc. In that case you'd only pay a duty if you fell outside NAFTA (ie the item had some indication it was made somewhere else like Brasil, China, etc). The sales tax is far more common and broadly applied. The sales tax is deterrmined by taking the declared value of the item (as was written on the shipper) and multiplying it by the tax rate in the province it is addressed to. The minimum amount to have this sales tax kick in is $20 (not $200 as is mentioned above). Also if the gift box is checked, it will bump up $60 (often companies won't do this so don't expect them to do this automatically). Again this is all based on the declared value on the package shipping label.

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/co...ty_free-e.html

UPS are the absolute worst to have items shipped into Canada because not only do they charge the required fees above, they also charge their own brokerage fees which are outrageous and can exceed the value of the item so be careful.

http://www.ups.com/content/ca/en/shi...clearance.html

Fedex and DHL have similar brokerage fees but are not quite as bad as UPS. Plain old US mail or Canada Post is by far the cheapest way to ship ($5 brokerage fee, only drawback is no tracking number). Also these brokerage fees for UPS, Fedex and DHL only apply to their cheapest ground shipping, if you opt for expedited shipping, there is no charge for brokerage services.

d0ubledown

try canadiancarparts.ca or pythonparts.ca thats where i got my brembo's..not sure if they have hawks though...but i've had excellent perfomance with my akebono proACT's.

shop locally (meaning in canada) if you can...esp for replacement parts. they've got decent prices...and you dont have to deal with cross border shipping. shipping usually offsets not paying PST...