has taken me a while to figure out why the subaru factory parts are so expsensive in canada they ship them to vancouver from japan truck them from vancouver to toronto and then when i order the parts in kelowna they ship it back across the country by truck or plane no wonder its 70% more than in the usa good job baseing your parts wharehouses off population base subaru canada

Would it save you some money buying the parts on line, or from the US?

Probably not cheaper from the US.

 

For instance, I ordered caliper, pads and rotor from Canadian Tire. Total cost is about $130, not counting core fees. The same parts from RockAuto are about $60. Woohoo! Let's go! But then shipping will cost another $60, so they are only $10 cheaper. Then, if Fedex charges for customs brokerage, any savings are completely wiped out, or more.

 

Online parts from Canada may be cheaper than this, or not. In this case, Canadian Tire was the best bet because the online houses didn't have the calipers, and only had expensive pads. Delivery is typically 4-5 days, which turns most projects into 2 weekenders, no matter what.

 

The biggest drawback to CT is they are SO SLOW TO DELIVER! Other parts places in town take 2- 3 days, CT is getting on towards 2 weeks!

 

The dealer is just about as bad, it can take 1- 2 weeks to get parts, but that is because they only get 1 truck a week, and if you miss the ordering deadline, you are hooped. Believe it or not, some things are cheaper from the dealer, like rear window wiper motors ($230 vs $400 at Napa, and no one else had a listing).

 

But there is no reason for CT to be so slow. The bits I want have been "on the truck" for 10 days now, and it only has to come from Calgary (2 days tops).

When I lived in Newfound Land I came to the quick conclusion that CT was pretty much totally incompetent. It always pissed me off whenever I needed something from there.

How about Carquest. I know they have stores in Canada. Must be other auto parts stores as well.

Yep, there are. Not sure about Carquest. I think they are all back east? I have a Subaru dealer, Napa, and Canadian Tire, and another independent to talk to, but even so, I live 2 days - 2 weeks from their warehouses. (Also 2 - 3 wreckers, they make the stealership look cheap!)

 

Ivan has a couple of places where he lives: Lordco (a BC chain), maybe an independent as well, and even a wrecker (He might own it! I dunno.) He has a couple of dealerships within an hour or so drive. Again, he will be waiting at least 2 days for parts, maybe one day if he gets the order in before noon. And shipping from the US won't be much cheaper.

 

As for CT, there is no way their shop can use their parts supply chain. They probably buy their parts from Napa!

 

Lucky guy to live in Newfoundland! It is kind of like Canada's version of Alaska, on everyone's bucket list.

Lucky guy to live in Newfoundland! It is kind of like Canada's version of Alaska, on everyone's bucket list.

 

It's beautiful. I sailed a boat all around the coast where you can't drive in. You can only access by boat, what an amazing summer!!

we have napa lordco and gillberts thats all and they do very little dealings with any parts from the us it sucks the dealers are ok and they can rush order parts for me but not cheap we have bought parts online but i live fairly rual so delivery is hard and expensive i'm to the point that my used parts are almost as valuble as new one at least i can get used parts eg needed front brake roters for my 1980 brat found some power slot ones through lordco had to be paid for up front 3 weeks delivery and non returnabble oh and 45$ each coming from califorina

we have napa lordco and gillberts thats all and they do very little dealings with any parts from the us it sucks the dealers are ok and they can rush order parts for me but not cheap we have bought parts online but i live fairly rual so delivery is hard and expensive i'm to the point that my used parts are almost as valuble as new one at least i can get used parts eg needed front brake roters for my 1980 brat found some power slot ones through lordco had to be paid for up front 3 weeks delivery and non returnabble oh and 45$ each coming from califorina

 

There is always e-bay as a source of parts, but don't know about delivery time or cost. i still source a lot of my parts from wrecking yard, however, if you are rural, I bet there are not many yards near you. Like you, I am reluctant to buy from a Sub dealer or NAPA. Both are generally expensive.

My other problem is that most of my customers demand factory subaru parts for their cars so that leaves me with just the dealer as a supplyer.