Could somebody explain how a BMW spare part which retails for €4.26 in Germany, costs us $384 here in Australia?
Just so there is no confusion, that’s about AUD 6 in Germany and AUD 384 in Australia… the identical BMW spare part..!
Admittedly, when I made enquiries at a Genuine BMW Dealership in Hamburg Germany, they wanted €22 (about $27) for the part BUT, BMW has outsourced manufacture of the part to a 3rd party supplier who retails the part directly for $6.
Now come the Australians… and the Genuine BMW Dealerships on the Gold Coast and Brisbane metros who used to import and retail the part for $247 BUT have stopped stocking it and replaced it with a domestically (Melbourne) sourced part THAT RETAILS FOR $384..!
So let me lay it all out for you:
The part is made in Hong Kong and retails for €4.26. You buy it on-line and after shipping, cost about $20 delivered to your home address.
or
The part is made in Hong Kong (where it wholesale’s for less than €4.26) and is shipped to Stuttgart Germany (the national depot) and again shipped to Hamburg, where they mark it up to €22. [So far so good, it sounds like a fair price at the moment]. Now it is shipped to Sydney Australia and the national BMW depot (who must also mark it up) and then in turn it is shipped up to the Gold Coast BMW dealership ready for them to ‘mark it up’. The final inflated price is $247. [and you still have to drive into town to purchase the part, and drive home..!]
or
The part is made in Melbourne for some ridiculous price and shipped up to the Gold Coast where it retails in the Genuine BMW Dealerships for $384…?
So I’ve bought my part online and had it delivered. I take it into my local Genuine BMW Dealership and ask to see their part so we can compare items. Practically NO DIFFERENCE except nearly FORTY (x40) times the PRICE..!
Something is just not right here. It sounds like ‘jobs for the boys’ and ‘rip the old aussie public off’ time.
Tags: BMW spare part, rip off
I now need a ‘Driver Dog’ for my rear window, so phone my local BMW dealership and make enquiries for a replacement. The quote comes in at $160!
I go on-line and Google the part and within minutes have dozens of European BMW on-line stores retailing the part for around 22€, that’s about $35 to you and me.
So again we see a 400% difference (4 fold increase) in price between the Australian BMW dealerships and European on-line stores.
Guess who I finally bought the part from… yup, Europe!
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