Ferraris in Auckland

Author
Discussion

BrendonJ

Original Poster:

729 posts

246 months

Sunday 9th January 2011
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What is going on with Auckland car prices?! I have just been back (home) to Auckland for the 1st time in 5 years and on my 2nd day I see a 458 being driven around (albeit on demo plates). I havent seen one of these in London yet!

I then have a bit of a lookthru the window at Continetal (closed) and see there are 2 in there up for $600k! Who is buying these things and when did car prices in Auckland get so expensive? (or am I just showing my age..)

Cheers

Fraster

1,267 posts

247 months

Monday 10th January 2011
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um...maybe when the Nz dollar sank without trace?

lestag

4,614 posts

283 months

Monday 10th January 2011
quotequote all
Fraster said:
um...maybe when the Nz dollar sank without trace?
ERR NZ$ doing very well at the moment against UK and US.

Esprit

6,370 posts

290 months

Monday 10th January 2011
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Car prices here are VASTLY overinflated.

A Porsche 997 Carrera with no fruit, base price taxed and on the road in NZ is NZ$220,000.

In the UK, the same car is £63,000.

Both are prices from Porsche themselves.

That means the UK car will cost you, in real terms about NZ$132,000.

Of course you'll have to pay GST on that (15%) but you can take VAT off that (17.5%) so it's a further reduction.

Allowing $5k to ship it here, you could probably end up saving almost 85 grand just by buying one in the UK..... yet Porsche NZ sell more cars here per head of population than they do in the UK by a considerable margin.

BrendonJ

Original Poster:

729 posts

246 months

Wednesday 12th January 2011
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hmm its not too much to do with exchange rates. kiwi is doing well lately and euro/kiwi hasnt moved much since 2007 (0.5 vs 0.6)

I defiently think prices are overflated. But why?

lestag

4,614 posts

283 months

Thursday 13th January 2011
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BrendonJ said:
hmm its not too much to do with exchange rates. kiwi is doing well lately and euro/kiwi hasnt moved much since 2007 (0.5 vs 0.6)
I defiently think prices are overflated. But why?
Control of the market by certain people. Parallel imports of cars originating from non-english speaking countries can cause.......... issues........
http://www.bsa.govt.nz/decisions/2005/2005-081.htm

20% movement is a lot when dealing in 100-400k plus a 2.5% incerase in GST
They likely bought the cars in $US, (IIRC honda does/did) which mid 2009 was around 0.5 and now .75 and likely had hedged their exchange rate to give consistancy (cant remember the correct term)

http://www.findata.co.nz/markets/forex/nzdusd/char...

mikeS350

190 posts

179 months

Thursday 13th January 2011
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I just bought a friend a radar detector in the US. The model he wanted sells at Repco for 550 NZD. I got the next model up for 147 NZD. My daughter just bought a pair of Levis for 30 NZD...the same pants sells in a store in Dunedin for over 230 NZD. I understand there is a cost associated with shipping items here, and I understand that prices need to be hiked up a bit because everyone has to make a living, but prices seem too high. But maybe I underestimate how much it costs to ship things here?? I would love to know what the profit margin was on the $550 radar detector and $230 jeans. That would say lots.

On the flip side, I pay to insure 5 cars what my sister pays to insure 1 car in Florida.

Esprit

6,370 posts

290 months

Thursday 13th January 2011
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I've brought a lot of motorsport gear in for my car from the UK. it's not unusual to buy in the UK, ship it here, pay tax and still have it be 40% cheaper than retail here... and that's paying full retail in the UK... no mates rates.

a lot of nz specialist suppliers have markup of several hundred percent.

Omerta

2,013 posts

258 months

Thursday 13th January 2011
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I recently needed a gearbox sensor part for the Pug which was quoted by an independent mechanic (who I trust) at around $520, including a fair 10% markup for himself. I bought it from a UK retailer instead for $210 including shipping (it wasn't picked up for tax).

mikeS350

190 posts

179 months

Friday 14th January 2011
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Yeah, same. For major jobs I buy all parts from the UK and then hand them over so all I have to pay is labour. I guess with a small market crazy markup is to be expected. Plus with a small market there is little in the way of competition and so prices are always high. Too bad, would prefer to buy local and even willing to pay a bit more, but it's never just a bit more, it's twice more at the least.

Bull1t

772 posts

290 months

Friday 14th January 2011
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Omerta said:
I recently needed a gearbox sensor part for the Pug which was quoted by an independent mechanic (who I trust) at around $520, including a fair 10% markup for himself. I bought it from a UK retailer instead for $210 including shipping (it wasn't picked up for tax).
I recently needed a new coil pack for my Peugeot, apparently theyre a common part to fail. Peugeot NZ quoted me $2,500 (not including fitting which I do myself anyway). I imported one brand new from the UK, not having to pay VAT made the price including freight about the same as a UK person would be, result was $339 landed.

Esprit

6,370 posts

290 months

Saturday 15th January 2011
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Bull1t said:
Omerta said:
I recently needed a gearbox sensor part for the Pug which was quoted by an independent mechanic (who I trust) at around $520, including a fair 10% markup for himself. I bought it from a UK retailer instead for $210 including shipping (it wasn't picked up for tax).
I recently needed a new coil pack for my Peugeot, apparently theyre a common part to fail. Peugeot NZ quoted me $2,500 (not including fitting which I do myself anyway). I imported one brand new from the UK, not having to pay VAT made the price including freight about the same as a UK person would be, result was $339 landed.
Same with me and Peugeot.... wanted a new 205 dash switch for the Lotus.... Peugeot NZ wanted to charge me $240+GST for it. In the UK it was £11.40 plus freight.... so about $25 landed. Ripoff.

And it's not like they were marking up to carry stock either... they would have ordered it directly from Peugeot France or UK like i did, only their lead time was going to be 3 weeks, mine took a week.

ConorNZ

73 posts

196 months

Sunday 23rd January 2011
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Damn! Will have to remember this if I ever decide to move back to NZ from London one day. Although I never noticed any issues running Japanese cars in NZ - probably just the Euro stuff that's expensive.

If I do decide to come back, you can be sure the Mrs and I will each be bringing a Euro car! Looks like if we own it here for a while and take it back, we can avoid the import GST too. Porsche 996, Renault Clio V6, E36 M3 all look to be a lot cheaper here in the UK than in NZ. And it's easy to find one with absolutely perfect history from new too - compared with the equivalent Japanese import.

At least there's one incentive to move back one day!

jamieheasman

823 posts

291 months

Tuesday 25th January 2011
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I agree with everthing said so far but what makes things look so expensive now is the fact that it's near as damn it $2 to the pound whereas in recent years it's been $3. The trouble is the local prices won't shift to reflect that.

I think a lot of importers and retailers in NZ have been taking the piss for a long time because NZ has always been a small market and fairly isolated in world terms - it was difficult to compare with overseas prices. What a lot of them are forgetting now is the internet is the first place a lot of people go to compare prices and so the consumer is a lot more enlightened.

When I bought my ride-on mower five or six years ago I looked at prices here in NZ and compared them to the USA (where they are made) - the exchange rate wasn't that flash at the time but they were still less than half the cost in the US! I ended up getting a Craftsman unit for $5k from a chap in the south island who was importing them (and making a tidy profit) that was sold here as a Husqvana for over $10k! Then there's the cost of the parts - a belt for the deck - $600.00 here, I bought two off Ebay, delivered to NZ, for $30.00!

I don't begrudge anyone making an honest living but........

A44RON

517 posts

103 months

Tuesday 10th May 2016
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It seems this type of thing is still going on then.

A sheet of gib board that's made locally in Christchurch costs NZ$50, a sheet of gib board that's imported from Australia costs NZ$20... think i'll just import everything in that case

Fulvisti

321 posts

177 months

Wednesday 11th May 2016
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And remember the you shop service that NZ post offer, a PO box in the UK, US and China. I've used the US option a lot as shipping can be pricey. I recently bought a small electronic box out of Arizona for my kit car, they quoted $120 USD shipping, but were happy to ship to my US PO box for only $15 USD, + $27 NZD for shipping from the NZ post warehouse, I saved a packet, and it was quicker. I used the UK option once and it was no quicker and actually slower than shipping direct from the seller. Very handy for vendors that won't ship internationally.

I also bought a couple of Aeromotive fuel pumps from Amazon US for less than half the price they're sold here, someone some where is taking advantage of the excuse that it's expensive to ship here.

Edited by Fulvisti on Wednesday 11th May 19:49