Recent users of tirerack.com?

[Guy]

I've seen a couple of older posts (2010 sort of time) about getting tirerack.com to ship tyres here... Has anyone done this recently? Presumably you have to pay GST, and duty (?) when they arrive, but the prices still look very good. (e.g. Pilot Super Sports in 295/30 19 are USD $318 versus $1000+ at hyperdrive.co.nz - even with 15% GST and what looks like 10% duty etc. that's still only around $500 NZD each...). Does anyone have experience of shipping times and costs? Any customs issues?

[Guy]

So, just been quoted USD $321 each for 4 295/30 R19 Michelin Super Sports, plus approx. $100 per tyre shipiing, with arrival in around a week. That's a total of USD $1677, which is around NZD $2020. GST is 15%, duty is 10%, so that takes it to around $2500.

Are there any charges for clearing through customs, does anyone know? Tirerack.com say FedEx (the carrier) may charge 'brokerage fees' in addition - guess these could be for those sorts of charges...

And then fitting costs here - $50 per tyre, at a guess?

So a total of around NZD $2700 or so (depending on those 'brokerage fess'...). That compares with the HyperDrive online price of $1015 each - $4060.

What am I missing, or is this something that's worth trying!?!

[Guy]

Even better

[Guy]

Spoke to FedEx and it sounds like the 'paperwork' isn't too complicated, and their shipping fee is door to door including clearance through customs. So I might well give it a go...

[Guy]

I've been using Bruce Gemmel tyres in Glen Innes. Very friendly and seem to take care of the wheels. I'm in there tomorrow for a set of rears for the M3 (255/35 19 Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 at around $600 each, vs. $900 or so on the Hyperdrive website) and will have a chat with them. Given that they can get these Michelins for so much less than the Hyperdrive price, it may not be worthwhile importing, but I'll see.

I run a small sports car rental company - www.conceptcarhire.co.nz - so tyres are quite a big part of my expenses. The 295/35 19s are for the rears on a 911 and an R8 which happen to share the same tyre sizes.

[Guy]

I didn't get round to it in the end... Still a possibility. I think it was around $100 per tyre delivery; they price it on a combination of number of items and weight. So unless they are $800 tyres or so, it's unlikely to be a better price than you can get from shopping around here. I think I would probably have saved around $100 - $150 on a $1000 tyre, so a saving, but I'm not sure it's worth the extra effort!