36654
New member
Typically, it is best to have the dealer ship, but either way, the shipping can be 2-3 times as much or more and then there is Canadian taxes to be paid, sometimes duties and brokerage fees as well. All of which make it often too expensive.
The problem for us in Canada is that with approximately 1/10th the population and way less than 1/10th the number of bikes, there just isn't enough volume or competition to warrant much in the way of good sales on gear or equipment from our dealers.
For me, I'm in the US several times per year so if I need something that is a really good value and can't get it in Canada anywhere close to the pricing, than I buy from the US retailer like Bob's, etc., and either have it shipped to a friend or my hotel. That's how I got my C3 helmet when Bob's had their $319 sale on them (IIRC, that also had free shipping within the US).
I think there's some additional factors on vehicle sales. I don't know how BMW CA is doing with their yearly sales, but BMW NA and Motorrad USA are both down from last year. On the car side, the last few months are down 5~10% from last year and that wasn't a great year for BMW NA relative to its rivals. M-B will likely sell more vehicles in the US this year. So, there's a big push by BMW to make the sales numbers look good.
In addition, the euro/US exchange is about 10% higher than the low values of 0.75 to 0.80 which were typical for most of the preceding 5-yrs.
So, we have a motivated seller and a favorable exchange rate.