Oh Canada $$$

So frustrating reading all these post and seeing what people are paying for upgrades. I just called the local Toyota dealer here who deals with Icon and they want $615.58 just for the Icon 1.5" progressive leaf pack. I think they're around $215.00 usd online. If I order online with the exchange rate and shipping I wouldn't be surprised to see it being $450-$550.

I also received a quote yesterday for Dakar leaf pack w/ OME shocks installed.

Over $1700

 

I read that as $125 for install which i was thinking was a great deal! Then saw it was actually $500 Local shop in BC quoted ~$155 for each OME shock plus we pay have the 13% tax out here so its pretty similar

 

..... prices are all jacked cus Labor is spelled labour .... you crazy Canadians.

 

I don't mind a firm ride so I just ordered a Toytec single AAL to the border for $75 American. The rest of my lift was ordered in by a local custom shop who charged me about $110 per shock, IIRC for Billistein 5100's. All in all I spent less than $700 CAD in parts for my lift.

 

I once shipped a $75 part to a guy in Ontario. Customs opened the package to inspect it and wanted $150 to release it to him.
Aside from that story....., do the work yourself to save some money? Are you a do it yourselfer? Watch vids, get a buddy, invest in some tools. I'm sure your dealer has markup in the parts too.

 

Get the Wheeler's 3 leaf instead and save $50. Both are made by the same spring manufacturer to exact same specs.

 

OP, you could always drive to Sweet Grass or Eureka on the Montana border and have your parts shipped to there. On a couple of shocks it wouldn't be worth it, but if you buy your whole lift in the USA you would save a pile of money.

 

I got my complete OME lift kit , 885's and Dakars from Cap-it for about the same money

 

This is why I haven't lifted mine yet. contacted a few shops around town and was blown away how much they came in at. And looked at ordering the kits from the states but duty across the line would be insane. probably jus wait a little while and get it down up here and bite the bullet.

 

5% GST is all I've ever been charged. After spending a few K I doubt I've spent $100 total on border charges bringing things across myself

It's a pretty big misconception that you will be charged duty on items coming across. AFAIK if you buy something made in the USA it's NAFTA exempted from duty charges, so you only pay the tax. Usually on shipping you pay a fee for handling and customs clearing. Those charges can be substantial but they don't occur when you do it yourself.

 

I have never brought car/truck parts across the border. But I have brought other purchases and with the duty and exchange rate wondered why didn't I just buy it in Canada.

 

The items you bought were likely clothes or other things that usually have a duty because they are made elsewhere.

I know roughly a dozen people who have picked up tens of thousands of dollars in truck parts from shipping them to the border. I don't know of a single person that paid more than 5% for the GST on car parts. That's over 2 separate crossings in separate provinces too.

 

I paid a little more but I had both the front coils and rear Dakar pack with the extra leafs preassembled. Couple buddies and I did the install.

 

Looked into buying a Softopper for my truck $649 plus $39.95 to ship to a P.O. box I have in the states. Worked out to be close to $890 Canadian with another 5% on top of that for duty were close to $950.
To have it directly shipped to my house $125.00 in shipping. So Canadian looking at right around $1000 before duties and taxes.

 

It doesn't always work out. For suspension and other items it often does. For example, I just ordered a set of Demello sliders not to long ago. It cost me about $500 USD for the sliders and about $120 USD to have them shipped to Montana Shipping Outlet in Sweet Grass, MT. I went down and picked them up myself. GST was $35 CAD and it was $7.50 CAD to pick up the sliders from MSO. Total cost about $780 CAD including everything. Gas for the pickup was free to me (work truck) and Sweet Grass is only an hour away. To have those same sliders shipped to my house would of been $350 USD. That's another $230 USD. Plus that doesn't include the famous UPS customs handling charges.

Anyways, the point is look into picking things up at the border. It's almost always more convenient to have things shipped to the door, but it's not hard to save several hundred dollars by pricing things out shipped to the border. In total I've saved over $1K in charges between my suspension, bumper, and sliders by my math.

 

OP, Cochrane Toyota can get you a Bilistein 5100 kit with a normal AAL for $1300:

http://cochrane-toyota.myshopify.co...height-adjustable-coilovers?variant=523029681

If you want the full new leaf kit from OME it's $2K though.

Still not bad for the fronts. I'm sure if you dig around you can find some other prices. Maybe check out what the gear shop in Calgary is charging too. I've heard they do excellent work.

 

I do the same and fortunatley haven't had to pay duty on a few truck parts but I don't buy a lot though either. Not sure if they monitor how many times you cross or not.

 

I'm about to email Darcy actually. That's where I purchased my AP bumper, sliders, Toytec coilovers..I'm going to see if he has the All Pro progressive 1.5" pack available.

 

I'm sure they can get it. They can get anything from All Pro, Pelferybilt, and a couple of other guys that they are a dealer for.

I've had good luck with Cochrane. They've been a bit to much on most of my armor for me to pull the trigger with them but on my S/C they almost matched the average USA price after the exchange. Can't be that.

 

On a side note I find the ride in mine garbage. Yes I realize lifted trucks with 10 ply tires are not caddies but coming from a lifted Ram, FX4, Colorado...this is the worst I've had yet. Love the truck but so very harsh over every nook, cranny, and pot hole. Currently toytec adjustable coilovers set at 2.5" with AP apex bumper. Rear has stock trd shocks with 1.5" block which as you can see I'm trying to change out hoping it makes a big difference. Likely 1.5"to a progressive leaf pack and some new shocks (5100, icons, fox, ome...???) Hopefully it will make a big differnce. I neer haul and from what I read the Dakars are great for hauling but very stiff with no weight so to drop $1800 to figure that out for myself might not happen.