TimLaw said:
The prices are higher in the UK and Europe for one sime reason.....VAT.
Not at all, why is it you can buy the clutch basket in the states, pay to have it shipped to the UK, PAY THE VAT when it arrives and still save a huge amount of money.
A few years ago a bike magazine sent a journo to the US, he had a holiday, bought a Triumph in the US, imported it back to the UK, paid all of the taxes, VAT and registration fees and was still about £1k better off :exclaim:
They then rode it back to the UK factory where it originated to ask if Triumph could explain how he was still better off than he would have been buying it from a dealer a couple of miles up the road from the factory - they declined to comment.
This Island is known as "Rip Off Britain" for a reason, for decades we have been paying far more for vehicles, machinery, electronics equipment and pretty much everything else than in the US, and for that matter much of Europe.
Back in the late 90's grey importers were sourcing models from all over the world, including other parts of Europe, I bought a TL1000S for £6199 when the best UK price I could find was £7500 - and that was brought into the UK, taxes paid etc and the dealer was obviously still making a profit.
I think in Europe prices have crept up, and in the UK they have remained fairly flat which has reduced the differential, but VAT is not the only reason we pay more, as compared to the US we typically pay 30 - 50% more for most things, VAT is only 20% - and in the US they also have sales tax (about 6% I think) which is the same as VAT.
Plenty of things are the same in $ as £ so even with import taxes / shipping it still can be cheaper to buy things in the Canada / USA.
