Guide To Buying Tyres From Tirerack.com

[Simon_h6]

I just thought I would write up a quick guide on purchasing tyres from Tirerack.com in the states.

You need to get a quote for the cost of the tyres and shipping first. Email tirerack the following information –

1. Full name
   
2. Full address
   
3. Telephone number
   
4. Tyres you require
   

If you don’t supply all the information in full they won’t give you a quote.

The cost of shipping is obviously going to differ depending on your location, tyre size and number of tyres. For example I got quoted $280 to ship 2 x 245/35/19 and 2 x 215/45/18 to Clayton in Victoria. I also asked what the shipping was for just the 2 x 19inch tyres and it was the same cost of $280.

There is a $1000 limit on the cost of goods before you may get charged 10% GST. The $1000 is calculated in $AUD on the cost of the tyres and does NOT include any shipping charges.

If your tyres are over $1000 you might be hit with GST and customs duty – for example –

Tyres cost $1200

Customs duty is 5% of the value of the tyres – 5% of 1200 = $60

Shipping cost is $150

The value of the taxable importation is –

Cost of tyres ($1200) + customs duty ($60) + the shipping ($150) = $1410

The GST is then worked out on this value of $1410 at 10% (=$141) so the total payable would be GST of $141 + the customs duty of $60 = total of $201

There are some other members on this forum whose orders were over $1000 but did not get charged the GST, might be a bit hit and miss if you get charged.

Once your happy with the quote email them back saying you would like to go ahead with the order. They will then send you their bank details. You can only pay via an international money transfer to their bank account. You may need to change your settings with your bank to allow you to transfer money to an overseas bank. There will be an international transfer fee of between $20 - $30. Also banks stiff you on the exchange rate as well… if the rate is say 1.07cents you will normally only get a rate of around 1.03 for the transfer.

Once you transfer the money and tirerack receives it they will send you a confirmation email and you will need to confirm the details and the items will then be shipped via Fedex. You get a tracking number so you can see the progress of your order. It took 7 days for my order to arrive.

Hopefully this will help anyone considering purchasing tyres from tirerack.com. As the aussie dollar is so high at the moment you can get some good tyres at a cheap price. I got some Michelin Pilot super sports which ended up costing me $370 fitted but my local tyre place wanted over $650 fitted.

[Benny]

Just what I've been wondering how to do. Great post, thanks muchly.

Benny.

[Bomber]

Good info mate, well done.

[Bulletime]

I know this is a bit old but I've got some good info for buying from tirerack, I've done two orders now.

So as mentioned above the banks bone you for international transaction fees ($20-$30) and the exchange rate is shocking as well eg xe.com shows as of right now AUD - USD 0.92119 whereas commbank will give you 0.8761, that's A 4.89% difference which is a lot!

But you can avoid it!! Get yourself a 28degreesmastercard which is unreal for shopping overseas and traveling as well. You get the headline exchange rate ie right now the 0.92119 AND no currency conversion fees. If you travel overseas load it up into credit and use it as eftpos getting cash out and do whatever u want without international atm fees or currency exchange fees. On a recent overseas trip alone I saved about $700+ just in the exchange rate and fees. That was money for nothing, or rather would have just been some banks profit somewhere.

Anyway back to tirerack... They will tell you they only accept wire transfer but after stuffing around and kicking up a stink what we worked out was that you can use your credit card but tirerack does their own verification for fraud and will want to verify you address details with the bank. To do this you do a conference call with your bank by simply calling tirerack at say 8am Australia time, they then conference in your bank and they verify your details and then tirerack are happy and bobs your uncle sale goes through.

Massively worth is given the savings IMO. Hope that helps some ppl out, sucks about the aud atm but it can still be worth it depending what you're getting, be it slicks or rims or hard to get tyre sizing.

Cheers.

[turbotrana]

I will second the 28degreesmastercard. I have used it since 2010 and the exchange rates are brilliant and no fees. I use it 100% for everything as I could not care less for frequent flyers or what ever other crap I don't use.

[Bulletime]

Yeah I even use it on some eBay and PayPal purchases, if they have the option to pay in USD or even GBP ill do it because it always works out better than what they give you for AUD.