The Rover-Landers of BC

Maybe they’ve had this for a while, but it’s the first I’ve known. LR Direct now gives you the option to prepay Canadian import fees at checkout. It worked! No exorbitant “brokerage” fees by the Courier company on delivery, and probably a third of the price (my guess).

Yup, I have been ordering from them for the past 4 years and there have never been any weird surprises. I absolutely love being able to choose between a list of manufacturers/suppliers for a given part number. There is basically no use now in ordering from any North American vendor.

Paddocks offers the same deal. Shipped with DHl
Arrives in a week typically.

Matt

Good to know. So far the only company I’ve known that has had this is Rock Auto.

Yeah, no point supporting local/domestic suppliers if you don't have to.

I believe in supporting local but a lot of parts are not readily available here while England seems to have pretty well everything.

I used to always order from LRDirect, but their shipping/duty fees have gone up to unreasonable levels. Now I order from Paddock Spares, which have about the same price on their items (some cheaper some a bit more), but their shipping is more reasonable and you can also prepay the duty.

LRDirect has had pre-pay and automatic shipping costs for about 5-6 years, but also became less reliable and slower to dispatch after they upgraded (downgraded...!) their website in 2020/21. Usually don't dispatch until 3rd day after your order at the earliest. Delivery via DHL 24-72 hours after disptach (for Greater Vancouver area anyway...)

LRParts.net is one of my go-to suppliers. They have automated shipping pricing, and if it comes out high (as it does sometimes if a part's size or weight is wrong on their system), you have the option to get a bespoke quote. Very quick to ship (same day as order sometimes or next day usually, plus a day later if it is coming from a supplier). Delivery via DHL 24-72 hours after disptach. No option to prepay import taxes. Some issues with mis-labelled parts (you may get two 'left' ones when ordering a pair of something), but quickly sorted out at no cost - looks like it was supplier mis-labelling from Bearmach (RIP...) mostly, so problem may have gone away...

Paddocks has become my first choice based on the option to pre-pay import taxes and live shipping rates, and they dispatch quicker (DHL) than LRDirect and on par with LRParts. Their website is a bit early-2000s and search feature can be a bit poor. Paddocks uses Royal Mail as a cheaper option for smaller packages - these have been taking a week to arrive (+/-)

Paddocks and LRDirect both use Global-E for their fulfilment system, which is probably why they share the same shipping/pre-pay options.

Another option for shipping, particularly if the retailer doesn't ship to Canada (eg some Amazon marketplace or eBay sellers etc), has free UK shipping or their shipping rates are very high, is to use a discount forwarding company. I have been using https://www.forward2me.com/ recently, which gives you an address in Preston, UK. They also have options in various other countries too (Germany, Japan, Turkey).

Thanks. The Forward To Me looks like a good option to know about.