How to 'affordably' get detailing products that arent avail. in Canada?

rvx290

New member
There are 2 products that I require. A gallon of Mothers Foaming tire & wheel cleaner which I find personally to be the best tire cleaner available and Ultima Trim & Tire guard. Unfortunately through autogeek it would come to about $120 bucks :wacko: and Eshine doesnt handle either of these (they do handle Ultima, but not the Trim guard that I need. Ive tried every local bodyshop, parts store & ebay but without paying an arm & a leg I cant figure out how to get this stuff. Any suggestions or recommedations?
 
rvx290 said:
There are 2 products that I require. A gallon of Mothers Foaming tire & wheel cleaner which I find personally to be the best tire cleaner available and Ultima Trim & Tire guard. Unfortunately through autogeek it would come to about $120 bucks :wacko: and Eshine doesnt handle either of these (they do handle Ultima, but not the Trim guard that I need. Ive tried every local bodyshop, parts store & ebay but without paying an arm & a leg I cant figure out how to get this stuff. Any suggestions or recommedations?



Can't tell for Mother's foaming ... maybe Canadian Tire?



For Ultima Trim and Tire guard, you can look at autoobsessed.
 
resek said:
Can't tell for Mother's foaming ... maybe Canadian Tire?



For Ultima Trim and Tire guard, you can look at autoobsessed.





Thanks! I wasnt aware of autoobsessed, they do have the Ultima. ..As for the tire cleaner I will continue searching (Can tire doesnt carry)





SilvaBimma, its not the issue of not being able to find the product in the states & getting it shipped up here, its easy to find, but its the insane shipping costs tacked on that make it not worth buying.
 
Here's a couple of ideas:

1. Go to a local NAPA shop or a similar auto store and chat with the counter guys. If they handle Meguiar's products, and who doesn't?, have them phone their suppliers and see if your foaming cleaner is available in Canada. If it is, they'll bring it in for you.

I've done this technique with my local NAPA guys and it works quite often.



2. Go to Meguiar's Canada website and poke around. Use the 'contact us' button to leave them a query about the product you want. Often they'll bring in your product if you order a minimum order. If it's too large for you, think about the option of selling the extra stuff to guys like me. I'm in BC and would take a gallon off your hands.



3. If you live near an airport, you can often get a 'fake' USA shipping address so your products will be routed to the airport near you. You then go to Customs at the airport , with the proper paperwork provided to you by the business that sets all this up and clear your stuff.

Locally this service costs about 15 bucks Canadian for each shipment.

All legal and above board. I can get such an account and have my stuff shipped to their American address in Blaine, Washington. They do the paperwork and then forward my order to Victoria International airport near me and that's where I go and get my stuff. Shipping within the USA is cheap. Shipping to Canada isn't as you well know.

If you don't live near an airport though, this option wouldn't be practical.
 
eshine did have the UTTGP on thier site last week. I was planning on ordering some. This week it's not there anymore so maybe it's just out of stock.

Otherwise you can set up a P.O. Box in the U.S. if your close to a boarder and send it there. then just go pick it up when it arrives. Customs usually doesn't bother me with small orders. If your order is bigger take someone for a ride with you and split the toatl between you. I can usually get away with not paying with under 100 bucks by myself
 
rvx290 said:
Thanks! I wasnt aware of autoobsessed, they do have the Ultima. ..As for the tire cleaner I will continue searching (Can tire doesnt carry)





SilvaBimma, its not the issue of not being able to find the product in the states & getting it shipped up here, its easy to find, but its the insane shipping costs tacked on that make it not worth buying.



I hear ya its brutal in Canada, find a friend who can bring over things past the order helps for small items sometimes.
 
JohnZ3MC said:
Here's a couple of ideas:

1. Go to a local NAPA shop or a similar auto store and chat with the counter guys. If they handle Meguiar's products, and who doesn't?, have them phone their suppliers and see if your foaming cleaner is available in Canada. If it is, they'll bring it in for you.

I've done this technique with my local NAPA guys and it works quite often.



2. Go to Meguiar's Canada website and poke around. Use the 'contact us' button to leave them a query about the product you want. Often they'll bring in your product if you order a minimum order. If it's too large for you, think about the option of selling the extra stuff to guys like me. I'm in BC and would take a gallon off your hands.



3. If you live near an airport, you can often get a 'fake' USA shipping address so your products will be routed to the airport near you. You then go to Customs at the airport , with the proper paperwork provided to you by the business that sets all this up and clear your stuff.

Locally this service costs about 15 bucks Canadian for each shipment.

All legal and above board. I can get such an account and have my stuff shipped to their American address in Blaine, Washington. They do the paperwork and then forward my order to Victoria International airport near me and that's where I go and get my stuff. Shipping within the USA is cheap. Shipping to Canada isn't as you well know.

If you don't live near an airport though, this option wouldn't be practical.



What service do you use in BC? First time I've heard this.
 
SilvaBimma said:
What service do you use in BC? First time I've heard this.

There are quite a few based in Blaine Washington for those Canadians on the mainland. Here are a couple:

Diversified Shipping Services, Inc.

Blaine Mailboxes Plus :: Your Own USA Shipping & Receiving Mail Room





Then there's this one which provides the forwarding to the Victoria International Airport, just a few miles away from me.

www.Seawings.ca



Being on Vancouver Island, it'd be a $140 round trip for me to take my car onto the ferry, drive down to Blaine and return so the air/ground shipping to the airport locally is hugely convenient for me. For guys in Vancouver, they're on the mainland already so it's just a 30 mile trip through the border crossing to Blaine.



I'm thinking this service is available in most towns near the border.
 
rvx290 said:
There are 2 products that I require. A gallon of Mothers Foaming tire & wheel cleaner which I find personally to be the best tire cleaner available and Ultima Trim & Tire guard. Unfortunately through autogeek it would come to about $120 bucks :wacko: and Eshine doesnt handle either of these (they do handle Ultima, but not the Trim guard that I need. Ive tried every local bodyshop, parts store & ebay but without paying an arm & a leg I cant figure out how to get this stuff. Any suggestions or recommedations?



try oldetownautospa.ca



ive gotten stuff there before and they seem to be pretty cheap compared to other Canadian vendors....plus their free shipping kicks in at 125 bucks.



Plus, ive asked them for things they dont carry, and they get them in no problems...
 
I know this is an old post, but I thought I'd add how I get my products...

In Canada:
1. Amazon.ca
2. Eshine.ca
3. Carzilla.ca
4. Autoobsessed.com

For any US only detailing sites, I ship to a Boarder Mail Service with Kinek.com and drive down and pick it up. I also gas up in the states and the price difference (regardless of exchange rate) typically negates any fuel costs. I'm making a trip today to pick up my Zaino Borderless Blonde's!

-Being a dual citizen with dual permanent residences helps a lot too (no need for me to worry about exchange rates, currently bad for Canadians)
 
Re: How to `affordably` get detailing products that arent avail. in Canada?

I travel to the USA a lot. Sometimes on business, sometimes visiting friends, sometimes vacations and sometimes to bring my kids to various tournaments etc..

If you travel to the USA from time to time here are my suggestions to help save you money.

When you stay at hotels, you can have your items shipped to your hotel before you arrive. You have to make sure to put your name in addition to the hotel information when entering in the shipping address details (i.e. First Name : Hampton Inn C/O Guest Bill Smith). Always wait for a sale to buy your items. If you are patient there is usually a 20% off sale a couple times throughout any given month. Other than that, `25% off of everything` is usually the largest discount you will find. So if for instance you are travelling in March but there is a nice sale going on in January, you can order and pay for your items in January but ask them to hold your order until you get closer to your travel date so that the boxes are not sitting around the hotel for weeks. I usually call the hotel in advance, to make sure they are OK with receiving packages for me. I would also check to make sure there are no extra charges for receiving packages on your behalf. This only ever happened to me once at a hotel in Vegas. 99% of hotels do not charge for receiving boxes on your behalf. If their are a lot of boxes, I call ahead and ask someone to put the boxes in my room. I always make sure to get the name of the person I ask so that I can tip them when I get to the hotel ($5 to $10 depending on many boxes they brought up for me).

For air travel, If I am planning on bringing more than a carry-on for a trip I usually plan on bringing my largest suitcase, this way their is extra room to carry stuff back. On air travel you are obviously limited so don`t plan on bringing back gallon size items, but smaller liquids, tools, brushes etc... will work.

If you are planning a road trip to the USA those are most ideal times to bring stuff back to Canada. I have had huge orders shipped to various hotels over the years. Going to sporting tournaments for my kids are usually the best way for me to bring stuff back as I am usually away for about 3 days. As of the time of this post, if you stay longer than 48 hours in the USA you are allowed to bring back goods valued at $800 Canadian, tax free. If you have a couple of family members travelling with you, each family member can also claim $800 Canadian tax free. Technically speaking, each family member can only claim items that are for their own use but they have never checked or bothered with that kind of detail when I am at the border. They ask how much you have to claim, if you are by yourself anything over the $800 limit you will have to pay taxes on. I would recommend never to lie about how much you are bringing back. I have claimed amounts over my limit and on occasion the border guard has let it go.

If you are driving across the border with multiple people they will ask how much you have to claim. They have never asked me to break the claim amount out per person if I am travelling with family members. So if you have two people in the car and you claim $1500, all that I have ever been asked is (a) what items are you bringing across, I usual answer in general terms (i.e. clothing, shoes, car detailing items, power tools, etc....) (b) what is the most expensive item you purchased. Question B is a quick way for the border agent to figure out if a single person has gone over their limit. If a single item amounts to over $800 Canadian then they know that the person who bought that item will have to pay the difference between their personal allowance (i.e. $800 Canadian for stays of over $48 hours) and the amount of the most expensive item (i.e. $1000). If if you bought an item for $1000 you will only pay taxes on $200.

I always try to print out all of my receipts and invoices. To date I have never had the need to show those invoices but I like to have them ready because technically speaking you have to prove the value of the items you are bringing across.

Good luck
 
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