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