Parallel imports are an unparalleled cheek!

FROM decades of battle-hardened experience and arduous, gruelling interface with the general public at both its very best and downright worst, The Skipper is here to remind you, dear reader (as if you weren’t already aware), that there is always the wise-ass, bumptious, self-righteous, "knowledgeable" buyer who knows better than everyone else.

You know the type: drives 1,000km to avail of an imaginary huge saving on a new motor vehicle; orders home-entertainment equipment online rather than support his local, family-owned outlet; mail-orders his chandlery/electronics requirements instead of supporting the local dealer, whose help will inevitably be needed when there’s a problem with the connection plug or when the GPS card shows Coober Pedy and environs rather than the entry to Pittwater past Barrenjoey Head.

At the risk of being seen to be compiling a treatise on the pros and cons or rights and wrongs of buying overseas, The Skipper would like to emphatically state that he is unabashedly, unashamedly and unequivocally on the side of the officially-appointed importers, distributors and dealers who do a tremendous job in keeping their head above water in this era of paltry profits, minimal mark-ups and territory-encroaching competition.

It’s hard enough making ends meet without having to contend with some miserly, irritating “expert” purchasing a big-ticket item like a boat or outboard (or both) from overseas, then smugly proceeding to post details of his dealer-trouncing financial acumen all over the web or in any publication stupid enough to indulge him (thereby annoying, in one fell swoop, all those local suppliers upon whose loyal, supportive advertising that publication depended).

Imported goods – no matter what they are – are expensive in these parts. In terms of logistics, we’re deep in the Southern Hemisphere, thousands of miles away from where marine engines and many other items of equipment are made. But if you want to play, you have to pay. Sure, importers and distributors make money (isn’t that the whole point?), but it’s nowhere near as much as these ad hoc, opportunistic, one-off importers think it is – they just begrudge anybody a living. Car companies have it dead right and they unceasingly preach the unchanging mantra - if it doesn’t have Australian compliance, it is not the “genuine” article and will suffer accordingly on residual value.

In relation to products like outboards which are relatively standardised the world over (with the exception of subtle differences like distinct, market-specific emissions conformity and electrical-interference labelling), there is, of course, the interpretation of the warranty issue. Whilst this area is the “greyest of the grey” and is better left undisturbed for fear of what could turn up to your disadvantage, The Skipper maintains it is entirely justifiable for an Australian importer to refuse point blank to have anything whatsoever to do with such products.

If the customer becomes stroppy (such opportunistic mercenaries always want it both ways!) and writes to the manufacturer, the importer/dealer may find that he will be gently but firmly nudged by the manufacturer towards rectifying the warrantable fault, but The Skipper maintains that you should hold your ground until such a directive is issued. And as for US boat trailers with 2” hitches, American lighting and non-compliant brakes, all state authorities should categorically refuse to give them a registration slip. If some smart-ass brings in an 8m boat on a tandem-axle Yank trailer only to find that he can’t legally tow it, the $6-7K plus he’s going to have to pay for a suitable trailer will soon dampen his ardour – that import ain’t looking so cheap now!

On an international trip some years ago, The Skipper chanced to meet a wizened, hardened marine-trade stalwart from the harsh and unforgiving west coast of Scotland. If a local presented him with an outboard for warranty attention that was bought elsewhere (even in a neighbouring county), his standard riposte was: “Go and get the calf where ye got the coo (cow)!” Perhaps not the most progressive attitude by today’s supposedly enlightened standards, but is there anybody who wouldn’t cheer that sentiment?