Sunday afternoon and a DPD van turns up unexpectedly (thought it would be tomorrow).

Seven heavy boxes offloaded, so like a kid at Christmas, I couldn't wait to get it all unwrapped....

A nice supply of stock. Who is your supplier if you don't mind me asking?

Stock

Presumably there was a compelling sale on ?

Proftinkerpot wrote:

A nice supply of stock. Who is your supplier if you don't mind me asking?

I don't mind at all...! This was Island 4x4 in Kent. First time I've used them, but well enough documented on here and certainly the place for VCD struts as you and I have on the Westies! Had a shortage of one item on this order, but I've e-mailed them and don't expect any issues.

LR wanted £1160+vat for one strut. Island were £349+vat. Same manufacturer (BWI). The older I get, the more I realise that people confuse wrinkles for wisdom

Alistair wrote:

Presumably there was a compelling sale on ?

Nope!

It's just two front struts (needed as I have a puncture in one of the bags), brakes (will need them eventually), ARB drop links (always handy), a service kit of filters and some additional oil filters.

Always handy to have the parts on the shelf.  The older I get, the more I realise that people confuse wrinkles for wisdom

JMC wrote:

Island were £349+vat. Same manufacturer (BWI).

Same supplier as us, but a fair whack cheaper

That's their on-line retail price Mike. Surely you can't be paying more than that?  The older I get, the more I realise that people confuse wrinkles for wisdom

JMC wrote:

Proftinkerpot wrote:

A nice supply of stock. Who is your supplier if you don't mind me asking?

I don't mind at all...! This was Island 4x4 in Kent. First time I've used them, but well enough documented on here and certainly the place for VCD struts as you and I have on the Westies! Had a shortage of one item on this order, but I've e-mailed them and don't expect any issues.

LR wanted £1160+vat for one strut. Island were £349+vat. Same manufacturer (BWI).

The airbag is like anything else made of rubber. My old Vogue burst a bag after ten years. This one is also ten years old now. Any small crack will eventually become a slow puncture, which is what has happened to mine.

I'd suggest that the airbag is only trounced by the oil cooler in terms of a guaranteed fail.  The older I get, the more I realise that people confuse wrinkles for wisdom

JMC wrote:

That's their on-line retail price Mike. Surely you can't be paying more than that?

When I say same supplier, I mean the same supplier that Island buy their parts from

And £349 is less than our cost price from said supplier

Island4x4 are my go-to parts supplier. Prices are ex VAT BTW so don’t forget to factor that in when doing a price comparison but even so they often work out to be very competitive compared to others. 2012 TDV8 Vogue (L322)

Good idea to stock the parts shelf, especially when you spot good prices, it reduces the wallet anxiety when things go wrong.

I now have quite a stock, I regularly check sites like gumtree etc, got one job lot of parts worth over £400 for just £80 when a guy had sold hit FF and emptied his shed, the downside is running out of shelf space.Then there are the tools, coatings, consumables as well, best not to start on how many. How the hell do you hide a 12 tonne hydraulic press, and sets of wheels it never ends
Finding space is like playing a giant game of tetris in the garage I call it therapy, and it entertains the neighbours when I have to have a sort out, then they tend to ask embarrassing questions like 'Why'