UpGarage USA opening in Torrance

[MJones_RB]

That part of Van Ness that it's on is notorious for drag racing.

[ayoshioka1]

Originally Posted by MJones_RB

That part of Van Ness that it's on is notorious for drag racing.

back in the day, not so much anymore

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by MJones_RB

That part of Van Ness that it's on is notorious for drag racing.

Since when?

My high school days spent at North never really involved drag racing on Van Ness, mostly because the road was way too bumpy and everyone had cut springs in the mid 90s.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by yurikaze

Crooober is actually a division of UpGarage as of April this year. The US inventory went live last night, and it’s not looking good. There are a lot of parts here for cars that aren’t legal in the US yet (think R34 sedan, S15, and HiAce) there’s no local pickup, there are parts used that cost more than what we can get here new (BRZ STI lip spoiler for $460 vs $360 new from Subaru USA, Used Rays Duranuts for $190 vs $120 new here) and the prices in general are four times what they are in Japan. You can get the exact same Fabulous steering wheel shipped from UpGarage Japan for $300 less than the same wheel at UpGarage USA. With no local pickup, and much higher prices than the Japanese inventory, I wonder what their plan is? They’ll have to make some significant changes if they want to succeed here.
In a related note though, croooober will now ship seats, and the price isn’t too bad. I ordered a Recaro last night for $50 less (including shipping)than a similar one was listed at in the UpGarage US inventory (not including shipping.)

So basically they have no idea what they are doing, or Up Garage has plenty of cash to burn through while they ramp up their US business. Great...

[yurikaze]

Originally Posted by ayoshioka1

Which Recaros did you pick up? I know a lot of people in Socal that actually carry Recaro Japan seats...

For new seats for my BRZ, I plan on getting some Recaro Japan seats through a local importer. The one I ordered through UpGarage was a rare Recaro SPJJ in Crayola fabric for my AE86. It was around $650 total including shipping.

[MJones_RB]

Originally Posted by mav1178

Since when?

My high school days spent at North never really involved drag racing on Van Ness, mostly because the road was way too bumpy and everyone had cut springs in the mid 90s.

True, its not ideal for most, but heading south right past 190th up to, I think 195th?, was a pretty smooth run.

[fitcious]

ah by the old TMS building

[TachyonBomb]

So this is just gonna be like another Super Autobacs that was in Huntington beach like 15 years ago.

Cool place to have car meets at but no one really buys from there because the prices don't reflect the american market.

[Thaeyo]

Originally Posted by TachyonBomb

So this is just gonna be like another Super Autobacs that was in Huntington beach like 15 years ago.

Cool place to have car meets at but no one really buys from there because the prices don't reflect the american market.

They made it public that they were aware of the price differences between buying from them used vs. their importers new price. UpGarage is actively working to fix prices to be competitive.

[FTEIGHTSIX]

Originally Posted by mav1178

unfortunately they will run into the same situation as AutoBacs USA when this was tried 10+ years ago....

Japan and USA are not the same markets. To expect the business model to be replicated with success in the US is a fundamental lack of understanding about how business is done here.

Most of the existing shops you and I buy from already have access to these same parts for the cheapest price possible given the current distribution structure. The only way Up Garage can get the price lower is if they shipped their own containers, which still ends up driving up the cost of holding inventory (20' container needs to be like minimum $50k cost of goods for the cost of shipping to be low enough), plus you can't exactly gray market items that have an official US distribution structure or importer.

To make matters worse, there are already plenty of 3rd party sellers that ship direct out of Japan. HKS EVC boost controllers are often cheaper to buy via Japan sellers than via USA sources, this is one of many examples.

(source: I'm currently fighting this battle with a few brands from Japan)

You must not be familiar with UPGARAGE.

They source their parts from junkyards in japan and they look for a large variety of parts OEM and aftermarket.
The uber rare stuff that you never usually find in any stores stateside online or brick and mortar.

There is a much larger aftermarket in Japan and we only see a very small portion of it. Usually just the larger, mainstream brands.

They sell these at usually a lower-than-retail price.
It's a goldmine for the rare awesome parts and brands that you've never heard of unless you watch videos similar to the old Option videos in the past.

[FTEIGHTSIX]

Originally Posted by yurikaze

Crooober is actually a division of UpGarage as of April this year. The US inventory went live last night, and it’s not looking good. There are a lot of parts here for cars that aren’t legal in the US yet (think R34 sedan, S15, and HiAce) there’s no local pickup, there are parts used that cost more than what we can get here new (BRZ STI lip spoiler for $460 vs $360 new from Subaru USA, Used Rays Duranuts for $190 vs $120 new here) and the prices in general are four times what they are in Japan. You can get the exact same Fabulous steering wheel shipped from UpGarage Japan for $300 less than the same wheel at UpGarage USA. With no local pickup, and much higher prices than the Japanese inventory, I wonder what their plan is? They’ll have to make some significant changes if they want to succeed here.
In a related note though, croooober will now ship seats, and the price isn’t too bad. I ordered a Recaro last night for $50 less (including shipping)than a similar one was listed at in the UpGarage US inventory (not including shipping.)

No local pickup? So unfortunate. They should have a storefront like RRR back in the day if anyone remembers that.

This actually changes everything.

[ZionsWrath]

Get us one in the NorthEast please!!!

[yurikaze]

Originally Posted by FTEIGHTSIX

No local pickup? So unfortunate. They should have a storefront like RRR back in the day if anyone remembers that.

This actually changes everything.

Since they've opened, they've announced that they are going to start offering local pickup soon.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by FTEIGHTSIX

You must not be familiar with UPGARAGE.

They source their parts from junkyards in japan and they look for a large variety of parts OEM and aftermarket.
The uber rare stuff that you never usually find in any stores stateside online or brick and mortar.

There is a much larger aftermarket in Japan and we only see a very small portion of it. Usually just the larger, mainstream brands.

They sell these at usually a lower-than-retail price.
It's a goldmine for the rare awesome parts and brands that you've never heard of unless you watch videos similar to the old Option videos in the past.

Every car enthusiast US military personnel that has been stationed in Japan for the last 20+ years has been selling these parts on Ebay and shipping stuff back from Japan for cheap.

I am well familiar with their business model. I was already trying to raid places in Japan back in 2005, when the JPY was at 125 to 1 USD.

All the people in the US military have an advantage... anything they ship via USPS is shipped using domestic rates, so they can ship items for very VERY cheap across the Pacific.

Sorry, I've been in this aftermarket business for 20 years now.