A Canadian Parts Tale

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After finishing the house renovations this spring I finally had some free cash flow to do some maintenance on black beauty. First on the list was some new struts. So I called my local dealership to get some $ numbers. First service quoted me 3 hrs. @ $105.00/hr. Seemed reasonable. Next, parts dept. proceeded to look up pricing - comes back on the line - $440 for the rear struts, $420 for the front. That's for the pair I ask. Nope - EACH. Long silence on my end. So, I says, I'm looking at around 2 grand to have my struts replaced? Yup, bout that he replies. So ... I do not book the car in.
A little pissed but a long way from being defeated I immediately go on-line and go to SubaruParts.com. Front struts - $122. Rear - $130. These are US $ but at this date that is not very significant. Canadian parts from my dealership are 3X the cost of SubaruParts.com ( which is actually Tacoma Nissan Subaru).
So ... I call the dealer back and ask if they have any problem in installing genuine Subaru parts that I supply. Nope, no problem. I book an appointment.
Then I go back on-line and order struts, rear bearings, trunk stays, & timing belt.
The parts arrived today. $200 shipping. $80 for duty. I'm still WAY ahead.
Tomorrow they will install. And they will also do a multi-point inspection. Whatever they find that requires more parts will NOT be done at this time - if you catch my drift.
Also, my original wheels are a gouged up mess. I missed opportunities to buy used sets on E-Bay for cheap but was also considering going aftermarket.Someone on this site had purchased some wheels from CheapWheels.com called Hockenheim R and I really liked them. So I looked - but could'nt find them. So I called ( they are under 94-04 Mustang) . Selling for $299 - for the set of 4! So I ordered them too. See attached .jpeg (if I can attach(!)) So that's my Cdn. parts horror story.