Christien

Why does the car have to go back? So long as you can get a recall clearance letter (there ARE other ways than paying DFC/Pfaff) and do any RIV required modifications, you can keep the car in Canada, whether Porsche Canada/dealerships like it or not. Tell them to kiss your ****. Start calling US dealerships, offering $100 for a recall clearance letter. It took me 2 phone calls to get one (dealership in NC where I had PPI done) and he didn't charge me. 10 minutes later it was in my fax machine, and the car passed RIV with only DRL modification ($75 at Mantis). Suck it, Pfaff.

rajeshr

I have a friend that picked up an 05 Carrera S for low $40's in the US - adding to that the 6.1% duty and cost of importation, the car probably ended up costing him less than $50K Cdn (not including GST\PST). The dealers here seem to have their head stuck in the sand - and will keep missing out as folks head to the US to buy their cars.

As for the $1200 extortion fee, that's primarily to obtain the Recall Clearance letter. If you get the PPI done at a Porsche dealer in the US, they should be able to print you off a copy from their service database.

993c4_Toronto

I imported a car from the US this summer - in June. I got a clearance letter from Porsche at no cost within one week of my request. Two weeks later, the board were awash with news of the $1,200 fee. Scam. I suspect the Canadian Dealer lobby pressured Porsche to throw them a $1,200 spif for every car that is brought in to Canada.

It's not like the dealers are chock full of 993's - why would they care where I buy mine?

In the end, I got a great car in great shape for a good price from the US where the selection of cars is 20x what you will find in Canada. Not so say that there are not a lot of great P-cars here too...

I hate being scammed.

theiceman

Because only Porsche Canada will provide you with the recall clearnace letter.. and that is after the "inspection". The US dealers are not to provide this .. although as Christien stated there are probably ways. I have heard Porsche Canadas explanation of this and although i respect who told me this . it still reaks of protectionism.

Richard930

This from the RIV website (take note of option 2):

Acceptable forms of recall clearance documentation
RIV will accept any of the following recall clearance information:

1. A letter from the vehicle manufacturer’s U.S. or Canadian head office.
The letter must be written on company letterhead clearly stating that there are no outstanding recalls for the vehicle. If the manufacturer's logo does not appear on the letter, it will be rejected. The letter must be dated and signed by an authorized employee of the manufacturer and include their name and title, the vehicle identification number (VIN), year, make and model. RIV routinely forwards a copy of these letters to the manufacturer for authentication.

2. A printout from an American or Canadian dealership’s vehicle service database.
This document must be produced by an authorized dealer and not a reseller. You can confirm whether or not a dealership is authorized by visiting the manufacturer’s web site or by calling their head office and providing them with the dealership’s location. The printout must also contain the 17-digit vehicle identification number (VIN), year, make and model, and indicate that there are no outstanding recalls. RIV routinely forwards a copy of these printouts to the manufacturer for authentication.

3. Original Equipment Manufacturer’s (OEM) web site.
Some manufacturers post their recall information on their public web sites. This recall information will be accepted subject to verification by RIV.

Seems pretty clear - something from the American dealership appears to be quite acceptable to the RIV.

Receiver

I've bought two since Nov 2007

Imo000

Theoretically speaking………….If you know that all the safety recall was done on a car, how hard would it be to make a recall letter? Does RIV actually check this against some database to authenticate it or they just use for what it is?

jasonintoronto

it's still there...i actually ran a PPI on that car. it's quite clean.

IXLR8

Its a US car, so I expect to pay US pricing. Otherwise I might as well just go down there and pick one up myself.

NVRANUF

I just went through the same process.
In the end I got the CDN car....
I definitely paid more than a US car, but I had a 2005 C2S Cab that I was trading, so it wasn't worth the effort to sell my own car before looking for that US gem at a dirt bottom price, then jumping through all the bureaucratic hoops and then reattempting to establish that warm and fuzzy dealership relationship we all know and love.... Well ok that last one is a stretch

It was a 2007 GT3 from Downtown Porsche and I'm quite happy with the end results...... so far! The car is a BLAST!!

Richard930

All the hoopla about the recall letter is amusing - just finished getting the new BMW registered basically without the recall letter - RIV sent me the Form 2 purely on the basis of paying their fee, Canadian Tire didn't bother to even look at the (American dealer provided) recall letter, and BMW Canada will provide me with their recall letter in 10 - 15 business days so I don't even have theirs yet!! I have emailed in the US recall letter to the RIV so I will get the compliance label asap, in during the whole process I haven't seen any evidence that RIV gives a rats a$$ about where the recall letter comes from.

Once BMW finished with my vehicle for $125 it was set up completely as a Canadian car, right down to the auto door locks, odometer in KM, etc. - the only evidence of US spec is the dual MPH / KPH speedo so my advice to anyone considering a car from the US is go for it and be happy with the huge savings!!

The $5,000 - $8,000 that I saved will be well spent on my next 911 turbo.

Richard930

All the hoopla about the recall letter is amusing - just finished getting the new BMW registered basically without the recall letter - RIV sent me the Form 2 purely on the basis of paying their fee, Canadian Tire didn't bother to even look at the (American dealer provided) recall letter, and BMW Canada will provide me with their recall letter in 10 - 15 business days so I don't even have theirs yet!! I have emailed in the US recall letter to the RIV so I will get the compliance label asap, in during the whole process I haven't seen any evidence that RIV gives a rats a$$ about where the recall letter comes from.

Once BMW finished with my vehicle for $125 it was set up completely as a Canadian car, right down to the auto door locks, odometer in KM, etc. - the only evidence of US spec is the dual MPH / KPH speedo so my advice to anyone considering a car from the US is go for it and be happy with the huge savings!!

The $5,000 - $8,000 that I saved will be well spent on my next 911 turbo.

LastMezger

I tried to buy an '06 Atlas C2 from Pfaff Audi. they blew me off as well. then the car popped up at the oakville dealership for a few grand less. talked to the guy there...blown off again. amazing.

Imo000

Why does it matter if it was originally as US car? It was federalized and should worth the same as a Canadian one. I just don't get the logic.

IXLR8

I don't understand your question.

Are you saying that someone bringing up a car from the US that they bought at a substantially lower price, should sell at what Canadian cars are selling for?

If so, sure, they can try, but I'm not the one that'll buy it. If I am going to buy a US car, I might as well just go down there to buy it and pocket the savings myself.

My logic is...if you are going to pay less for a US car and then try to sell it to me, I want most of those savings.