Onami

I've been looking for a nice 993 and I can't believe the difference in price between comparable cars in Canada vs. the US - even considering duty, exchange, shipping etc. It makes it almost impossible to justify buying a Canadian car. For example, there is a nice silver '97 TT on the UCR-PCA site for sale for $111,000 CDN. I think I can buy a similar car in the US and land it in Canada for about $90,000 CDN plus pst/gst. Has this differential always been there? Mark

jgrant

Isn't that pretty close to the same when you factor in pst/gst and duty?

Also, you have to be careful which state the car is in when you buy it, as some states require that you pay them a sales tax when you transfer the title, over and above everything else... I think Florida is one of those states.

Bob Rouleau

The problem is that retail prices in Canada wee set when the C$ was 60 cents US. Now that it is $0.82 things are different. Porsche is stuck, if they lower prices to make Canadian cars the same price as US ones, they devalue every car they sold in the past years.

fryd

Not sure if Porsche is paying attention to exchange rates these days...Just read in the latest Pano that the "Club" 997s is going to be priced at $99k in the US and $145k in Canada! Sounds like they've been going to the wrong bank for currency! That's a full $25k more expensive in Canada! I hear the Cayman will be similarly overpriced in Canada vs. the US.

ientre9y11

I agree with Jeff. When you factor in the duty, gst, pst and transport, it is a bit of a wash.

I don't know about Toronto but my impression is that prices in Vancouver have softened a bit. There is a 98C2S at Urban Garage (www.urbangarage) for $74K with 73,000 km. with sport seats, PSS9's, litronics and lightweight flywheel and RS clutch.

That seems to be pretty cheap based on what I had seen last year when I was looking.

Onami

Thanks for your responses guys. Actually, it is much cheaper to buy a US car and import it to Canada. The example I showed above already takes into account duty and exchange and taxes are paid on the car whether it is purchased here or in the US. To break it down, a 24K mile TT just sold for $68K US which is $84,300 CDN. Add 6.1% duty and you're at $89,500 CDN vs. $111,000 for a similar Canadian car - taxes are paid on both regardless of where it is purchased. The $20,000 differential easily covers the $1,500 or so shipping that would need to be paid and RIV and brokerage fees are only another few hundred dollars.

I've bought and sold a number of muscle cars in the US and buying one down there and bringing it up is no problem and well worth that kind of savings!

YYC930

And the moment that the artificially inflated CAD changes (my brokerage and investment banker clients give it 12-18 months for about 15 cents of air to come out of the dollar) you'll have a US car that is "theoretically" worth the same as a Canadian one.

Then at that point who's car will resell first and fastest for more money.....not your US one when it's up against a Canadian one....

You'll have to discount it accordingly "if" you can find a buyer to take it......so what happened to your initial savings ?

There was none to begin with. I've seen it happen over and over again during the almost 18 years I've been doing this. So fill your boots......as the only advantage to buying down there is the vast amount of selection they have versus our market.

BTW.....there are $95K CAD 993 Turbo's out there as well.....so it really is a wash if you look around hard enough.

Onami

Frankly, if that were to occur, I would just sell it in the US (45 minutes from here) and take the hit on the 6.1% duty...I'd still be 10-15% ahead

If you can locate me a mint TT (black or silver on black) with less than 50k Km for $95K, please contact me.

fc-racer

I bought my midnight blue 993 Turbo for essentially $100k in Feb 2004. It had 23,000km on it. Deals are out there, you just need to be in the right place at the right time. For once, I was in both!

YYC930

I may have one with 56kms.....$92.5K is what the guy wants for it.......black on black.......I'll PM you if it's still available.

There are two online right now....one with 65kms at MVL Leasing and one at Biere with 40K miles......priced right where you want to be.

infinii

I don't quite follow you. Why do you suppose an imported American car is worth less than the exact same Canadian car?

YYC930

Perception in the marketplace does not always equal reality. But as a dealer....the buyer's perception is my reality that I am forced to deal with.

Having said that..........no two used cars are alike either.

Here's the typical buyer's mindset when looking at a US car...........

-If it was such a good car why did it not sell in it's local market (the US) first ? "This" is the hardest objection to overcome when selling a US car.....and quite frankly often things never get past this stage as 75% of the people out there are not even interested once they find out it's a US car.

-How can I talk to the last owner or the dealer or the independant service facility who did the maintenance to verify things if it's from the US as I don't know anyone there at that facility that I can trust ? This is the second biggest factor......unless you know your cars mechanically like a 20 year experienced Porsche tech does and are on the ground in the US during the PPI.....you are out of luck........the stories I can tell you about some of the people I know here in Calgary who have gone south and bought cars.....LOL !!! How'd you like to find out that your "collector quality 100% original" 930 Turbo that you thought was a steal was actually a total color change due to an accident ? (true....two weeks ago) Or how about having to do a clutch, 4 tires, a new top, Motronic ECU (rust on the screws and metal bracket.....hmmmmm.....flooded salvage title maybe ?) on your supposedly perfect Porsche dealer inspected 993 cabrio........(true...last year)...etc...etc....

-How can you prove to me that the thing was never in an accident and/or had a washed title ? CARFAX is not perfect you know.

-Why does the car not have the same options as the CAD car I am looking at......?

-The speedometer is how much ???!!!

So I'll just sue them you say ??? In another jurisdiction, in a system you don't know, with USD legal costs over a $10-15K claim ? You'll spend that much in fees......just to lose.........

I am a small dealer....and with my $1MM line of credit I could fill up my place with US cars.....but 17 years of experience has taught me otherwise. It's the same problem with snowbirds trying to dump their CAD cars in the US at dealers....it's very tough to do.

Bob Rouleau

FWIW the bigger players are buying US cars by the dozen and selling them in Canada. In Montreal the big Auction houses (open to the public!) have brought in dozens of Cayennes, Boxsters and 911's from the US and are selling them at a handsome profit here. Porsche dealers are getting swamped in the service department.

The situation will prevail until the C$ drops to something more reasonable like $0.70 US. Trouble is, if Porsche readjusts Canadian prices on new cars to reflect the weak US dollar, the guy who paid 185K for a 996TT last year is gonna be seriously annoyed when he sees a 997 TT going for something like 170K. The value of his car and all the others sold in the era when 1 C$ = 0.6 US$ will be diminished. This does not make for happy customers, meantime Porsche and Ferrari are making extra profits.

YYC930

What Bob says is quite correct as it applies to the newer cars still under warranty where there are fewer of the initial issues I spoke about for a buyer to be concerned with.

The older cars out of warranty that are bought by an true enthusiast demographic (whereas I think most of the new stuff is going to a different type of buyer than in the past and it's something I won't elaborate on as to not offend people) it's a whole different kettle of fish.

But....at resale time when it's out of warranty......my comments still would apply......especially once the marketplace corrects itself.

BTW Bob.....do you know anyone who might want my GT2 that I have for sale ? Info is on my site in my profile.

DJF1

Sorry I will disagree with you from a BUYER'S perspective. While I do understand that you need to protect your business and rightfully so, the informed buyer will have absolutely no issues with a US car especially given the fact that the CAD is so strong. To your first argument of why the car did not sell in the US first, sorry but what kind of an argument is this? Especially given the fact that on speciality market like Porsche cars, Canada due to the population and sales often present slim pickings especially if you want a specific color/options/condition/miles combo. Not to mention that the idea of a 10YO used car that has spend its life on salt ridden streets is not very appetizing to begin with. Rest assured that If I was looking to buy now a 10YO Porsche, I would look only at Southern cars and maybe cars from Vancouver and the Island. Rust protection blah blah blah, my 10YO 993 one owner 100% Miami/Houston driven car has a couple of bubbles already...

To your second argument, granted for the uninformed it could be a problem. But to the same person a flooded, crashed car etc can be served to him even if its 100% Canadian. In this day and age with the internet and wonderfull boards like this the risk is much less. Sorry but why should I trust more an unknown to me Canadian dealer than a trusted Rennlister for example? Furthermore its not really difficult to find honest and true shops in the US, using resources like Rennlist to do a PPI.

BTW how you as a dealer can prove to me that your cars have been accident free?

The bottom line is that in this day and age the informed buyer will look in the US for a great deal. Like it or not this is the reality. Again I respect the fact that you need to make a living and I appreciate very much your RL sponsporship. However been in a very finiky business myself, a thing I have learned is that we need to adapt with the changing situations if we are to survive and thrive in the future. Instead of fighting a battle like this using examples that have someone like me wonder, maybe you could offer a different service? For example tracking really stellar US cars for interesting parties here like Mark , then giving him the bought price plus your handling/tracking/expenses fee and taxes as a package? Now for me that would make a lot of sense and would alleviate me spending time doing all that on my own. For sure I would not mind paying for such a service...

Again, I do not want to offend you, I'm just offering my buyer's perspective and some honest and friendly recommendations.