pfitzsim

Any experience buying from Carmax (carmax.com) south of the border. My father is looking at picking up an X3 and the price difference is substantial enough to warrant the extra effort required re importation (especially when you're retired and don't have to use vacation time to travel to/fro).

He and I have both imported several vehicles of the 2 wheeled variety over the years (long before parity unfort.) and found it relatively straightforward as long as you knew the 'rules' - and even quite comical when I had to take a Moto Guzzi V11 sport to Canadian tire to pass the 'inspection'. I'm certain it's the only time an Italian built motorcycle has been inside a service bay at Canadian Tire.

Cheers.......

Christien

Is factory warranty a consideration? If so, take that cost into account. Probably still cheaper to import from the US, but might not be as sweet as you thought.

AM993

I visited one of the Carmax lots several times when I lived in Houston. They always had some interesting cars (including several Porsches). Prices were usually on the high side, but the cars seemed to be in good shape. From what I understand, Carmax is not flexible on the price: what you see is what you pay. But I have never gone as far as buying a car from Carmax, so who knows.

jasonintoronto

which x3? the newest x3 is actually made in the USA so you don't pay the 6.1% duty on them

pfitzsim

Probably an 08' which I believe was still made outside the US.

Yes - what you see is what you pay. From what I understand the design point of the company was that they would make a few bucks on each car however were planning on making the majority of their profit from their financing division with our debt hungry neighbours to the south not shy from (over) extending themselves (this was prior to economic meltdown of course).

Will have to factor in warranty although I think they are 4 yr/80k so we'd be just out of warranty or close to it. We'l have to run the numbers - anything less than $3k or so probably isn't worth the inconvenience. The bikes we brought over were due to availability as opposed to price which of course isn't the case when looking for a silver BMW X3!!!

Richard930

Depends on what options you want on the X3 - if you're OK with a fairly basic one there are lots available locally. If you want certain options then your choices become quite limited, but there are still significant savings to be had even with paying the import duty. I bought an X3 in NY state because I couldn't find the colour and options (M sport, nav, cold weather, premium, ++) I was looking for locally - and the one or two vehicles that came close to my spec were about $7,000 more expensive here than in the US.

If it's still under warranty (an '08 probably will have some remainign), a Canadian BMW dealer will want $500 to 'bless' the car and honour the remaining warranty (this doesn't include remaining free servicing though - that won't transfer into Canada).