Richard930

Big advantage in the US is selection - chose your colour (interior and exterior), options, transmission, mileage, even the state where it was driven in, etc.... so on top of the savings you get to pick and choose from a much broader selection of cars. After the 6.1% import duty and my expenses, I figure I saved about $5 - $7,000 on my BMW and got exactly the colours and options I was looking for and had a nice couple of days getting it. I would never have found a comparable car here.

Same benefits when i bought a 993 cab in the US a few years ago - and that was when the $CDN was worth considerably less than the greenback. At that time, a nice 993 cab was $30k - 35k in the US, but up here it was a $55k car.

Basically the higher the price of car you're buying, the more attractive the US deals are, ie. it's probably not worth the effort for a newish average $25k family car, but it's definitely worth it for a $35k and up premium car which is why BMW, Porsche and Mercedes have been so aggressive in discouraging people from importing.

fdss

The equivalent Canadian cars comes pretty well stripped option wise compared to their US counterpart, so I cant see why the American car would be worth less.

Does Porsche assign an inferior assembly line for the American car? The same Germans who assemble the Canadian car also assembles the American car, so the price should be the same.

Nooch

All three girls are from the US, and for all the reasons mentioned thus far!

IXLR8

Exactly!

There are those who buy US cars just to flip them or to drive them for a bit and then flip them. Sorry, but they will have to share in the savings. Gas, grass or ***...nobody rides for free.

If these cars are all made on the same assembly line as some argue, why then is there a massive difference in list prices? I'll pay accordingly for a US car.

swbatte

In my case there simply wasn't a car available in Canada which hadn't been in an accident for 6 months. I gave 3 dealers the info on what I was looking for (996 GT3).

I had no choice but to go to the US. When I sell it, I'll look at the market and price it appropriately and negotiate from there. No one selling a US car will take a bath on it because the speedo has MPH though.

One point I did find interesting and agree with is that Americans option out their Porsches quite a bit more than Canadians - so you get more for less down there. Options don't do well for resale - it seems the sellers don't get any of their money out of them (even though they may have paid thousands for them new). It's just a nice plus when you're shopping.

firesm

So Alex - you have been using all of the inferior parts you've bought from Sunset, Autohauz, and Pelican at less than half the price you could have bought these same parts for in Canada? These parts are built in the same factory - right? But there must be a difference in the quality, considering the huge price differential... good god man - you're using cheap oil you've bought from Walmart in Ogdensburg... you're driving a ticking time bomb...

For the sake of discussion, let's look at this hypothetical scenerio:

you buy your car in Canada, I buy my car in the U.S. for 10k less

we buy the exact same parts for our cars, but you buy all of your parts from the U.S. and I buy all of mine locally, easily erasing my 10k profit

Are our cars now worth the same?

Imo000

This US worth less than a Canadian is a haggle BS! The dealers invented it to justify their prices and as we can see, worked well enought that half the people beleived it.

What one person pays for a car has ZERO bearing on how much the next buyer should pay.

firesm

I agree - I think it's funny. It's the implication, by some people, that somehow a Canadian bought must be better than a U.S. bought car because of the large price differential - that makes me roll my eyes. For my car, the only physical difference would have been day time running lights and child seat tether anchors.

(Now, a Row car compared to a North American delivery car - there was a difference for sure: lowered ride height, no silly bumperettes and the lack of the trouble prone SAI system required to meet emission standards here.)

The other reasons for a price difference at the time of original sale would have been the value of the Canadian dollar, trade tariffs, the cost of testing to meet transport Canada standards (which were probably similar in cost to the U.S. testing, but spread out over each car sold in the two countries, would have resulted in a higher per car cost), the extra cost to ship the vehicles and parts in smaller quantites and the dealer overhead to support a vastly smaller market (remembering at the time dealers didn't have suv's to sell and maintain during the long winter months in Canada, like they do now).

Ultimately a car will sell for what someone is willing to pay for it - sometimes too much and sometimes for a great deal.

aviography

^^^ The most intelligent post of this thread.

IXLR8

Nope, mine is nicer.

Cars bought new cost more here than the US. Why should I pay as much for a US car? As I mentioned previously, if I buy a US car, I will get it myself and benefit from the savings.

IXLR8

I don't know who said it was "better"; I certainly didn't. But all things being equal, condition, etc. I'll buy a local car for the same money.

Imo000

Then go ahead and bring a car in yourself. Only then you will see how much it really costs. I have a feeling you've never done this.

firesm

I was referring to hypothetical cars. If I was referring to our actual cars, of course yours is nicer - it has what, about 120,000 less kms than mine... but then you did pay more than twice what I paid for mine

I'll take your lack of addressing all of my earlier points on parts prices as a sign that you agree...?

I have no doubt that you would go down to the U.S. to benefit from the savings - you've bought everything for your car down there - except your car of course...

One last point Alex - seeing as how you feel that the value of an item is based on how much someone originally spent or over-spent for it, and seeing as how you have stated time and time again on the forum how much you loath the idea of any shop working on your car... If someone spends $10K on repairs/upgrades on their car that you DIY for $2K - does that mean their car is worth $8K more than yours now? And don't talk to me about the care or quality of the work and all that yada yada - you've got receipts for 2k they've got receipts from a reputable shop for 10K. Is their car now worth $8K more?

firesm

This is from your post #34 above:

I think the implication was made there.

IXLR8

Nope, but I have friends that have, so I do know.

If it is such a bad deal, then why are so many being imported?