firesm

I'm not asking about you buying a car - I'm asking about the value of your current car in relation to the original point of this thread: Do you feel US cars are worth the same or less than Canadian cars. You maintain that a Canadian car is worth more because someone originally paid more for it - period. Now re-read this and apply the same logic:


But based on your agreement in post 34 to Al's statement "You pay more, I pay more - you pay less I pay less" I think we already know the answer - you think your car should be worth less than the same Canadian car with over-priced Canadian market parts...

firesm

Thanks Al - stay tuned for my thread on the install of my new RS body parts - if they ever come back from the painter...

Imo000

Is it really that hard to admit your logic is flawed? I'm sure all you want is an excuse to knock down the value of a car you want to buy. There is nothing wrong paying as little as possible but, to use some lame "bought it cheaper so, sell it cheaper" excuse really something else.

sakimano

I guess they are 'worth' less (US cars) because that's what the market feels...thus you can't argue with 'worth'.

However I don't think it's a big deal and I would value them equally with a potential for a premium if the car was from a land locked southern state (no ocean air paint corrosion and no up north snow/salt under-belly corrosion). I bought a US car a few years ago when I couldn't find one here (in Atlanta) and it was a great experience. On resale it probably cost me $2000-3000 (although I saved probably $20,000 when I bought it so I wasn't complaining ). Of course with the dollar being about similar, and losing your HST offset on the trade in of your old car, the markets are about equal (close enough) price wise now.

Selection there is 10-20 fold what we have on certain cars.

jasonintoronto

I can't believe this thread is still going.

Speedyellow993

LOL!!!!

No my logic is not flawed....but a great negotiating tool. Hey it's negotiations!! It's not like I'm kicking the seller in the *****. If the seller doesn't like the offer then don't sell. There are a lot of people in this world that are happy paying full asking but I'm not one of them. I enjoy a good negotiation and love a great deal :-)

I actually ended up paying Canadian Market pricing and then some for my Current US C4S. It was the right colour, perfect condition, and had all the must have options that I wanted.

shinrai

I have a '79 930 Canadian car (ROW). It's much different than a US spec 930.

There is no right or wrong answer to the original question.

theiceman

That's why it is called an opinion poll...

it is an emotional discusion to be sure.

I always when am looking at prospective cars look at the dash and go oh , .. its an American car, and move on . I know i shouldn't, they were built on the same line blah blah blah .. but i just do and cant explain it .. i think others are the same ..

its weird

pongobaz

Well, my experience has been that the US cars are way better spec'd and often in better condition too (maybe it's the climate!). I've been looking at Boxster S's for the last few months on both sides of the border and there is a marked difference in selection. Prices in the US are lower simply because the supply/demand ratio is skewed in favor of the buyer. Less selection and higher demand in Canada, means higher prices here...that's all! Those of you who profess to be sales professionals in this thread should understand this very basic principle.



Oh, and by the way, dealers selling at a loss and sales consultants getting poverty level commissions happens more often than you think. Obviously not a sustainable business plan, but it happens for a variety of reasons too lengthy to go into here. But trust me on this as I see it first hand as I spend my life in dealerships across the country year round.

firesm

I agree. And don't get me wrong, I'm not coming on here trying to say these cars will sell for the same price - the question was do you feel they are worth the same. I do. If the question was: do you think they'll sell for the same. I don't. And just like you stated - most people don't know why they feel the Canadian car is worth more.

What I find silly is when people state that simply for the fact they paid more for the same thing - that it automatically makes it worth more - sorry, that's not how the world works. Anybody who pays more for a Canadian car is doing so because they see some kind of perceived value (rightly or wrongly) in that fact - not because the seller paid more for it.

In the end, when I sell my car sometime hopefully in the very distant future, I will list it for sale and suffer the onslaught of tire kickers, time wasters, morons, and lowballers until the one person with the money and intelligence to see the value in my car shows up and buys it. I'll ask what I ask and it'll sell for whatever I decide to accept - just like everybody else.

PbPedis

I think part of the problem is that we have been brainwashed by the dealers. It wasn't too long ago that dealers here refused to service US cars, or they would make you wait a month for an appointment. When you went to trade in the car, they wouldn't take it, or they would give you a ridiculous offer because it was a US car. That has changed significantly now are many dealers now routinely sell US cars. Most US cars have more options and many have never seen snow, so they really shouldn't be worth any less.

firesm

You are absolutely correct - but I don't think anyone would argue that a car with more options and in better condition shouldn't be worth more. You'll probably see more of this in terms of late model cars in poor condition as the effects of a beaten down economy have people unable to maintain their luxury items - even more so for leased cars. I have a buddy that bought a repo'd boxster from the U.S. - he got a great deal on it, but with no maintenance records, my first thought was if they couldn't make the payments I highly doubt they were taking care of the car - just putting gas in it, until it was taken back.


I certainly don't profess to be an expert in anything. I have a friend who manages a Toyota dealership, another who was a GM mechanic for 17 years and another who is a salesman at a GM dealership. Dealers will sell at or below invoice because they need to move units to make quota. Most will still make money on the back end of the deal when they get the kick back from the bank for arranging financing ($300-500), commission on any extended warranty, $300-500 admin fees and anything else they can throw in on the deal (rust proofing, accessories, security engraving etc.). All those things help keep the dealership open so they can hopefully make their real money on the servicing end. If a dealership can't do that and still sells cars at a loss then they don't stay open for much longer.

firesm

There was a local GM dealer that was the number one Optimum (GM certified used car) dealer in Canada, for a time. How did they do it? They had a constant stream of car haulers bringing up U.S. cars and they would swap over the guage clusters and sell them here - perfectly legit. Only problem was, they were hardly selling any new vehicles because of it. GM figured out what was going on and said to them they needed to sell X amount of new cars by the end of the month or they were pulling the dealership and with it the right to sell Optimum vehicles. They had a large amount of money set aside to use to close any deal if it was even close to being reasonable - a lot of cars were sold well below invoice and all was right with the world. When I was getting my RIV inspection done at CT I was in line behind 5 other cars - all new car dealers... But you're right - if you had tried to trade in your U.S. car they would have hammered you on value - it's business.

pongobaz

I only consult for high end import manufacturers and I saw first hand a dealer take a 300K hit because his recently terminated SM had ordered oddly spec'd cars for the last few years that were impossible to move and would not discount this "new" 2 year old inventory to clear it out. When the new GM started, the first thing he did was have a fire sale to clear out the old stock. No amount of F&I products and services covered that gap. The customers that bought those clearout vehicles got to pay close to used car market prices for essentially new cars with full factory warranties since they'd never been retailed. The dealer got to stem the bleeding and eventually save the business.

Bahama

Wow, I must have been too busy driving/enjoying my car to imagine such a lengthy thread (one that many "curbsiders" may find interesting, but since I am not one of them, I merely think it to be as amusing as a couple of impotent beach boys measuring their muscles. The first mistake with this thread may have been to utilize the word "worth". As Pongobaz indicates, "market value" trumps "worth" and the US market from a Cdn perspective is as lucrative to many of us Porsche purchasers, as would be a Cdn high end car to a prospective European purchaser. The element/degree of "want/availability" will also subjectively play into the "worth" rationalization. I don't hear of too many people complaining that they payed too much for their Porsche's if they are true Porschephiles. What is the "worth" of the broad grin on your face as you lay down the last gear on an open stretch of road (or on a track) ? IMHO