[Christien]

I agree. I think you'd be crazy to drive a $10K boxster from the US to Calgary in winter. At that price, you're looking at a first generation with high mileage and spotty or unknown history. Porsche sold a LOT of boxsters back in the late 90s and you just can't be certain someone took care of it, when its value has been so depreciated. A first-gen boxster in decent shape should sell for $15-20K in the states. At the very least, have a thorough PPI done and get a CAA membership.

First generation (2.7L engines, 97-00?) are well-built, comfortable fun cars, but not overly powerful. When they upped it to 3.0 (I believe 01?) apparently the power was much improved.

As for insurance, it differs province to province, and I'm only familiar with Ontario, but here it's pretty straight-forward. The entire procedure is: Call your broker, give them a VIN, explain the situation and they can fax you a binder policy that will do until the full policy gets put in place. Take that and the signed bill of sale to a ministry office and get a trip permit, then you can drive the car for 10 days to get it home, safetied, e-tested and RIV inspection. Then back to the ministry with test results, by plates, pay PST and you're done. Again, this is the process for Ontario, and might be different in Alberta.

Good luck! But please take a cell phone and CAA coverage.