Prices in Canada

[s_morrison57]

Yhis really bugs the crap outta me and I don't know if its a duty or tarrif or what but cars just cost more here.
Saw an article a few years back , on the cover is the base model vette for 43K, so I called the dealer and that base model in canada was 16-17K more expensive and our dollar is on par or higher than the USD.
I can't figure this out is it some law or something goofy like that?
Finn

[speedracer]

There are way more cars sold in the US (larger population) and thus they can offer lower prices and still make good profits. In canada, less people, so less sales and thus higher prices to achieve the profits they want. I don't like it.. What makes it worse is that they then restrict us from buying new in the US too.

[Christien]

It's also more expensive to sell just about anything in Canada. Higher taxes, higher cost of living (in most areas), higher transportation costs, higher wages, all those things play into the cost of an item, whether that be a car or a cup of coffee. Of course, many retailers also know Canadians are used to this, and will add on even more, just because they can.

[bwall]

Also keep in mind that advertised prices in the USA do not include state sales tax. I think that advertised prices in Canada include X% duty and Y% GST, (Sorry, I don't know what the value of X and Y is) such that the total tax rate is like 15%.

USA cars can be imported into Canada relatively easily so anyone with a bit of initiative can benefit. It is also my understanding that soon Mexican cars can also be imported into Canada. NAFTA, anyone?

[speedracer]

Originally Posted by bwall

Also keep in mind that advertised prices in the USA do not include state sales tax. I think that advertised prices in Canada include X% duty and Y% GST, (Sorry, I don't know what the value of X and Y is) such that the total tax rate is like 15%.

No, sales tax is not included in the advertised prices in Canada at least where I am from and have been.

[85258]

I think that the biggest factors is the exchange rate. From the late Seventies thru to 2007 the Canadian dollar was worth 90 to 66 cents vs US. At that point cars were not cheaper in the USA. In the late nineties and early 2000s Luxery cars, Trucks and SUVs were being exported to the USA by the truck load (mostly by Canadians) and they were selling them for a profit. A good Firend of my dads would sell around 30 used SUVs and Trucks a month at dealer auctions and was neting more than $50k per month PROFIT. At that time Canadian Dealers were not able to sell to US customers. At my compnay we would buy new trucks every 6 months and sell them to my dads friend for very close to new and he would sell them at the US dealer auctions.

Alo consider that the whole industry is motivated to keep the prices up. The Canadian distributors for the manuafactures want to keep their profits as high as possible and resist price decrease to the dealers. Also consider the used car market, if new prices drop drastically, the used market will react and then all the used car dealers (and rental car agencies and companies with big fleets aswell) will see there inventory values decrease as the whole market shifts down.

If we had an 85 cent dollar, we would not be having this discussion.

[Matt Monson]

I'm pretty sure there are duties on US made cars into Canada. I know that the duties on my parts is close to 20%. I wouldn't be surprised if new US made cars as well as used cars were hit with something similar to bring it into the country. I know that new Cup Cars shipped in from Germany and sold through PMNA to Canadian teams are hit with duties to get into the country.

[85258]

Because of NAFTA there is no Duty on cars built in USA or Mexico when imported to Canada.
Cars manufactured in Europe (Germany anyways) and Japan have a Duty of 6.1%.

[Jeff Alton]

Matt, if you can "prove" your parts are made in the US, and sometimes that only means labelling or assembling in sets, they should qualify for NAFTA duty free entry into Canada....

Cheers

[Jonny042]

The situation continues to improve, however slowly. But the margin is beginning to narrow. And, really, there is nothing stopping you from buying a car in the US and bringing it home, just do your homework. No 6% duty on cars over 25 years old, btw.

I, for one, am happy to pay whatever "extra" it costs to live here.

[johnsjmc]

Originally Posted by Jonny042

The situation continues to improve, however slowly. But the margin is beginning to narrow. And, really, there is nothing stopping you from buying a car in the US and bringing it home, just do your homework. No 6% duty on cars over 25 years old, btw.

I, for one, am happy to pay whatever "extra" it costs to live here.

There are several things impeding the sale of cars to Canada from the US.
Manufacturers warrantys are often not honoured in Canada. Chrysler among others cancels your warranty when the vehicle is sold into Canada. Ford will honour the warranty but border state dealers have been told not to sell new cars to Canadians. The same dealer will sell me a used one though. Mini ,MB,Harley,BMW,Porsche and others are insisting to the Can. govt. that modifications required to meet Can standards must be performed at the dealer to continue any warranty. With the Mini they require the complete instrument panel to be changed to our metric one even though the US dash can be changed to Km with a scan tool. The numbering on the face will be different though.
I have imported 1/2 doz vehicles and it,s not that difficult to meet the govt standards but need to consider the various factors. All that said my 993 from New York would be worth a few thou more here if it wasn't originally a US car. The Cdn. dealers are offering less for a car orig from the US on trade in even though all the required mods have been done. The situation must be similar for grey market cars in the US.
I live less than 60 mi from the border and cross border shop frequently. There are still some bargains but you need to know your prices and consider various roadblocks along the way.

[Burkie61]

Sales tax is not included in the advertised price of cars in Canada (GST being 5%). NAFTA has allowed for Mexican made cars to be imported without duty, and have done so for at least the last four or five years as I imported a new bug from the Washington State - no duty.

And yes the warrant will vary - I have not brought in anything for about three years, but I brought in two VW Touaregs where the warranty was a North American warranty and was okay in Canada (apparently that has changed now), and as were the three Mercedes MLs I brought in. But my Honda Pilot lost its warranty when I brought it across.

And although they can say that it is lower sales numbers that allow for the higher prices, you cannot justify the price differential with that. When I can go to the US and buy a Honda Pilot for $27000 (6000 miles, leather DVD, etc) which is $14000 less than my local Canadian dealership there is definitely some gouging going on. Especially when the vehicle is made in Canada.