A Canadian Buying in the US

[ttibsen]

I live in the Yukon Territory in Canada. With our dollar now being the same as the US dollar - there is still a $9000 gap in the difference between what my local dealer will charge for a Camry XLE and the same vehicle that I priced out online at a Seattle dealer.
Does anyone know whether it is possible for a Canadian to go across the border and purchase a brand new Toyota and bring the car back into Canada?
Do duties cancel any or a large part of the price differential?
Will the local dealer honor the new car warranty?
Any insights that those of you who know about such things will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

John

[Tideland Prius]

Originally Posted by ttibsen

I live in the Yukon Territory in Canada. With our dollar now being the same as the US dollar - there is still a $9000 gap in the difference between what my local dealer will charge for a Camry XLE and the same vehicle that I priced out online at a Seattle dealer.
Does anyone know whether it is possible for a Canadian to go across the border and purchase a brand new Toyota and bring the car back into Canada?
Do duties cancel any or a large part of the price differential?
Will the local dealer honor the new car warranty?
Any insights that those of you who know about such things will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

John

1. Yes you can buy from the States and import it. However, you will have to phone around as many dealers will not sell to Canadians

2. You pay 6.1% duty if the car is made outside of North America. GST is paid at the border.

3. Toyota Canada will honour the warranty. It might take a little longer to do the paperwork if there is a warranty claim but they do honour it

See www.riv.ca for more information

[rolla-XRS]

There was a good article on this in the Toronto Star on Saturday.

http://www.wheels.ca/newsFeatures/article/31673

[toyotafanfan]

Originally Posted by Tideland Prius

1. Yes you can buy from the States and import it. However, you will have to phone around as many dealers will not sell to Canadians

2. You pay 6.1% duty if the car is made outside of North America. GST is paid at the border.

3. Toyota Canada will honour the warranty. It might take a little longer to do the paperwork if there is a warranty claim but they do honour it

See www.riv.ca for more information

Toyota's dealer agreement prohibits Toyota dealers from selling outside of their territory. Dealers who do, risk significant fines, including decreased allotment and coupled with other violations could lose their franchise. Some choose to risk it , but most won't.

Fan

[ttibsen]

Thanks for those responses gentlemen. The overall impression that I get is that it's a pretty difficult thing to do - bringing a car back from the US to Canada. So I'm just going to sit tight and hope that in the next few weeks our dollar remains high and that public pressure will result in a convergence of prices in the 2 countries.
There has been a lot of squawking this past week about why the differential in just about anything that's sold in Canada and the US is so great. For the moment, importing a Camry sounds like a pretty risky thing to do - even if there is $9000 waiting to be saved.

[nmehes]

Just wait a little longer, apparently there will be something very shortly(Oct 1) to help. Expect a big announcement from BMW about pricing/incentives, and then the other dealers will have to follow suit. Toyota has promised to do something....we just don't know what yet.

[ttibsen]

Brainstorm!
How about importing a late model used car from the US?
I see that there are a lot of 2007 Camry XLE's listed in the US - example

http://www.motortrend.com/used_cars/...214189699/113/

could I bring one of these back without hassles, paperwork and most importantly - duties?
And again, would Toyota Canada - meaning my local dealer - honor the warranty?

Thanks

John

[silver04rollas]

Although, high end car makers like Porsche, BMW and Audi announced a 15% price drop across their line-up in order to adjust to the dollar value, more people need to start doing that since companies like Toyota, Honda and Nissan etc. are royally ripping off the customers in Canada using the typical one-liner "consumer will pay what the market will bare" (I know a lot of people who are bringing cars in from US and after taxes, duty, registeration, inspection etc., it still worked out to be several thousands cheaper) especially after Canadian dollar became equal to the US dollars.

[Tideland Prius]

Originally Posted by ttibsen

Brainstorm!
How about importing a late model used car from the US?
I see that there are a lot of 2007 Camry XLE's listed in the US - example

http://www.motortrend.com/used_cars/...214189699/113/

could I bring one of these back without hassles, paperwork and most importantly - duties?
And again, would Toyota Canada - meaning my local dealer - honor the warranty?

Thanks

John

Nope. You go through the same paperwork.

You need a Manufacturer's Letter of Recall, title, and one other sheet of paper (I forget) before crossing the border. Again, please visit that site I gave you, it's the Registrar's office for goodness sake! It'll tell you everything you need to know on how to import a car (new or used) to Canada.

[Tideland Prius]

Originally Posted by nmehes

Just wait a little longer, apparently there will be something very shortly(Oct 1) to help. Expect a big announcement from BMW about pricing/incentives, and then the other dealers will have to follow suit. Toyota has promised to do something....we just don't know what yet.

lol.. I doubt it.

Toyota BC dealers have strict one-price policies. Nobody is allowed to bargain at all. We all pay MSRP.

Also, last time when we bought Toyotas (our 2 Corollas and the Camry), we got free stuff from the dealers.

When I bought Prius (this is when Access Toyota was around), we got nothing. Not even a "thanks for buying your 3rd car from us" card.

[rolla-XRS]

Originally Posted by Tideland Prius

lol.. I doubt it.

Toyota BC dealers have strict one-price policies. Nobody is allowed to bargain at all. We all pay MSRP.

Also, last time when we bought Toyotas (our 2 Corollas and the Camry), we got free stuff from the dealers.

When I bought Prius (this is when Access Toyota was around), we got nothing. Not even a "thanks for buying your 3rd car from us" card.

Hi Tideland,
Sorry but the Access Toyota program including it's monthly process of dealers voting to have a single MSRP price (ie the "one-price" you referenced) is gone and has been since at least 2005.

BC was a tight vehicle supply market for Toyota. Besides that - few dealers will negotiate on some models when they're in short supply - of feel that you'll buy regardless. Same issue with other short supply vehicles (like FJ for example).

[ttibsen]

I guess you can't fault Toyota for charging what the market will bear. Still, although I haven't kept track, I'm sure that as our dollar began it's long decline toward the 62¢ level, the cost of Toyotas increased in tandem with the dollar's fall. It just pisses me off no end that when the conditions are reversed to the extent that we have dollar parity, we here in Canada do not see a cent of that reflected in the price of our vehicles from Toyota.
You can bet though that if we were to slip from the present parity back to something like 80¢ over the next couple of years, Toyota would be in there like a dirty sock racheting up the price of its vehicles in Canada. In essence, we get all of the pain and none of the gain from these currency movements.
Silver 04 Rollas had it right when he said

companies like Toyota, Honda and Nissan etc. are royally ripping off the customers in Canada using the typical one-liner "consumer will pay what the market will bear"

I'm very disappointed that a firm of Toyota's stature doesn't pass along the currency benefits to their Canadian customers. My intended purchase of a Camry XLE V6 is definitely off for the time being.

[Tideland Prius]

Originally Posted by rolla-XRS

Hi Tideland,
Sorry but the Access Toyota program including it's monthly process of dealers voting to have a single MSRP price (ie the "one-price" you referenced) is gone and has been since at least 2005.

BC was a tight vehicle supply market for Toyota. Besides that - few dealers will negotiate on some models when they're in short supply - of feel that you'll buy regardless. Same issue with other short supply vehicles (like FJ for example).

I know that... BUT in BC, that is NOT the case. Seriously, I'm kinda annoyed when I see people from Ontario and Alberta getting great discounts as here, we don't get a single thing, not even a thank you gift (at least at my dealer) ever since Access Toyota started in 2002 (and ended in 2005).

That doesn't apply to hot sellers. It applies to every single Toyota model regardless of whether it's selling or not. It's called collusion. (don't believe me? there's a Toyota BC dealer site.. look that up).

Don't forget, on cars like the Prius, they make $2k each. On the Sequoia, the profit margin is up to $5k and that's based on 2005 prices (don't know what the margins are for 2007/08). Of course they won't budge if they can convince you that you can't. And they will because they colluded so you as the consumer have no choice because every dealer will tell you the same thing.

[Corona67]

Originally Posted by Tideland Prius

And they will because they colluded so you as the consumer have no choice because every dealer will tell you the same thing.

Wow, that sucks, Tideland. In the US, that would be a major antitrust lawsuit. Any attorney general down here would crack down on price-fixing in a heartbeat, regardless of who does it (dealer or manufacturer).

c

[ttibsen]

Well, as of this morning, it appears that we sheeplike Canadians are finally getting off our fat complacent behinds. Hopefully this will result in some measure of fairness in the Canadian automotive marketplace.

http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet...t0926/GIStory/