The manufacturers used to charge us anywhere from 4,000 to 25,000 dollars more for the 'same' car.
Posted on 07/06/2008 9:20:33 AM PDT by decimon
TORONTO (Reuters) - The number of vehicles imported into Canada from the United States in 2008 is well on pace to break last year's record high, according to data compiled by the North American Automobile Trade Association.
Canadians imported 151,169 vehicles as of June 30, more than double the amount for the same period a year earlier, and fast approaching the 189,738 vehicles imported throughout 2007.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Interesting. Some american cars are actually manufactured in canada. Do those canadian manufactured american vehicles count as imports to canada?
If they are sold in the U.S. then I would think so.
Yes, but NAFTA is bad... And it’s a good thing we don’t import oil from Canada.
Hey...if we can find a way to sell their oil back to them...
“Yes, but NAFTA is bad... And it’s a good thing we don’t import oil from Canada.”
Canada has been buying, and producing American cars since long before NAFTA was even being discussed. Or maybe they actually drive some of those famous Canadian brand autos? The auto industry has been cross-border forever, since the Canadians don’t have a domestic auto industry. Here’s a list of fine Canadian auto companies:
http://canadaonline.about.com/od/autocos/Automotive_Companies_in_Canada.htm
And, we have been buying oil, and most everything else from Canada for decades. NAFTA mostly opened Mexico to more US ‘investment”, making their cheap labor available to US companies so that goods could be produced there and shipped to the US for sale at lower, or no tariffs as provided by the agreement, and it lowered some tariffs between the US and Canada.
Like the “gray market” in Mercedes autos was in the eighties, the same make and model will sell for considerably more in Canada than the US. They’re coming down, buying the new car, driving it around for a week or two while staying in a hotel, and then “importing” it back home to Canada. All that accounted for, it’s still less money.
Gas is less expensive in Canada so they can still afford to drive bigger cars/trucks. My friend still drives a Hummer and I still drive a trailblazer and I am spending a little more for gas but trying not to drive so much.
Check out these links for Ohio, Honda & NAFTA:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=nafta+ohio+honda
This is a story of the weak US dollar, and about Canadians coming to the US to purchase autos because the same vehicles are so much cheaper (after currency exchange) in the US than Canada.
The manufacturers used to charge us anywhere from 4,000 to 25,000 dollars more for the 'same' car.
"A little more?"
300% of what it cost just a few years ago is "a little more?" Rationalization and denial are a powerful combination. Why not call it as it is? Outrageous, but I can afford it, so I do it -- because I can. So far. That's it.
Wonder if that will change when the universal rules change; or if it gets bad enough to face rationing.
Since the obvious isn't so obvious to our leadership, I would not rule that out.
We do. Canadians by the thousands are filling up on this side of the border to save a $1.25 per gallon on the gas we buy from them.
Are canadians also coming into america to buy japanese cars? I mean, does this price discrepancy apply to all car makes and models regardless where they are built, or only to american made brands?
And just what does "driving it around for a week or two do?
Cars bought in the USA by Canadians still have to be registered in Canada, and when they are all taxes and tariffs apply.
The only reason A Canadian would drive the car back to Canada is to save freight charges, but that doesn't amount to much.
Canadians buying cars aren't 'cheating' or skipping any taxes, they are just taking advange of the sticker price difference, which can be 7- 10 thousand dollars on a mid range car.
Oh, really? Gas is $1.27/litre today in Ontario. That equates to $4.81/gallon. It's $4.19 in Buffalo.
Apparently all cars made in the USA, Japanese company's, etc.
This isn't only on cars, but just about all consumer goods. You can buy anything cheaper in the USA;- computers, farm equipment, tools, boats motors, RV equipment.
Wrong. Gas is $6.85 a gallon in Canada (imperial gallon) which is about $5.50 for a US gallon. (4 liters) Gas is around $1.37 a liter across the border from my place, and in some places, like Vancouver and eastern Canada, 10- 20 cents a liter more than that.
Well, maybe I'm confusing countries, here, but there are people coming in from outside the US, buying new cars and driving them around for a week or two, making a vacation out of it, and having the cars sent home. Could be Germans, maybe? The "driving around" makes the car used, and therefore eligible for importation.
In fact it's harder to bring a used car into Canada than a new car, because it has to have all this paperwork proving it was never stolen, wrecked, and passes emission testing because it may have been altered, never mind held up in customs for weeks to make sure it isn't stuffed with drugs and guns. New cars come across on bonded car carriers which by-passes much of that hassle.
Anyways, there are all kinds of NAFTA rules regarding cars and used cars that a person has to be pretty sharp on to avoid major headaches. It would probably be easier to buy a used Abrams tank, call it a tractor and bring that into Canada.
Generally, what I see Canadians do, is buy a car from a dealer on this side of the border, then that dealer sends that car to a Canadian car dealer arranged by the customer. There have to be some modifications done before it can be shipped into Canada, such as have the speedometer head changed if it doesn’t have kilometers displayed, and other little things that cars in Canada have to be equipped with, that a car sold in the USA may not have.
Fifty years ago it was Americans doing the same with European cars. There were car dealers to set up the deal for you. Spend a week or two in Germany and come back with your "used" Mercedes and the vacation was more than paid for.
Please tell me where I can tank up at $1.27/litre. Prices in my area today (Scarborough east) are in excess of %1.35/litre. That works out to in excess of $5.10/US gallon.
(One US gallon is 3.785 litres.)
I paid $4.25/gallon in Michigan on Saturday. In Windsor gas is between $5.30 and $5.40 a gallon.
Cars built outside of America are still considerably cheaper to buy in the US, but if you buy a car built in North America (the VIN number starts with a number between 1 and 5), you only have to pay sales taxes when you import it (PST and GST).
If you import a car manufactured outside of North America, you have to pay an import tariff in addition to the sales taxes. It doesn't matter that a import tariff was already paid to import the car to the US, Canada didn't get any of that money.
Not a shock with our terrible dollar.
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