Buying an American Import

Im looking at picking up a newer SUV, 07' to 09'. I was at three different dealerships today and found it a bit odd that they were showing me American cars (odometer in miles).

Whats with the surge in American import vehicles being sold a Canadian dealerships. I can kinda see this happening at the sketchy used car lot that sells the ICBC write offs, but at dealerships?

Has anyone recently purchased an American car and have they had issues with getting serive. Or is it the same as any car.

One of the cars I liked was a 08' Xterra Offroad with 37,000 miles. Is this one of those, "if its too good to be true" things or is it possible dealerships are bringing up quality, low milage cars from the States?

And is it worth the time and money to start looking at actually look at buying one on my own out of Washington or California?

Matt, a couple years ago we built a townhouse right beside the Canadian Tire in South Surrey. There was a guy that showed up every morning with a trailer carrying 4 cars/trucks/suvs from the states to get there prov inspections. I went and asked him one day about them and he said he couldn't bring em up fast enough. I'd assume buying from the dealership would be ok as they generally aren't in the shady used vehicle market.

I was at three different dealerships today and found it a bit odd that they were showing me American cars (odometer in miles).

If they can bring up an American market car for cheap and sell it at Canadian market prices they are laughing all the way to the bank. Look at the prices they were asking and compare them to what they are selling for in the states, I bet there is quite a difference.

If you don't mind a bit of hassle you would probably save a bunch bringing a vehicle up yourself.

All the info you should need: http://www.riv.ca/

One of my customers imports vehicles on the side for a network of dealerships. He makes cake, the dealership makes cake, the customer in the end sees about 1000 dollars in savings. If you do the extra work you could save 5-10 000 over blue book Canada prices.

If you don't mind a bit of hassle you would probably save a bunch bringing a vehicle up yourself.

http://www.riv.ca/

On that note talk to Kim. He's looking at bringing a Tundra in from the States.

I just finished importing a car from the states. Although I used an agent to assist with the organisation, it was a reasonably straightforward process. 12%GST/PST, 6.5% import duty if it is foreign built. There is a 72hr notice period to leave the USA during which the car must be stateside. Clean, original title is omportant too (which is still a piece of paper in the USA).

Cheers, Ben

Process I used to import my van a few years ago:
http://outridingmybike.blogspot.com/2011/02/importing-vehicle-from-us-into-canada.html

When I was bringing the van through US customs there was a dealer from the Fraser Valley that was processing about a dozen cars in one shot, they had a semi car hauler trailer full. I think they were ex-rentals from Arizona.

Check the US price vs. Canadian price. If it is more than say $3K it is probably worth it to import if you have the time.

Per Craig..With the dollar at par, and the recession biting hard down below, it's def worth the time to self-import..especially on newer cars with no mechanical issues.
If the car still has manu warranty, check it's covered post-import.

(I've imported 1 car, 2 travel trailers and 3 motorcycles now..easy peasy. And bought several US imports already done)

To do it yourself, you'll have to purchase one day, then go back 3-4 days later to export/import it..Or just go on holiday in the US for a week, then you can claim $750 personal allowance also (saves you almost half the RIV fee)
:)

I bought my '00 Taco from a broker who brought it up from Oregon. Paid about $6k (25%) less than the sticker price of the equivalent vehicle at a dealership that had an odometer in km instead of miles. Drove that thing to 300k before upgrading, and it was running great at the time. I still miss that truck.

Did my homework on line, went down to Seattle and bought a 04 Allroad in 2008. I brought it to the border and had an agent bring it across and do the paperwork. That cost about $1500, but I did not have to do anything, as in all transfer and inpections were completed as well as adding daytime running lights. I think the group was called Trend, located in Richmond but no longer there. Overall I saved close to $10K. Totally worth it in my opinion.

toyota apparently has forbidden american dealers to sell NEW vehicles to canadians after the canadian dealers complained, but it was still allowed in 2008 when i saved $9K buying my tacoma in bellingham, which was very easy. technically the warranty is north american, but north van toyota has given me grief, squamish toyota better, but they generally aren't too happy about it.

well worth your time importing it yourself, whether new or used, vehicles (among most other things) are much cheaper down there for no good reason.

Great blog Craig. So you bought temp insurance down there to move it to the boarder?

All said and done, how long did that whole process take, two - three weeks?

There's a GM dealership in Port Moody that will bring in any car you want, from the USA.

If you go just south of the border for a new vehicle, try and stay out of Seattle. Some dealerships there have a "market value adjustment" added to the vehicle price, and it can be hefty.

There'a broker on Marine Drive in North Vancouver that has quite a few vehicles on the lot. It's been a while, but last time I looked they had quite a few SUVs.

lpauto.ca (in Richmond) is a website you can browse for info.

i bought an off lease tundra from a Toyota dealer in Lynnwood a few years ago. I figure i saved $10000. Depends what you are looking for but some vehicles resale values are a lot less in the states. The paper work was easy and the Canadian dealer has never said a peep when the truck has been serviced. i hear that used car inventories are getting pretty low in the states right now because people aren't buying new, aren't trading in and are keeping there vehicles longer. So things may have changed a little but i would recommend importing to anyone. If you are worried about a vehicles history try carfax.