Read an article about this a few months back in The Star. They sited an Acura dealership that was told directly from Acura USA head office not to sell to Canadians.

I did some preliminary research this past summer into bringing a 2006 Corvette from the USA. Many vehicles simply require DRL etc to make them legal but others like the Corvette actually need to have the bumper(s) replaced to meet our standards. What a friend of mine told me was that when he brought over his 2003 Z06, it was only a couple hundred $$ to make the car legal, replaced I think the rear bumper only. However, I asked him about a 2005-2006 model and he said there is some issue that GM doesn't have the conversion parts required and the car will not be importable as-is. I am keeping on top of this as I am considering a 2007 next year when my lease is up.

 

I had to pay GST at the border, and PST when I registered the car in Ontario - same as if I bought a new car here. Subaru has a north american warranty - good in either the US or Canada. I just tried it out and brought the car to a local subaru dealer in Ottawa to have a rattle fixed and no issues. I had to do no modifications to the car as it already has DRL, Latch seats and 5 mph bumpers. There are a few threads on redhotdeals.ca about this. Basically the warranty coverage depends on the manufacturer. Any ford or GM product is fine for warranty, as is Toyota, Volvo, Subaru, BMW and AUDI. Nissan, is touch and go and depends on the dealer. Honda/Acura is a definate no and they do that to discourage Canadians from buying US spec vehicles at a discount.

Do your research and you can save thousands. My new subaru outback wagon is in the driveway right now with Ontario plates and cost me almost 12K less than if I had bought it locally. Only downside is that the speedo has miles on the outside and km on the inside, and the temperature is in Farhenhit. Also the trip computer and mileage are in miles not KM. For me, this isn't a huge deal and the local dealer even offered to switch the gauge cluster over for about 800 bucks. Apparetly when you switch the gauge cluster to metric, everthing else switches as well on the trip computer and the temperature display.

In total, I may have spent about 4-5 hours of additional work researching, getting my currency exchanged, doing paperwork etc. This is plus the 3.5 hour drive to pick up the car. I didn't really factor this into the equation as it was basically the same as me going to Toronto to buy a car which anyone in Ottawa would do to save a few $$$.

Don't let anyone tell you that this is a difficult process because it absolutely is not. Goto www.riv.ca and they have the whole process outlined for you. If you buy a car that is on the list of importable vehicles, it tells you what you need to do to the car to make it legal. Most of the foreign cars are already compliant as they make 1 car for the north american market. Another fellow at my office bought a new volvo v70 wagon, fully loaded for 29K American plus GST/PST. Saved about 10K vs. buying the car locally.

 

^thanks for the info.

On the car you bought that sounds like an incredible return on your time investment. Enjoy the car.

 

FYI: Honda along with several other manufacturers also have a class action lawsuit against them for artifically inflating the price of their vehicles in Canada and the US. They are segmenting the market between the US and Canada because they know that Canadians are used to paying more for vehicles than Americans are. About 3 years ago when the dollar was at about 60 cents US, they had agreements in place to keep Canadian dealers from exporting cars to the US to keep prices in the states artifically high. Now that the dollar is about 15 cents US, the reverse is happening. Read this, it gives some good insight into this practice.

http://www.naata.org/new%20files/faqs.html

 

No problem. If anyone wants the "condensed" version of how to import a vehicle into Canada shoot me a PM. Like I said before, the process is incredibly simple once you have gone through it and know what to expect. Now that I know what I am doing, I can probablly buy a US spec vehicle and import it, in less time that I would spend haggling with a local dealer. Also when you buy a vehicle in the US, there is very little dicking around and mind games like their is in Canada. The dealer I spoke with started off negotiating at $500 below his invoice, and I ended up getting another $1250 off because of factory rebates and his holdback. I also bought at the end of the year when they wanted to move the inventory off the lot. There are several on-line dealerships where they will quote you a price right over their website. They are also upfront about what their markup, holdbacks and incentives are from the factory.

 

Great info. I did a little searching this am. The US/Canada retail list price differences vary widely amongst manufacturers. That would have to be a starting point as well as considering final negotiated deals. The biggest consideration for many people would be dealing with their trade in and losing that tax advantage.

 

I bought my '06 350Z used in May from California....
6.1% Duty
7% PST (BC)
7% GST (before change)
RIV Fee = $200
DRL Conversion = $270
Air Fare/Hotel/Gas/Meals = $300
Fed/Prov Inspection Fees = $ 75
Temp Insurance = $160

Total cost, sitting in my driveway $34K

First visit to Nissan dealer and they checked the original ownership date. They had just received a letter from Nissan Canada stating that an imported car had to be registered in the US for a minimum of 6 months before importing in order to qualify for warranty transfer.

If you can't fax the documents to the border 72 hrs before presenting vehicle to border officers, then the car will have to sit stateside for the 3 days.

 

^^ I experienced the same. The biggest pain ing the butt with a used car was getting the recall clearance letter from infiniti.

 

I had mine faxed to me within 1 hour of speaking with the rep... but it took two weeks for the original copy to arrive in mail.

I've also assembled copies of all the paperwork and procedures... have sent it out to a few people already. A friend used the info when he imported his 2004 Lexus SC430 -- he saved over $10K

 

Can Some one PM me all the info and step by step on the import Procedure.
I am going to import a G35, also does Infiniti warrenty valid in Canada if the car is from the states.

Thanks
Rich

 

Warranty is void unless car has been registered in US for 6 months.

 

I would really look into the warrenty I would talk to a local dealership to be sure they will honour you warrenty. I know i have a hard time even buying parts because the VIN # does not show up on the Canadian system.