Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/22 for details.
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A friend of my mother in law was shopping for a new car recently. She went to her local dealership and found that the car she wanted was priced at about a $20K premium to a comparable US model. She spoke with her salesperson and offered to pay $5K more than the US price to avoid the hassle of buying in the US. The salesperson of course said that there was nothing he could do so she left.
That evening she gets a call at home from the salesperson asking if she had reconsidered. When she stated she was going to purchase the car in the US the salesperson then offered to BROKER THE CAR FOR HER. He said not only would he handle shipping and import, but that he would also get the car inspected and certified for her.
I like the entrepeneurial spirit. Heck the salesperson will make far more money brokering the car then he ever would have made selling the new car anyways. Good salespeople are certainly not dumb. If the manufacturers don't give them a product to sell then they will be happy to find other side sources of income.
When we couldn't negotiate an acceptable price, they offered to bring a car in from the U.S., both the salesman and the sales manager. I ended up buying a different car, but this dealer was offering $9,000 off the sticker price and it still wasn't enough!!
Thanks to Edmunds and all those who participated on this site for making the information so readily available. Their direction to "A Tale of Two Prices" made the choice obvious!
I will mention the Brampton Nissan dealership that you guys need to watch out.
Please take a couple of minutes and review our audio message on How to buy a car in the U.S.
http://www.carswithoutborders.com/
Hoping 2008 is better!
Thanks.
Been reading the posts , but a lazy poster. Everyone is doing a great job by posting their experiences. A Big Thanks to the whole community and a Happy New Year
The question might have been answered before, but here is it again,
WHAT TO DO WITH THE DRL REQUIREMENT, THE CAR I AM BUYING HAS DRL SWITCH WHICH CAN BE SET TO AUTO TO MAKE THE LIGHTS RUNNING.
WILL THE CT PASS THE CAR OR WILL IT REQUIRE ANY MODIFICATIONS.
THANKS!!
The Camry 2008 have DRL switch which can be turned to Auto position that makes the HEADLIGHTS DRL, not sure if CT accepts that or not.
Thanks!
As for certification, Canadian Tire had no issues with it at all and passed my car with flying colours.
One question - you say the cost of modifying the car to Canadian standards was $4500, but how much of that was the B service? (I'm interested in part as my car will need this service in Spring, and I'm debating going across the border to get it done in Buffalo.)
Cheers,
"Good to hear from you, hope you and Sylvie had a Merry Christmas. I am very glad you were able to work through all the baloney. Toyota has made many statements to the U S dealers aimed at preventing sales to residents of Canada. Had to stop selling to Canadians several weeks ago.
I can sell new Toyotas and Scions to residents of the U.S. If a resident of Canada also has a home in the U.S. and wants to initially register it in that state I will sell the vehicle to them at the U.S. residence.
Some Canadians with winter homes here in the U.S. are buying their vehicle here and registering at that U.S. address for 6 months and then bring the vehicle home to Canada.
Have a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year."
Now if that is not unfair trade practices (against free trade) I dont know what is......
It's better and safer to make your email address visible in your user profile than to post it in the Forums. That way, only members can view your email address and spammers can't harvest addresses from the Forums.
tidester, host
I wanted to thank Fransesg to sharing name of dealer and helping me along the way. Thank you very very much!
Hardest part was to find dealer, all the custom paper work is very easy, just have to follow rules. I still have to do RIV and inspection though.
I'm looking for a Toyota dealer that will sell me a RAV4 Limited 4WD V6 color code 4R4. If there's any dealer on the forum that would reply to my email, that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Looking at Jeep or land rover in particular but maybe subaru, BMW, GMC.
Thanks.
can you please let me know the toyota dealer brand new where i can buy from US and import into canada?
my e-mail is InternetGuy@gmail.com
please let me know, will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Ed told me that yours was the first one he had ever done. He told me that he charged you seven hours for the day time wiring. He then told me that the total time was more like 12 hours.
As I had indicated the so called Service B was for $ 346.80 for this It appears i got basically an oil change and some washer fluid's (labor $272.50) Don't forget my total is incorrect since it appears I got billed for 8 quarts of 15W40 not mobile1 synthetic. (I am now taking a sample of the fluid to be analyzed) Ed told me he had checked on this but he never made any formal apologies on this issue.
Instrument cluster: Remove and replace: $ 121.59 (1 Hour @ $ 109.00)
Replace DRL Relay and Cable HArness: $ 1606.75 (12 Hours @ $ 109.00)
Remove AMG Bumper and Remove US Impact strips and install Canadian Strips $ 1035.80 ( 5 Hours @ $ 109.00)
Cost for MB field Manager to Inspect vehicle $ 500.00 (Still waiting for this being Christmas it could not be provided due to non-diligence on Ed's part).
Cost to provide estimate for Compliance $ 250.00 (Received after the work was tallied up not prior, only a verbal stating that he could keep your cost in line with my work order, which he later denied).
Schedule B service (I have an original MB service B Blue work sheet which allows the mechanic to check off everything he has to do for a schedule B service, I did not receive this. Instead I got a screwed up bill for an Oil change with a verbal that indicated that the correct oil change was done. $ 346.80
DOT Safety Inspection: Done after the schedule B service $ 59.59
Drive Clean Test (I am suspecting that the ding on my car occurred here since it appears that they dropped the car off and picked it up later $ 40.25
GST + PST $ 554.88
This totals ~ $ 4518.31
I am a business man and generating an written estimate after the fact is a 5 minute ordeal. When i dropped the car off Ed did not offer me a written estimate, he was only concerned about the car work order. The whole experience has been negative.
I am also looking at getting the car serviced in Buffalo from now on. During my transactions with MB USA it was only pleasant, this car has an extended warranty which has been registered in the US (I have an office in the US where i will be driving this car to and from (on occasion's that warrant's the drive). The whole Canadian Ordeal has been extremely upsetting. As I said in some of my previous postings, had I lived in Buffalo New York the car would have been on the Road 4 weeks ago.
Instead we have Car manufacturers sitting on the Board of RIV Canada. Might as well not call this RIV Canada since policy is now dictated by Car manufacturers, I am wondering who pays RIV Canada's bills ? the Tax payer, The money they collect from the process, I seriously doubt that MB or BMW pays any fees to RIV Canada and yet they are profiting immensely from RIV.
My Final thoughts:
For anyone who is thinking about doing what I just went through, if you can leave the car in the US and legally register it there do so, it ain't worth it $ 5K for Canadian Modifications.+ GST, PST, DUTY, RIV (DOT, Clean Air)
Somehow the roads change between Canada and the US, the population of the US 10 X what we have in Canada yet we need to tinker with Canadian cars to make them roadworthy. We only have about 6 months of snow (less now with so called global warming) so you would only drive the car in the summer months anyway. This reduces my chances of a "head-on" collision by a factor of 1/2. But thanks to my Day-time running lights I can now see clearly in reduced visibility.
I suppose I am saying Mercedes wins this one. My next car that I will purchase will not be made by Mercedes. By the way I will never buy from Mercedes in Canada either, if MB can manipulate the system on the imports then they can certainly play with you and your money on Canadian purchased cars.
Dealership faxed copy of title and invoice.
Took to my insurance agent.
Faxed title, invoice & US Customs Export Worksheet to the Sweetgrass crossing on 12/24.
Picked it up in the US midwest late morning on 12/28, got back to Southern AB at 1:30am 12/30 (side trip to MT Rushmore, had to wait for day light).
5 minutes US side (they stamped the title), 20 minutes (mostly filling out Form 1) on CDN.
Paid GST, excise & duty at border.
Dealer did not require me to have a US address, arranged my "Tags" for driving it through the US & supplied recall letter).
Just paid RIV with mastercard & faxed recall letter to them today. Now will wait for RIV Inspection Form.
Once I get that then off to CDN Tire.
So far relatively painless.
Touch wood.
Can you please give me the toyota dealer name in the south-ease US?
My email address is monsterv25@gmail.com
Thanks Victor
email delvicario@sympatico.ca thanx guys..
tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper
Thanks.
Every rinky dink federal bureaucrat out of Ottawa get "moving expenses" which includes real estate fees, rental penalties and so on. DND wake up and stop discriminating against servicemen who are doing their duty.
Thanks!
I have a few friends that want to get their vehicles purchased.
I'll email you in 2 weeks who the dealer is.
You know you don't have to change the instrument cluster, right? Your speedometer already has KM/H below the MPH which is good enough to pass the inspection. The Canadian Tire inspection guy might put a sticker next to the odometer to show it's in miles, but he didn't bother with me and I've never heard anyone else on the forums worry about it. Pretty obvious the odometer is in miles if your speedometer is MPH.
Check yellow pages or online for automotive speedometer shops like Mr. Speedometer. They charge $300 to reprogram your cluster. Another example is TacomaSpeedometer in the US and they charge $200 for up to 03 Odyssey. You have to find a shop that has the latest software to handle your 2007.
You should also try a dealer and have them look up how much a cluster costs. Then buy it online from some honda parts website to save $$. Also try ebay under instrument or cluster, or call your local auto wreckers.
You might be able to buy a whole new metric cluster for the price of paying a shop to reprogram it. For a quick example, a new cluster is $250-$300 for a 2007 Tacoma truck and I've seen them go on ebay for under $100.
Hope this helps...
A final thought - a word to the wise if you will - for thos looking to import M-B's - do your reserach, and get the mods quote in writing. My experience was good; Ronny's not so much. Hopefully others will also have good experiences.
Cheers.
I am looking for 2008 siena.Can u send that U.S dealer details to me.
my email address is kumarcan2008@yahoo.com.
If any one know that 2008 siena U.S dealer,please send the details.I will appreciate your help.
Thankyou .
Thx.
I send my dealers name to at least 15 people in different forums, but I made sure these people have some post history.
I do believe that Toyota people are reading through this newsgroups to see how their "No sale to Canada" works. I also believe that they can track who sells when recall clearence letter is requested. So I am not 100% sure that hidding dealer name does work, but it just gives better chance to people that are now in the process of import.
In regard to the recall info needed by RIV, my dealer gave me a letter printed on his letterhead listing the year, make, model, VIN, color & stating "There are no recalls on the following vehicle".
It was notorized by Commisioner of Oaths and he included 2 print outs from Toyota labeled as "Warranty DOFU/SSC Report".
Just got my Highlaner LTD inpected at CDN Tire, and didn't have to get the DRL switch's off position disabled.
I have had no glitches at all throughout the process.
Yes, I was nervous at times but preparation and postings from this forum has helped me with the whole process.
My thanks goes to those people posting information.
Our family has purchased 12 new Honda cars since 1985. I have been in the market for a new car for about 6 months now. I have been following the US/Canada pricing quite closely and as all of you I can't understand and I don't accept the price difference.
I want Honda to know that as of recently I have been pricing the Maxima/Camary/Volvo and Subaru products across the border. I will be in the US on business in the next month and will be stopping in to some of the dealerships.
Honda as a successful car company knows that it's great success is a function of small successes put together that have taken place over many years. The small successes are the loyal customers it has gathered along the way, the people who no only buy their products but promote them to their friends through word of mouth.
In my office I have praised Honda products for many years and as a result we have 4 Honda accord owners out of 6 people in our department. The joke for years has been that I'm paid by Honda to promote their product.
Honda, wake up, open your eyes and listen to your customers. You are a giant with great inertia, we customers are small as individuals but together we have the ability to really impact your business. Many large corporations have failed throughout history by not listening to their customers don't be one of them.
I spend a great deal of time talking to friends and co workers and guess what message they are getting, just what is said above. I also promote highly
"cars without borders" and "car burner". I have informed at least 250 people alone. Let's do our part and really have an impact.
Regards
J.
Many thanks.
Looking at Jeep or land rover in particular but maybe subaru, BMW, GMC.