The Official CDN Importing A Car Thread! www.riv.ca

But the price spread dates back to the ~70-cent Canadian Dollar. My understanding is that upon introduction, the MSRP for Canadian and US Gallardos was close to comparable once exchange and duty was factored in. Many Gallardos were leased out and the residual is roughly based on depreciation from the MSRP, but since then, the rise of the Canadian dollar has made the Canadian cars seem over priced. Lamborghini can't suddenly change the MSRP in Canada to reflect the currency change without destroying the residuals of the early cars. Anyone that has or had an early Gallardo should be thankful!

I still don't like limiting the free trade of goods between the two countries, but there have to be a few people out there that don't mind!

 

This sounds like a good explanation.

 

I think you just explained that it *is* supply and demand?

I know we set our prices so when CD$=US$ profits are O.K. and everything works. So in times when CD$<$US everyone's laughing. Perhaps Exotics just price according to the US$ and Euro and the rest of the world makes do with whatever the exchange rate is? <shrug>

Step 1) Vacation property in US
Step 2) Any cars plated and driven anywhere you want with the savings

 

Very Good Points, Prancing 12, but, why does this logic not apply to every other Audi and Volkswagen residual?--i.e. an a6 or a8 or BMW or Porsche for that matter??

If parent company Volkswagen was responsible for not letting US lambos into canada (I don't think they could care less, when they don't about 95% of their other US models; of their other brands, like Audi VW and Bentley being imported into canada)...why are they not doing it straight across the board, because the currency change would have affected all their products, equally?

 

Blaming the higher price in Canada on an old exchange rate is a good theory but it simply doesn't hold up based on the numbers. Duty and a 65 cent dollar don't cover a $100,000 difference in price no matter how you juggle the numbers. Porsche and Corvette new car prices also illustrate the huge difference between the USA and Canada price structures. An deluxe interior and a different bumper don't explain the dollar difference either; as the manufacturers would try and have you believe.
Canadian new car dealers are getting involved by importing used Corvettes for example from the USA. They are making money on the difference in price between the two markets. This in turn is undercutting the value of the Canadian market cars that Canadians paid much more for. This is especially true of customers who paid the list price to get the latest and greatest. They also got all the problems hidden in a brand new, unproven design which they can't escape from without taking a huge dollar hit...
CH

 

In the interest of 'ensuring the road safety of Canadians' an official review of the 15 year rule has been announced. Go to> [email protected] for comments.
An amendment will be published in the CANADA Gazette Part 1. Interested parties will then have 75 days to submit comments.
CH

 

Canada is a very expensive country to do business in, high fees and taxes, and a very small market can make it un-appealing to foreign car/motorcycle manufacturers.

Take Ducati, Aprilia and MV Agusta for example....(all Italian manufacturers) All have a huge presence in the US, but can barely crack a Canadian market which by capita has very wealthy and dedicated customers. However, there has been a shake-up in the dealer scene, seeing 2 dealers close down recently due to poor performance, poor sales and marketing.

Who's to blame? The dealers who are un-productive? or the Manufacturers who impose high fees and demands from the dealers, and who are constantly re-organizing and screwing with the dealer structure?

I think the Canadian market is tough on both parties.

 

have to agree with you on the fees / taxes, etc to do business in Canada..., but the rule that prohibits lambos from coming to Canada looks more like a blatant payoff of someone in the Canadian government than it does a situation of it not being viable for dealers to sell Lambos in Canada.

Like most cases, protectionism always screws the consumers in the end....exactly what is happening to Canadian purchasers of Lambos, now.

customers are being forced to pay an artificially inflated price on a product that exactly the same as the "Canadian" model, save the slight, and easily modified differences others have mentioned before.

I say let the free market take it's course, and let Lambos trade on the open market within Canada and the US under the same rules that apply to Porsche Ferrari, and almost everyone else. If someone wants to pay the duty and taxes on a US Gallardo, or Muci, and bring it into Canada, let them....Do they really think that we're stupid in enough to believe that a Canadian will be much safer in a Canadian Lambo he bought because he bought it in Canada, than an American is in his US bought one?

as they say, what's good for the proverbial goose....

 

has anyone imported a ferrari into canada from usa here?

looking to import a F430 since its alot cheap there..

a 2005

is it difficult?

im from toronto

 

Welcome to fchat, enjoy your stay.

Ths topic has been beating to death around here, if you check the archieves with the search engine you will find what your looking for.

Have fun !

 

ill check again i tried to search for import and got 50 million threads

 

I just merged the thread. Lot's of good info here. Have a blast

 

I don't see how changing the date from 15 to 25 is going to solve anything relating to safety. A car of that age - no matter what market it is from, foreign or domestic - will be less safe than what is new today. Certainly, airbags were not in widespread use - if at all back then (2007-25 = 1982). The structures of the vehicles were certainly not capable of withstanding offset frontal collisions, roll-overs, etc. All of these areas, even domestic cars of that age can't pass what is standard today. Even then, recent testing of head-rests in cars manufactured now are showing chances of passengers suffering from whiplash because of inadequate protection that current head-rests provide (http://www.iihs.org/news/rss/pr070307.html). With that kind-of mentality, you might as well remove all vehicles 2006 and older off the road because their safety systems will not be up to par with 2007 and newer regulations.

Ridiculous isn't it? What makes drawing a line at 25 years old will make roads safer?...

Oh wait, now I get it. So, if the real goal is simply to do this to get all of the ex-JDM cars off the road which are supposedly causing all of these "accidents" (which is what is being implied with this rule change), how about to implement a rigorous testing of the driver through a special driving test to see if they can pilot the car through todays traffic and LHD road-orientation, so that they can avoid a potential accident in the first place? I can safely say, that the type of driver that is buying this type of car, cannot even drive a car from this market (LHD) properly (note recent accident of the Nissan 350Z on Granville St. in Vancouver a few days ago. Typical case), what makes the public think banning a RHD car will make them any safer? My neighbor who owns a RHD Toyota is a complete opposite of the typical buyer for these cars. She bought the car because she likes Toyotas and this particular model, the car was in fantastic shape and was much cheaper than a comparable Canadian, LHD version. She is a responsible person and drives the car perfectly. Is she a risk simply because she is driving a RHD car? I certainly don't think so. She is an exception and I wish the majority of people would drive like she does, even the ones buying similar RHD cars.

Or no, is it the fact that 16-17,000 vehicles imported/year are impeding on the sale of used, domestic vehicles. Where were those stats that I saw here on F'Chat of how many vehicles are sold in a year - new/used/imported new/imported used? Is it possibly that many? A quick browse of the few B.C. ex-JDM dealer's websites that I have in my "Favorites", probably amounts to about 50-100 ex-JDM cars total at any one time for sale:

http://www.japanoid.com/forsale/ (13 - I did not count the "In Transit from Japan" cars)
http://www.abbotsfordjapanauto.com/inventory.html (27)
http://www.theskylineshop.com/products_veh.php?cat=2 (4)
http://www.theskylineshop.com/products_veh.php?cat=19 (2)
http://www.theskylineshop.com/products_veh.php?cat=17 (sold vehicles, which have been over a period of time that I don't know of. Dare I assume it to be since this company has been operating? - 46)

etc... There are probably a few other lots that have some ex-JDM cars scattered about the province that I'm not aware of. I can be sure, it is a handful of an amount.

These are niche-market vehicles appealing to a small group of people. The vast majority of the public wouldn't consider buying one of these cars because of the awkward RHD operation and thus, they are left with the thousands of normal, LHD for sale at any one time. Are these RHD cars taking away that many sales of used domestic (sold in Canada when new) and imported (from the U.S.) cars from the popular, mainstream dealers and independant lots?

And couldn't one construe Transport Canada's statement into the favour of the ex-JDM (and also for those modern LHD European cars like Lancia Deltas, etc...) owners/importers: "...The analysis done at that time indicated that few vehicles over 15 years were being imported, most of them generally being collector’s items originating from the U.S...". Why can't it be considered that these newer cars are "Collector's Items" (which under ICBC's Collector policy clearly states any car is acceptable if it is 15 years and older and that fewer than 1500 made in that year of production. Okay, so many of the ex-JDM's were made in greater numbers, but many other foreign-market cars like the Lancia qualify which would now be banned). What numbers/percentages of those "few vehicles" imported compared to the overall sales of cars back then, made it an acceptible amount to allow them to come in at all? Has it grown in proportion to what is being stated now? How much is too much?

 

im short on time atm to read this whole thread, but is it possible to import a car from the US less then 15 years old, say 2-3 years old?


thanks.
Sanj

 

Check the allowable list at www.riv.ca.

 

oh perfect, thank you so much!!

 

If you want to save time and hassle, is there someone who has imported (by that I mean get the car transported, modified for CAD regulation and plated here ) Ferraris to Canada and be willing to do it for a fee.

Specifically I'm looking for a 575 and am baffle with the price difference between the US and CAD...

 

I just brought a 93 348SS in myself. No issues at all. What year of 575 did you want to bring in?

 

Not sure exactly what year but it's in the 2002-2005 range. Bottom line it seems a mind blowing $100,000 CAD cheaper....

Where do you get the required modification such as speedometer and running lights done ? I assume that the local dealer would NOT be overly please to accomodate you.

Any issue in getting service done from the dealer or do you have to find a good independent ?

Lastly, what about PPI ? Done in the US ??

 

Yes I would recommend a PPI just like anyone would on this board. When you have targeted a car come back here and post in the section where the car is located. 9 out of 10 times someone will know the car and give you the scoupe....as well as where to get a proper PPI. This site will definetly be your friend.

 

Im about to go check out a car sometime next week. But I had a question concerning once I get it imported into Canada.

If im about to resell it in a few years, how can a customer tell if the car was imported from USA? Does it say in the vehicles history?

has anyone imported a f-car from usa and resold it in Canada? Did it effect resale value?

Im looking at this one: http://www.continentalautosports.com/inventory/details.aspx?id=NLIL0007.5/551701

I dont really want to put into the ad "imported from usa" if theres no need.

also what does it mean when it says usa model ? does it mean the ferrari was built in USA? (concerning the 6% extra tax on non canadian/usa cars)

 

Even though the import thread is right there...

The next buyer will be able to tell the car is a US car from a) the speedo is in MPH b) the odometer reads in miles c) the temp gauges etc will be in imperial d) the VIN says so e) any history (which is important and will be checked) will be from a US dealer.

You won't be hiding that from any prospective buyer unless you found the dumbest Ferrari buyer on Earth.

That being said, there are US cars coming up now and I think the market will be somewhat accepting. But the acceptance will be based on the car being at a discount over comparable Canadian cars... like a 10-15% discount. Also, when you go to sell, most prospective buyers that aren't affraid of the US cars will consider importing one themselves, so you'll be competing against the US market and whatever prices are then.

With all that being said, what is wrong with a Canadian car? After all fees, duties etc are paid, this car would land at roughly $206,000. That's not too far off a similar Canadian car, and certainly not 10-15%.

Unless you can get a great buy on this car, I don't think it's worth the immediate and future headaches over a US car.

 

that same car goes for 225k+ with higher K's

so there about 20k difference. im guessing 2k to get it over here but im gonig to try to get them to throw the hauling in.
if you see a comparable car in canada, let me know id rather buy it here.

 

Shipping will be $3k, there's 6.1% duty, the recall letter is $2k, the DRLs need to be turned on (have it done there), you should have a PPI done at $400... just some things to keep in mind.

Also, the Canadian "Ferrari Season" is winding down, so prices might be more flexible...

 

still a difference around 17000.

if the prices are flexible..it hasnt happened yet because i check auto trader weekly with no success

i of course wont buy one at the end of summer theres no point unless its priced at next years pricing

but ive kept seen the riv.ca website and costs involved, it is truely crazy.

but damn i didnt know a recall letter is 2K