Brother...i have been around all these cars my entire adult life. I can assure you....there is a difference. You can buy a 355 thats 13yrs old for 100k that has 2 owners on the VIN OR You can buy a 355 thats 12 yrs old for 65K that has 6 owners on the VIN dont let the shinny waxed paint, and redyed leather interior fool you. Americans in general are all about WAL MART now...its not the US of the 70s...not many Americans think quality...they only think price...thats the difference. Dont let there big mouths tell you otherwise...a cowboy in texas has no idea of what Flavio was doing in italy. Ferrari is an art form...you either know it, or you dont. Good luck in your find
I hear ya Big Red, good point. Thank you!......there is no doubt a little Luck won't hurt in the quest for the right car.
I agree 100% every owner of a cdn Ferrari's excuse is that u.s cars don't have the right mileage or are driven with the speedo pulled or whatever excuse they can think of, sorry to say guy's but this happens even with your beloved cdn Ferraris! like the yellow 355 spider that F.O.O found a switch on to shut off power to the cluster or the older slant-nose turbo with the same thing! It happens every day in every province. Bottom line is it happens in every country on all kinds of cars, and with only so few true canadian cars someone here is going to buy one that does not have the correct mileage although they did all the proper due diligence, it DOES NOT MATTER what you check or who you speak to if someone wants to hide the true mileage they can!. For example take the 1800 km's cdn stradale, why is it automatically assumed that the mileage is true but someone questions it on a u.s car? there is no reason. The weather is nicer? Of course if someone's selling a 1500 mile 355 with busted seats and a rock-chipped front then thats a different story and well not sure about everyone but I can tell when seats have been re-dyed which is noticebal in pictures as well and among other things is a "tell" of a abused car.
Yes, there are some **** cars in the U.S, but there are also **** cars in Canada, which is why homework is a must. Its not just Ferrari's, almost every comparable car is cheaper in the U.S, BMW's, vette's, Audi's, etc etc etc. Take your pick. Again, homework is a must, but there are plenty of excellent F-cars in the U.S that are cheaper in price.... Not as considerable as comparing a wrecked U.S car v.s a pristine Canadian car, but thats not comparing apples with apples. pristine v.s pristine and the U.S car is almost always at least a bit cheaper with the current exchange rate. Its not rocket science, just compare the price of low mileage FERRARI DEALER used car in the U.S with one at FoO. If you are paranoid enough to think an authorized Ferrari dealer illegally rolls back the odo, then there is no reason to think FoO would be any different. A Canadian car, however, will be easier to resell in Canada.
And about that Yellow 355 with Yellow stitching that sold out of Daytona yesterday. Is it any better than Robbies car? Because I can have Robbies for $101,000 CAD. Which may be even better! From what I understand, there isn't much better than Robbies Car. How much did that one sell for? I would LOVE to know!!!!
Look at 5 cars all together...and do the following check list 1) owners on the VIN 2) Service history and how long and what is documented 3) Full original books, and warrenty card, all the original tools 4) Condition of the under carriage (driven in rain or not) 5) Proper PPI I will assure you...you will see the difference...better to spend the 15K upfront and buy the best 355 you can....than buying a cheaper one thinking you can fix later....trust me....those 20K bills after you have the car will piss you off if you saw a cherry car for only 15K more at the time of purchase. Take your time, and look at 5 cars to compare...then make yoru move....just remember, there is no cheap car. You may still find one in the US at a very good price...but go check it out yourself...feel it...touch it....and have them proof you the VIN that its wasnt a whored out car. Hope you find the car of your dreams....its definitely a great time to look and try and buy a ferrari. Cheers !
I totally agree, when I was looking for my first car, I flew down to the US and found that lower priced cars always had some sort of story......on the flip side..when I found a good car and did the math to import it... the numbers didn't really yield any real savings.....My suggestion to Pro Stock is take your time and look as many cars as you can.....fly down to the US and go through the procees of finding a car.....I did and made a weekend of it. Have fun looking and when you find the car you love you will know it. From my experience any Ferrari in good condition US or CDN will always demand more $$$. Just my $0.02
Well said Bones, that yellow 355GTS looked perfect and deserved to sell for a premium.Daytona has a 1995GTB with a full service just done including Tubi & Hyper-flow cats asking $79,000 not bad,and you don't have to fly down & book a Hotel room for your self and your mechanic to go see it.[those soft costs add up really quick] Like it or not and i don't but the demand up here for good cars out strip the supply of good cars. Another example house prices in the States are still tanking but our house prices in the GTA are at all time high.
The 355 that sold at Daytona has got to be this one--it had yellow stiching on seats. Beutiful car. Lowered & nice wheels on it. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Some very good points posted in this thread, and something i've been pondering for the last little while as well since I've been searching for a car. I've been coming across 328's and 348's with prices 60-70k up here in BC, but when I see the same cars down in the States with prices 30-40k, I get a little annoyed. Right now as I type this, I'm looking at Ferrari of Vancouver's website. They are asking $229k for an '06 430 Spider. I'm seeing '06 Spiders at $170k in the States. Are you kidding me?
I am in the market as well and have been pondering the same questions as Pro Stock. I concluded the following: 1. If buying a US car you better be sure you want to keep it for a very long time if not forever since reselling it will be tougher. 2. There are no short cuts to buying any car, which may result in multiple trips to the US. It would be the luck of the draw as to whether you were able to find the car on trip 1 or trip 10. Your potential savings could be quite easily spent away. (especially if the better half considers each of those trips a mini-vacation) The other consideration for me is a little off topic in the sense that I have never bought the "perfect" car in the past. I would much rather buy a car knowing it has faults and more importantly being able to identify them. My reason being that I know I would either do the repair correctly or have the right professional do it correctly. What good is a car that claims to have all of the correct services performed but you don't know the level of professionalism of the service provider? It has taken me considerable time talking to friends and reading up on Fchat to develop an opinion on GTA Ferrari Technicians. What are the chances that you will be buying a car serviced by the "right" technician in a land far far away that you know little about? Anyhow, I will probably take at least one trip down south for a search but I am not holding my breath.
No point in comparing house and car prices between Canada and the US. Cars can move easily. Houses can't. I'm sure you all have looked at the RIV website, a useful source of information. Remember that buying a Ferrari out of country gets you stuck with taxes that you don't get on a private sale here, like the 6.1% not made in North America and the 5% GST as well as any provincial sales tax. Also there are small fees like the a/c and riv fee. I built a spread sheet and made sure I had all the fees etc and the varying exchange rate. Even after adding all the taxes etc in, the prices in Canada are way over the prices in the US, and I also don't believe the cars are any better here. PPI for condition!!! Is it worth the hassle to save the $$$? Definitely for me, but that is an individual decision. But there is lots to be saved.
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=264769 anyone notice this thread?? could be interesting. J
Anyone know if you still have to pay the 6.1% duty if the car is over 15 years old or all you avoid is the RIV requirements?
To the OP: I find this thread very interesting because I remember very well the decision making process. I started looking for a Ferrari about four years before I actually made the purchase. Looking back, the decision making process was really quite enjoyable. Learning in some detail about each model, body style and options etc has become a continual learning experience. My choice finally was a 355, coupe, F1 and ---- a car that was built for Canada. One of the reasons I wanted a car built for Canada was because since there were only 1042 Berlinettas made with the F1 trans, there is probably not very many made for Canada. I have no idea how many were actually built for Canada. I just think that there probably isn't very many models exactly like mine around. At the time I started looking, a 355 built for the US could not be imported into Canada, so that left me with a very small pool of cars to choose from that met my personal search criteria. I was not in a hurry so I just waited for the right one to come along. I can tell everyone that in the end, the price of the car was just one of many deciding factors, but most definitely NOT the most important. If you find the car you want, buy it for what is a fair price to you. Since it is now so easy to purchase a car that built for the US and import it to Canada, and price is very high on your list of deciding factors, then I would suggest you should buy a US model because I do not think you will be satisfied knowing the price differential.
Price is a deciding Factor....yes. A Dollar amount like this requires it to be so. There are many others as well. I am enjoying the search and living it day by day. After all, I will only ever buy my First 355 Once! Lovin, this Thread!
Heck, I took 2+ years before buying my lowly 348; and after chasing bargains, to the frustrations of a few members on this board, I ended up buying a car from FoO that was reasonably priced, with a solid history, and it's been a great car. FoO treated me fairly, gave me a good price, and I have no complaints. You may want to choose your words a bit more carefully. There's many more dimensions to a car than the purchase price, obviously buy based on your priorities. More driving, less yacking, if you find a US car you like - buy it and join the club.
For the most, Canadian cars are way over priced, however you can find some deals out there and don't be afraid to make low offers. people would laugh if they found out what I paid for my 355 fiorano.
You should wear a ski mask when driving that car...you stole that car And it also helped in knowing the right people that knew your car for many, many yrs.
That's why you guys need to get it in your heads that the SERVICE IS PARAMOUNT. If I buy a Ferrari it is going to need something done to it every year, no matter what. At the very least it is going to need an oil change and that will require a bill. If the mileage says the same number, or very close to it on every bill in every year, then guess what? You have a problem. I have every single bill for my car since 1978, including the original Bill of Sale in the file (funny before I bought the car I looked it over and thought twice about buying it because you learn just how much it costs to service these cars). Anyways, every single bill outlines the mileage and a FULL HISTORY can be seen from birth. I couldn't pull the ODO on my car, even if I wanted too. It wouldn't make any sense. Any car that does not have a service history automatically becomes suspect for me.
