kryptonite

Quite a few of us here have US cars.

It's just a matter of the hassle of getting the paperwork done and the hit/miss possibility with not being present and then if you do go to inspect the vehicle you're spending money on the ticket there

Adrenalize

The exchange rate alone would deter me from buying in the US. And on top of that there's the hassle.

One upside of buying in the US is the selection. There are so many more S2ks down there. They only sold something like 2.5k of them up here.

iDomN8U

That ship has sailed.

If it gets back to 90+ cents to the US it might be worth it then.

jvf1

When I bought my CR in the US in 2011, the Canadian dollar was at 1.03 US so I actually came out ahead buying in the US. Timing just worked out great for me, and I found my car in Troy, Michigan (1 hour away from me) so it was perfect.
The car got traded in at a Honda Dealer and listed on a Friday. I called Friday night, drove down to see the car in their showroom Saturday morning, went back Monday for a test drive and bought the car.
The import was dead simple with the RIV process and the dealer I bought from was awesome to deal with. He even delivered the car to the Bluewater Bridge in Port Huron for me so I didn't have to pay Michigan tax, didn't have to buy a temporary permit and didn't have to have the car shipped.

FluKy15

Pretty much this. With the exchange rate, it's in general more expensive to buy from the states.

darcyw

I bought my '03 US car from Alabama, one day after jvf1. exhange was favourable. Easy process. picked up car, drove back to canada with no plates on at all. Confirmed with my insurance company that i was covered- i was.

Pay federal tax of 5%. Pay "not made in NA tax" %6.1. Pay $100 A/C tax. Pay RIV fee. All these are paid at the border, if i can recall.

Do your safety/e-test/DRL install- say $300 total. Get your new plates and pay PST 8%, plus licence fee for the year.

So, a $20,000 USDM s2000 is $25,000 CANADIAN with exchange alone. Pay your taxes based on exchanged value you'll pay total tax (on that 25K) of $4525 (18.1 total tax rate).

So, that $20,000 US s2000 is $30,000 canadian- 1/3rd more!- once its parked in your garage. that exchange rate is just so deadly right now. at par, you're paying only $25,000, which is far more reasonable.

So that canadian/pre imported US car is much more attractive than that US one. I like running these numbers though.

Now consider this, 15 year old cars can be imported tax free- saving you the 6.1%. You'll still pay HST, but no RIV fee.

darcy

kryptonite

Interesting. Did not know this

darcyw

its the reason us good canadians have been enjoying the nissan GTR while the americans are just tasting the fruit of Nissan's performance days. They can now import 25 year old cars. We've can import 15 year old cars...making the early typeR civics my first pick.

darcy

kryptonite

its the reason us good canadians have been enjoying the nissan GTR while the americans are just tasting the fruit of Nissan's performance days. They can now import 25 year old cars. We've can import 15 year old cars...making the early typeR civics my first pick.

darcy
[/quote]

That I knew. Just didn't realize that the associated import tax was dropped.

Adrenalize

So tempted to import a 2004 S2000 in Royal Navy Blue from Europe when it's 15 years old

My 04 is one of the first (#22) and was built in 2003. Hard to believe it's 12 years old