Are GM Canada Cars/Trucks Overpriced?

[LIKAROK]

Well today the Canadian dollar went over 90cents. Do you think we will see Gm Canada lowering the price of their cars and trucks.......Yeah Right!

A recent visit to a Harley Davidson store confirms that the price for a Harley has come down drastically over the last few years. The dealer says it is because of the stronger Canadian dollar.

Well comparing US prices on the Chevrolet .com website it seems that a comparable Canadian car or truck is at least 10% overpriced vs is American counterpart.

Example: A US website shows that a Corvette ZO6 is selling for 80,000.00 and in Canada the same car is 105,000.00. Even with the 10cent difference in the dollar, the US car would work out to approximately 87,000.00 in Canadian dollars.......and that is not even considering GST.

Canadians should be going across the bourder to buy our cars!

[BusyBody]

I'm considering it. I like to support my economy, but I don't like to be ripped off either.

[montrealvue]

Ditto, it feels like a big scam! The argument that currency exchange affects the MSRP is a bunch of BS. Also, freight is not much more expensive into Canada....I know because I deal in freight.

[Buicktech]

We are still charged more by GM. Its a crappy deal, though a lot of our used cars are coming from South of the border though, they tend to be a good deal.

[IAMCANADIAN]

I agree. There is a lot of hassle bringing up a car to the US (and apparently GM won't sell new cars in the US to people who will import them into Canada or Mexico according to a GM dealer that I went to in Palm Springs). Still, considering how much cheaper cars are down there, it's worth it to save a couple grand and buy down there. If you're a member of Costco, they have car sales down there and you save lots off the price before incentives.

[airbalancer]

here what you need to know
http://www.riv.ca/english/html/how_to_import.html

[doh]

Just a few years back, when the dollar was .60 USD we were told By GM, "That if any dealer were to knowingly sell a US citizen a new GM vehicle, they would pull your franchise."

I wounder if the same is going to be true for the US dealers?

[zete]

Originally Posted by montrealvue

Ditto, it feels like a big scam! The argument that currency exchange affects the MSRP is a bunch of BS. Also, freight is not much more expensive into Canada....I know because I deal in freight.

And a lot of the vehicles are built right here in Ontario, and freight can't be the issue.

I think they're trying to recoup the cost when the buck was $0.60. However, some of the pricing is too out of whack. I could live with a mild difference, but when you see $5k, $10k or $20k difference you start to wonder if the automakers are thinking this through. It's not like we can't check the same car out in the US and in Canada and do the math.

Argh.

[Canuck]

The Z06 is a terrible example. I remember reading GM raised the price of the Z06 in Canada to prevent people from buying the Z06 in Canada and then exporting it to the US for a fast buck.

When the Canadian dollar was $0.60 US there were businesses which specialized in buying popular or hard to get models of cars, trucks and SUVs. These companies would pay 'buyers' several hundred dollars to purchase a certain models. Once purchased these companies would swap out the metric gauges and export the car to the US. The 'buyer' would pay cash for the car. The challenge these resellers faced was finding new 'buyers'. These businesses were making several thousand dollars reselling these cars. Since the Canadian dollar has recovered relative to the US dollar these businesses have disappeared.
Is it fair Canadian consumers pay more for a car? No but Canadians paid less when the Canadian dollar was trading at a much lower value.

[stormwatcher]

When the Canadian peso was 65 cents, vehicles were substantially cheaper here then in the US. Now that our dollar has risen, I guess it's payback time.

[BusyBody]

Originally Posted by stormwatcher

When the Canadian peso was 65 cents, vehicles were substantially cheaper here then in the US. Now that our dollar has risen, I guess it's payback time.

There is no peso. It's Canadian dollars. Peso is in Mexico.

[GMCSonoma]

Originally Posted by doh

Just a few years back, when the dollar was .60 USD we were told By GM, "That if any dealer were to knowingly sell a US citizen a new GM vehicle, they would pull your franchise."

I wounder if the same is going to be true for the US dealers?

We had someone do this, as they arrived here after purchasing in Ontario and wanted their cluster conversion covered under warranty...always when I'm filling in for the service manager...

After I told him, "no way", I got the threats of how they were gonna buy a Toyota-Ford-Dodge-whatever & the trail of tears...
I told him, "good luck, hopefully they'll deal with you in Canada again!"

Some people's children...

[big swede]

If you go to other sites everyone is complaining about there favorite car company so I doubt if it has anything to do with GM.

http://forums.swedespeed.com/zerothread?id=77097

[danman_s]

Does anyone know what the duty/taxes would be to import a vehicle?

I'm seriously considering flying down to houston with a few friends, buying a new truck with cash and do a road trip back to Calgary, AB. Can I expect for the Canadian dealerships to deny me warranty coverage and is there anything I can do about that?

[doh]

Originally Posted by danman_s

Does anyone know what the duty/taxes would be to import a vehicle?

I'm seriously considering flying down to houston with a few friends, buying a new truck with cash and do a road trip back to Calgary, AB. Can I expect for the Canadian dealerships to deny me warranty coverage and is there anything I can do about that?

GST/PST and Canadian Tires,(as an example) registered Importer Fees