[Auto] WOW ---- New cars from US up to 30% cheaper (cost to import under $200)

Originally Posted by stephenstay

I just purchased a vehicle (literally two weeks ago) in Ohio from a dealer and I did not have to pay sales tax. My dealer had everything taken care of for me as part of the sale.

The forms I signed were:
1. Power of attorney from owner to assign title to a motor vehicle or from purchaser to apply for title.
2. Application for certificate of title to a motor vehicle.
3. Exemption Certificate and affidavit regarding sale of motor vehicle, 0ff-highway motorcycle, or all-purpose vehicle to an out-of-state resident.

More information of the process I went through:

4. I sent a photocopy of my driver's license.
5. In my case the vehicle had never been titled so they did title it in my name. The titling in my name and the statement of my intention to leave the country with the car was key in the tax exemption.
6. Ohio law requires the retention of the original title if the car is being shipped out of country. They will send you a certified receipt of title surrender and two certified copies of the title. This documentation was acceptable for US Customs (or so they said after I faxed them all the documents).
7. You might want to call Ohio BMV Title Administration and Customer Service Unit at 614-752-7671 and ask to speak to the export-import assistant and they will advise you of the steps necessary to remove your vehicle from Ohio. The ladies name I spoke to was Sandi and she was very helpful.

Hope this was helpful. There must be some misinformation with the folks you are dealing with. The rules couldn't have changed in 10 days.

Good luck.
SS

Thanks,that was a great 1st post,very helpful.
Will try the # first thing Monday.

Originally Posted by 2ride4life

The difference in interest between financing and taking out a loan ~$2600 in favour of CDN.

Exactly my point, maybe there is some misunderstanding here, I was actually replying to another comment by an earlier poster.

Don't get me wrong, I think importing cars from US is great, I just think we need to factor in all the variables before we punch out the final number. After all, we are here to save money.

Canada's ecoAUTO program of up to $2,000 refund for buying a new vehicle with low fuel consumption is not available for new imports. You have to buy from a Canadian dealer. Even though the objective of the program is to encourage more efficient vehicles, imports don't qualify. It may be worth lobbying for a change to this rule though the difficulty might be determining the efficiency of a vehicle not made for the Canadian market.

In many applications of the rebate, its effectivness is questionable. When a refund of say, $1,000 is available from Ottawa, manufacturers/dealers simple reduce their incentives by up to $1,000. No wonder some manufacturers are publicly praising the program.

The 2007 model of Honda's Fit failed to qualify but the competing Toyota Yaris did. So last year Honda met the competition by offering a $1,000 incentive. For 2008, Honda tweaked the Fit to get it to qualify for the Ottawa rebate. Guess what. Honda no longer offer that same incentive.

For Jeep's Compass and Patriot, only one trim level of each is eligible for the SUV ecoAUTO money. What Jeep does is simply offer a lower incentive for those trim levels eligible for the Ottawa rebate.

Originally Posted by Marzipan

For Jeep's Compass and Patriot, only one trim level of each is eligible for the SUV ecoAUTO money. What Jeep does is simply offer a lower incentive for those trim levels eligible for the Ottawa rebate.

Giving a rebate on any SUV is ridiculous unless it meets the ecoCAR qualifications. Why should someone who buys an ecoSUV get a rebate when someone who buys a car that gets better mileage than the ecoSUV but not as good as a ecoCAR not receive a rebate?

Originally Posted by Monsieurmaggot

So US car sales are weak and insignificant eh?

Here's the proof. I should get the Medal of Canada for this.

Canadian domestic car/truck sales totalled approximately 118,000 units in November.

Over 30,000 vehicles were imported last month.

Using my simple math, that works out that 25% of the market is buying in the US.

Who can dispute that?
...

Originally Posted by Marzipan

I think we have to note that the import figure is both new and used. Domestic sales are new only.

Did I see somewhere that only 22% of imports were new? It seems low, I know.

As Marzipan stated, the import numbers are used and new, the CND sales are new only so it's not 20% of new cars from the US.

This article confirms the 22% of imports are new number http://www.wheels.ca/article/46942

so that would make about 6600 new cars from the US versus 118000 sold in Canada (roughly 5% of total new cars).

I think the 22% is actually pretty close to the ratio for new vs used. Can't find any docs with it but I thought I had heard there there were about 5 million new and used cars sold in Canada every year and I think there were 1.6M new cars sold in Canada last year.

Want a cheaper car? Sorry, you're Canadian
December 7, 2007
.........

Many production costs are dropping in the U.S., particularly as its dollar declines and automakers have been able to get out from under expensive health care and pension obligations.

So, he asks, why would an automaker continue to manufacture in Canada, if everything becomes one big unimpeded market?

..........

In the end, it's a choice.

This is hardly a justification for price arbitrage. The economics of production dictate that the manufacturers will invest in production facilities in the lowest cost location, and will adapt future production to the currency regardless of territory prices.

Why should the manufacturer's be able to adapt to the currency value and consumers not also have the same privilege ?

In fact the manufacturer's will no doubt belly up to the public trough with the argument that it costs ore to produce in Canada. Any such attempt should be met with a vocal response that the prices more than reflect any possible difference.

I just looked at the updated RIV list for what American cars are admissible for import to Canada and it seems that the 2008 Subaru Forester is no longer on the forbidden list. Can anyone confirm if this is correct?

Who can throw me a quick anser? I really don't have time to review 720+ pages of posts.... sorry

I'm considering a private sale in US. Anyone had experience? how do you do the transfer of ownership? how do you get a temporary plate to drive across the border? Do you still need to pay the local tax if you eventually gonna register the car in Canada? thanks!

Originally Posted by gilad

I just looked at the updated RIV list for what American cars are admissible for import to Canada and it seems that the 2008 Subaru Forester is no longer on the forbidden list. Can anyone confirm if this is correct?

Check section 5,4: http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/impor...Section5_4.htm

Originally Posted by GougingCarCartelGroup

So in other words out of a total of 118K+30K car purchased in canada, 20% were from the USA.
I wonder how many of those 30K were consumer purchases vs dealers purchasing american cars to gouge the Canadian consumer in Canada.

I hope this trend continues, and does not go down,

I can't undrstand how BMW is up, ??????????? damn, i guess people are leasing those 328 four door sedans for 3 years, and that counts as a car purchase for them. To me that is renting a car.

Don't forget that the 3 series is by far their biggest volume seller and it was a brand design for 2007. New model designs almost always sell better year-over-year than the previous generation.

Also, look at Acura's sales, they were up 22.9% in 2007 compared to 2006. The MDX was a new design for 2007 and it represents a good chunk of volume for Acura. In addition to the MDX sales, the RDX started selling in the fall of 2006, so for the bulk of 2007 every RDX sale was a 100% volume increase over the previous year simply because it did not exist.

Had BMW and Acura released these refreshed/new models in 2005 for the 2006 model year, I am sure their sales would look a lot more like the rest of the industry's for 2007, either flat or down. Right now BMW and Acura are riding a wave that will end soon if it hasn't already.

I just looked at the updated RIV list for what American cars are admissible for import to Canada and it seems that the 2008 Subaru Forester is no longer on the forbidden list. Can anyone confirm if this is correct?

Originally Posted by Trexim

Check section 5,4: http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/impor...Section5_4.htm

Here:

http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/impor...list/VAFUS.pdf

on page 14 it seems to indicate that it is ok to import it, which is why I'm a bit confused...

Originally Posted by michelb

As Marzipan stated, the import numbers are used and new, the CND sales are new only so it's not 20% of new cars from the US.

This article confirms the 22% of imports are new number http://www.wheels.ca/article/46942

so that would make about 6600 new cars from the US versus 118000 sold in Canada (roughly 5% of total new cars).

I think the 22% is actually pretty close to the ratio for new vs used. Can't find any docs with it but I thought I had heard there there were about 5 million new and used cars sold in Canada every year and I think there were 1.6M new cars sold in Canada last year.

To further develop this analysis ... as well as the 22% of imports that are directly displacing domestic new vehicle sales, the other 78% are also hurting the same sales. As you have read on this forum, individuals are bringing in good used vehicles instead of buying domestics new. Used vehicle dealers are increasingly buying their stock from south of the border.

Originally Posted by champion_qh

Who can throw me a quick anser? I really don't have time to review 720+ pages of posts.... sorry

I'm considering a private sale in US. Anyone had experience? how do you do the transfer of ownership? how do you get a temporary plate to drive across the border? Do you still need to pay the local tax if you eventually gonna register the car in Canada? thanks!

Quick answer is that with your rush-rush attitude you may get burned....sorry.

Importing a car successfully requires homework, and that goes double for a used car. Besides every US state has different rules...you have provided zero specific information.

Originally Posted by UAToronto

This is the message I received from a dealer in New Jersey regarding the temporary permit: "I can provide everything but a temp. tag, it is the law" "we can not issue temporary plates or stickers for vehicles that go outside of the U.S.A." No deal!!

Not true. I purchased a 2007 Outback from a dealer in NJ in November and they issued my a 20-day out-of-state permit no questions asked. Has someone changed the rules????

Originally Posted by champion_qh

Who can throw me a quick anser? I really don't have time to review 720+ pages of posts.... sorry

I'm considering a private sale in US. Anyone had experience? how do you do the transfer of ownership? how do you get a temporary plate to drive across the border? Do you still need to pay the local tax if you eventually gonna register the car in Canada? thanks!

Search for post from my name. I bought a used Mini Cooper "S" a few months back from a private party... Remember things may very from state to state (I bought on the East coast- Virginia to be precise)....

Brendon