Looking to import from US

Dizzy

If I could have found a car at that price point, I would have jumped at it too. Non of the dealers I spoke to down south were willing to do an out of state sale. They all insisted the car had to be sold and registered in their state. That despite my strongest arguements that they didn't need to do that.

Interesting news on the warrenty. When I called Nissan, the told me the exact opposite. If I bought the car new, or within the first 6 months of registering, I could not transfer or get a warrenty. If I bought it 6 months or later after the car was registered, then the warrenty was transferable.

As a matter of fact, if I could have gotten a Z at that price point, I would have taken my chances with the warrenty! Unfortunately, non of the dealers I spoke with where willing to do business north of the boarder.

Bottom line though, our buck is at par and has been damn close to parity for years. Why then is there that much difference? I actually know the answers to that question......but it still makes me sick!

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partsguy

It's because the population in Canada is one tenth of the USA. MUCH smaller market.... thus the higher prices. Also, taxes in Canada (to actually operate a business) are much higher than south of the border. Yet another reason why prices are much higher in Canada.

Sucks, but not really much we can do about it. Except, bartering with the salesman. Their mark-up has room to discount at least 10% off of MSRP. And at $46,000 (for example), that's around $4500 off.

oakland 9424

Ridiculous, I will have to call BS. Everybody needs insurance the costs are generally in savings for this vehicle high end are about 50 g in canada 38 g in US difference 12 G. Buy in a state you have relatives or do it on a vacation that was planned anyway. Come in through the AB border no HST,PST. All the updates in Canada are minimal to the savings. GST and duty total about 10 11 percent on price, got to pay GST anyways. So 12 G in savings subtract these costs to import I think you still come out ahead. probably enough to cover vacation you may have bought it on.

Cheech

Funny the responses you get from each dealer. Guess some are hungrier than others. Glad I found one that was starving

Well, I think we've exhausted this topic..... think I'll go wash my Z now.

Cheers,
Pete

Dizzy

Wow, why didn't I think of that before? I should have just gone to AB and bought my car and saved 8%! It's not like they'd charge me any tax when I go to register the car in Ontario, and not like I'd ever run into any issues if I left AB plates on it! Wish I'd thought of that!

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JC7

Just bought a 40th anny from Portland (my third USA import). There are some rules when importing, different for every manufacturer... Specifically, Nissan Canada requires that the car must have been registered for a period no less than six months in the USA before it can be considered for import. I bought used so I didnt do any digging on this but it seems to me that buying new from the USA is a no go (however, this may only void the warranty, not sure). as for taxes, if your buying from a dealership the first question you should ask them is to speak to the sales manager, deal directly with this person as the floor salesman don't have all the info and will make bad assumptions about critical go/nogo issues 90% (speaking from experience here, no offense to any sales people...)

otherwise, lots of good posts here by Cheech and others, call RIV, Nissan Canada, take your stress pills "if you have troubles with waiting" and then prepare to apply pressure with your right foot and drive!!! I'll update if anything changes and provide a complete breakdown of my costs when I get back. Any questions in the meantime, feel free to msg me.

Cheech

Here's a letter I received from Nissan USA regarding warranties. I hope this answers some questions.


Cheech

Attached Files

NissanUSA-WarrantyLtr.pdf (39.2 KB, 44 views)

Dizzy

Thats great information Cheech, but it does confirm my understanding. I do not have a US address so how would I register te car in the US in my name? I was told that was impossible to do without a US drivers license.

I was going to get my Nephew to buy the car as he is in school in Boston. The problem occurs when I bring the car back here, I have to reregister it and change the vehicle to my name in order to do it.

Can I ask how you managed to buy the car and have it registered in the US?

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Cheech

If I bought new, I would have registered it to relatives I have in another state. The one I purchased was originally put into service at the end of June, thus I had to wait till the end of December to make the acquisition.

Without a US drivers license that could be a hurdle, but I'm not sure. When I was looking for a car, there were none with the options and colour anywhere on the west coast. The dealers searched quite a few states, but couldn't find any, so I never got that far with the negotiations. The one I purchased was used, so the warranty fell under a different set of conditions.

It would be worthwhile to find out and post that information on the forum. There are new members looking south for a car. Maybe they can let us know how they made out (with a new purchase).

Dizzy

Indeed, I would like to know that for futue reference. Same sort of boat as you. Bought mine in September last year and the availabilty Canada wide was non existant. I specifically wanted a White Sport 6MT Navi, of which there were non in Canada. So, I started looking south where I could find the car, but couldn't get past the hurdles of dealers not want to sell to Canadians, dealers not realising out of state sales could be done without tax and that all important US address for the warranty issues. In the mean time, my local dealer found a car that Nissan Canada happened to be bringing in as a show car. A little begging and pleading and he came through for me (nice to have friends that work in dealerships).

If anyone does successfully purchase south of the boarder and is able to overcome all the hurdles, I for one would love to hear how you accomplish it. I couldn't get all the pieces to lineup no matter how hard I tried.

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FricFrac

I would think the dealers south of you would be quite savvy and eager with Canadian customers importing. I know my experience with dealers in Washington, Oregon and California is that they know the process, know not to charge the taxes and know the loop holes in the system to make the whole process easier. (Eg in California you pay the sales tax if you buy the car in the US but if you have it "exported" to the boarder you can avoid the tax, etc).

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'09 370Z - '93 300ZX Vert - '83 280ZX - '83 280ZXT -'81 280ZXT stroker - '72 240Z - Stillen CBE, HFC, G3, Grounding Kit, Sways // Swift Spring // H&R 15mm // 5% Tint // Clear Bra //

FricFrac

Sorry but that information is just wrong. Yes our population is 1/10th but taxes are not much higher in Canada. In fact states like California have slightly higher sales taxes on vehicles than we do. If that were true explain the multitude of cars sold in both the USA and Canada that sell for the same price within a couple of hundred dollars?

You may be familiar with the insane markups from Ford, etc the Japanese vehicles don't have the same luxury of price spread. The total markup is 9% on a 370Z and the dealer needs to make something on the car. You would be hard pressed to get 5% off.....

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'09 370Z - '93 300ZX Vert - '83 280ZX - '83 280ZXT -'81 280ZXT stroker - '72 240Z - Stillen CBE, HFC, G3, Grounding Kit, Sways // Swift Spring // H&R 15mm // 5% Tint // Clear Bra //

partsguy

If you think 9% is all the mark-up a dealer gets on a Z, you're dreaming.

FricFrac

I know its the base and they get whatever incentives from Nissan but as most people know it's not a huge mark up. I have no clue what you do or know but staffing, rent, etc that it takes to run a car lot takes a lot of cars to pay for. How much did you get off on your car and do you have any numbers to back up these huge discounts everyone should be able to get?

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'09 370Z - '93 300ZX Vert - '83 280ZX - '83 280ZXT -'81 280ZXT stroker - '72 240Z - Stillen CBE, HFC, G3, Grounding Kit, Sways // Swift Spring // H&R 15mm // 5% Tint // Clear Bra //

333 4 ME

Markup on a brand new car is in the 6-9% range from factory invoice...this is average. However, dealers will always get a kickback from the Manufacturer of about 2% MSRP to ensure they make something on the sale even if they sell the car at MSRP. Plus they charge you an arm and a leg for Freight and PDI in this country - about 1800 or so, when really it only costs them about 3-400 per car. So now they have made over 2 Gs on a car that sold at a 35k MSRP.

Oh also, dealers get kickbacks from the manufacturer for meeting certain sales targets which is another revenue stream on new car sales. Aside from that, dealers also make their money by selling add ons (tint, rust proofing), extended warranties from 3rd parties, accessories (which are marked up huge), and of course the biggest of them all, service.

One thing you have to consider when importing vehicles that are not NAFTA exempt is that the 6.1 duty is also subject to tax. So the calculation is Vehicle Price in US * Conversion Rate * 6.1% * Provincial/Federal Sales Tax + all the other fees for importing the car.

Also, buying in the US doesn't give you the option to lease the vehicle, which means you have to pay cash up front or finance through a bank loan, which typically doesn't offer as good an interest rate as through dealer financing.