importing a car from US --> useful tool for you !
 

I'm looking to purchase a car from US now since our dollar is strong. So, I made this little spreadsheet that calculate all the known costs that could be associated with importing a car to Canada.



http://rapidshare.com/files/296108741/PurchaseCar.xlsx


Made in Excel 2007, so should work in any Excel.

*updated

The spreadsheet will not account for insurance, PST, DRL Fix, Recall Letter, or any other inspection required by the individual manufacture. It does account for most of the necessary costs. Please use it at your own discretion.

Duty is charged on cars that were built outside of US, Canada, or Mexico. Therefore, most Japanese, and German cars will incur Duty (6.1%)
thanks

Nice spreadsheet. Since I'm looking to import a car soon, other people who use the spreadsheet should also be weary of the costs that the spreadsheet will not be able to account for. Eg. Recall letter(s), DRL fixes, certain manufacturers have standards to meet (i was told BMW/Merc can charge in the range of 2-5K for these 'mods'), etc.

Nice work.

Check this one out as well.

http://www.importcartocanada.info/to...ce-calculator/

$20,000 usd car

- or -
Vehicle Year Manufactured in Select North America Outside North America
Importing to Alberta British Columbia Manitoba New Brunswick Newfoundland and Labrador Nova Scotia Ontario Prince Edward Island Saskatchewan Northwest Territories Nunavut Yukon Air Conditioning?


Total: $24,652.75
Price Paid After Exchange: $20,616.43 today's rate of 0.9701
Duty Paid: $1,257.60 duty rate of 6.1%
GST Paid: $1,030.82 Canadian GST is 5%
PST Paid: $1,443.15 British Columbia PST rate of 7%
Air Conditioning Tax $100.00
RIV Fee: $204.75


Your cost after Import & Registration: $24,652.75

I want a Pontiac G8 GXP. :/ sigh

excel 2002 here, not working

Download the compatibility pack:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

A general rule seems to be an additional 25% or so. So $20k usd= around $25k cad
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after the HST in july comes into an effect I can see more people opting for used cars from US

You should factor for at *least* 25% if you wanna be safe. I just did this a few months ago.. and it was a long, expensive process..
I'll add to asian_XL's example:

So you're really closer to $26K after things add up, and this is if things go relatively well.

This assumes that you don't have that many repairs; they actually go over the car pretty well at Canadian Tire. They'll catch anything that's cracked or broken. My car was in superb condition: no accidents, no dings, nothing broken, still smelled new, interior didn't even look worn, but they still found a slightly cracked belt and bushing.

Then theres the cost of your time to go down. You need a day of time to go check out the car, then another day off to go down and pick it up and drive back, assuming it's close by (Seattle).

There's also the fact that your resale will be lower if you decide to sell.

Overall, there are a lot of things to consider, and you need a lot of time. It isn't a complicated process, but it's not a walk in the park either.

edit: I've updated lowside's post in the stickied thread to reflect changes over the years.
http://www.revscene.net/forums/impor...51#post6802951

xlsx won't work for non-MS office users (ie: people like me who use openoffice on my netbook).


save as .xls por favor?

Where do people get cheap cars in usa?

connections... (mainly people with a dealer license or something which have acess to all the auctions).

other than that, just go look around craigslist or something.

How do people normally do this. Let's say there's a car in the east. Do you guys go down to check it out? Or jus judge by pics?
Posted via RS Mobile

thats a gamble

personally I would search for cars in the closer states such as washington, oregon, or california since its easier for you to go down and look at the vehicle in person as well as test drive it.

Illegal for US dealerships to sell new vehicles to Canadians?
 

My friend quoted this section from LP Auto and said it is illegal (now) for US dealerships to sell new vehicles to Canadians. I've never heard of this before and up till now, I've still hear about Canadians buying new vehicles down in the States.


http://www.lpauto.ca/faqs.html#7

I'm wondering if this is true (or true as of now).

yes it is true

legally US dealerships cannot legally sell canadians a car if they know we are going to be bringing it into canada

^ car has to have a used title and be registered at least 6 months in the U.S. if i remember correctly

you have actual proof from a government site stating that its illegal?


cause until i see that i call BS

from my limited google search i can't find anything current..

everything from 2007-8 when the dollar economy was doing real well....

No, this restriction is not placed by the government. It was by the individual car manufactures. However, they do have a say in providing 'recall' documentations. Thus, you might not be able to get it across if you can't get a recall letter.

+1 you can't its one of the requirements of the RIV process

The problem with the internet is lots of people who "think" they know what they are talking about, or more dangerously know a "little" bit about what they are talking about.

The facts are as follows:

1) There is no US government law of any type that prevents a US dealer from selling a Canadian car.

2) There ARE several manufacturers who restrict their US dealers from selling cars to Canadians - different manufacturers have different policies on when it is acceptable to sell the car but the general rule of thumb is once the car has been titled, ie has had an owner, it is usually good to go. This often includes demo vehicles.

3) The manufacturer is not going to change their recall letter process regardless of whether you bought the car new or used in the US, it is simply the dealer that sold it to you whose ass is on the line.

4) You DO need a recall letter to get a form 2 to complete your RIV inspection.

Mark

reviving old thread.

so basically, the cost for everything could be about the same as if you buy a car here.

price for a 2013 v6 accord coupe in vancouver, wa is $29k, add roughly 25% to that and it's $36k, just like the price here.

so what's the myth about people getting cars cheaper in the states?

Your rough guess of 25% is pretty off.
Last time I checked the fee was 12% tax + $200 RIV FEE. If car was made outside North America add 6%. Most cars now are NA made.

You'll also get more car features/options.