I was reading this one thread in 2nd gen forum, where this guy was selling his mk3 supra turbo with mods for $3500...that car would be a solid 12K here in manitoba.

and i'm always hearing about people down south buying low mileage t2's for like $3-5k, whereas here those would be not a dime less than $8k.

What's up with this???

PS: This has got me thinking, i should buy my next car from a yankee.

 

Supply and demand.

When supply of something is greater tha its demand, its relative value goes down. Works backwards as well - when you have high demand and low supply, the relative value goes up. Unfortunately, in Canada when it comes to neat cars, demand is usually greater than supply.

 

I could have bought a no rust GSL-SE last summer with under 100,000 MILES for $1750. That here is $5000.

Everything is cheaper down there. Porsche is a perfect example. You can save almost $25,000CDN if you brand new buy from the US.

 

Americans also have more of a disposable-goods culture. People in general want the new, blingin' car not an 'old' one. LA is a good example - you can get 90s BMWs for dirt cheap, nothing wrong with them - except they're 'old'.

 

So I guess we just need to find a country looking for old ford Ltd's, granada's and fairmonts and perhaps a few chevettes and we'll be rich.

 

It's not like you wanna low ball yourself but selling a car on sedimental value is the reason as to why prices are higher in Canada. People wanna get rid of their cars, but a 20 year-old canadian car has "far too much sedimental value" to price it to move.

 

what you said:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sediment

what you meant to say:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sentiment

and thus, why I'm laughing my *** off

Jon

 

Another minor factor in higher CDN prices could be the fact that our cars typically have far fewer miles on them due to winter. ie an FD is not driven year round here as compared to California or Florida, etc, so after 10-15 years there should be quite a difference in the odometers which may be reflected in the price. This also explains why most Americans are better golfers than most Canadians
Another small factor might be rarity. When there are higher numbers, as in the States, then there's more competition to sell.

 

AH hahaha my bad my bad wasnt paying that much attention

 

is there like an american auto trader or something, or where do most people find these cars?

 

www.autotrader.com

I hate it, but it works.

Also see:

www.ebay.com

 

Okay for the american autotrader, is there a Detroit Zip Code or something that I can use that will bring up cars(in my case a truck) as close as possible to the GTA area? I'm looking for a 5k truck, and i know there are alot more of them down south. There seems to be no decents ones I can find

 

http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/citytown.jsp

Just search under the "By City" tab. Type in a city and state, and it will give you all associated Zip Codes.

 

It's the same thing with Miatas, they're expensive here, but a dime a dozen there. New cars are rediculously overpriced here compared to there too. It's often worth the time, expense and hassle of bringing in a US car.

 

It doesn't help any that new vehicles, at least since the dollar started rising a few years ago from it's low of about 62cents on the US $, have tended to be priced in Canada as if the dollar still traded at .65 - .70, when in fact it's closing in on .94. This, for example, mean for an RX8 GS, with all the goodies currently being included to move them, costs CDN $42,069 roughly including GST at MSRP and delivery included here in Alberta. Across the border in Montana, I have more options (Sport, Touring= GS, & GT), meaning I can get Xenon headlights on the GS for example (GT only in Canada), and otherwise similarly equipped, except w/o a MazdaSpeed CAI included in Canada, the cost comes to US$ 30.780. Adding the 6% GST I'd pay at the border and converted to CDN, add $200 for the RIV fee, and we're at $cdn 34,709. Lets be pessimistic, and say I can't hook up DRL's myself, and plus an OOP inspection, another $300 and call it $35,000cdn. I'm basically paying $7,000 and change for the privilege of having my speedo in kph, (oh, I've neglected to include a bus ticket to Great Falls to pick it up, call that $100). That's a 17% premium! This gouge carries thru to the used market, and as someone has already noted, we seem to hang on to our old crap tighter and expect to get more for it, so the premium is actually worse on used vehicles. This is just one example, but I've been doing some comparo shopping, and I'm pretty sure my next car will read mph - I can put the money I save towards performance bits for the new car!

 

ya i was just looking through trader.ca and found a 88 GXL for $10,800...like geez.

on another note...

Who else here is getting fed up with JDM's?
Now don't get me wrong, if there was a jdm FD or skyline going for a great price, i'd definately consider it, but i know many people around here that want a jdm just so they can say they drive a RHD.

I figure since our roads are made for LHD, those are the vehicles i'd like to drive.

 

Us vehicles are cheaper because there are 5 times the people there. simple as that.

 

There's actually about 9x as many people - but I'm not following your logic. It's a larger market - both for buyers and sellers, so nothing inherently makes it more competitive. Even in the golden triangle and BC lower mainland, where population numbers and density rival populous regions of the US, and where it is a short trip across the border, car prices new and used tend to be much higher here than the US - although it is even worse on the prairies, where population densities are low, and no major US centres are nearby either.
I think a lot of it comes down to serious profit-taking by Canadian manufacturer/dealer networks on the new car side. The dollar has risen 35% against the Yankee dollar in the last five years, and made significant gains on other major currencies as well, but nobody has been rolling back prices on major consumer goods to match.

 

We're all getting screwed in every hole... Extra 50 cent tax on each pint of beer? F YOU Toronto!!!! Ripoff Ministers, Shitty Mayors. I'd love to straighten out some of the politicians in this country. Service levels fall, costs rise, blame is shifted, Ottawa fills it's coffers. At least we don't have a Bush but... I'm building my own Waco inspired Rotary community/compound with 50mm gunners on the fences. Screw them back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do I sound bitter? I hate liars in positions of power and being OVERTAXED.