Canadians that Purchased in the U.S
 

Have you ever purchased a car from the U.S? Was it purchased private or through a dealership? Did you go through a broker? With the strong Canadian dollar and lower prices for cars in the U.S amount to real savings after paying duty, taxes, conversions of the car and shipping?

Is it only worth it if you are purchasing high priced vehicles?

I'm in the market for an '01 Porsche Boxster S. In Toronto, I'd say an average price (private sale) would be about $27K to 29K. In the U.S, it looks like you can find '01's from like $18K to $20K

Love to hear your experience!

I purchased my 99 with 40k last year from a dealer in Michigan for $19000usd, had to pay their sales tax came to aprox. $20000usd picked it up myself and drove it accross the border (skip the US side inspection saves you time and they dont tell you that you have to ur just supposed to, Canadian side said I found a loophole I guess).

On the canadian side I had to pay 7%tax and 7% duty in and out in under 20mins. After that you have 90 days to have it certified and etested and the speedo switched over (electronic just takes a second) and daytime running lights (search DRL hack takes like 5 mins). and from there on its smooth sailing.

Btw in total taxes and all included it came to aprox. $24000cdn at the time 99 boxsters with low mileage were going for around 27-30k so I save myself quite a bit of cash!

you have to do a little running around for all the paperwork but in all it was well worth it! more infor on the paperwork here at www.riv.ca

If I had to do it again I would have looked into which states will not charge sales tax on vehicles being registered out of state (or country) their are only a few states that do charge Michigan just happened to be one of them :(

if your from toronto I'd suggest you look for one in ohio and drive and pick it up if you pay to have it shipped the shaipping and brokerage wont make it worth you while.

Hope that helped a bit

good luck :cheers:

I just went through importing an 03 S (and it's fantastic!). I recommend paying for transporting the car across the border (you don"t have to get a transit for which you have to pay state taxes and then try to get reimbursed later). Some border points allow you to fax the title 72 hrs ahead of time so that the truck can drive right through and drop the car off in your driveway if you prearrange a customs broker to take care of paperwork. Then you have to do both Fed and Prov inspections (no big deal but the speedo and day lights are the two mods you need...plus you"ll need a letter from Porsche stating there are no open recalls on the box).

It's a huge amount of pain (find the car, convince the seller you're not a Nigerian scammer, get as many photos as possible, get the CARFAX, have it inspected at the nearest dealer, negociate price, pay him through foreign exchange, arrange for transport and customs, mod the car, do the inspections) but after about 5-8 weeks, you'll be in Porsche Heaven with 5-20K$ in savings.

In Canada I was looking at a 2000 base model...for the same price I got a 2003 S in the US. Not a bad trade.

Any comments regarding what the seller should be concerned about with a purchase from Canada? Just asking b/c my car is currently listed on Autotrader and I received a couple of e-mails from interested parties in Canada.

hi im also in toronto and i look at porsche prices all the time :D id say for 2001 S you can do much better then 27-29 here.

the next car i get will for sure be from the US because of the huge savings we can get there.

just a few things i know if you buy a car from the US that was ASSEMBLED outside of NAFTA you will have to pay 6.5 import fee to canada, along with canadian GST. there is also a fee once you get to the boarder of about 200$. even after these charges the savings are still huge (in the thousands).

if you are buying from a dealership make sure you show them your canadian residence so you arnt charged US taxes.. also some states WILL charge you US taxes so do your research. a good source is redflagdeals.com go to the automotive form and search for the thread about importing to canada, lots of links and info there.


some cars need to have some modifications done when brought to canada example: day time running lights, 5mph bumper. i only know of one situation of a imported boxster that needed to have the bumper replaced.

there is an official canadian govt list of vehicals that can be imported, among the guidelines.

make sure you ask the manufacturer about warrenty tranfer from US to Canada do not ask dealerships they will lie. i think you also need some kind of letter from the manufacturer saying its ok to import the vehical.

some dealerships near the canadian boarder are instructed not to sell to canadians, so buying priviate might be the way to go.

these are the savings the dealers dont want you to know about. buying a car in canada with the high dollar is almost the most stupid thing you could do right now. ive read some stories of people saving upwards of 20k on buying used vehicals from the US (the savings arnt nearly as great as buying new from the us)

again make sure you do your research or you can hit some very bad snags.(some people have reported buying cars in the US which are banned in canada so when they get to the boarder they are not let in with the car). the minimal effort from buying from the US is worth it in the end!


to drburton, beware of anything that stands out as a scam. most canadian buyers are just looking to save some huge coin and will be paying the full amount in cash as we cannot finance easily in the US.

There are some good discussion from professional importers on this forum:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?threadid=288322&perpage=20&pagenumb er=2

Selling to Canada
 

DRBURTON:
It's actually like selling to your neighbour. Only differences:
The buyer might ask you to bring the car for a pre-purchase inspect at porsche dealership. He may also ask for a few extra photos given that he can't see the car.
Then just follow a few special instructions:
Buyer need bank # and account # to wire transfer you the $
Buyer may ask for you to fax the title to customs or to himself to start the paperwork and to prove the title is clear... there is nothing to fear in doing this (just an extra long distance fax cost)
Then you may be asked by the transport company for a pick up appointment 24 hrs ahead of time (you would be paid in full before this of course so there really no risk for you)

I had a little trouble convincing my american seller that I wasn't part of nigerian scam (thanks in part to a few fear mongerers on this forum).

So if you are open to canadian buyers that actually increases the competition for you box which should get you a higher price!

jordan986,

Thanks for sharing the experience, I'm thinking of going the same route next year.

Have a quick question, I understand the GST + Duty of 12.1% is due at the border, but is an additional 8% PST due when registering it in Ontario? :confused:

Many thanks

Hey all,

I bought my 2001 Boxster in Dallas when I was living in Ottawa in May of 2006. I bought from a Porsche Dealer (Park Place) who was very helpful through the whole process.

The car I purchased was one that they had sold new, serviced, and bought back on trade after 5 years so I was able to get a complete history from them. Also, the car only had 11K miles on it so that helped.

I had them send me all the pics, along with all the requested info via email. I then gave them a significant deposit with a credit card, with a purchase contract signed conditional on my final inspection in person (deposit fully refundable if I was not completely satisfied). I drove 3hrs to Syracuse NY, where I picked up a $100 flight to Dallas.

Car was great, and I concluded the deal with a USD bank draft for the balance of funds. They threw a temp permit on the car (I had already arranged for insurance through my existing co), and off we went.

At the border, I drove through the US side straight to the Cdn side, where I had to pay Duty, GST, and Air Excise Tax as well as a $200 RIV fee. I had then legally imported the vehicle into Canada, but hadn't exported it from the US. I then drove back to the US side and left them my original registration for 72 hours. After 72 hours, I went back, they stamped it exported, and the whole legal trx was complete! I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you have COMPLETE confidence that there will be no issue with the title, as the Cdn duties are non-refundable and you are screwed if there is a problem.

To register the car in Ontario, I had to get the Cdn Tire RIV inspection done (paid the $200 fee at the border), safety check, e-test, and pay PST at the time of registration.

That was it, and I saved myself about $7-10K off the going rate for a Boxster in Ontario at the time. About a year and a half later, I have about 26k miles on the car and a permanent ear-to-ear grin on my face!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

cheers,

Ayan

Hi, I'm glad for you Enjoy :cheers:

A couple of clarifications:
-The letter you need from Porsche N-america is to say that it has no outstanding recalls on it (not to say that you can import it)
-Porsche North America is one of the rare companies that actually recognises warranties when crossed into canada but call them with the VIN to confirm the warranty exists to begin with.
-The 72 hr american customs delay: It depends on what border you cross. Some borders don't allow the car across (it has to stay there for 72 hrs) while others even allow you to fax the title to them 72 hrs ahead of crossing the border which completely eliminates the delay. I recommend calling whatever border you plan on crossing before doing the deal.
-If you get a US transit permit you have to pay US tax (and then try to get reimbursed later...not easy I'm told).
-The duty is 6.1%, GST is 6% on top of that. And then you have PST.
-The federal inspeciton is done (free) at canadian tire and takes 10 minutes if the mods are done.
-In Quebec the provincial inspection costs 75$ and is much more in depth (measure exhaust, braking force at each wheel etc)
-Not all US Boxsters are offered at a better price than you can find in Canada. Be patient.
-If you pay 25KUS, your final out of pocket is around 33KCAN incl all fees and taxes except shipping if you truck it up to Canada.
-Ask all questions about every step (purchase details, payment in US funds, warranty, shipping, border crossing, inspections) before you make any offers. And get a CARFAX, dealership inspection at the very least.
Hope this helps!

On my year-old Boxster S I had to pay 10% luxury sales tax in BC instead of 7%.

I currently own a 986 under my corporation, will probably want to switch to a 911 in about 3 years. If the price difference of the Porsche cars between US and Canada remains the same then, buying from US will be good choice. The only think I am not sure is if I will be allowed to buy cars from US under business name. Anybody knows? :confused:

There was a recent post over at RennTech stating that Porsche is reducing pricing in Canada. Just an FYI.

I thought we only had to pay 12.1% at the border? So, if we live in Ontario we also have to pay the additional 8% PST?

When buying from a private party (or even a dealer); is there a list of the best states to buy from (for example; washington state has no sales tax for vehicles being used/bought for outside the state). Are there any others (preferably closer to Ontario)?

Canadian & US taxes
 

From my experience 8 months ago in BC:

Canadian side
gst = 6%
duty = 6.1%
provincial sales tax in Ontario = 8%
possible luxury tax in Ontario = ?%

US side
at least in Minnesota & Texas but I think generally, if you have it shipped out of state then you avoid state sales tax. If you drive it away from the dealer you would have to pay state tax. Although this may be rebateable (or debateable).

I wonder if there is some way to get a rebate from the US, since duty was paid there already?

Thanks for the reply. How much did the "No Recall Clearance" Letter cost you? Did you get it from a local porsche dealership?

As of today, the Canadian dollar has broken through parity for the first time since Nov. 25, 1976!

It doesn't make any sense to buy a Porsche here when it is selling 1.5 times of what we can buy from US.

If the price difference remains the same in the next couple of years, my next 911 will be bought from US for sure. :cheers: