Why are Boxsters more expensive in Canada?
 

US MSRP of a Boxster S is $54,600 USD
Canadian MSRP of a Boxster S is $77,900 CAD

At current exchange rates, the US car is only $62K in Canadian Dollars - $15K cheaper.

Why are cars here (in Canada) so much more expensive than in US? :confused:

To off-set the costs of National Health Care?

Having been born in Canada and lived there for 30 miserable years, I can say it is because everything sucks in Canada. Snow, liberals and now expensive cars. :rolleyes:

Come on Cart., tell us how your really feel! :)

This is how I really feel. This is why I will never return to the Communist Regine of Canada.

PS: The car in the background is mine.

You can always count on cartagena to provide our daily eye-candy. :cheers:

I just joined this forum hoping it would provide helpful information from intelligent people. I see I was wrong on both assumptions.

You are correct, sir! I am sure you can find a forum that better fits your expectations. Good luck. :)

Really, stick around, this is a great group. Very knowledgeable and helpful.

A. In the 3 months I have owned my Boxster this forum has provided tons of useful information.

B. I enjoy the light athmosphere here. I would hate it just to be strickly question / answer technical talk.

C. Since you are in Canada, why would a bunch of Americans know why cars in Canada are more expensive ?

Car?

What car?

I don't see a car.

Anyone?

Hey, I use to be Canadian until I decided I did not like living in a Communist Regime in all respects but name.

To answer his question, the car is more expensive because of TAXES! Without taxes Canada could not pay for the crappy medical care that they give away to refugees and terrorists. Taxes are needed to pay for all the government employees who work 2 hours a day. And lets not forget all the money to put bilingual signs on the highways that no one can read unless they are from Quebec.

Whining is a Canadian past time so do not be shocked about his reaction to our jokes. If Canadians did not whine they would have to realise they are a second rate country living in freedom only because the U.S. is so close.

And, how about all those teeth they have to replace on those hockey players! :D

Well Said....So how bout those pictures.....

I am uploading the photos in the thread called "Cruising the Mountains (photos!)".....

What, you don't get your one and only question answered or taken seriously and now you're going to pout and make snap judgements? What's intelligent about that? Sure some of the posts are childish - but so's making assumptions.

Sometimes I just don't get people. You want "serious" answers to "serious" questions. God forbid if anyone has a sense of humor or an alternate opinion.

Lighten up GBLACK and check some other threads than just your own. You might actually learn something. Oh, and if you stick around and contribute, you might actually have *GASP* fun!

Yeah, I gave him an intelligent answer (and according to Cartagena, a correct one) to his question 18 minutes after he asked...and I'm not even Canadian!

Ahhhh - but are you intelligent? If you were, you would have included statistics, graphs, and footnotes. Now, where did I leave that pie chart.....

Have you looked at other makes/models to see if this is a consistent trend? If so, then the "communist state" theories may have merit. If not and the feature lists/std equipment are equal on both sides of our friendly border, it is purely Porsche doing market pricing. They are masters of getting the max the market will bear for their products, and seem to have a real knack for positioning models and features to their best benefit to do this. Is the USD/CAD disparity on the base model similar?

If the differential is due to a VAT or the like, I would think that this is pretty clearly marked on the invoice of the car.

If the diff is due to tariffs, that may not be so clear, as it could be bundled into the MSRP.

Either way, I would assume that this is somehow government related, as I can't see how any manufacturer could have the market power to do this. Moreover, the question I have is, if you come down to the US and buy a new Boxster, how much does the government charge you to import it to Canada?

That answer may be THE answer.

Let us know.

I looked into doing just this but in reverse (CAN to US) back when Hondas were selling at a premium and in short supply in the US in the 80s - my relatives in Canada were reporting the same model going for no premium/no wait north of the border.

Turns out you can't do it without getting the particular end use country's certification, which the manufacturer does for you when they import (or build domestically) the car. Otherwise, you have to do it through an agent that proves the car meets (or modifies it to meet) gov. specs and this adds $$ over any customs and tax issues. All before you can register the car.

It is this barrier to entry that allows pricing differentials across borders, which the manufacturers can then use to their advantage.

Now that's a good intelligent answer!

I was thinking it was either some sort of tarrif/tax or the car makers haven't adjusted their prices for strength of the canadian dollar (or the weakness of the US dollar).

Looking at another manufacturer, a BMW M3 MSRP is $74,400 in CDN (65K USD), while the US MSRP is $48,900. So again a big difference.

But I don't think we have that much higher tarrif on european cars than US, so I'm thinking that the difference maybe that car makers haven't adjusted prices based on recent improvements in exchange rates.

In the past 2 years, the Canadian dollar has improved from 0.75$ US to 0.90$ US. But car prices here haven't fallen. So either they're taking a bit of a bath on US sales or they're milking Canadians.

Does anyone have any knowledge or experience how manufacturers set MSRPs when currency's change in value?

Hmm.

Maybe it is forex related afterall.
http://www.naata.org/new files/import1.html

See....he came back! :D

Yeah - I'm not really a dick but on my first question, I was called a communist from a crappy, snow-filled country full of terrorists that pay too much tax for lousy health care. I guess that put me in a bad mood!

Onward and upward :cheers:

Grey Market
 

I bought my boxster in the states, new york city, manhatten. I live in Canada, i saved about $5000.00. It has nothing to do with the currency, although it does favour us now to buy from the US, because you have not changed prices accordingly(if this makes sense).

But, when i worked at BMW, we would sell used BMW's to the customers all over the US. At that time the American dollar was strong and the US customers were saving about $5000, on $50,000 car purchases. It is a grey market, you really are not aloud to export/import cars. I know for a fact that BMW Canada will not let an owner sell the car within the first year to the states. So you have to wait until the car is one year old before selling it in the states. Our dealership had been fined because a customer sold his BMW in the states. We also had a big problem with the russian mob buying X5 trucks, and shipping them to russia, and turning them over for double the price. Our dealership would get fined by BMW Canada, although it wasnt our fault that they would ship them, we didn't have any control.

Aparrently under the nafta aggreement, import/export of cars, America pays lower taxes and tariffs. N Canadians don't have an aggreement, and we pay higher prices for cars. so for some reason canadians don't have an agreement with germany/europe under the nafta agreement, when it comes to automobiles, which i don't understant, and am looking into. if anyone knows exactly the deal, inform us, or i am looking into it, and trying to find more information in regards to this ordeal.

our local toronto star, has posted many articles about cross boarder car shopping, they usually compare the porsche 911 for some reason to show the savings. i don't think that i'll ever buy another car here in canada, it just doesnt make sense.

You're from Boulder, Colorado?????

The best part gblack was that he is originally from Canada.......and he for some reason has become American or South American, i can't figure it out. He should hate the goverment not the people. The same way we Canadians hate the American goverment but never ever the people. Or as much as i hate our goverment, but love the people.

seeeeu


Quote:


"See....he came back! "

Originally Posted by bmussatti


Yeah - I'm not really a dick but on my first question, I was called a communist from a crappy, snow-filled country full of terrorists that pay too much tax for lousy health care. I guess that put me in a bad mood!

Onward and upward

oops i actually missed this post.............miserable, you obviously were raised in the gheto. i have been living in canada for 28 years born and raised. you have issues, i'm glad people like you move away, i'd hate to live with people like this. thank god the misserable move.

hey by chance, where ever you are in the world, do you think that everyone is happy and living life like you. because if you ask anyone of those assisants, i bet they would say that life in south america is a misserable place to live. do you think that they like the goverment. do you think anyone of those assisants can afford a porsche.

you are spoiled my friend living in canada, and with money even more spoiled living where ever you are. come back to reality and see what life is like, its misserable, thats why we buy porschesssssssssssssssss to make us happy.

"Having been born in Canada and lived there for 30 miserable years, I can say it is because everything sucks in Canada. Snow, liberals and now expensive cars."

i guess you proved us canadians right...nice whine
 

yes you are a great whiner.................................lol/jokes suck it up!!!!

"Hey, I use to be Canadian until I decided I did not like living in a Communist Regime in all respects but name."

"To answer his question, the car is more expensive because of TAXES! Without taxes Canada could not pay for the crappy medical care that they give away to refugees and terrorists. Taxes are needed to pay for all the government employees who work 2 hours a day. And lets not forget all the money to put bilingual signs on the highways that no one can read unless they are from Quebec."

gblack, I am glad you're back. You are going to like it around here, I'm sure!

For clarity, none of us Americans called you a "communist". Please be clear. Your fellow x-counrtyman, Cartagena, was the one who called you this name.

Now THAT is funny!


Massachusetts too!

I believe that every populace deserves their government. In Canada there is something called a "vote" which is a concept that I am sure the Americans here are also aware of. Canadians choose to vote for the most incompetent loser politicians that the world has ever seen.

Anti-American Prime Minister Jean Chretien :eek: :barf:

Communist Ontario Premier Bob Ray :eek: :confused: :eek:

As a young Canadian, I vowed when I had enough money that I would leave the horrible country and head South, to America. However, things turn out differently and I have found myself spending the last 8 years traveling in Latin America. I now tell people that I am an American because I am embarrassed to say I am Canadian. I would hate for someone to ask me if I was a Socialist or spoke French. :barf:

It is not that I hate "all" the people, only those who were born after WWII that allowed Canada to turn into what it did. Unfortunately that is the majority of Canadians.

Tomorrow I have to fly back to Canada to get a passport reissued. I am making this trip as short as possible, 4 days. I know it will take a lot of alcohol to get over the next couple of days. It will be my first trip back to hell in years.

Typically Canadian answer! Not only do you take my comments too seriously, but you also have NO CLUE what you are talking about.

There was an international survey about a month ago that asked people about happiness. South American and Central American countries were all on the top of the list. Canada was well below 100.

That fact is Canada sucks. There is no other way to say it. Canadians are "programmed" from birth by the government and the school system to think the opposite but it is just not true. Heck, I remember in kindergarten being told how lucky we all were since we had four seasons! Lucky! Who could possibly think that is luck unless they were smoking a lot of Canadians #1 export! Nothing like driving that Porsche around in January? Anyone who went to school in Canada will also say how nice it was to learn all that French. I have travelled all over the world and have never once found the need to speak French. I could go on and on with my list of "Top 100 Things that SUCK about Canada" but it is off topic.

Fact is Porsches are more money in Canada because Canada sucks.

By the way, my assistant does not want to live in Canada. She loves her country. Colombia just had a majority re-election of a very popular president who she thinks is great. No, she cannot afford a Porsche but neither can the millions of people on permanent welfare in Canada. She does drive my Porsche though, I even paid for her driving school.

I do not recalling saying he was a Communist. If I remember correctly, I said the cars were more expensive because Canada was a Communist Regine. At which time he insulted us all. It reminds me of when Canadian politicians were calling GW Bush "stupid" and a "moron" because it made all Canadians so happy to hear these things. I have always said that if Canadians do not like the U.S. then they should stop all trade immediately with American companies. If this happened Canada would be in about the same economic position as Cuba.

It is incomprehensible to me that you're beating a guy's brains in about Canada being the armpit of the world. Why? Because it gets cold, you have to pay taxes and they taught you French??? Are you friggin' kidding me?

Clearly, the comments of a man who's never visited the remainder of the world.

Hey, if the temperature swings in Canada bother you that much, Lebanon has a much milder climate. Why don't you drop the top on your Box over there and take a nice evening cruise. You'd better hurry though, because the baddest fighting force on Planet Earth is preparing at this very hour to turn all of Lebanon into the world's largest ashtray. Frankly, I don't blame 'em.

Maybe you could try to impress some nice Iraqi girls with your fine ride. Beautiful women in Iraq. Just be careful you don't catch an RPG round in the side of your dome while you're trying to work your magic.

I imagine that millions of the poor souls around the world, inescapably mired in terrorism, starvation, corruption and violence would give their own lives so that their families could make it safely to Canada right about now; including a great many people currently living in Columbia.

Yeah, I spent a little time in Columbia. Beautiful, yes...a beautiful, dangerous, violent, corrupt, ****************hole.

It is not only Colombia that I think is better than Canada. It is any of the 14 countries I have lived in.......

There is though one good thing about Canada: The passport.

Carlos the Jackal!!! Is it really you??? I heard you were dead!!!

Sounds like fun, let's cut 'em off!

When I was at an air show last weekend for the Missouri Air Guard Anniversary, I heard "Please stand and salute the Canadian flag for the Canadian National Anthem" That just sounded weird. Their skydiver's giant flag was like off some Battleship. Our flag that came down after was like a bandana tied to the guy's parachute. I think our 135th airlift wing might be defecting or really concerned about prescription drug policies.

Perhaps we can get this topic BACK on track or end it.

I don't think bashing various countries is going to be that productive!

Thanks.

i agree!!