Canadian vs US cars

hb32

hb32

Regular
2 You're 10
May 21, 2010
161
1
Nanaimo BC
VetteCoins
756
Car
2002 convertible
Province
BC
Probably been debated but just curious why one is preferred over the other?
I had someone interested in my 02 vert but he changed his mind, without even having a look at it, when he found out it was a US car.
 
People just think that if it's a US car you bought it for a song and are flipping it in Canada. That's my knee jerk reaction. Otherwise...well, it depends. I bought my car out of LV and it is as dry as a bone there all year round so I wasn't worried about rust, the roads are nicer than anything around here and it had low mileage so I think I would prefer that car over one here that (mile for mile) would be beat up more by the roads, go through more extreme temperature changes (if not stored in a heated garage over winter), see more dirt and gravel on the streets.
However, benefits to a Canadian car, 300 mph speedo! Stored half the year (if done inside and not out in the snow). The interiors don't get baked by the sun as much....and...that's about it as far as I can see.
 
I could not find the car I bought, in Canada, (6 speed, torch red, Z51 convertible) and thats why I went south. At what I am asking for it, I would be taking a 6k hit after 2 years of ownership. So definitely not a buy to flip venture.
 
Katrina

We didn't have any reliable contacts in the US to look at cars and we weren't going to buy anything without a complete history. In the end. we bought our 13K mile, two owner 1SB 2005 an hour from home. Taking wild goose chase trips to the US can quickly eat up any savings that you may realize. For sure, deals can be had, if you can find them. We're comfortable with the deal we made. Someone spending their winters in Arizona or Florida has time to look around and that would be ideal. You certainly have to look out for Katrina flood cars. The electronics in them can be a nightmare of endless problems.
 
I will admit to having 3 'vettes and one Honda S2000, all US vehicles. Interestingly,
all brought up by Can. dealers via US auctions.
Have found the cost I paid really challenge the notion one can save doing it yourself,
including bringing the vehicle up here. And also, something goes wrong early on,
you have a dealer to 'lean on', to take care of it.

As to the 'worry' of 'only' a 200kph speedo. The short answer, if you're doing those
speeds, is to change the speedo readings over to 'english' !! Then you get mph.
[ 200kph = 125 mph !!!] So even down in Texas you would be speeding.[g]
 
Last edited:
hb32 said:
I could not find the car I bought, in Canada, (6 speed, torch red, Z51 convertible) and thats why I went south. At what I am asking for it, I would be taking a 6k hit after 2 years of ownership. So definitely not a buy to flip venture.
Click to expand...

That's very true. I wasn't trying to imply that you bought it to flip it or bought it cheaply and now want to get a profit out of it. I was more meaning in general terms of what people think when they hear US car. Sorry, I should have clarified that a bit more. You come across as how you stated as you show a lot of pride in your car which is something that people who flip cars do not do.

On a side note, I think it cost me a total of $3,000 over the price paid to bring my car up to Canada. That includes, paying the taxes, inspections, blah, blah, blah.
 
Yes, all cars manufactured in US. Just decked out with either english or metric
gauges,

Re km/mph... point was that the 200 kph speedo was really no hinderance, as
we're not going to be going those speeds.
And even in a portion of Texas that has just approved a 85mph limit, 200kph
speedo is still no problem

Tony, welland
 
My Z06 is originally a US car from PA, but I bought from a dealer here. For my next Vette, I think that I would fly down and drive it back. There's way more Vettes to choose from, and way better pricing. I find that even the pricing at the dealerships are better down there. I'm not opposed to buying private as I would be buying an "older" C6 for my next car(which isn't anytime soon). I've had a few friends buy this way with little ot no problems and they've saved so much money as well.
 
US vs. Canada

It an old link but her is my cars story.

Originally sold by a dealer in Nevada I recall. Then sold to a dealer by auction in Lethbridge, then to a owner in Vancouver, traded to a dealer in Vancouver and then bought by me.

Oddly when I was looked for the C6 Z06 I also wanted an original Canadian car but then when I started seeing the numbers of Velocity Yellow cars sold in Canada it become apparent it was going to be a more difficult search than I had anticipated. I was worried about getting a previously flooded US car out of say Texas or Florida. But if you do your Carfax etc. checks then you can be confident you'll be safe.

So far no issues outside of not having a 300 km/hr plus speedo but as I use the HUD all the time anyway it can be made to display in Metric or Imperial units anyway.

Not problems yet with the car after my 1st 6000 km of use since April of this year. 1500 km back from Vancouver to home and then frequent trips of 25 km to go walking by the river and 55 km trips taking my son to school.

Sadly only 6 weeks of use left and I still have to install my Vararam before storage to get some enjoyment from having bought that this fall!

Cheers,

Garry
 
55km trip to school and you drive him!? In my day, we used to walk that far to school and back home, through 3 feet of snow, uphill both ways with no shoes on!:D

Anyway, that must be an awesome ride for him! I wish my dad drove me to school in his Corvette! All the kids would be so jealous!

Good idea with checking the car fax reports to verify the history of the car. If it comes out clean, I don't see why people should worry about buying a US car, especially if it's already in Canada.
 
Just a heads up don't always trust a Car fax. While looking at Corvettes for a friend of mine we spotted a 2006 red coup in Van. Sales person sent the Fax over and the car looked clean, Low miles and No accidents and came from Cal. So we decided to go over to Van. to have a look.
As we walked up to the car I said to Greg this car has been crashed, (me a 10 year body man). On further exam, the car had rear ended something and destroyed the front clip and pushed left fender back, so it rubbed the driver door.
So how did I know so soon, we had ran the Vin number before and it came from the factory with the front licences plate holder and it was missing.
Red metallic is a tough colour to match and it was way off on the clip, plus the door still rubbed on the fender.
My thoughts are the owner paid for the repairs himself and so that why it didn't show up on the Car Fax.
Went to another big dealer on the way home and low and behold another 2006 Black vert from the US with the same thing, front clip, drivers door and they wanted over 39 thou for that one with a clean Car Fax.
So guys you better do your homework if you buy on of these cars, run a Vin check first!!!
Rob
 
Z06 school bus!

Yes, it is 55 km one way actually. But it gives me a chance to enjoy driving the Z06 especially if it is during the time of seeding or harvesting when I might not have the chance to take a pleasure trip otherwise. I have to pick him up so I have to drive and if the weather is nice as it has been this year it is say one small perk. It sucks being a single dad and realizing that while I actually hate driving I'll rack up 16,000 km a school year just picking him up and dropping him off for two days each school week but when you become a parent that is what you take on sometimes. Funny enough his mother is actually looking to move from 55 km away to right close by but having him take the bus is not a real option for me. Due to the borders of school divisions I'd have to drive him about 37 km into the next school division to catch the bus as it is, arriving probably 5 minutes early to be safe in catching the bus so I figured I'd might as well drive the final 18 km. I use this time to quiz him on his spelling or to have him read to me so it is time well spent.

And yes, the reaction of the kids in his school and even the parents is pretty funny sometimes. Thumbs up, awesome car, how much does it cost, how fast does it go and all those sorts of questions. The parents drive mainly SUV's and sedans although this year there is a Mustang as the next "hottest" car so no competiton there.

Ditto taking the car to go exercising along the river. it just seems to make people so happy when they see it and the comments always make me feel nice too.

But sorry for divulging..........

To get back to the thread, the car I bought was sold by a company in Vancouver (Miles End Motors, thanks Cletus!) that had nothing bad show up on a Google search about their business and they sold and were selling Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, Audi R8 and even a Veyron in the past so really my Z06 was sort of the bottom of the heap (price wise guys, not quality!) and I couldn't imagine they'd risk unloading a bum car and toast their reputation in the process.

But the point is always to do your homework. Even using a service like "Lemon Busters" or getting the vehicle inspected by CMA is a worthwhile activity as I did with my mother's truck when she was looking for one. A few $100 spent for piece of mind. As was pointed out, you can avoid having an accident listed on things like Carfax if you cover the costs yourself and no other vehicle or police are involved.

Cheers,

Garry
 
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