Corvette purchase and transportation

[ByronF]

I recently purchased a vehicle (Chevy SSR) out of the US and had it trucked (covered service) out of the US and delivered to me. In my case the truck was being sold by a dealer so that gave me some measure of confidence in what I was getting. Nevertheless I asked a pile of questions, requested a bunch more photos and carefully viewed the Carfax. The dealer also gave me the name and number of the previous owner and I had a number of conversations with him about the vehicle. As a back up I had other members of the SSR community who lived near the vehicle offer to go and inspect it for me.
The company I used to get the truck moved and thru customs was Canada Car Shipping and they were fantastic to deal with. They walked me thru the document process and handled the customs clearance as well. It was picked up and delivered on the dates they quoted and on delivery was exactly as described.
If you are bringing a vehicle in from the US there are 2 inspections required - a RIV inspection and here in Ontario a safety inspection. You can get more details by visiting the RIV website - Registrar of Imported Vehicles.
If you are buying within Canada the same due diligence on the vehicles history and condition is required. I am sure there are members of this forum who may be local to the vehicle you are looking at that would be willing to check it out for you. Again Carfax would be a big help. The one question it won't answer for you and one that would be of concern to me buying a pre-owned Vette was if it was ever tracked. That would (I am sure I will get flamed for this) be a deal killer for me.
There are a number of firms who offer vehicle shipping service within Canada and one of the best in my opinion is Thorson's Vehicle Transport and again you can check them out on the their web site.
Winter and Covid does make the process a little more difficult but not impossible. But even if it is this summer I suspect that Covid will still provide some challenges.
The companies I refer to are pros and don't mess around. They have it down to an art form and even offer/provide full purchase value insurance coverage while in their care. My local insurer would not provide coverage until plated which was ridiculous as I could not even drive it locally 6 miles to get the safety certification in order to register and licence it here. Fortunately because of the limited production nature of the vehicle Hagerty provided me coverage from the time it was loaded on the truck in the US.
In answer to your question, regardless of the time of year and even if I was able to go and inspect/test drive the vehicle, I would not risk driving it home. Having it trucked is the safest and simplest method as far as I am concerned. It may cost a few dollars more but as they say you can't take it with you.

 

[Z16Jim]

I found my car in NB. My son and I drove down and back one weekend to look at the car, being early Jan we could only hear it run as it was -28 outside. Made a deal. Owner agreed to store the car till spring. About a month before I transferred the owner the rest of the money, and he sent me the ownership. A day before going to pick up the car I transferred it into my name and got a trip permit. The next day my wife and I flew to NB to drive it home.

 

[canuckster]

I found my car in NB. My son and I drove down and back one weekend to look at the car, being early Jan we could only hear it run as it was -28 outside. Made a deal. Owner agreed to store the car till spring. About a month before I transferred the owner the rest of the money, and he sent me the ownership. A day before going to pick up the car I transferred it into my name and got a trip permit. The next day my wife and I flew to NB to drive it home.

I bought my 2010 C6 online 3 years ago from a Saskatchewan dealer in January. As part of the deal, he offered to ship the car to a dealer in Vancouver [for Provincial inspection and registration] using his usual shipper. Open trailer, but not a problem since it was at the very back. When it arrived in Vancouver the dealership [one of the largest in town] hadn't gotten the memo about it being already sold and needing an inspection. The sales department got hold of it and gave it a detailing before putting it on the sales floor. After many calls to the different departments of the dealership I finally got my hands on a beautifully prepared Jetstream Blue manual coupe. I keep it garaged and whatever they used on the paint still beads water!

 

[WPGZ06]

I recently purchased a vehicle (Chevy SSR) out of the US and had it trucked (covered service) out of the US and delivered to me. In my case the truck was being sold by a dealer so that gave me some measure of confidence in what I was getting. Nevertheless I asked a pile of questions, requested a bunch more photos and carefully viewed the Carfax. The dealer also gave me the name and number of the previous owner and I had a number of conversations with him about the vehicle. As a back up I had other members of the SSR community who lived near the vehicle offer to go and inspect it for me.
The company I used to get the truck moved and thru customs was Canada Car Shipping and they were fantastic to deal with. They walked me thru the document process and handled the customs clearance as well. It was picked up and delivered on the dates they quoted and on delivery was exactly as described.
If you are bringing a vehicle in from the US there are 2 inspections required - a RIV inspection and here in Ontario a safety inspection. You can get more details by visiting the RIV website - Registrar of Imported Vehicles.
If you are buying within Canada the same due diligence on the vehicles history and condition is required. I am sure there are members of this forum who may be local to the vehicle you are looking at that would be willing to check it out for you. Again Carfax would be a big help. The one question it won't answer for you and one that would be of concern to me buying a pre-owned Vette was if it was ever tracked. That would (I am sure I will get flamed for this) be a deal killer for me.
There are a number of firms who offer vehicle shipping service within Canada and one of the best in my opinion is Thorson's Vehicle Transport and again you can check them out on the their web site.
Winter and Covid does make the process a little more difficult but not impossible. But even if it is this summer I suspect that Covid will still provide some challenges.
The companies I refer to are pros and don't mess around. They have it down to an art form and even offer/provide full purchase value insurance coverage while in their care. My local insurer would not provide coverage until plated which was ridiculous as I could not even drive it locally 6 miles to get the safety certification in order to register and licence it here. Fortunately because of the limited production nature of the vehicle Hagerty provided me coverage from the time it was loaded on the truck in the US.
In answer to your question, regardless of the time of year and even if I was able to go and inspect/test drive the vehicle, I would not risk driving it home. Having it trucked is the safest and simplest method as far as I am concerned. It may cost a few dollars more but as they say you can't take it with you.

If I were to go through the US the process you describe is exactly what I would do. Like you said, hire the right people for transport and get insurance and I feel confident the car would arrive exactly how I would expect it to. Living in MB it must come directly to my residence, nothing else would suffice, but now that it is winter, getting it up my drive way and into my garage would be a nightmare but it is still doable.
My hope is to find something more local if possible, if not, already come across and spoken with a few different people in other provinces willing to make a deal with me.
Covid has made the market a little ridiculous in my opinion, and especially in some states in the US, the asking prices are just ludicrous in my opinion on some.

 

[ByronF]

Pricing is always an interesting situation on vehicles. In my case I did find one SSR at a dealer about an hours drive away from me. It had twice the mileage and some chrome bling added but was missing a key option that I wanted. I could add it with aftermarket supply for about $2K. The local dealer was also asking $7k (tax inc) more than I could land the same vehicle (tax inc) with half the mileage and with the option included. When I showed them this alternative and offered to buy theirs at the landed price of the US vehicle, they said no thanks, with the warm weather coming they were quite confident that they could get their asking price. Go figure.
The only reason I can discern is that Covid has severely impacted vehicle production/delivery and the jobs situation has also impacted sales and many dealers are opting to hold inventory waiting for better times rather than take the immediate sale at a lesser margin.

 

[WPGZ06]

It is definitely a case of supply and demand, with Covid impacting dealers supply and the demand being higher due to discretionary spending being up also due to Covid (just look at lumber prices, fitness equipment, etc.) People are spending their vacation money, kids sport money and so on on things they would normally wait to do, and/or more people spending money on cars which is impacting pricing.
I'm totally understanding of dealers and owners wanting to cash in while they can, but the market will correct itself and I am not going to be the guy footing someones C8 purchase while I take a huge hit on the corvette. I'm willing to spend more then I should..to a point; market will stabilize because the C7 is not a limited production car and soon as C8 production amps up (hopefully before in my case) prices will come back to reality, or I simply buy a different car all together.