AudiRS4
Passed Driver's Ed
- Location
- Edmonton, Alberta
I wanted to start a thread to inform potential buyers of US VW/Audi vehicles and importing them to Canada. I won't give specific details, however I documented my steps on what was done to bring my 2007 4-door GTI.
NOTE: This is my experience and the information that I gathered. This is not intended to cause everybody to do cross-border shopping since it may not be for everyone.
Key Notes:
WARRANTY: Is fully covered when importing a vehicle from the US to Canada. I have called VW Canada, and they confirmed it with me (June 07), these articles will also back up my findings.
http://www.apa.ca/template.asp?DocID=253
http://www.canadaone.com/ezine/sept07/import.html
And I also have had warranty work done on my car in Canada so I've proved it works.
Where to purchase: From what I understand, VW/Audi is not stopping people by stopping warranty, but stopping the dealership from selling to Canadians, they will require a USA Address. This is the latest from what I heard. When I went, I had no problems, they just filled out my Canadian address and everything was fine. I have heard, that a way around it is, the dealership will register it first, then sell it to you, that way it's classified as a used vehicle. However you will need to find a dealership that will do that for you.
Total Purchase Price: The exchange rate on the vehicle, I usually go by
http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/RBC:RvwWdI71A8UAEICGnDo/cgi-bin/travel/fxconvert.pl
You will need to pay 6.1% Duty, 6.0% GST, PST (depending on the province), $100 AC tax, Green levy (if applicable), $206.70 RIV fee at the border and the you will need to do the Out of Province inspection at Canadian Tire ($150 or so). That's it for the cost of the vehicle, plus your gas and hotel fee, etc.
Key Things to do prior: Get insurance, you will need a Recall Letter Notice, you will need to fill out a worksheet and send it to the Border Crossing, In-Transit plate from the dealership (one per state your travelling through), another In-Transit for Canada.
Benefits:
1.) I saved myself $7,000.00 on my car if I purchased it here (all said and done). This was with 0.92 on the dollar, you do the math.
2.) I got what I wanted that I couldn't get in Canada. Dual Zone Automatic Climate control (now standard on the Canadian version) and headlight washers.
Drawbacks:
1.) Takes some work, faxing paper work, making phone calls, etc. You'll need to find a ride to pick up the car.
2.) You have to know what you want before purchasing, you can't just go down their and take a test drive and say you don't want it. It's pretty much, you buy the car without looking at it.
3.) Finding the dealership that will sell you a new VW/Audi, used is ok from most dealerships I have talked to.
4.) You won't be able to Lease or Finance like you can from a Canadian Dealership. This is probably the biggest drawback for most people since leasing and financing is probably the biggest ways of paying now a days. What I did was I had to use a line of credit to pay for half my car (I know, not very smart, but I believe the $7,000.00 will be more than enough to pay for the interest I accumulate).
5.) Not all cars from VW/Audi are importable from the US, please check http://www.riv.ca/english/US_vehicle_admissibility.pdf
AND YES, it has to state it is admissible, if it is not listed, it is deemed INADMISSABLE.
6.) Getting used to the MPH in big and km/h in small
7.) Your supporting the US economy and not the Canadian economy.
Anyways, I hope this clears up a few questions for people. For more details on how to perform it, check out www.riv.ca and http://www.importcartocanada.info/
KEY IMPORTANT STEPS:
Insure that you have the ORIGINAL TITLE or Certificate of Orgin when you cross the border because they NEED that to stamp for export.
NOTE: This is my experience and the information that I gathered. This is not intended to cause everybody to do cross-border shopping since it may not be for everyone.
Key Notes:
WARRANTY: Is fully covered when importing a vehicle from the US to Canada. I have called VW Canada, and they confirmed it with me (June 07), these articles will also back up my findings.
http://www.apa.ca/template.asp?DocID=253
http://www.canadaone.com/ezine/sept07/import.html
And I also have had warranty work done on my car in Canada so I've proved it works.
Where to purchase: From what I understand, VW/Audi is not stopping people by stopping warranty, but stopping the dealership from selling to Canadians, they will require a USA Address. This is the latest from what I heard. When I went, I had no problems, they just filled out my Canadian address and everything was fine. I have heard, that a way around it is, the dealership will register it first, then sell it to you, that way it's classified as a used vehicle. However you will need to find a dealership that will do that for you.
Total Purchase Price: The exchange rate on the vehicle, I usually go by
http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/RBC:RvwWdI71A8UAEICGnDo/cgi-bin/travel/fxconvert.pl
You will need to pay 6.1% Duty, 6.0% GST, PST (depending on the province), $100 AC tax, Green levy (if applicable), $206.70 RIV fee at the border and the you will need to do the Out of Province inspection at Canadian Tire ($150 or so). That's it for the cost of the vehicle, plus your gas and hotel fee, etc.
Key Things to do prior: Get insurance, you will need a Recall Letter Notice, you will need to fill out a worksheet and send it to the Border Crossing, In-Transit plate from the dealership (one per state your travelling through), another In-Transit for Canada.
Benefits:
1.) I saved myself $7,000.00 on my car if I purchased it here (all said and done). This was with 0.92 on the dollar, you do the math.
2.) I got what I wanted that I couldn't get in Canada. Dual Zone Automatic Climate control (now standard on the Canadian version) and headlight washers.
Drawbacks:
1.) Takes some work, faxing paper work, making phone calls, etc. You'll need to find a ride to pick up the car.
2.) You have to know what you want before purchasing, you can't just go down their and take a test drive and say you don't want it. It's pretty much, you buy the car without looking at it.
3.) Finding the dealership that will sell you a new VW/Audi, used is ok from most dealerships I have talked to.
4.) You won't be able to Lease or Finance like you can from a Canadian Dealership. This is probably the biggest drawback for most people since leasing and financing is probably the biggest ways of paying now a days. What I did was I had to use a line of credit to pay for half my car (I know, not very smart, but I believe the $7,000.00 will be more than enough to pay for the interest I accumulate).
5.) Not all cars from VW/Audi are importable from the US, please check http://www.riv.ca/english/US_vehicle_admissibility.pdf
AND YES, it has to state it is admissible, if it is not listed, it is deemed INADMISSABLE.
6.) Getting used to the MPH in big and km/h in small
7.) Your supporting the US economy and not the Canadian economy.
Anyways, I hope this clears up a few questions for people. For more details on how to perform it, check out www.riv.ca and http://www.importcartocanada.info/
KEY IMPORTANT STEPS:
Insure that you have the ORIGINAL TITLE or Certificate of Orgin when you cross the border because they NEED that to stamp for export.
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