Autoblog

Last month we became very interested in the plight of Canadian consumers after witnessing first hand the disparity between the price of automobiles in their country and the U.S. The disparity became crystal clear when the Canadian Looney and U.S. dollar spent some time at parity, which revealed that, for instance, a Lincoln Navigator starting at $47,755 in this country goes for $76,299 in Canada. The range of disparity varies from car to car, but it's there on every model sold in the Great White North.

The obvious workaround here is for Canadians to buy their cars in the U.S. and import them into Canada. It's not an easy thing to do, but until automakers address the inequality of MSRPs (they may be forced to), it remains a worthwhile endeavor. That's why we were pleased to be pointed to the ImportCarCanada.com website that helps Canadians navigate the mine field that is cross-country importation of autos.

Navigating the site ourselves we learned a few things that were news to us. For instance, did you know there's a list of admissible vehicles in Canada? Sorry Ford Thunderbird fans (hello, anyone?), you're not allowed to enjoy the maple syrup above the border. Also, if the vehicle you're buying was built in North America, you don't have to pay taxes on it or duty fees at the border. Buy a BMW built in Germany, however, and you'll be hit with a 6.1% duty fee. Finally, customs is obviously a nightmare, and the site offers many guides to help Canadians keep their forms in order.

None of us on the Autoblog team lives in Canada and thus enjoy the relatively inexpensive cost of owning a car here in the U.S., but we're glad to know that Canadians can do something about the short end of the stick they're left holding.

[Source: ImportCarCanada.com]