Originally Posted by
Caroline's Rub
A couple of things...
First, with regards to the cars, many of the manufacturers are preventing CDN's from going south to purchase by nullifying their warranties (i.e. Ford, Subaru, Jaguar, etc.) if the car crosses the border. The automakers want to make sure that they can continue to bleed the CDN customer for every cent. Their attitude is if you want a car with a warranty, well then you will pay the unreasonable difference.
They're charging what the market will bear. Same thing goes on in the U.K. where cars have long been priced much higher than anywhere else within the E.U. It's up to us as consumers to vote with our feet and wallets.
Second, any savings you enjoy buying from the states would be quickly eliminated by customs and their ridiculous and often unjustifiable duties and taxes, especially on big ticket items such as cars.
Check again. Duties on cars are probably minimal. None on cars manufactured in Canada/U.S./Meixco. It's the GST/PST/HST that you have to pay that will add up to more than 12% except for those in Alberta.
OT - anyone understand where they come up with the duty amounts? I just had to pay $17.43 in duties on $45.00 worth of gifts sent to us from the US...
Look at your invoice. It's probably the brokerage and customs processing fees charged by the carrier. UPS charges $39.