bjoraker

I have heard that prices in Canada are up to $8000 less than in good old USA for an SC 430. As I live just a few hours from the border, is it possible to buy there and bring it back or are there "obstacles"?

DeniskaGS4

I am not sure .. but you can get some combos that are not offered in the us.. like white on black

ceboyd

I'm not sure if this is still the case BUT my understanding is that Lexus of Canada is NOT allowed to sell to US residents..

I tried to initially get my SC430 from Canada too and save $$ but 3 different dealers told me the could not do it!

???

IS200 3SGTE

most of the car makers make sure that people and dealerships from the US don't buy Canadian cars because most of the time it is cheaper and the auto makers want to make the most money possible.

also a few dealerships in the US would buy cars from canadian distributers and sell them at their dealerships and make more money, a few people had their dealerships taken away.

you could try but i don't believe it is possible.

bjoraker

This really blows because I am only a few miles away from BIG savings in Canada but I have to pay more simply so bloat Lexus' profits. Ah well, truth, justice and the American Way didn't translate into savings for me this time. Too bad...

js45

There is one way around this I could think of. You need to have a friend or relative who is a Canadian resident purchase it under their name and then transfer the title to you. Even if this did work, however, you would probably have to pay some kind of import duty. On a $60,000 car that could be big bux.

ceboyd

you can probably buy a slightly used one... but not new!

bjoraker

That could still save me a lot of money...

THE_CEO

yeah you can do that if its used....last year we bought a benz that way the dealer just shipped it over to another dealer and we paid canadian dollars for it...

Gojirra99

If you Americans start buying up the used SC430's in Canada, it will likely help increase its resale value up here due to high demand

Compared to just 5 months ago, its no longer nearly as much of an advantage today since the exhange rate has increased from around 0.63 to over 0.67 due mainly to concerns about the effects of the likely war with Iraq on the U.S. economy in the currencies market.

Gojirra99

I am wondering how much less we are really paying for our cars up here in Canada.

When I bought my 2003 SC430 last October, the MSRP was Canadian $89,000 fully loaded. Add freight and PDI, AC tax etc, plus 7% PST, 7% GST and 3% luxury tax, the total is slightly over $106,000.
I bargain it down to $104,500 minus the trade-in value of my previous car.

Canadian $104,500 was equivalent to US.$65,835 based on the exchange rate of approx. 0.63 last October.
Today, wth the exchange rate at 0.6738, $104,500 is equivalent to US.$70,412.
How much are you guys paying in total down there?

Davidtttt

Picked up my SC430 on 10 Jan 03 from a Delaware dealer. Paid $63,150 including Maryland tax and tags.

THE_CEO

trust me there will always be a savings unless you are importing the car to sweden....

Gojirra99

For your reference, used SC430's available in Canada:
http://www.lexus.ca/lexus/experience...mit_search.y=7
How does that compare to those in US?

bjoraker

The link to used car prices in Canada was broken at the time I tried, but 2002 SC430 with about 10K miles are running $52K - $55K in the Chicago area.