Victory Motors Exports - U.S. Cars
Featuring Nearly New Vehicles -MOST Brands (Excludes Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, other exotic brands)
We Deliver to you in CANADA!
We take care of all the paperwork & modifications
See our US Website: www.victorymotors.net
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CLICK ON "CONTACT US" (just below)
Victory Motors
17500 Hall Road
Clinton Township, MI 48038
ph: 248-840-6586
fax: 248-928-5271
alt: 877-666-6440
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About Us
We are the largest Hyundai Mitsubishi dealer in Michigan. We pride ourselves in having the HIGHEST Customer Satisfaction scores in the entire country.
We have many satisfied Canadian Customers who have saved THOUSANDS of dollars purchasing a car in the US.
We make the process SIMPLE, CONVENIENT and STRAIGHTFORWARD.
Is it worth it to head south for a car? ALLISON LAMPERT The Gazette
Brian McBride is looking forward to Thanksgiving weekend and he's not even Canadian.McBride, whose family owns the Bill McBride car dealership in Plattsburgh, N.Y., about 100 kilometres south of Montreal, is expecting big business over the three-day holiday. There are the Americans celebrating Columbus Day, and an expected influx of customers from Quebec.
For McBride and other U.S. auto dealers near the northern border, business has been soaring over the last few months, right along with the loonie, which closed yesterday at $1.018 U.S.
In September, when the loonie hit par with the dollar for the first time since 1976, McBride's sales of new Subarus nearly doubled compared with the same month last year.
Quebecers, eager to save $10,000 and more on higher-end U.S. cars, accounted for one-third of those sales.
"The response has been very, very good," McBride said. "It's progressively mushrooming."
The strong loonie is coming at an ideal time for dealers like McBride. In the United States, already-weak auto sales are predicted to decline in 2008 to a decade-low level, because of slowing employment growth, the housing market and high energy costs, a report this week by Scotia Bank economist Carlos Gomes said.
Yet, how long will the cross-border car-shopping frenzy -
fuelled largely by recent media reports - last?
Automakers such as General Motors, BMW and Porsche are penalizing U.S. dealers who sell new models to Canadians. For example, they may refuse to supply dealers with top-of-the-line, high-margin models; in other cases, they may decline to reimburse dealers who incur costs for customer incentives.
Other makers, including Honda, won't honour warranties on U.S. imports.
Even Subaru, which permits these sales, is now making it tougher for Canadians to get their 2008 U.S. car warranties honoured in Canada.
As a result, McBride said, "We're anticipating future growth - but we don't expect this to continue forever."
In 2007, Canadians are expected to import about 150,000 U.S cars, up from 112,800 last year. Scotia Bank's Gomes estimates 1.65 million vehicles will be purchased this year in Canada, up from 1.61 million in 2006.
As interviews with auto dealers, companies, industry analysts and Quebec shoppers reveal, there are still challenges to buying a car in the United States. Many Canadians simply aren't aware of the opportunity.
And for those who are, the paperwork hassle involved in importing a vehicle - along with restrictions by auto manufacturers - are cited as deterrents.
And despite highly publicized complaints of consumers being "ripped off" by higher car prices in Canada - and a recent $2-billion lawsuit filed against manufacturers for allegedly conspiring to keep prices high - Canadian auto sales hit record highs in August.
But in September, as the loonie hit parity, auto sales in Canada dropped by 2.8 per cent, suggesting despite our robust economy, Canadians could be hunting for deals in the U.S., Gomes said.
Auto manufacturers said cars are priced based on local market factors including operating costs, which tend to be higher in Canada. Gomes also noted companies have had trouble adjusting their prices to the rapid rise of the loonie.
Still, manufacturers of luxury cars - the market with the most pronounced gap on prices between Canada and the U.S. - are trying to discourage cross-border shopping. Audi Canada is offering free equipment on two of its 2008 Canadian car models.
Audi's September sales dropped 27 per cent compared with the same month a year earlier, a recent report by car industry analyst Dennis Desrosiers says.
"Audi Canada is ... mindful of the ever-changing exchange rate between the Canadian and the U.S. currencies and does respond by making adjustments to the value equation of our cars through packaging and equipment," the company said in a statement.
Last month, Porsche Cars North America, Inc. cut its Canadian prices by 10 per cent.
Despite demands by Canadian dealers for deeper price cuts, Porsche spokesman Tony Fouladpour said further reductions would lead to a depreciation in the value of used cars.
"We have to protect that higher vehicle value," Fouladpour said. "That's something our current owners appreciate."
New Porsches are still getting over the border, imported by brokers using a U.S. address, said Michel Larin, general manager of Lauzon Porsche in Laval.
While Lauzon is obliged to service Porsche vehicles purchased from a U.S. dealer, he said his clientele still gets preferential treatment.
"If I'm very busy and I have a client who buys here, and one who buys in the U.S., guess which one I'll service first?" he asked.
For customers, potential savings vary widely from car to car.
Canadian buyers don't pay state taxes on new U.S. cars, but they're charged the GST and PST, plus all fees one would pay for a vehicle in Canada. They might also have to pay a 6.1-per-cent customs duty, depending on where the car was assembled.
Under NAFTA, if a car is made in North America - even if it was designed by a European, or Asian manufacturer - the owner is exempt from paying customs duties. In an age of globalization, some foreign manufacturers assemble their models in more than one place, forcing the customer to be extra vigilant, shoppers say.
Montreal accountant Joanna Pasturczyk considered buying a Subaru Impreza from a U.S. dealer, but decided against it when she discovered the model was built outside of North America.
Yet Subaru, a Japanese manufacturer, assembles its Outback and Tribeca models at a plant in Indiana.
The Tribeca, which carries a manufacturers' suggested retail price of more than $45,000 in Canada, compared to $32,000 in the United States, is one of McBride's best-sellers. "Window sticker to window sticker, the difference is huge," he said.
While McBride said demand is still strong for the 2008 models, Pasturczyk said she was dissuaded from buying a U.S. car because of Subaru's new rules on warranties. For the first time, Canadians who get their U.S. Subarus serviced in Canada under warranty will have to pay the Canadian dealer for the work and get reimbursed by the company's U.S. division.
Then there's the process of importing the car, which obliges the owner to pass through three government bodies: Canada's Registrar of Imported Vehicles, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Canada Border Services Agency.
When it comes to saving money, Quebecers seem to know how to speak dollars and cents in both official languages.
alampert@thegazete.canwest.com
McBride, whose family owns the Bill McBride car dealership in Plattsburgh, N.Y., about 100 kilometres south of Montreal, is expecting big business over the three-day holiday. There are the Americans celebrating Columbus Day, and an expected influx of customers from Quebec.
For McBride and other U.S. auto dealers near the northern border, business has been soaring over the last few months, right along with the loonie, which closed yesterday at $1.018 U.S.
In September, when the loonie hit par with the dollar for the first time since 1976, McBride's sales of new Subarus nearly doubled compared with the same month last year.
Quebecers, eager to save $10,000 and more on higher-end U.S. cars, accounted for one-third of those sales.
"The response has been very, very good," McBride said. "It's progressively mushrooming."
The strong loonie is coming at an ideal time for dealers like McBride. In the United States, already-weak auto sales are predicted to decline in 2008 to a decade-low level, because of slowing employment growth, the housing market and high energy costs, a report this week by Scotia Bank economist Carlos Gomes said.
Yet, how long will the cross-border car-shopping frenzy -
fuelled largely by recent media reports - last?
Automakers such as General Motors, BMW and Porsche are penalizing U.S. dealers who sell new models to Canadians. For example, they may refuse to supply dealers with top-of-the-line, high-margin models; in other cases, they may decline to reimburse dealers who incur costs for customer incentives.
Other makers, including Honda, won't honour warranties on U.S. imports.
Even Subaru, which permits these sales, is now making it tougher for Canadians to get their 2008 U.S. car warranties honoured in Canada.
As a result, McBride said, "We're anticipating future growth - but we don't expect this to continue forever."
In 2007, Canadians are expected to import about 150,000 U.S cars, up from 112,800 last year. Scotia Bank's Gomes estimates 1.65 million vehicles will be purchased this year in Canada, up from 1.61 million in 2006.
As interviews with auto dealers, companies, industry analysts and Quebec shoppers reveal, there are still challenges to buying a car in the United States. Many Canadians simply aren't aware of the opportunity.
And for those who are, the paperwork hassle involved in importing a vehicle - along with restrictions by auto manufacturers - are cited as deterrents.
And despite highly publicized complaints of consumers being "ripped off" by higher car prices in Canada - and a recent $2-billion lawsuit filed against manufacturers for allegedly conspiring to keep prices high - Canadian auto sales hit record highs in August.
But in September, as the loonie hit parity, auto sales in Canada dropped by 2.8 per cent, suggesting despite our robust economy, Canadians could be hunting for deals in the U.S., Gomes said.
Auto manufacturers said cars are priced based on local market factors including operating costs, which tend to be higher in Canada. Gomes also noted companies have had trouble adjusting their prices to the rapid rise of the loonie.
Still, manufacturers of luxury cars - the market with the most pronounced gap on prices between Canada and the U.S. - are trying to discourage cross-border shopping. Audi Canada is offering free equipment on two of its 2008 Canadian car models.
Audi's September sales dropped 27 per cent compared with the same month a year earlier, a recent report by car industry analyst Dennis Desrosiers says.
"Audi Canada is ... mindful of the ever-changing exchange rate between the Canadian and the U.S. currencies and does respond by making adjustments to the value equation of our cars through packaging and equipment," the company said in a statement.
Last month, Porsche Cars North America, Inc. cut its Canadian prices by 10 per cent.
Despite demands by Canadian dealers for deeper price cuts, Porsche spokesman Tony Fouladpour said further reductions would lead to a depreciation in the value of used cars.
"We have to protect that higher vehicle value," Fouladpour said. "That's something our current owners appreciate."
New Porsches are still getting over the border, imported by brokers using a U.S. address, said Michel Larin, general manager of Lauzon Porsche in Laval.
While Lauzon is obliged to service Porsche vehicles purchased from a U.S. dealer, he said his clientele still gets preferential treatment.
"If I'm very busy and I have a client who buys here, and one who buys in the U.S., guess which one I'll service first?" he asked.
For customers, potential savings vary widely from car to car.
Canadian buyers don't pay state taxes on new U.S. cars, but they're charged the GST and PST, plus all fees one would pay for a vehicle in Canada. They might also have to pay a 6.1-per-cent customs duty, depending on where the car was assembled.
Under NAFTA, if a car is made in North America - even if it was designed by a European, or Asian manufacturer - the owner is exempt from paying customs duties. In an age of globalization, some foreign manufacturers assemble their models in more than one place, forcing the customer to be extra vigilant, shoppers say.
Montreal accountant Joanna Pasturczyk considered buying a Subaru Impreza from a U.S. dealer, but decided against it when she discovered the model was built outside of North America.
Yet Subaru, a Japanese manufacturer, assembles its Outback and Tribeca models at a plant in Indiana.
The Tribeca, which carries a manufacturers' suggested retail price of more than $45,000 in Canada, compared to $32,000 in the United States, is one of McBride's best-sellers. "Window sticker to window sticker, the difference is huge," he said.
While McBride said demand is still strong for the 2008 models, Pasturczyk said she was dissuaded from buying a U.S. car because of Subaru's new rules on warranties. For the first time, Canadians who get their U.S. Subarus serviced in Canada under warranty will have to pay the Canadian dealer for the work and get reimbursed by the company's U.S. division.
Then there's the process of importing the car, which obliges the owner to pass through three government bodies: Canada's Registrar of Imported Vehicles, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Canada Border Services Agency.
When it comes to saving money, Quebecers seem to know how to speak dollars and cents in both official languages.
alampert@thegazete.canwest.com
Canada-U.S. pricing dilemma
Canadians look at sharply lower auto prices in States and feel it's very unfair they're paying thousands more while the buck hovers near par; Wheels talks to buyers, dealers and car makers
Mark Toljagic
Toronto Star
Sep 22, 2007
Like Seinfeld's non-fat yogurt, the pitch seems too good to be true.
A brand-new Ford Focus with air conditioning for just $9,999, a factory-fresh VW Rabbit for $12,999 and a 2007 Chevy Trailblazer 4x4 for $21,999 are three pinch-me-I'm-dreaming bargains advertised recently in The Boston Globe.
Prices like these take the breath away of vacationing Canadians who open a local newspaper in the U.S.
The lease deals seem even more unbelievable: Boston's Kelly Nissan offers a new Altima for $139 per month (with $2,723 due at signing) and a Pathfinder 4x4 for $239 monthly.
While priced in American dollars, the gap between the two currencies is closing, making the U.S. stickers especially appealing.
Yet it begs the question: with the loonie's rise against the U.S. currency, why aren't Canadians seeing lower automobile prices here?
Despite growing awareness of the loonie's favourable exchange rate, auto manufacturers seemingly have done nothing to address the situation. If anything, they've let the price disparity grow unchecked.
"The gap has become embarrassingly large," confirms George Iny, president of the Automobile Protection Association (APA). "The potential is there to erode the Canadian dealers' business," he says, as more consumers go new-car shopping south of the border.
Iny knows of one Montreal-area Porsche dealer that has seen one-quarter of its sales volume migrate to the U.S.
"The phenomenon is most pronounced in the super high-end market where the savings are substantial," he says.
Like other car-buying services, the APA has begun purchasing vehicles in the U.S. for its members, but it's strictly a cash-only proposition, which precludes two-thirds of the buying public, says Iny.
In a study conducted last year, DesRosiers Automotive Consultants determined that the typical new vehicle was $5,842 more expensive in Canada than in the U.S., a 17 per cent price premium (after the exchange rate was factored in).
Meanwhile, the volume of U.S. vehicles being imported into Canada continues to grow. Last year's sum was 112,826 units while this year's total to June was 64,096 – 29 per cent ahead of last year's cumulative total to June.
The types of vehicles crossing the border have changed, too.
FIVE YEARS AGO, the list reflected Canada's top sellers, such as the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla, while the popular 2006 and 2007 models now entering the country are Chevrolet Trailblazers, Cadillac Escalades and Hummers, according to information compiled by the Registrar of Imported Vehicles (www.riv.ca), which is authorized by federal authorities to provide information to importers and make sure regulations are followed.
While most imported vehicles are pre-owned, it is new and nearly new products that are experiencing greater importation volumes now.
"Basically everything that enters the RIV is considered used despite the fact you may have purchased it off the lot minutes prior to importing (it) into Canada," says deputy registrar Gary Moriarty.
"It does give an idea of the increasing trend towards current-year models going through the program," he says of the latest data.
The trend suggests dealers, brokers and fleet buyers are getting involved in importation in a big way, likely to circumvent the manufacturers' Canadian pricing.
Beyond the obvious higher prices Canadian consumers pay, it is new-car dealers here who bear the brunt of the fallout.
Mike Karim, president of the Toronto Automobile Dealers Association, is hopeful a meeting between his association and car makers can take place to discuss the issue of price differentials.
"We would like the manufacturers to do away with the cost disparity between the two countries, especially as the dollar approaches parity," he says, adding that "we have to tread carefully."
Fat chance, says the APA's George Iny. The automobile manufacturers ultimately don't care, he maintains, since a car sold is a unit moved – regardless of which side of the border the transaction takes place.
"The manufacturers view it as one market, a continental economy," says Iny. "Only the dealers lose."
Steps For Importing A Car Into Canada:
1. Check if the car that you are planning to purchase is admissible for importing into Canada. The list is available at: US Vehicle Admissibility. This list also will state if any major modification is required to import your car into Canada.
2. Get your new car insured by your Canadian insurance company. Make sure that your insurance covers you while you are in the United States. The insurance coverage should begin on the day that you are planning to pick up your car.
3. After purchasing your car at a U.S. Dealer, they will issue you a one-month temporary license plate. You can drive in the U.S. and Canada (while you are completing the import process) with the temporary license during this period.
4. Fax the car's Certificate of Title to the U.S. Customs at the border where you will be exiting the Country. U.S. Customs needs three business days to process the title before they can authorize exportation of your car (a stamp is needed for importing the car into Canada). Call the U.S. Customs office to ensure that they have received your fax.
5. Request a "proof of recall clearance document" from your car's manufacturer. This will be required to register your car in Canada.
6. Drive the car to Canada. Allow three business days from when you faxed the title to the U.S. Customs before you go through the border (otherwise you will have to come back to the border to get the export stamp later). Note that Canada Customs may not allow a Canadian resident to drive their car with a U.S. license plate in Canada, unless they are satisfied that the owner is in the process of licensing the car in Canada. Make sure you go through the U.S. Customs office that received your fax (refer to Step 4 above).
7. Get your Certificate of Title stamped for exportation by U.S. Customs.
8. Drive to the Canadian Customs office. They will need the Bill of Sale and the Certificate of Title stamped by U.S. Customs for exportation. You will pay 7% GST, CAD$100 excise tax if your car has an air conditioner, and CAD$182 fee for the Registrar of Imported Vehicles (cars manufactured in the U.S.A and Canada are normally exempt from additional import duties). You may use a credit card or the payment. You will receive the Vehicle Import Form - Form 1. You will need this form to register the car in your province. A second form, Form 2, will be mailed to your home address within 5 to 7 business days.
9. In Ontario you will have to carry out a safety inspection and a vehicle emission inspection. For our last car these inspections were CAD$63.24 and CAD$37.45 for our last car (the car passed all tests without needing any work).
10. About two weeks after your arrival in Canada, you will receive the "Vehicle Import Form - Form 2" by mail.
11. Take Form 1 and Form 2 and the "proof of recall clearance document" (letter from your car's manufacturer which you requested in step 5 above) to an approved federal inspection centre (e.g. Canadian Tire). The service centre will do an inspection of the car to ensure that it conforms to Canadian standards. If your vehicle did not require major alterations according to US Vehicle Admissibility, it should pass this inspection with no problem. This inspection should not cost you anything, except if any modification is required. Our last inspection cost CAD$8.04 for the purchase of a tether bolt, which is required to be in all cars sold in Canada. After the completion of the federal inspection, the inspector will stamp Form 1.
12. Take Form 1, original title, bill of sales, safety inspection certificate (Ontario), emission inspection certificate (Ontario), and insurance certificate to your vehicle licence issuing office (the documents may vary in other provinces). In Ontario you will have to pay 8% Provincial Sales Tax and some additional fees for your license plate purchase and sticker.
13. Within a few days, you will receive your car's Canadian Certification Label by mail, which you will have to affix to the car.
Victory Motors
17500 Hall Road
Clinton Township, MI 48038
ph: 248-840-6586
fax: 248-928-5271
alt: 877-666-6440
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