Feb 18
Toyota blocked sales to Canada - what are US dealers doing about that?
This PDF file is slow to load but it tells exactly how strict Toyota is on its US dealers (note 5 items in memo)
Toyota Motor Sales has contractual arrangements with Toyota Japan? That doesn’t make it legal according to Free Trade Agreement. We would be interested in knowing how US dealers are feeling about this blockade imposed on them. How can CWB help?
You can contact me confidentially - serge@bergeron.ca
My Toyota from the USA $8,100 savings
February 19th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Referring to the U.S. class-action litigation mentioned on your website a few days ago,
the following is taken directly from the lawyers’ website:
“On February 24, 2006, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. agreed to pay $35 million to settle
plaintiffs’ claims. Toyota also agreed to refrain from engaging in anticompetitive conduct
with other auto makers and trade associations and to cooperate in the lawsuit’s discovery
process. . . . . The proposed settlements are awaiting court approval. ”
Source: http://www.bermanesq.com/Antitrust/CasePage.asp?caseid=464
What I am reading is that this settlement is a result of misconduct of Toyota dealers in
Canada in refusing cross-border sales to americans (when prices were higher in U.S.)
In fairness one must ask whether the lawyers’ website is correctly representing the facts.
Toyota dealers in both countries should want to know and be quick to correct anything that
is misrepresented. Otherwise consumers will conclude that to the extent any dealers of
this Japanese company had been doing something wrong in Canada, today other of its dealers
must be doing something equally wrong in the U.S.
I know it’s just a drop in the bucket, but when I first learned of these restrictions last
November (having spoken to U.S.dealers of two Japanese car makers) I immediately registered
my complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Wow… Wow… I made my import by 2 days, October 29, 2007. It astounds me to see this happening. I am very lucky to make it in when I did otherwise I would be in this boat. A friend here is trying to bring in an Escalade and a Tundra. He has tried for the Escalade and the dealer won’t let him have it. He even flew down and had to fly back. I do not know where he is at with his Toyota but this does not look good for him. All I can say is… Wow! The sad part is that Toyota could accept importing to Canada from US dealers by ensuring sales to Canadian address to eliminate the bulk importers. I believe the intent of the personal import is being misused by people importing as a business. I believe this is really what Toyota wants to stop and not the single family purchases. It would be interesting to see the RIV stats to show what has been imported at this level. I would have no problem signing a release from a Toyota US dealer saying that I will not sell the vehicle I buy for up to one year or something like that. Simple. How hard is that!
February 19th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Good idea, but lots of luck getting any info out of the RIV. They have trouble keeping track of the weather outside!
February 20th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Serge:
If you remove the words “could” and “if” from the document, the situation may not have changed much. I think the high-volume dealers will still sell to individual Canadians as they can afford to lose the distributor rewards for that sale. (This is just my read on it; I could be wrong.)And what is the date of this document?
Canadian ingenuity will rise to the challenge! My favourite is the fellow who set up a company in Alaska…
Also, the second Toyota letter, from Chicago, seems to be aimed at identifying bulk buyers, not individual consumers.
Best wishes, Frances
February 20th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Auto manufacturers can not have it both ways
If you want a larger market with its economies of sales - you have Nafta
You cannot declare a whole major portion of your agreed to free trade zone ( US, Mexico and Canada) as an “export area ” just because it is not good for you and do not like it
You cannot have your cake and eat is as well in this case no matter how hard you hold your breath and turn blue
February 21st, 2008 at 12:48 pm
I think we should use their words against them.
What they are saying (or at least part of it) is:
It may not be safe to operate Toyota US vehicles in canada. That is, their vehicles may be unsafe.
US Citizens who have bought cars in the US be warned - your vehicles may not operate safely when you drive across the border. This message brought to you by Toyota of US.
Wonder if that is the kind of PR they want.