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Today, the Montreal Gazette picked up a Driving.ca commentary by David Booth.  3/4 of a page highlighting that the “A5 has undeniable appeal”.   The base price in Canada was indicated as $51,850.  So how much does it really cost, if you are a smart US bound buyer?

Note:  Time and time again we have asked these writers, driving.ca and Canwest to be a little more informative.  Can’t they to a bit of research and find out … is the car admissible?  and what is the comparative U.S price! and is it available now???

Here at Carswithoutborders you get the complete story.   Yes the car is admissible, but it needs the DRLs turned on.

So how did we go about doing some comparision shopping? Well first we  went to the Canadian and U.S sites and did some work comparing apples to apples.   (it helps if you have two screens hooked up to your computer)

Seems they love to make it hard for us Canadians to really see the complete and honest picture.  

The base price in Canada was $52,650.  This included the  metalic grey exterior paint  we wanted so therefore we had to pay $800.00 ( U.S. it is $475.00).  

When we looked at the U.S. model, it became evident that we needed the Deluxe Package to give us the equivalent and allow a proper comparison.  The price was $42,225 including the grey exterior metalic paint for only $450.00.

Then we  looked at the options and here is what we found:

Leather Upgrade - $2,900 U.S. versus $3900 in Canada.

Technical Package - 1,700 U.S versus $1,600 plus rear parking assistance $450 which is included in the U.S. price.  

Nav System - $2,390 U.S versus $3,500 Canada

Bang & Olusum Sound System $850 U.S. versus $1,100 Canada

19″ wheels - $900 U.S.  versus $1200.00

So if you wanted a fully loaded A5 it would cost you $48,065 in  the U.S. and $60,700 in Canada. 

The computer system would not let me calculate the prep and delivery ( we know this will be around $800 in the U.S .. ) so we called our local Canadian dealer and this is what we found out.

By the way Pete, was a great guy and we had a good conversation about the cost of doing business in Canada. We could have smoked him, but nothing would have been gained and you never know when we might need some help or advice.

Delivery and Prep in Canada is $1500.00.  And it is built in Germany so we get nailed for the 6% if we buy it in the U.S.

The dealer will program the DRL’s for 199.95 plus tax. 

But the big kicker is that the Car has an 8 month waiting list.  According to the salesman Audi is selling all the cars to China where they make more on Margin than North America. 

So in summary the A5 pricing comparison is 17.82% more for the base model and 19.27% more for the Loaded one.  a5comparison.JPG

Finally, it seems to me that if the car is nailed for a 6.01% duty when is comes to North America, why are we being charged again when the Car moves from the U.S to Canada.  Seems our Revenue Canada folks must be playing second fiddle to some of our “home boys”, but when will this gouging stop…. and it doesn’t seem completely honest and fair.  We should be able to get a rebate of the U.S. paid 6.01%, when the car leaves the U.S. (Duty Drawbacks - anyone?)

Disclaimer: CarsWithoutBorders provides information and advice to our members and supporters only. Although we do our best, we are not to be held responsible for the quality of the advice or each individual dealer or broker’s integrity, professionalism, customer service or vehicles. In other words… use your own best judgment and do your proper due diligence.