Oct 13
Dollar over $0.97
Now a high dollar can be said to be bad for Ontario and Quebec. Bad for our exporting companies and then bad for the employees who work for those companies. However we have free trade with the US and part of this free trade is to let the Canadian $ fluctuate and let the market dictate the value of the currencies. Now today, our dollar is worth more-over $0.97. It could be said by American companies that when the dollar is too low that Canadian exporters are getting an unfair advantage over its US competitors. So the fact of the matter is the dollar is back up again - some are predicting parity by year-end - I say parity by the end of October, just like in 2007.
If you are shopping for a car, tires, car parts - do yourself a favor and check out the US pricing. In most cases there is an advantage and many times a LARGE benefit. At CarsWithoutBorders we are trying to help consumers to level the playing field. Companies are scaring Canadians into buying at home at higher prices but you know several hundred thousand cars are imported from the USA every year, so it is something that is doable and worthwhile.
Stay tuned.
October 13th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
it will be very interesting to see the numbers of imported vehicles when the dollar is very close to par and the economy is still struggling compared to when the economy was supposed to be healthy and the dollar was above par.
BUY AMERICAN!
October 13th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Go loonie, go loonie!! Check out this article on Canadian Driver where Jim Kerr’s bias towards shopping for a car in the U.S. clearly shows.
http://www.canadiandriver.com/2009/10/07/auto-tech-buying-a-vehicle-from-the-u-s.htm
October 15th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
This post may be a bit off topic because it does not deal with automobiles, but rather exemplifies how, as Canadians, we are ripped off every time we purchase something in Canada. I live in Toronto and have one son in Boston and another in San Francisco. I´m going to Boston for the American Thanksgiving next month, and thought to return to Toronto and then fly out to San Francisco—until I checked on the airfares. Long story short: I´m flying Boston-San Francisco, direct non stop roundtrip on United Airlines for Can $302.78 including all taxes. The price for Toronto-San Francisco direct non stop roundtrip on United Airlines is Can $887.04 including all taxes. In other words, I can purchase almost three tickets in the US for one ticket in Toronto for the same dates. Check out the United Airlines Canadian webpage.