May 18
Montreal Gazette and Canwest asleep at the wheel again!
Well now that the Toronto Star and La Presse have come out with non-bias multi-page articles on importing a Car from the U.S. , maybe just maybe Canwest will run a 2 line article informing Canadians that this is dangerous and Canadians need to spend their hard earned dollars in Canada!
For those of our members that have a bit of command of the French Language take a look at these two articles from LaPresse that ran over the last few days:
Acheter aux Etats-Unit redevient interessant ( Buying in the U.S. is becoming popular again!) and
Comment importer un Vehicle au Canada. (How do you import a vehicle into Canada)
Particularly about Sylvain Cousineau… he purchased a 2007 Subaru Tribeca in Burlington and saved $16,000!
Everybody Knows… EveryBody Knows…
Car Companies continue to treat Canadians like second class citizens. When will they adopt fair pricing for Canadians!
May 18th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Why is it that in th USA the power train warranty on a 2011 Hyundai Sonata is 100,000 miles
( 160,000 km ) and the same car in Canada comes only with a 100,000 km warranty.
Just another example how we are treated by the car companies.
May 22nd, 2010 at 3:45 am
As much as I admire the time and effort put into this web page by the people involved, I think that it´s clear that we´ve reached the point where we´re really preaching to the converted. It seems apparent that the multinational automobile companies have no intention, and no pressure to do so, to provide fair pricing to the Canadian consumer based on the value of our currency. Their view was summed up by the person who mentioned that when he went to an Audi dealership, he was basically told that they sell their full allotment of automobiles, and if he wasn´t interested in purchasing one, someone else would.
Of course, excess profits is not limited to the automobile industry, but pervades the entire Canadian economy. I recently priced a Panasonic camera at a Henrys store in Toronto and was quoted $449. The same camera sells on Amazon.com for $320, making it virtually 50% more in Canada, even more of a markup than for automobiles. Some companies don´t rip off Canadians: Apple, for example, charges roughly the same price on either side of the border.
What I find most disappointing about all of this is that (1) there doesn´t seem to be a single politician, as far as I know, on either the provincial or national level, who has spoken out on behalf of the Canadian consumer. I´d certainly like to see an executive from Panasonic explain to a Parliamentary inquiry why his product sells for 50% more in Canada. (2) And the other thing that I find sad is that even companies like Honda and Toyota, who have presumably received millions of dollars in tax grants and allowances to encourage them to manufacture automobiles in Canada, have no hesitation in ripping off the Canadian consumer on most of their models.
So what´s to be done? Obviously, continue importing automobiles and purchasing as many items as possible in the US, either when travelling there or by utilizing the companies that have sprung up along the border to provide a US address and who will hold packages for you. But the other thing that´s necessary, and perhaps the logistics and effort is too substantial for volunteers, is to get the word out. Perhaps a march on Parliament Hill, or how about picketing around your local BMW dealership on Saturdays? Otherwise, the executives of these multinational companies will simply continue to laugh when Canada is mentioned, because Canada represents a country that allows them to improve their bottom line and their is absolutely no government pressure to halt the rip off.
May 23rd, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Howard you are right. Most Canadians know that they are getting hosed but don’t seem to care. What is really scary is all these high profile canadian consumer protection non-profit groups. They don’t seem to consider these issues at all.
Keeping this site going is only one small way to try and raise the issues.
Look at the 15,000 ex-Nortel employees that are now losing their health benefits and a pension reduction of up to 30%. While their co-workers in the US and England are protected. Canadian Law allows coporate executives to steal from Employee health and pension funds so that they can make their earnings targets and receive millions of $$$ in Bonuses. Funny how this issue has been around for quite some time and our political leaders to not want to deal with the issue. Strange how the Banks and Bond Holders have suddenley hired Don Boudrias, former Liberal and Possible Chretien “Bagman” to lobby against changing the law…
These Nortel Folks are getting screwed and they are not doing anything about it!
and tell me why the people we hire to govern us do not want to allow us to see their expenses accounts???
Quebec and the city of Montreal contruction contract issues!
The list could go on , but I suspect Canadians are so tired of dishonest Governments and laws that favor the rich multinatiuonals over their own citizens that they are simply numb and have recognized that is just the way it is…. EVERYBODY KNOWS…EVERYBODY KNOWS