Odd Car Dealership Story

[wimic]

I was chatting with a friend of mine the other day about a car that he wanted to purchase. We live in Alberta, Canada and he's looking at purchasing a Lexus.

It's a well known fact that cars (as well as pretty much everything else) is less expensive in the US. Since we live relatively close to the border, he was planning to drive to Washingon to pick up his car which he was planning to purchase from a Lexus dealer there. (The lower price in combination with the strong Canadian Dollar made it a very worth while venture... he would save upwards of $12,000CDN on his vehicle).

To make a long story short, he called the dealership and they told him that they weren't able to sell a car to him because he's a Canadian citizen. Apparently this is standard amongst dealerships who have both North and South of the border dealerships.

It really makes you wonder... how free are we afterall?

Any comments?

 

[PlaceofDis]

well it doesn't surprise me.
you'd have to get the loan from an american bank/dealership and they don't have to deal with someone from another country if they don't want to.
plus there are different regulations on cars in both countries.

 

[l33r0y]

Turn up with a briefcase full of cash and watch them hand you the keys

 

[Sdashiki]

Turn up with a briefcase full of cash and watch them hand you the keys

Exactly.

You are a consumer, not a citizen of anything.

 

[imac/cheese]

Turn up with a briefcase full of cash and watch them hand you the keys

I was thinking the same thing. If you pay cash it is always a lot easier to get anything. And better deals too.

 

[Abstract]

Of course you can buy a car in America. You can buy a car in all the countries I can think of. However, you'd have better luck by not buying your car via a financing. Your friend would have even better luck buying a used car.


PS: I'm Canadian. I bought a new car in a foreign country.

 

[adk]

While he'll probably be able to buy the car in the US, importing and registering it in alberta could be a whole new can of worms.

 

[iGav]

We had a similar thing in the EU, because of the difference in costs between a car here in the UK and the exact same model in another EU country, it was often cheaper to fly to that country on holiday, buy the car and drive it back, and still save yourself several grand in the process.

It had gotten to the point where dealerships were refusing to sell cars to UK citizens because of this (such refusal was in fact illegal) though I cannot remember the circumstances that surrounded the change, but now it's much easier to buy a car in another EU country, though with the advent of the Euro, and a more uniform pricing structure, the saving's are not quite as substantial as before.

 

[CanadaRAM]

It really makes you wonder... how free are we afterall?

Has nada to do with freedom.

Purchasing whatever you want, wherever you want is not a right. Freedom is not defined by having someone else do for you whatever it is you want.

The dealership has the freedom to accept or reject offers to purchase. And in this case, like in many authorized dealer contractual agreements (including Apple's, Nikon's, Canon's, etc.) the dealer cannot sell for export out of their territory. If they persist in doing that, they could lose their dealership.

It's a market based economy -- contracts defining restricted sales areas are a part of the marketplace. If the dealer doesn't like it, they are free to sell Kias or Hyundais or whatever instead.