MonacoMike
Well-Known Member
- Sep 15, 2009
- 14,721
- Boat Info
- 2000 Cruisers 3870
8.2 Mercs
- Engines
- 85 Sea Ray Monaco 197
260hp Alpha 1
Exporting cars is an interesting topic. Apparently the prices for cars are all over the place. When I bought my new Porsche a year ago, I had to sign a contract as a part of the closing that I would not export the car to Europe for a specified period of time. I believe it was 12 months although it could have been 24. When ask why this was required they said it had to do with pricing. I believe Americans pay less than Europeans for new cars. They difference might be enough that we could sell our new used cars abroad at a profit. This probably has to do with high European taxes, although I don't know that this is the case.
That is a funny thing that the auto companies try to do in order for them to maintain pricing in volatile currencies and across markets. Its a big issue for Canada/US as the CAD to US went from $0.65 to 1.10 and back down to $0.75 now. They force dealers to not sell cross border and try dupe customers about warranties not being valid across border. They also have a process where they charge a customer a "Canadianization" fee to ensure that the car is legal for use on Canadian roads and to make it eligible for warranty work here. The cost is quite high and offsets a lot of the savings from buying a new US car and bringing it to Canada.
Fiefdoms, Canada/US, trying to maintain control.
Europe, my guess is VAT.
It is interesting to me that I see few 10+ year old cars, I have long suspected that they are exported at some point.
MM