# New car prices.



## CalgaryPotato (Mar 7, 2015)

I know talking about new cars in the frugality section is a bit of an oxymoron... But I wanted to run this by the board...

Given the state of the Canadian dollar right now, and assuming that it isn't about to jump back up to 90+ cents, are new cars in Canada at a low price right now? 

I remember when our dollar was low back in the mid 2000's that the gap between Canadian & American car prices seemed to be greater than it is right now?

I'm wondering if we are about to see a gradual jump of prices over the next year?

In all honesty I don't follow the prices closely, so I wanted some feedback on this.

I will probably be looking at a new minivan (Odyssey or Sienna) next year, my preference would be to find something two years old with low KM's but those can be hard to find and if prices are undervalued now for the new cars, I'm wondering if I should be considering that.


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## hystat (Jun 18, 2010)

If you have two specific van models in mind, I'm not sure it matters too much what the new car market is doing generally. Incentives and sales on those 2 particular cars will be more of a consideration for timing I suspect. For example, if you catch an end of generation run before the new model rolls out, can be significant discounts.


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## CalgaryPotato (Mar 7, 2015)

Well here is how I'm looking at it... from Honda.com's base price for an Odyssey Touring lets say, the cost is $42K. The same vehicle on Honda.ca is $50K

When you factor in the exchange rate, it seems like the the Canadian price is about $5000 less than it should be.

Obviously I'd want to look around at the current deals, but 10% off the top, based on the prices not having caught up to the exchange rate seems like a significant starting point... am I missing something?


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## 1980z28 (Mar 4, 2010)

Used for sale
Most leases are 3 years
Lots of 3 year old vehicles for sale
Dealers will keep the best for resale
Most go to auction
Best deals are on 3 year old autos


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## CalgaryPotato (Mar 7, 2015)

That is a good point, just in briefly looking yesterday I notice a lot more 3 year old vehicles than 2 year old.

Here's a question though? Is buying used from a dealership worth it?


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## 1980z28 (Mar 4, 2010)

You have the backing of the dealer and there network
Find and drive more than one auto
Test drive for hours not around the block
All prices are starting points,if you are serious about the purchase they will work with you
Lots of autos out there,you are one in the drivers seat


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## dougboswell (Oct 25, 2010)

A car expert was on the radio Sat. He said that because of the low Canadian $ American dealers are coming up and buying autos at the auctions which is pushing the average used caprice up. With 0% interest deals on a lot of new models a new car may be a better choice


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

Yea, we had this happen before.

We used to send many trailer loads of new auto parts to central US dealers, who then sold them to various local dealers for a profit.

It doesn't take Americans very long to discover an arbitrage advantage.

It wasn't long either, before the dealers started claiming "shipping shortages" on almost every trailer.

How do you 100% check 30 trailer loads of parts ? They knew we didn't and were paid for their claims.

I remember one dealer was shipped 60,000 spark plugs and claimed a shortage for 59,999.

I don't know how he figured that 1 spark plug made it to him. I believe they ended up paying him.

It ended up the transport company had the trailers unloaded on their dock, counted the parts, reloaded the trailers and then stamped them 100% inventory checked.

It was cheaper to pay a few guys to do that all day, than to pay all the claims.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

sags said:


> Yea, we had this happen before.
> 
> I remember one dealer was shipped 60,000 spark plugs and claimed a shortage for 59,999.
> 
> ...


Sounds like they had a scam going on with missing parts in their orders. 
How, would you check where the missing spark plugs were when they were across the border taken by a trucking company that may have been in on the scam with the dealer?

anyway..to get back the OT poster topic...new car prices in Frugality?...LOL!

In Canada, no matter where the exchange is with the American dollar, it will ALWAYS cost you more compared to the same model across the US border, 
unless of course you can find a model here that the dealer is getting rid of because of factory incentives. 

Things just cost more here..doesn't matter whether it's that big screen TV or vehicles.


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## CalgaryPotato (Mar 7, 2015)

carverman said:


> In Canada, no matter where the exchange is with the American dollar, it will ALWAYS cost you more compared to the same model across the US border,


But that is exactly my point though... look at any of the dealers price on the America and Canadian version of websites right now... with the exchange factored in the Canadian prices are cheaper.


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## jonfox (Aug 17, 2015)

*Dealership*



CalgaryPotato said:


> That is a good point, just in briefly looking yesterday I notice a lot more 3 year old vehicles than 2 year old.
> 
> Here's a question though? Is buying used from a dealership worth it?


IMO it is SO much safer to buy from a dealership, the amount of cars I've now had that have had problems within a few months. What is a private seller going to do for you?

With the internet/reviews etc being so crucial to businesses I find that even used car dealerships (especially the major branded ones), will actually do quite a lot to help if they can to avoid negative publicity.

Plus a lot of people need to borrow money, so in terms of getting a loan/part exchange it also simplifies matters.

That's just might thoughts anyway!


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## Brian K (Jan 29, 2011)

I bought a used Mustang at a Toyota dealer (because it was the one I wanted and couldn't find one I wanted on Kijiji). It came with their 5000 km warranty but fortunately I didn't have to use it and no problems with the car in 3 years. My daughter bought a 2014 Ram last month as a private sale. There still is a manufacturer warranty on her truck. She saved the GST and it was slightly cheaper than buying from the Stealership and she didn't have to deal with the annoying salesmen. 

Both purchases were good experiences and she saved the GST. I probably paid a bit more from the Stealership than if I bought it privately. I would think a 2 or 3 year old vehicle would still have the balance of the manufacturers 5 year'ish warranty so I wouldn't worry too much about power train issues. Maybe on a 3 year old vehicle the 'bumper to bumper' warranty which is typically 3 years or 60Kkms would be expired.


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