Thursday, November 15, 2007

Speaking of Lemons...

The 'net is rife with stories about the current state of the Canadian/U.S. dollar, cross-border shopping, and why Canadians should continue to shop in Canada (or, as some opine, should head to the U.S. for "better deals"). One area where many have claimed that it's much cheaper to shop in the U.S. is the used vehicle market. However, Canadians should practice caution when looking for across-the-border deals. CBC News is reporting that tons of used cars that qualify for the "lemon" designation are crossing the border into Canada, and into unsuspecting buyer's driveways. Many are via auction, with no proper history being provided to the unsuspecting buyers, who then sell them at a profit in Canada.

Reportedly, a total of 852 cars have brought forth a sour taste in the country between May 1, 2006 and November 5, 2007. More shocking, however, is that 13% of them (110, to be exact) arrived since the Canadian dollar reached parity with that of the U.S. (which, to my knowledge, was less than a month ago!)

Moral of the story: if you get excited about an amazing deal on a used car in the States, don't automatically assume that things are what they seem. Run the proper tests to ensure that it's not a lemon (http://www.carfax.com/) before you, or your customer, gets taken for a ride (or rather doesn't). Or better yet, buy your cars here, in our home and native land! (Of course, it goes without saying that you should run the appropriate back-checks either way).

As the saying goes, give us lemons, and we'll....wait a second, take them back! We don't want any of your lemonade, thank you very much.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If anybody would like to purchase a Lemon, they should consider a German engineered / Mexican Manufactured VW Jetta. You won't find a greater lemon even if you owned the entire Orchard.

If you purchase the reliable, economical TDI Model - you can look forward to Multiple Turbo replacements, Bolts coming off the turbo - turbo's going right through the engine, accidental acceleration in peak hour traffic - into multiple cars in front of you.

Not too mention Brake Calipers seizing up and malfunctioning.

Another pride and joy of owing a VW Jetta or Passat is an oil pan that is about 3" off the ground making an average trip almost anywhere a frightening experience if the roads have not been cleared of al debris and road hazards !

VW The pride of outsourced manufacturing !

Anonymous said...

Dude, you're bitter.
Sell that fruit and move on. This is holding you back from a meaningful existence.
Cheers.