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.
