mjjmiller

Hi,
Has anyone in the Club Lexus network had any experience as a Canadian buying a lexus in the U.S.A.? I am considering purchasing an IS in the U.S.A. and bringing it back across for registration in Ontario. I know there are some considerations when registering a U.S. purchased car in Canada, and wondered if anyone could provide their experiences (good and bad) with bringing a Lexus across the border.

Thanks,

Mike Miller

Sulu

Start your research at the Canadian Registrar of Imported Vehicles website (www.riv.ca). After a quick search for admissible Toyota/Lexus/Scion vehicles, I found the following notes:

Anecdotally, I have also heard that dealerships here in Canada may NOT honour warranties of current model vehicles bought in the USA and imported into Canada.

mmarshall

Welcome to CL...and CAR CHAT. I see you are a brand-new poster.

Just out of curiosity, why aren't you buying it in Canada? New-car sales-taxes too high?

UberNoob

if you post your question in the canada section of CL, you will get better responses since people there are familiar with the process
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/canada-133/


i bought my GS in canada but it is an american GS, my friend did the importation many years ago (back in like 2005) so rules may have changed...

but there are plenty of sites on the internet with guides telling you how to do all this
including regulation checks at canadian tire...etc

if you dont want to do it yourself, there are lots of brokers out htere too that can help you

Johnny

Talk to dealers near the border - not necessarily Lexus dealers either, as Lexus car dealers are not often close to the border, due to lack of demand; a Toyota dealer is a good start. You'll find there are some that have a lot of experience in this type of transaction. They will handle all the paperwork, and have it ready at CBSA for advance processing. You are not required to pay any US taxes in the US, so these will be handled by Customs at the border as well. Be aware that there are some differences in the way a car set up for the Canadian market. Winterizing, different tires, windshields and other features are not always included in American market cars. Knowledgeable Canadian Lexus dealers should be familiar with this, and this should also be part of your decision making process. For instance, winterizing may not be that important for a West Coast owner, but may be critical for the rest of Canada. Good Luck!

Sulu

Mike: It is not necessarily the new car taxes (the large proportion of taxes on new cars is the same sales tax that is charged on almost all consumer products); it is more than likely that the suggested retail price of the new Canadian car is higher than of the new American car (although it is not always a true apples-to-apples comparison).

Canadian vehicles likely do come with some features that an American vehicle may not have (as has been suggested), and that would be winterizing features, including stronger battery (definitely needed this week).

Just doing a quick Internet (lexus.com vs lexus.ca) comparison, the American IS 350 is about US$40,000, whereas the Canadian IS 350 is about Cdn$45,000, although they may not be feature-to-feature comparable.

BornDriver

Lexus Canada is really doing a lousy job on pricing and packaging. They are pushing out potential customers to competitors. And, they only sold a slim fraction of cars comparing to other premium brands.

To Mike:
You need to find a US dealer willing to sell you a car. You have to pay the import duty because IS cars are made in Japan. You also have to make some mods to the car according to Canada laws. Still, you can save thousands.