poopsnack

oops. double post. thing. carry on.

SteveM

The loonie in February was 96ish cents US. After exchange rate and duty/GST at the border (11%) I would say my savings were about 8K. As an Albertan I also avoided paying PST which, if applicable, you should factor in. (another 5%?)

I found the California vehicles to be in much better condition and since there was more than 1-3 for sale in the region the prices were much less inflated. Supply and demand seems to have LS430's in most places in Canada being quite overpriced IMO.

Caddyowner enlightened me to the service records trick. If you go to Lexus.com and go to the owners section, you can enter a VIN, save the car as yours and view the service which has been documented at Lexus dealers. Just use discretion in how often you add and delete cars as the admin there apparently catches on and bans if you abuse it too much.

Where did you go to get your car? I'm not sure which tint I'm going to go with I think a fairly dark standard will end up being it. What is the difference with ceramic? I'm unfamiliar.

Thanks for the input. I personally love tint and will be going ahead with it I think. You're right to add that it keeps the temp down and also protects the leather. With 50 on the front sides is it opaque in daylight? Any police issues with front window tints in NY/NJ areas?

Thanks for the input and for the pics. I have mercury metallic also so I was able to see exactly what mine would look like with the tinters. It looks great! I enjoy the privacy also, I don't care for people staring on the road so I usually let them stare into blackness! Any police issues with the dark windows in NY area?

poopsnack

thanks for the heads up! I jsut went to tcheck on my vehicle, and how brief the lexus.com titles are scare me. Here is why - 0697328 ELECT/MODULATED AIR SUSPNSN AIRBAG SYSTEM Hopefully there isn't a pending issue with my air ride on the UL. I have read the horror stories on here.
I flew to Alabama to get my car. Then flew a friend to Nashvile so we could go out. The next day drove her back home, here in Ohio.

Ceramic tint is supposed to be better for keeping the heat out, and also is not known to interfere with radio waves (for NAV, GPS, radio, cellphone, etc.). It's about 200.00 more to tint with the ceramic, though. Worth it? Dunno. My appointment is in a week with a local shop. I was going to go 50% on the sides (the legal limit, pretty light tint) and 35 in the back window.

AlexusAnja

Technically, it's not legal to tint the front sides in NJ, but I have not gone through inspection yet as I got it tinted right after I got the vehicle inspected when I purchased it. I can always go to a private inspector who will pass anything on four wheels (or even three).

As for police action, have not encountered it, but have heard many others get into problems up north in Bergen county. They drive ghetto Civics and Nissans, which are cop magnets around here. I have my family Disney stickers on the rear window, so that might be helping to alert the cops this ain't no ghetto roamer.

nuck

Hi Steve. I am also considering importing a 430 to Alberta. What did you do about daytime running lights? Any other changes involved in Canadianizing it?
Didn't they also charge you 6.1% duty at the border because it is not a North American built car?
Where did you cross it? Did you inspect at Canadian Tire?

SteveM

My 05 didn't need any mods whatsoever to be road worthy in Canada. I'm not sure if it had daytime running lights hooked up because they require it in CA but it had them and, child seat anchors and everything else. It passed the free (well I guess you RIV fee pays for it) inpection to be road worthy in 5 mins at Canadian Tire.

Yes I paid 11.1% @ the border because of the 6.1% duty and 5% GST because it's imported from outside NA. If you think about how much LS's cost in AB you'll know like I do it's still a huge savings. I got it for 2/3 the cost. This is one of the reasons AB is the best Prov to import to: no PST (another 5%) which everyone else would have to pay. The car has never seen winter and paint and underbody (as well as everything else) is in excellent condition.

I crossed through from Sweetgrass Montana into Coutts Alberta. FULL/EXCESSIVE paperwork (including some obscure things) is required so DO NOT BUY FROM A PRIVATE SELLER if you want to import. They might not have all the paperwork needed to import. A dealer will usually have all of it in a file and help you fax it and get temporary registration and insurance.

If done right it's a fairly easy process and VERY well worth it. If done wrong it can be a hassle or even nightmare. Let me know if you plan to do it and I'll tell you all the steps to ensure a good experience (RIV mostly tells you everything but leaves out some easier ways of doing some things) Start looking at these steps www.riv.ca and I can clarify any questions.

Steve

caddyowner

^^^
It may also be a good idea to buy from a dealer where the western Canadian snowbirds tend to flock in the winter. I imagine that dealers around the Palm Springs and Phoenix areas have plenty of experience in selling to Canadians.

iowaboy

Steve, I am also surfing sites for LS430 04-05. From Iowa. Would you share what you paid and if not, was it a dealer? were you able to haggle down the price. Looking for someone who has had this experience with a Lexus. Thanks, Iowaboy

SteveM

Welcome to CL Iowaboy! I'm new here also and I joined when I was shopping for an LS. I was right in thinking that these forum members have priceless experience and insight. I asked a bunch of questions on another thread and got great responses. Maybe it will help as a starting point to read what the experienced members told me. It was very useful to me. Here is the link
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...ce-please.html

I bought mine from a dealer for $19,000. I couldn't haggle them down further because they had been reducing the price already. For you, being an American resident, I wouldn't say it's the same need for excessive paperwork because you don't need to import. So buying from a dealer isn't as necessary as it was for me. There are other benefits from buying from a dealer to consider.

Try checking over that other thread and maybe some of the members who helped me out may offer you some more advice if you still have unanswered questions. Let me know if this has helped at all. You're in the right place for the advice you need. Thanks