Friend at work asked me b/c "you're a car guy".

He's looking at a new Tahoe Yukon XL but it's a grey market vehicle from Canada through a Chevy dealer here in KC.

All I know is they do require some additional paperwork to confirm the emissions are US Compliant.

He said right now the money is about $6k cheaper than if he bought off the lot a US version, but no warranty on the vehicle. I asked if he was going to spend $6k in repairs in the next 3 years? You would think no but sometimes stuff happens and that new vehicle transmission fails.

Also, is there a Texags Chevy hook up I could point him towards?

PS - I did try to talk him into a minivan but his wife is adamant she will not drive one.

EDIT: My mistake, GMC Yukon XL

If I went that route I'd 100% get a lemon requiring tens of thousands in repairs.

I'd have to do some digging, but I believe the MSO/MCO would need to have be flipped to a US one if truly new and I am not even sure that's possible. Either way I would not assume this is a "new" car. It's likely retailed in Canada and purchased at auction by this dealer in KC and they're selling it. He's also more likely to receive less trade in value in future making the savings irrelevant.

TitanAGGIE09 said:

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I'd have to do some digging, but I believe the MSO/MCO would need to have be flipped to a US one if truly new and I am not even sure that's possible. Either way I would not assume this is a "new" car. It's likely retailed in Canada and purchased at auction by this dealer in KC and they're selling it. He's also more likely to receive less trade in value in future making the savings irrelevant.

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what is MSO/MCO?

Also, yes I probably left out that part, it was bought at auction by a dealer in Washington State and the KC dealer got it from them.

Lots of these go thru auctions and come to the USA. Dealers take advantage to the USD/Canadian rupee exchange rate.

Change the cluster over and sell them.

There's a few dealers in Texas that will buy these ex rentals and slap some cheap lift and XD wheels with some cheap big tires on them and throw them up on eBay.

1agswitchin4lanes said:

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Lots of these go thru auctions and come to the USA. Dealers take advantage to the USD/Canadian rupee exchange rate.

Change the cluster over and sell them.

There's a few dealers in Texas that will buy these ex rentals and slap some cheap lift and XD wheels with some cheap big tires on them and throw them up on eBay.

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Like Net Direct? I remember seeing alot of those when I lived in FW. Alot of 6.5' bed F150s with the same cheap lift/wheels/tires. I think I carfax'd a few off Autotrader and they were all from Canada

agracer said:

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All I know is they do require some additional paperwork to confirm the emissions are US Compliant.

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I wrote about this 3 years ago when I imported my Australian Jeep Grand Cherokee. I'll dig up the post and link to it.

The two pieces of paperwork you have to complete for importing a foreign car into the USA are:

• NHTSA Crash testing
• EPA Emissions testing

If the vehicle is already in the USA, somebody must have already done this. For a model that is identical to a US Model, this paperwork is not very difficult to complete.

For vehicle registration in my state, I had to provide two additional pieces of paperwork:

• Title/Registration, proof of ownership (from Australia, they didn't have the concept of a title, just registration)
• VIN verification - conducted via an inspection at the DMV

I guess one more piece is car insurance.

See if you can get the VIN and call your insurer to see if they'll write a policy for it. In my case with a foreign VIN, I had to get Collector Car insurance because I called like 20 companies and nobody else would write a policy.

By the book, the odometer can remain in KMs as long as it's labeled as such. The speedometer must be converted to Miles on the outer ring. My speedometer was in kilometers so the face had to be swapped out.

It's not impossible but it is a hassle.

Tell your friend or whoever that this is the worst idea I've heard this year

aggiepaintrain said:

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Tell your friend or whoever that this is the worst idea I've heard this year

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I know. A minivan would be much better.

Also, I told him to just wait a few months and he can get a US version for much less.

HollywoodBQ said:

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agracer said:

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All I know is they do require some additional paperwork to confirm the emissions are US Compliant.

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I wrote about this 3 years ago when I imported my Australian Jeep Grand Cherokee. I'll dig up the post and link to it.

The two pieces of paperwork you have to complete for importing a foreign car into the USA are:

• NHTSA Crash testing
• EPA Emissions testing

If the vehicle is already in the USA, somebody must have already done this. For a model that is identical to a US Model, this paperwork is not very difficult to complete.

For vehicle registration in my state, I had to provide two additional pieces of paperwork:

• Title/Registration, proof of ownership (from Australia, they didn't have the concept of a title, just registration)
• VIN verification - conducted via an inspection at the DMV

I guess one more piece is car insurance.

See if you can get the VIN and call your insurer to see if they'll write a policy for it. In my case with a foreign VIN, I had to get Collector Car insurance because I called like 20 companies and nobody else would write a policy.

By the book, the odometer can remain in KMs as long as it's labeled as such. The speedometer must be converted to Miles on the outer ring. My speedometer was in kilometers so the face had to be swapped out.

It's not impossible but it is a hassle.

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That's a good point. I'm going to tell him to check that.

He said that the dealer is telling them GM will still honor the warranty and I suggested he get that in writing from GM corporate, not the dealer.

Quote:

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He said that the dealer is telling them GM will still honor the warranty and I suggested he get that in writing from GM corporate, not the dealer.

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Liar liar pants on fire! I don't believe this and he would be sorry.

Lots of gray market camera gear that i avoid like the plague and i suspect this is similar.

JB said:

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1agswitchin4lanes said:

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Lots of these go thru auctions and come to the USA. Dealers take advantage to the USD/Canadian rupee exchange rate.

Change the cluster over and sell them.

There's a few dealers in Texas that will buy these ex rentals and slap some cheap lift and XD wheels with some cheap big tires on them and throw them up on eBay.

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Like Net Direct? I remember seeing alot of those when I lived in FW. Alot of 6.5' bed F150s with the same cheap lift/wheels/tires. I think I carfax'd a few off Autotrader and they were all from Canada

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Exactly. A lot of them were rental trucks or leased to oil companies.

Holy Crap, looked online and the GMC Yukon XL starts at $68k and most of them on the lot are $80,000!!!!

I remember freaking out about paying $23,000 for my 2000 Odyssey..... .

Because dumba$$ people are paying that for vehicles

I used to do this for a living. For $6k it is not worth it. Talk him out of it.

Have a co-worker that did this with a F150 a few years back. Drove from CO to Nebraska to pick it up. It's had nothing but problems.

The other day I was peaking at the Broncos on a lot here in town. One seemed too good to be true until I saw it had a Canadian VIN.

Mookie said:

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I used to do this for a living. For $6k it is not worth it. Talk him out of it.

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I want to talk him out of buying a $80k grocery getter. He has 3 kids, no more coming and I don't believe is looking to haul a camper or boat or anything. His Traverse is more than enough or go get a Pilot.