Doug-you talked about rebates and not effecting the dealers....sorry, this is the farthest from the truth....rebates of any size would effect everyone.....why??....it puts huge pressure on the used car markets, you selling your used piece, never mind the huge, rental and lease fleets.....would take years to recover
So you don't think that local dealerships shipping ex lease and ex rental cars from the US and selling them here have any affect on our used car markets? Did you know that a local Nissan dealership just brought over 20 of these US used vehicles up here for sale? So its ok for them to access the US market but not your everyday consumer?
The point I am trying to get accross is that we are talking two different markets....G.M. of Canada then the US side of GM....we buy smaller amounts of product like tires, electrical components, etc., etc.,...this equal larger costs to purchase....wages in the auto sector in Canada are higher along with the benifits....all this with a fast balloning dollar makes it a HUGE difference in costs.....how many of you remember when GM first came out with the Denali and the Duramax???.....brokers were coming up here from the states to purchase at retail prices, selling to the dealer, who were selling to the public...it took about 6 months to close this down by the US/Canadian governments.....
So what you really are telling me is that I should pay 16 grand more for the vehicle that I want so my conscience feels better? Your argument is made invalid because of something we call FREE TRADE. Alternatively we could get rid of free trade, close the borders, have manufacturers and retailers charge whatever they want for our market. We could pay 15 bucks for a coffee at starbucks just so the girl working at the counter won't starve.
I've supported the local dealers for many years. I've bought well over 7 cars most of which were new despite receiving piss poor service and begging for a few dollars off MSRP or some stupid floormats. I would still support them if they were even close. Sadly they are not.
BTW I just purchased a new 2008 Subaru Tribeca Limited from a dealership in Seattle. MSRP was about 34 grand but they gave me invoice price less 700 for a total of 31,300 US$ (30,000 cdn). No hassles no fuss. I told him what I wanted and he gave me the lowest price he could. Did not try to sell me the stupid undercoating or any other extras. The MSRP for the exact same vehicle here is about 48 grand, less whatever miniscle discount you could beg for.