Strong dollar drives us to record U.S. car imports
Canadians used the power of the dollar - which is at a 30-year high against the American dollar - to import a record 112,826 automobiles from U.S. car dealers in 2006.
The North American Automobile Trade Association (NAATA), which represents automobile importers, said the 2006 import figure represents a 55-per-cent increase from 2005.
It can be complicated to work through U.S. and Canadian customs paperwork and importing often invalidates the automobile’s warranty coverage. But the savings, even after taxes, duties, registration fees and transportation, can be substantial.
The numbers of imports to B.C. have grown with the strength of the dollar. ICBC doesn’t separate countries of origin, but spokesman Doug Henderson said the provincial insurer registered 24,000 imported automobiles in 2006 compared with 15,800 in 2005. In 2002, the figure was 6,700.
Canadian car dealers don’t like losing the sales, but the current situation is a reversal from the trend about eight years ago when the Canadian dollar was at its weakest and U.S. buyers bought huge numbers of autos off Canadian car lots.
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