iaink

As I said, hard to compare like with like. The subaru is hers. I drive a 4 door 1.8l civic. no such thing in the UK. Come to that there is no such thing as a legacy wagon in canada anymore, which is what she actually has. The closest civic in the UK seems to be a rather unbeliveably high £17.3k!, compared to about $24K on the road here for my well speced one.

Insurance in AB is cheaper than BC and el-richo doesnt say what he drives. Its probably a bimmer and he doesnt want us to judge him accordingly

In general services seem to be more expensive here than in the UK, but this was really a "cost of goods" thread in my mind when I started it.

What does a decent cooker or fridge cost in the UK now? I seem to recall my range and fridge, although "normal" for Canada are both a lot bigger than anything I would ever have had in the UK.

el_richo

We have ICBC to thank

I do get 5 years free breakdown in North America with the new car though so at least that's something.

Souvy

Quite. My two pairs of 8-holes came from Brighton. About £70. The only ones I;ve seen in Ottawa were $225.

xxdb

Well it has to come down to groceries too.
When I was in Toronto, groceries were on average about 30% cheaper (that was 2006).

In the UK from 2007-2008 I was spending about 110 quid a week on groceries for pretty much the same basket as I do in Calgary. Here I'm running about $180 a week. So Calgary is slightly more expensive.

Gasoline is obviously cheaper but I'm driving longer distances and the MPG are to be quite frank SHITE so I'm actually spending more on gas than back home.

Insurance: yeah I've heard all about the smug bastards who get insurance for $900 a year. That won't happen if you've recently arrived.

Holidays: There is no easyjet or ryanair. The cheapest is Westjet and they are nowhere near as cheap as ryanair so forget about cheap weekends away.
Yeah I know about road trips to "the cottage" or "the mountains" but I could do that back home, yawn.

Heating: to be fair the UK is much warmer in the winter than Canada, but even so it has to be said, you could be paying STUPID amounts every month like $300 for heating per month in the winter.

High End Brand Name Electronics: Here Canada is cheaper by sometimes as much as 30-40% BUT this is the luxury end of the market. At the cheap end you often find cheap electronics is 3-4 times what you'd pay back home if you want it to work. Buying super cheap in Canada just means it'll break. An example is an FM transmitter for my ipod which cost 8 quid in TESCO in 2006. It lasted one winter here so I went looking for another one. There was nothing less than 29.99 and that one looked flimsy. Most of them were around 70 quid.

I'm going to come up with some odd examples but bear with me:

Large format plant pots: UK price 6 quid each. Canada price: not for love nor money. Medium size ones: $50 each. WTF???

Cheap Garden Shed UK: 99 quid. "Cheap" Garden Shed Canada: $600 WTF???

Indoor shoes for kids (e.g. the black plimsoles) UK 4 quid. Canada: Don't exist, so you have to buy "cheap" sneakers from Walmart: $19.99

School Uniforms: UK probably set you back 15 quid for a jersey, a tie, a shirt and a pair of trousers. Calgary: No uniforms so a jersey, a t-shirt and a pair of "slacks" will be probably $50

Prescription medicines for kids: Free. Canada not free.

Schools: Free (as in no fees). Calgary: $200 per kid per year.

The market is skewed here. For some products you can *only* find what would be the luxury end of the market and the cheap end (that works!!) doesn't exist.

But this thread is really irrelevant anyway because people who've lived in Canada a long time generally have the unshakeable opinion that Canada is better for everything and the UK sucks hind teat in everything.

I believe I take a more balanced view. I *like* Canada NOT *love* but I have my eyes open and I'm here not because I think the sun shines out of Canada's arse, it *doesn't* but instead because there are **** all jobs back home that pay reasonably well and I managed to get one here.

Oink

Sheds are terriblly expensive over here. I saw a lovely one at the Home Depot two weeks ago but they wanted $1000 for it.

Steve_P

This thread may or may not be relevant to those newly arrived or those not here yet.

As for those who have been here along time myself included it is irrelevant not for the reasons you state, but because I don't shop in the UK and have no need for comparison.

R I C H

Depends what you drive, doesn't it? Pick an economical vehicle here and mpg is no worse than in the UK.


My insurance here hasn't changed by more than $150 in 7 years - I got full no claims discount from day one, and changing vehicles has made only fractional differences to premiums. If you've got the required proof in the right format there's no reason to pay over the odds here, though you have to accept it's going to be pricer than most of the UK.

xxdb

Nope. I drove a little CHEAP diesel back home that got 55 mpg. Not for love nor money here unless you buy either a smart car diesel (which is a deathtrap considering all the idiots who drive F-150s up your arse) or you buy a diesel jetta which is expensive.



What you find in general is that people who have been in Canada a *long time* have cheaper prices for things like insurance but that doesn't compare to the UK.

When I was back there it cost me 60 quid a month for my little diesel but here my beat up crappy little 1998 neon which barely gets 35 mpg costs me $120 per month. That's with 12 years Canadian "experience" (don't get me started about Canadian "experience").

My wife was added on to my little diesel as an occasional driver for 12 quid a month. Here there's no such thing as an occasional driver and since she has limited Canadian "experience" it costs $180 a month for her.

These little tidbits of information are very helpful to newly arriving immigrants and the fact that *you* who have lived here for a decade don't pay the same as they will is totally *irrelevant* to the point that your opinion on the matter doesn't count. No offense but the facts are the facts.

Aviator

Who really cares that much about the price difference anyway. The cost between US and Canada is more relevant to cost of living.

Does immigrating hang on the cost of stuff in Canada vs UK? If you cannot buy it why worry, or that Jaffa Cakes are more expensive or you can have stuff shipped from Top Shop, Waitrose or whatever.

It also depends on how you measure it over a given time. The cost in CDN for UK goods is much less now due to a stronger $ vs weaker £, 20 years ago the difference was measured against a $2.40 to the GBP, now it's $1.58, a 34% difference.

The all important things are still cheaper in North America though.

R I C H

Still depends on what you drive - if you can afford a Golf or Jetta diesel there's no reason your fuel mpg should exceed what's possible in the UK. I wasn't arguing about whether a VW was affordable or not.



I was responding to your point that you won't get the best insurance deal 'if you've recently arrived.'. My point is completely relevant. It is possible to get full no claims recognition, and therefore the best price from day one here.

Aviator

Quite true, I managed to get 43% off of ICBC from day three, the other two days were spent arguing with them as to why they should give me 43%, which they did in the end.

What you get depends on how prepared you are.

Oh and I run around in an old diesel that gets only 48 to the gallon now, is worth bugger all and costs $1200 to insure. Regrettably my truck does less than a respectable mileage, my aeroplane is even worse, having to pay $1.70 or so a litre for avgas

MikeUK

I’d like to put a more positive spin on this thread.

It’s an opportunity for many to realize that the “rose tinted specs” do exist and when you do the math, reality will always creep out.

I find that if you’re looking for day to day clothing, then its time to plan a holiday, to the UK if its ‘good’ quality at a reasonable price, or to the US if it’s cheaper, fashion or sports type clothing, make use of that $700 allowance for being away 7 days. I go south every year at Easter for an early spring and fill out any gaps in my wardrobe. and don't forget to claim the tax back if you can...

For big electrical purchases, well now that the dollar is on par if you can get it in Canada you might as well, but shop around the big box store’s will normally rip you off unless it’s a borderline commodity item, and if it could be consider commodity and its small enough to be mailed, then get off to e-bay.

Food, well It was a shock when I got here how cheap it could be bought, and at the same time how nasty it could be, you really do get what you pay for, buy seasonally and locally if you can, it might not be much cheaper but it will last longer before it becomes a science experiment in fungi culture. If you adapt your diet you can eat very well here for a good price

Cars, many are cheaper than their European cousins and many are built cheaper, with much cheaper parts, again you get what you pay for, that especially includes servicing, don’t be afraid to ask the dealership the cost of a part and compare to ebay, you never know who will offer the best price, but always consider who is the actual manufacturer of the parts.

DIY materials, much more of its is more accessible to the public than was in the UK and Europe, but, well you do get ripped off here, Canadian wood is cheaper and better quality in Europe, nails, screw bolts fittings I could go on, almost everything is overpriced except maybe the tools,

The upside is that even though you will pay more for the materials the store often will give training seminars and do have helpful knowledgeable staff ( you may need to ask some hard knowledge question to find the right ones thought) so if you know what you’re doing you can often do it yourself and don’t need to hunt high and low for the materials you’ll need,

The other down side is that houses are built much cheaper here, so in order to get “things” nice you’ll need to replace a lot of the cheap cabinets , light fittings, taps, naff door handles, and replace the drafty doors seals, so you’ll either get better at the DIY, pay a contractor lots of money or bitch about how wooden house are cheap but crap ( I personally don’t see them as cheaper once you factor in the natural maintenance costs that go with a house design that is suited to a harsh climate).


Taxes, well tough sh1t, welcome to Canada, the land of the passive, walked over and raped by it government and union for over 100yrs, don’t expect much to change!

xxdb

Because if you're a new immigrant you need to be able to figure out your budget.

To a certain extent yes. If you're making 25,000 quid in the UK and you get an offer of $50K in Canada you might be misled into thinking you'll be much better off.


True.

Maybe the things you buy (though I doubt it), but the list of things I quoted are important to me and almost without exception, Canada is more expensive. I'm lucky enough that I already knew what to expect so my salary expectations were commensurate with what I'd have to pay out but an unsuspecting UK immigrant could very easily end up on the short end of the stick.

xxdb

Yeah but we're comparing like to like.
If you could afford a VW Jetta in the UK then of course you're going to be better off. I don't want to have to spend extra to get the Jetta which to me is the point.


The problem with your argument is you're NOT talking about the "best insurance deal". You're talking about whether you'll get a full no-claims bonus.
I did and I still pay more. My wife who has no full claims bonus because she's not been driving long is PENALIZED whereas in the UK she wasn't.

xxdb

No it doesn't. There are many, many cases where new arrivals will get their head handed to them and preparation just means being prepared in advance for the blow. Another example is that you often have to pay a large deposit on utilities when first signing up.