fatdoc

hi all
i would appreciate it very much if you would share your advice and experience regarding buying a car used vs new, choosing a make and a model , choosing insuracne co etc...will save lots of headche for those of us still out of Canada.

Cheers
FD

H143

Take a look at this thread - http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=395999

Very handy info on cars there. Prepare yourself for a massive shock when you go to buy car insurance! In fact, find out exactly how much it will cost you before you buy the car!

Best of luck.

dfkd

My only and most important tip is this.

DO NOT buy a car from a North American company.

Go German, go Korean, go Japanese (my personal preference for reliability).
The cars made on this continent are simply inferior. I'm literally traumatised by the one American Ford that I owned.

Just spare yourself the pain.

H143

Apparently the VWs here are made in Mexico!

dfkd

Every last one is...

fatdoc

new VW will be made in germany.

ezvanetree

Toyota stopped exporting cars from Japan to North America about 20 years ago and all cars for the local market are made in North America. If you live in the east, you will be buying a Toyota that has been made in Cambridge Ontario, most likely, whereas in the west your Toyota will be made in North Virgina (although I stand to be corrected on this). Hondas are made here too (at least as far as I know). However, the quality of these brands has not been compromised thus far.

I have a 2002 Toyota Camry--which is a great car to drive but got poor ratings on safety because Toyota, despite all the evidence, refuses to put in side air bags automatically. Overall, Toyota has been left behind in terms of safety. The insurance for this car is about $1400 a year.

Just this week I got my brand new Honda Fit, which is the first new car I have ever owned. It got very good reviews and won over the Toyota Yaris because it has ABS brakes and side airbags as standard and I can get my stroller in the back without taking off the wheel. The insurance for this is about $1600 a year.

I wouldn't touch an American car, as someone else said on this thread. American cars are cheaper but your repair bill will be higher. My sister used to work for a GM dealership, handling the repair side of things, and then moved to a Honda dealership. She couldn't believe the difference in terms of how often the GMs needed repairs, whereas at the Honda place business was so slow she eventually left out of boredom.

Piff Poff

Whenever someone asks my hubby what sort of car to get he always says - Japanese cars don't go wrong!

Why then am I driving a '98 Ford Expedition?- he is driving a chevy Camaro and is looking for a Ford Bronco for the winter.

I am fortunate in the fact that my hubby is a grease monkey and can spot the good from the bad - we get stung once in a while (our turnover of cars is pretty high - not as bad as in UK thank god! we used to swap cars every 3-6 months there)I'm only on my 2nd car here, 1st was a early 90's Explorer. No probs with either car (as she touches wood maniacally). Hubby has so far had on the road 2 camaro's a Ford F150 and a Mercury Zephyr - again no major probs. Another tidbit of advice hubby always give - if you go for an older car go for a high end one i.e. a Lariat or Eddie Bauer don't go for the base models. The better models tend to be looked after a bit better.

we are also fortunate that the insurance we have managed to get isn't as scary as most peoples - that could be because they are not new cars - i don't know.

The one brand new car hubby might not be able to resist will be the new challenger when it is released in 2008 - he is already excited

As you may have notice - his advice japanese cars don't go wrong - if you look at what we have had..........well a case of do what I say not what I do comes to mind.

When we were in England my hubby was always being asked "ive got x amount will you get me a car?" and they were generally happy with what he got sight unseen and would often come back to him for the next car. So i think he's advice is pretty good and not just 'cause I love 'im

Calgal

..........is what I expected to see when I saw you'd started a thread

windward

.. just as an aside to the OP's notes up there - I knew a gent out in Aurora who told me he works on the production lines for Honda.

.. so I suppose they're made there too.

dbd33

I've been very happy with a long string of American Fords.

Novocastrian

I don't think it matters that much what sort of car you drive. It mostly depends on your self image and your susceptabilty to advertisements and other crap like that.

Of course, it's probably a mistake to drive a Smartcar in Nunavit, so I guess location has something to do with it.

Tiaribbon

6 Litre Dodge Ram truck, 4 Litre Jeep Wrangler and 2.5 Litre Subaru Outback - total insurance costs for all 3 vehicles is under $2,000 per year. I can't understand how you guys are being quoted the figures you are being quoted for insurance.....ours is cheap! And ours is fully comprehensive insurance.

We do have a '67 Camaro convertible but it is not on the road as yet as we imported it from the UK and it is still "relaxing" in our shipping container LOL!!

fatdoc

oh my gosh....you NEED a new picture

fatdoc

hi fellow albertan
i may look for u and husband if i ever get there thanks for the info.