Jeraboam

I can't believe these posts that claim Canada is more expensive that the UK! Which century did they last visit this UK paradise they dream about! Cars, groceries, transit, homes, clothes, etc. seem to cost twice as much in the UK as in Toronto whenever we have travelled there. There are probably fewer used items at lower prices because new items are more reasonably priced: a new Dodge Caravan sells for under $20 000 fully equipped while used ones are almost the same price and don't come with a 3-5 year warranty. The same applies to furniture, appliances,...
Perhaps Toronto's larger market competition creates better prices than Down East, the Left Coast and Oil Country...

Dorothy

Maybe because you're not in Europe anymore?

Scribble

if you go pick it up then it's reasonable: try kijiji
If you use ebay then it's gonna be expensive because the post is so expensive to ship long distance

MillieF

I have had some very good deals on Kijiji. We just bought a second-hand garage door, second hand windows and a storm door, and siding.....we paid "lots" for our garage but it came with no 'ends'. I also bought two sofas for the basement and a recliner. Oh, we've just bought railway ties for $20 a piece for landscaping the garden and the man delivered. There are some outrageous prices on there but we just ignore them, as does everyone. I also bought a brand new, never out of the box, food mixer for $9 at the Salvation Army...I was taking them a couple of spare duvets when I found it. In my first couple of weeks here when we had nothing (our shipment didn't arrive) I thought it was expensive as I needed/wanted everything, now I'm settling in I spot bargains all the time and can ignore them! Very best of bargain hunting.

bats

We have a set of cast iron garden chairs tbat were free, assorted chairs from Facebook groups and a sideboard from a second hand consignment store. I particularly like that place as when you get bored with the piece you take it back in for resale.

colchar

I've never really understood this. I get that some things are cheaper back in the UK (used cars being a prime example) but I find other things in the UK more expensive or the same as they are priced here. And since salaries here are higher here than in the UK the cost of living is lower here as you are paying out a smaller percentage of your salary.

russellg

Its not so much cars being expensive, compared to the UK second hand cars in Canada look very poor value to me. I've been looking around for a while in the St Catharines area in Ontario, the selection is very poor (so much so I've ended up going round to Mississauga/Vaughan to look at cars) and the number of rusty skips that are available is scary. I'm moving over in September and i'm a bit concerned about the number of cars around that I wouldn't even consider in the UK.

Can anyone answer a question - why do some car dealers advertise cars "as is" without e-test or safety? Can you imagine many dealers in the UK advertising cars with no valid MOT? (I have seen one or two in the past but its usually the £100-200 wreck that you may pick up for parts). Given the fact the car cannot be licensed without the e-test or safety I really don't understand the point - very frustrating when trawling through autotrader!

AllyS

Off topic but I do think house prices in Calgary are on a par with the southeast of the UK, so salaries here are in line with the cost of living. On that note, we find that the cost of most things here (in Calgary) is higher than the UK because a) they have to travel further to be delivered here and weather not conducive to reliable deliveries b) no free trade agreement with the US c) Canadian Govt piles on large import duties on a lot of consumables. BUT we don't have a grasp on what the price of things is like in the UK these days.

Aviator

NAFTA is the free trade agreement with the US.

Some items have duty, a lot don't or it is small, a lot of photo stuff is no duty and some 1%. A lot of the items we bring in for business are zero duty, all depends on the country of origin and type of goods.

Prices are often higher than the US because manufacturers price it that way because they can.

How prices compare is also affected by the FX, from the rate we got when we moved here, Canada was a lot cheaper than the UK, at $1.58/GBP it is going to appear more expensive. Now I buy a lot of stuff in the UK and have it shipped over, but not everything is cheaper.

smivers

We've been fairly successful at finding furniture on Kijiji, but we are usually at the person's house within 90 minutes of the ad going up, and you have to plough through a load of terrible ads to find the good ones. Basically just looking for the people who want their furniture gone to a good home, and the money is secondary.

My best bit of kijiji-ism was I saw a guitar effects pedal listed for about $500, and pointed out to the seller that I could buy it new for $400. He dropped the price to $375... Seriously, if you're selling it second hand, it better be half the price of a new one at most.

Howefamily

I agree, I have seen pieces of furniture where someone is asking $500 for it second hand, or used baby stuff that is not far off the retail price and yet is 5 years old and gone through two children. I have heard of people with old broken washing machines that still put them up for sale for $50 even though they admit they dont even work.

Yard sales seem to be your best bet for a bargain

bats

Insurance, food, booze, meds, clothes, flowers, cleaning stuff, household appliances, all cost more than the UK.

MarkG

Our Buick is coming up to 20 years old, runs OK and still looks almost new without a speck of rust on the body. My Fiat in the UK was coming up to 20 years old before I scrapped it, I had replaced half the body panels in the ten years I owned it, and the reason I scrapped it was because it needed another 2,000 pounds of rust repairs to get through the MoT.

The UK dealers selling similar cars probably have a dodgy mate who'll give it an MOT without actually testing it. I've bought used cars there with recent MOTs that clearly couldn't have passed legitimately.

russellg

You see far more rusty cars on the road in Ontario than in the UK these days. When I was a kid (30+ years ago) it was commonplace for cars to suffer from tinworm within a few years (or months in the case of my Dad's 1985 Ford Escort!) but looking at secondhand cars in Ontario reminds me of when I bought my first Vauxhall Nova in 1993. Its very rare to see a car with significant corrosion in the UK these days. I still think that many secondhand cars I've seen I certainly wouldn't feel safe driving, whether they are "legal" to drive on the roads or not. It's got to a point when I am considering not bothering buying a car and just renting one for the odd weekend when I want to get away - that's how worried I am at the state of the cars I've looked at!

I can't comment much on your view of the MOT, I know I've had cars pass one year and fail the next on a fault that was present the year before, so some variation exists certainly

Also - what about service history in Canada? All the cars I've looked at have had nothing, no stamped book or invoices detailing work carried out. When I've asked car salesman about service history they have looked at me like I've just asked them to take their daughter out on a date!

colchar

If you buy as-is you do the work yourself and then get the car safetied. If you don't want to do the work yourself, don't buy as-is.