Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

A crack in the windscreen is "nonsense"? The car fails if the chip or crack is over a certain size and is in the portion of the windscreen in front of the driver. Might be a pain but a sensible rule in my book. As for non-structural rust holes, try telling that to a pedestrian if they get knocked down by a car with a gaping hole in the front wing.
What is nonsense are the stringent rules car owners have to adhere to regarding emissions, yet I see plenty of rancid old buses belching out black smoke running around, very often they have a couple of passengers on as they run at daft times and they don't tell people they only do 6-8mpg. Not as environmentally friendly as some people would like you to think!

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

I've always found eating out in Canada to be much more expensive. I can easily take the kids to somewhere like Pizza Express or the local pub and all of us will eat and drink for £20-30.

I guess that a chain like Nandos might be cheaper in Canada, but nobody in the UK pays the menu price for Nandos anyway with so many vouchers around! I always get one from the internet before we go there, usually it means that either hubby or I will eat for free or we get 20% off the bill. Or I use Clubcard tokens and so we all eat for free. Yes, I am a cheapskate. :o:lol:

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

You read my mind C ! I think knowing where to go, and the use of coupons or value days (for family dining) make a huge difference.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

I've not eaten at Nando's in Canada, so just out of interest I've just looked at their menu and am confused as to how you think it's 2x-3x more expensive to eat there in the UK as it seems exactly the same price to me?

For example, a 1/4 chicken with 2 sides is £7.20 in the UK and $11.75 in Canada (give or take a few cents, exactly the same price), and a Nandinos kids meal is £5.25 in the UK and $8.50 in Canada - again, exactly the same price.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

People can kid themselves all they want but for many things Canada is no cheaper than the UK (and in some cases more expensive). Having said that, there are real bargains to be had if you are prepared to shop around.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

I'm a huge fan of that! We often go in to London on a Sunday, park for free and free entry to a museum or two, or use Clubcard tokens for days out (got ones for Thorpe Park this week so we'll all have a great day out for free!).

Cheapskate or frugal? Hmmmmm. :lol:

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

Well it's interesting that in Britain there is a sense of being too frugal whereas in NA the same behaviour is generally seen as being sensible.

I have just discovered that you can park at Westfield (Shepherds Bush) for £5 on weekdays (10-10) and then take the tube into town.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

You can, or you can just park on a side street near a tube station, and then it's free parking. When I commuted in to London I used to park near South Ruislip every day and then tube in from there.

We tend to always go in on a Sunday now though to get free parking right in the centre, and to avoid the Congestion Charge too.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

I didn't know there was still free parking anywhere near a London tube. We also tend to do the London on Sunday thing. Though not today :(

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

Us neither, but we've just been for a bike ride and a picnic - also free! :thumbsup:

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

Shoppers Drug Mart, Freshco, Wal-Mart, that's in the area I live, a few convenience stores around that mark too. I'm sure other areas of Canada are more expensive. some of the stores round here are, Vince's Deli, Zehr's around here are.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

Ditto Cracker Barrel and Armstrong extra :)

I'd be interested to know what generally qualifies as "old" and "extra old" because I have bought Baldersons 2 & 3 year old and found it no stronger than Cracker Barrel extra.

Funny thing, I've had marble cheese slabs with more flavour than ordinary 'old' slabs. Not stronger, just more taste.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

Oh the cheese age thing is weird. Cheddar cheddar isn't aged for so long and tastes much stronger. Really oidd. Anyway we have somePC extra old in the fridge right niw. Last week I has some Quebec cheddar from Costco that was great, crumbly with the salt crystals. Very good stuff.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

No, I am not.

http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Produ.../?id=257265436


Here is semi-skimmed milk which is £1.39 for 2.2L which works out to be $2.24CDN:

http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Produ.../?id=254656543



I can walk into Walmart, Shopper's Drug, Sobeys, Freshco, etc. and buy 4L of milk for $3.97.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

I drive in southern Ontario every day of the week and have done for years and I do not see these unsafe cars you are so convinced exist.


I think that estimate is ridiculous.



And that is even more ridiculous.



You sound overly paranoid and perhaps should just not bother driving here.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

+1 to all your answers.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

Sobeys, Walmart, Shopper's Drug, Freshco, etc. all day, every day.

I have lived in Ontario for years and never once saw milk at $5 unless you were looking for some specific organic milk or some other sort of 'special' milk or were shopping at a variety store or something.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

There are plenty of unsafe skips on the road, certainly round St Catharines. Other people on here have seen the same. I have eyes, I've been driving for over 20 years and I've driven all sorts of cars from old bangers (which I've spent plenty of time taking apart and rebuilding) to brand new cars. I have looked at the secondhand dealers down Hartzel Road and some of the cars for sale on those lots are scary. But again looking at the more expensive used cars (and on the face of it there are plenty of decent cars for $20k), if they want to see my filthy lucre then I would want to see some (preferably full) service history. I wouldn't dream of dropping over £12k on a car in the UK without FSH (preferably with invoices). Is that too much to ask? If this the paranoia you refer to? Come on hard man, lets have it!

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

We bought a car from JP Motors in Burlington when we came in 2004. We saw the ad on the Internet and took the print out around a couple of other dealers to see if they had anything similar. The other dealers said it wasn't possible to sell that car at the price advertised and told us that when we got there we would get the 'we just sold that one yesterday, but we have this one only $2000 more' story. However when we got there they gave us a choice of three similar models, for that price. We still have that car 9 years later and it is still going strong. We bought another one from them a couple of months later which also served us well, but we don't still have that. Check them out, it's not far from you.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

You are wrong! You started of saying milk was £1.99 for 2L in Tesco, which you have just demonstrated was a load of old pony.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

Cheddar on there is around 8 pounds a kilo, here it's at least $20.

LaughingCows cheese wedges. GBP1.35 for 6, here around $6

Butter, 1.60 GPB. here $5.

3.4 litres of whole milk, 1.99 GPB.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1315665/

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

That's "Cravendale" which is premium priced as it is extra filtered. Milk in Britain is typically 50-70p per litre at present (usually 60p).

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

I had a look up at JP Motors last week. They had a Subaru Legacy which looked decent but the drivers seat was falling apart (drove okay though).

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

I lived in a small town in Ontario which may have made the prices higher, no wal-mart, sobeys etc in town, just a metro, flying tiger, and some smaller stores. But milk was certainly not that cheap....

I am surprised you can find milk that cheap, certainly not like that out west.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

The item that I do find expensive in Canada is sliced bread. £1-1.50 for a Warburtons or Hovis wholemeal loaf, whereas I seem to recall similar being north of $4 in Canada.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

It seems so. TBH, what you would do in the UK is not really relevant. This isn't the UK. I have not come across people keeping FSH or offereing it to potential vehicle buyers. However, it is very common to get a competent mechanic to inspect the vehicle for you. The provincial AAs do this for a very reasonable fee.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...0929-00337.jpg


Just one of many fine examples of cars currently on the road in Ontario!

I guess people really do just drive around Ontario with there eyes closed. :thumbdown:

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

it's hardly unsafe though. that's a bit of rust caused by all the salt and chemicals put on the roads during winter.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

Yes.

How many accidents have been caused by a crack in the windscreen?

I suspect they're rather more annoyed about the whole 'getting knocked down' part.

All these silly rules do is keep windscreen companies and welders employed. They cost far more than any benefit they might provide.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

I strongly suspect if that vehicle were to be sold then it would not pass the Ontario Safety inspection.

If the vehicle is unable to be passed on as "safe" then how can it be considered as safe to be in use by the present keeper.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

Warburtons or Hovis?! Posh bread eh? 47p a loaf I pay. :lol:

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

Crikey, that is frugal! We (ha ha) do home-bake too, not sure if that works out more or less than buying, but it's certainly good bread.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

Ditto. My bog standard sliced is the Tesco 47p one (which is actually pretty good!) and I also make nicer bread i.e. sundried tomato & Parmesan or similar. I don't know if it's cheaper or not either but you can't beat the smell of bread cooking so I don't care. :lol:

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

I think the UK supers must do a loss-leader on own brand bread. Just had a look at the 47p loaf and it seems to be like the bread Sainsburys will do for 80p (which occasionally we get). The thing is, their pricing strategies are so crafty that what you save on something like bread you completely lose as soon as you buy some vegetables or biscuits or some other unsuspected item.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

Congratulations, you found one example of a car with some rust (I'll leave aside the fact that we have no idea where that car is actually from). And that rust in no way makes that car unsafe as it is mainly surface rust in areas that do not affect the functionality or the safety of the car.

I just came back home after running around for an hour or so doing some shopping. Because of the conversation here I paid particular attention to other cars when I was out and I only saw three cars with rust on them. The first was at the lip of the trunk lid and the other two were over rear wheel wells. So none of the three had rust in any spot that would affect the functionality or safety of the car and none of the rust was very extensive - nothing that half an hour with a grinder and some body filler wouldn't solve.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

Thanks, these claims about hordes of unsafe vehicles on Ontario's roads are ridiculously overblown.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

You keep moaning on and on about service histories on cars and yes, it is too much to ask for because that is not the way we do things here. Dealers do not provide service histories - deal with it. If you don't like that fact, buy privately and demand a service history from the previous owner. Otherwise, just don't buy a bloody car.

If you want things exactly as they are in Britain perhaps you should stay in Britain as you'll obviously be happier there. We get along perfectly fine here without doing things exactly as they are in Britain (I would actually argue that we do a lot better here) so don't come here demanding that we do things your way - you have adjust to our way of doing things and if you don't like it, tough!

And no, you do not have to pay $20K for a decent used car. The last one I bought was a 2002 Ford Taurus from Dixie Ford which I purchased in December 2007 or January 2008 (pictured below - and no, that is not rust at the bottom of the driver's door, it is dirt and mud because of the weather when I bought it) back when I was in grad school. I paid less than $10K for that car (on the road for that price) but, according to you, used cars here are all deathtraps and one has to pay $20K for a decent used car. Right.....sure we do.


http://imageshack.us/a/img27/1381/grwb.jpg





Oh how cute, you're playing internet tough guy now.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

Are you for real? Check that first link I provided - the milk there is £1.98 for 2L.

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

Pardon???

Where are you doing your shopping? I got Kraft old cheddar for $4.49 for 500g at Freshco last week or the week before. The small 200g bars of Kraft extra old cheddar regularly go on sale for $1.99.


As for that Globe and Mail link, I'd like to know which stores they got those prices from. When I was out earlier I stopped to pick up a couple of things for my parents, including milk, and that milk cost $3.99 at Fortinos and it is one of the more expensive stores (it and Metro).



Edited to add: Freshco has cheddar on sale again this week. Go to the link below, choose Ontario from the drop down menu, then choose Brampton as the city (it will be the same price all over the GTA but I live in Brampton so that is my point of reference), then pick any of the stores in the next drop down list. Go to the flyer link at the top left of the page and on the second page of the flyer you will find 500g bars of Black Diamond cheddar on for $4.99 each.

http://www.freshco.com/Home.aspx

Re: Why is second-hand stuff here so expensive?
 

We have a huge neighborhood garage sale up in my area every May. I tend to let stuff go at ridiculously cheap prices just to get it out of my house. My Canadian neighbors on the other hand, hang on to crap year after year in the hope that someone will eventually pay the stupid prices that they are asking.

You are right though, used stuff is expensive over here. I just bought 4 brand new 16" steel wheels from costco for $254, this is far cheaper than any used set of wheels that I could find locally.