Canadian heading to the US (TN) - Need a car, where to buy?

DBinOntario
New Member



Joined: 11 May 2008
Posts: 3
Location: Toronto

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 6:13 pm

 

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Hi all,

I'll be moving to the US on a TN. I currently don't have a car, but I'll need one for work. I'm worried about buying one there due to lack of US credit history. So my options are:

1. Finance a new car in Canada, register in Ontario, get the ecoAuto rebate, and bring it over as my personal vehicle before I head down (starting June 9). More expensive, but I can for sure finance it, plus I can bring it back with me to Canada when I move back from the US without paying duty.

2. Finance a new car in the US. Less expensive, but might be difficult to finance.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan

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cimit
New Member



Joined: 27 Mar 2008
Posts: 9
Location: Exton, PA

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 5:38 am

 

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I guess it depends on where you are moving to.

I moved from Ontario to PA and I owned my car in Canada. I brought it over with me when I moved here.

Another woman in our office moved from Germany to PA. Obviously, she did not transport her car, yet knew she needed one for getting around. She had no credit history in the US, but did have some money to afford a down payment. She did manage to work with a local dealer to obtain a lease on a vehicle.

So you may want to investigate local dealers where you plan on moving to in order to see if you can get a lease or loan on a car. Another option as a Canadian would be to work with a bank that has ties to the US. They can extend credit based on your Canadian credit history. I work with RBC and have opened an account with their RBC Centura bank in the US to obtain a US bank account. They also were able to provide me with a US credit card based on my Canadian credit history. They also said they could help me with a personal loan or mortgage if I needed the help.

Hope this helps.

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eddycurrents
CanuckAbroad Regular



Joined: 18 Jun 2007
Posts: 42

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 12:00 pm

 

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We brought one of our Canadian cars to the US. You need special inspections but it's not a real big deal (or at least it wasn't 5 years ago). Plus it's a Chrysler, which may have helped. The speedo is in kilometres which is a bit confusing when we move from our Canadian car to our American minivan, and the odometer constantly messes up the oil change people, but it's still running fine.

If you want to buy a car in the US, getting credit history in the US is indeed a real problem. I was hamstrung for 2 years essentially until I bought a house.

The problem is, the big 3 credit bureaus (Equifax, Transunion, forget the other) have Canadian offices and keep Canadian credit history, but they will not "bridge" credit from one country to another. Instead, for an extra ten or twenty bucks a credit card company can ask them for your Canadian credit history, but (to my greatest surprise) none of the hundreds of credit card companies who hassled me daily to take their card, would bother getting my Canadian credit history.

When I bought a house, though, it was a big enough deal for the mortgage company to go through the extra hassle. For a car, you may find the same thing.

I have posted this somewhere here before but here's my advice: get a Canadian Amex card. When you move to the US, call Amex and ask for their "special handling area" or something like that. Basically, they can give you a US Amex right away because you have a Canadian one. Amex is the only company who can do that, because they don't farm out their credit card sales like the others do.

Then open a bank account at your local bank and give them $1000 cash as security against a $1000 loan. Then pay it back after a few months. They get a little interest, and you get some credit history.

In the US, no credit is worse than bad credit. They would rather give a credit card to someone who declared bankruptcy than someone who doesn't show up on their radar. Bizarre, but true.

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DBinOntario
New Member



Joined: 11 May 2008
Posts: 3
Location: Toronto

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 1:03 pm

 

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Does anyone know if I buy a new car in Canada, can I bring it across the border as my personal effects, even though it is brand new? I've read that if the car is less than 1 year or less than 6 months, then you will pay duty.

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Steven
CanuckAbroad VIP



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 739
Location: Calgary

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:53 pm

 

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It has to be in your possession for at least a year, although I'm not sure how closely they check as my car was pretty new when I imported it. I think it was like ten or eleven months old but I didn't get charged any duty.

If the car is made in North America, it's exempt from duty under NAFTA anyway, but if CBP consider it a commercial import, then the State you register it in probably will too, which means they will charge you sales tax, (if the State has a sales tax) before they will transfer the title.

Why not just get a personal bank loan in Canada and then use the money to buy a car in the US? The rates won't be as good but it solves your problem.
_________________
Steve.

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