"On Offer",
"On Offer" means that our Japan Partner has aquired the vehicle and is offering it to the first buyers. These vehicles typically do not last long. We tried to buy a BMW with 18,000km on it a few weeks ago, it only lasted 3 minutes after the new aquisition list was emailed out from Japan. A 1992 VX Ltd Land Cruiser with 40,000km on it lasted 18 minutes.
On the listing page you will see:
This means the all the costs as listed below plus freight to the Calgary area before the cost of modifying for compliance or going for inspection and registration. If you would like a spreadsheet containing these items emailed to you please contact us and we'll send you one.
The published FOB Vancouver price is the cost, to get the vehicle to Canada, FOB Port of Vancouver (before the container is moved off the ship). Then you start to factor the following:
- GST: 6%
-*Duty: 6.1%
- Container Unstuffing $170.00
- Container Unstuffing extra for hanging vehicles (would only apply to a car small enough to hang above another car): $100.00
-*Brokerage: $250.00
-*Excise Tax - Weight (applies over 2100 kg) $100.00 average (sliding scale, Land Cruisers average $250.00)
-*Excise Tax - If vehicle has Air Con: $100.00
- Drayage Costs: $150.00 (based on $350.00 per container broken down on number of vehicles in container). (Drayage is what they charge to move the container from point to point).
-*CFIA clearance: $43.00 & Exam costs if required: E.G. soil exams, can be higher. They can go to $200.00 for the whole container spread over the 3 vehicles in container. Our partner is usually very careful about keeping mud out of the tires before putting them into the container.
-*paying fee if required to protect and pay terminal fees: $10.00
-* terminal fee: $150.00
-*abstract fee per vehicle: $25.00
-*Storage @ $100 per day after 5 days of free grace period. The clock starts to tick as soon as the container hits the ground and weekends, etc., count.
-*Our Agents fee: $750.00
-
Note: * Denotes this item is also subject to GST
Note: Regarding brokerage. $250.00 is higher than many other Lower Mainland brokers we know. We have associates who pay $150.00 and are totally happy. However the broker we use has always worked closely with our Japan partner and they get things done right. That can translate to lower costs and fewer headaches across the board for all of us. We have not padded the brokerage fee to earn some more margin.
There are some grey areas above. For example, *if* the container gets hit with a soil inspection, the CFIA costs can rise to $200.00 split 3 ways. Excise tax for weight over 2100kg is based on a sliding scale. *If* Canada Customs gets tied up and leaves the container sitting more than 5 days, storage costs start at $100.00 per day and go up, with some terminals charging $200.00 per day. At the moment Canada Customs is efficient and clearance is not taking 5 days. In addition our partner has a reputation for good documentation and is recognized by Canada Customs so they tend to stamp his documents based on their knowledge of his past record. If you are getting a smaller vehicle, you will not have to pay the weight excise tax, but if it is "hanging" in the container you may be charged to unhang it another $100.00. If you are shipping the vehicle and the car carrier cannot boost it and drive it onto the car carrier trailer, it is a big hassle for them and they will pass their angst on to you in form of an extra charge that can get as high as $500.00. This gets the vehicle cleared and ready to pick up or get loaded onto a car carrier. Our fee includes arranging transport via car carrier but not the cost of transport. Typical transport fee to Calgary is $500.00.
Once you have your vehicle your further costs will relate to compliance modifications, registration, and inspections. See sidebar menus for more information on these topics.
The moral of the story is, you must leave a comfortable margin in your vehicle target price to cover forseen, and unforseen costs. So for example, if you have budgeted $13,000.00 to obtain yourself a new vehicle, you would set your FOB Vancouver price at something like $10,000.00. If you don't have to pay the CFIA costs because customs just stamped the documents, great, take your spouse out for Chicken Vindaloo and Samosas. If you get dinged 1/3 of a soil inspection fee, don't have a hissy fit, stay home, drink cheap crappy beer like Kokanee instead of Innis and Gunn, and have a Kraft dinner. Oh yeah, in answer to you next question, we're not out to get rich by charging you for things that don't happen. You are paying us $750.00 not to charge you for things that don't happen. This seemed to us to be the fairest way to run the charges. We could make it simple and include some of the above items in an overall charge that would cover them, but then the client would not enjoy the benefit of the savings accrued for charges that do not happen.
How to buy...
Purchase Price:
On Offer vehicles have been secured and are on our partner lot in Japan. Therefore they are sold to the first buyer who submits the FOB Vancouver purchase price. If the vehicle has to wait in storage for the 15 year rule to be eligible, storage is free, and just the Japan side costs (E.G. the FOB Vancouver price) will secure the vehicle until it is due to be shipped. When the vehicle arrives in Vancouver, the balance of payment will be due. Payment may be made by transfer or cheque and bank references will be furnished prior to transfer.
