$2 Billion Dollar Class Action Against Automakers for Canada-US Price Discrepencies
Remember how we were talking about this in the [URL="http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/miscellaneous/34304-canadian-dollar-us-dollar.html"]Canadian dollar = US dollar[/URL] thread? Some people are pissed off and a group of Toronto lawyers are setting up a class action. Apparently, the phones of the office are running off the hook.
From [URL="http://www.autoblog.com/2007/09/26/automakers-to-face-2b-class-action-for-canadian-price-discrepan/"]Autoblog[/URL]:
[QUOTE]A few days ago we posted on the price discrepancy between identical vehicles sold in the U.S. and Canada. The discrepancy was always there, but became apparent when the value of the Canadian Loonie reached parity with the U.S. dollar recently. It was then that consumers couldn't ignore the fact that they were paying more for vehicles than their U.S. neighbors, up to 38% in some cases.
The Toronto-based class-action lawsuit firm Juroviesky and Ricci is taking up the case and expected to file a $2 billion class-action suit on behalf of four Canadians who feel that they paid more for their cars than they would have in the U.S. The class-action suit is open to any Canadian consumer who bought a new vehicle between August, 2005 and August, 2007 when the Canadian dollar was rapidly appreciating, but the prices of Canadian cars weren't adjusting.[/QUOTE]
From [URL="http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=d6db47d3-ab3b-4e0b-bfe8-9c076c593bc2&k=57065&p=1"]Canada.com[/URL]:
[QUOTE]The suit claims the defendants engaged in a "series of concerted actions, agreements and directives amongst each other" that had the effect of reducing competition in the U.S. and Canadian marketplace for new cars. They did so by attempting to control and limit the cross-shipping of new cars across the border, the suit claims.
Such actions allegedly include:
-forcing consumers to sign "no-export clauses" in their sales contracts to prevent them from taking vehicles home to Canada or the United States;
-failing to honour warranties from vehicles purchased on the other side of the border;
-penalizing dealers who sold vehicles, which were later exported, through the use of "chargebacks" or threatening to withhold inventory or popular styles and colour of vehicles;
-Threatening to terminate dealerships of Canadian dealers that didn't comply.[/QUOTE]
As I mentioned and as is directly applicable in my case as a Torontonian:
[QUOTE]"Right now you should be able to go to Buffalo and get a fully loaded Camry for the mid-20s. In a Toronto showroom you're walking out at $36,000 or $37,000 and it [the dollar] is at par."[/QUOTE]
In response to the rising strength of the Loonie, Porsche has dropped prices 10% across the model range for all 2008 models, yet us Canadians are still getting screwed in many cases. Here are some Porsche prices:
2008 Boxster
2006/2007 MSRP: 63,600
2008 MSRP: 58,100
Current U.S. MSRP: 45,800
2008 Cayman
2006/2007 MSRP: 69,600
2008 MSRP: 63,500
Current U.S. MSRP: 49,400
2008 911 Carrera
2006/2007 MSRP: 100,700
2008 MSRP: 93,200
Current U.S. MSRP: 73,500
2008 911 GT3
2006/2007 MSRP: 147,300
2008 MSRP: 133,800
Current U.S. MSRP: 107,500
It is my belief that corporations in Canada may have to charge higher prices in Canada to make as much as a profit as they do in the US but surely an as high as 38% increase in price more than covers this. The automotive companies are gouging us and now they are getting their comeuppance for trying to stop Canadians from buying cars in the US.
