A little help here. I see canadian titled cars that are being brought into the USA and re-titled in the US. I have spoken with two sources and one says they are grey, the other says they are not. I already know that the Canadian emmission standards are higher (similar to CA) but since I live in NC, that issue is of no concern. However, resale value after 3 years IS of concern. A person who I respect (who works as a service manager for a large chevolet dealer) claims that canadian and american cars have no differences (same dials on speedo's etc) and that the warranty is the same (i.e. can and will be serviced by the local NC dealer). My local MB salesperson (hot air) claims this is false. Which is it (Please no additiona speculation). Thanks

 

The warranty is valid all over North America. You can bring a US cars over here and have warranty work done and vice versa. There is a little difference in re-sale value in the US. The Canadian car will definately fetch less money, but of course, since you are buying out of Canada, you should already be saving a bunch. The emmissions on Canadian cars comply with california EPA and the cars are basically the same. And I do believe that we have 5 mph bumpers in Canada instead of 3mph. If you are a private individual importing the car to the US than you could probably get away without changing the speedo because you can switch the digital speedo to mph. If your salesman is telling you that they won't service it then he is definately lying to you. Unless it is a special circumstance like a brand new 03 model year car or a 02+ AMG model car. We (Canadians) are not supposed to sell those cars down south until they are atleast 1 yr old.

 

The person you respect is wrong. The dials on the speedometers are different. The US receives the US/UK dial, which is generally MPH big ring, KPH small ring (some of the newer cars have no KPH markings in the US). The Canadian models have the KPH dial primarily, and MPH secondly. I have empirical evidence to support that... I have a bunch of Canadian clusters that get removed from imported cars and are replaced with US clusters. The W208 does have both scales in the US and Canada, but they are reversed. (You are posting in the W208 forum, and you mentioned 2003 model, so I assume you are asking about the Cabriolet model.)

Point two of three points: The US cars only come in one trim level which is rarely specified in the marketplace. Canadian cars are labeled with their European trim level (i.e. Elegance, AvantGarde, Esprit, etc.).

Final of three points: Canadian market cars may be available in configurations that are completely unavailable in the US. This could be as benign as some option combinations (folding mirrors on an ML without memory seats). It can be more serious, such as some options that are unavailable in the US (power rear sunshade on a W202). The worst case is a model that is unavailable in the US, such as a short wheelbase W215 S430. I know of one person who was in the market for an S-class, and he asked my salesperson for his best price. He had an offer for a similar car in Washington state and could save $2000-3000, so he purchased that one instead. When he traded the car in, it turned out he lost a lot of money, because the car he bought was indeed unavailable in the US, and therefore was considered "grey market" and worth quite a bit less than a US market car. (This car was like the example, a short wheelbase S-class.)

If you do intend to save money by going this route, although service may not be a problem, keep in mind that the resale value may not be what you expect. If you intend to keep the car, then it shouldn't be an issue as long as it meets your needs.

-s-