Originally Posted by nachob
I'll take a stab at this one. I feel uniquely qualified because I have purchased and owned both a US and Canadian model.
First, there two class of 1Ms to discuss. First is a Canadian 1M in Canada that needs importing. Second is one that has already been imported and registered in the US.
Cars that need to be imported, generally sell for less because there is some work and cost to import and it can be a little confusing because there are two ways to import a car from Canada and this causes a little confusion. There are also requirements and duties and fees that add to the price. I don't want to throw figures or percentages around because it varies so much but for it to make sense a Canadian 1M would have to sell for about $5K less than an equivalent US car for it to make sense. So a $49K US should be about $44K or less. You have to pay 2.5% duties, a few hundred in exchange rate "juice" and wire fees.
This creates a situation where people are seeing Canadian 1Ms selling for 10% less and that sticks in their mind. What you are not seeing as much is data on already imported, completely registered 1Ms being sold!
This leads me to the 2nd class of 1Ms that are already imported and registered. These have a lower drop depending on their history like what state they are registered, documentation etc. They do go for a little less but not as big a drop as the yet-to-be-imported ones. However, as I mentioned there is less data on this but even these already imported ones are affected slightly by fear.
I recall a semi famous blogger wanting a 1M for a couple of years and finally was offered a perfect deal for a Canadian transplant and he, himself said he just couldn't pull the trigger due to fear. He was worried that maybe he might have issues registering it. He wasn't sure if it was imported correctly and worried that he could have some problems in the future so he pulled out of the deal and settled for something else.
There is a lot of misinformation out there and this can affect the price a bit whereas buying a US car is a known quantity. I wrote a piece called don't fear the Canadians addressing some of this fear. With what I know now, I would buy a legally imported 1M because I know what is needed to register them and comply with the laws. But truth be told, if I were presented two identical 1Ms. One registered in California and one in another state I might lean a bit toward a California registered car because I have seen all the stuff California makes you go through. I'm sure many other states do this, but California requires a physical inspection on all cars that come out of state or country to verify vins, mileage etc. They requires a smog test to ensure that things are within parameters. They actually check that you have the DOT and customs forms. Then after all that, they hand you a pink 90 day temporary permit instead of license plates while they send the documents to review. This review took about 75 days for my Canadian 1M and it includes contacting the Canadian DMV for a lien/stolen check. This was a big hassle and stressor for me and many don't realize the things that the you go through but as a buyer, it would bring me a little more comfort knowing first-hand what you have to do to get your car registered here.
Another small factor is that Canada is seen by most as rust belt and that can also add a little bit to the fear factor. So this again depends on the car. Mine was stored for the winters as are many. Those that were driven year round would probably sell for a little less just like any winter driven 1M from Ohio would be. Most people equate all of Canada with snow so I think that is a an extra factor.
So those are two key things that I think take a little off the price of Canadian 1Ms but again the difference is larger between to-be-imported cars that everyone sees on BAT vs already, matriculated and registered ones.
Here are some facts as they relate to me in southern California.
1. Once I registered my Canadian 1M, I was able to walk down to my credit union, give them my CA registration and took out a regular car loan on it with the same KBB values as a US car.
2. My insurance value based on KBB is the same as a US car.
3. Canadian 1Ms are built to the same North American specs as US 1Ms and all of them have a black conforms to US EPA and Calfornia LEV standards. The only differences are the instrument cluster is KM/C instead of MPH/F. However the digital part can be switched to either on demand. The only other difference is Canadian 1Ms did not get TPMS sensors in the wheels. They use the previous tire circumference system because it was not mandatory in Canada. All Canadian 1Ms get heated seats standard...guess why?
4.Since Canadian and US 1Ms are North American cars, they VIN works exactly the same in the US and you can order parts at dealer, etc. *Almost see comment later about registering for recall notices)
5. The United States has two sets of car import rules. One for the entire world minus Canada and car import rules just for Canada. This is part of the confusion. If you import a car from any other country in the world, they basically have the same rules, except Canada. We have a special agreement with them. This agreement allows you to import a "Conforming Car" for personal use into the US with a 2.5% duty on the price of the car. As I have beaten this dead horse, the 2011 1M is a fully conforming car to US EPA and DOT standards except for "minor marking" which are the KM/C on the analog part of the cluster. In order to prove conforming you need a letter from BMW that says this to present to customs and they look for the aforementioned US Federal decal under the hood.
Now a Canadian or US dealers buys a car in Canada and ships it south, that is not for Personal Use. It considered a business import and therefore has to comply with all the laws including minor markings. So legally, they would have to change the instrument cluster to sell. This can also apply if you buy a 1M in Canada and hire a shipping company to import it and truck it across. It is no longer considered an informal personal import so the trucking company has to hire a customs broker and they can be called out on the cluster. So the informal method, where you personally drive it to a crossing, declare that you are importing it for you personally and present the right papers is the best way.
6. When my 1M was under the 4yr/50K mile warranty, you register your imported Canadian 1M with BMW and they converted the warranty to US warranty. I had my wheel liners, front brakes and seat frame all replaced by BMW warranty in the US. Furthermore both airbags where replaced under recall in the US.
7. People in SoCal love the Euro KM cluster. I had considered changing it at the dealer to a US MPH cluster but wanted it done in the US not Canada because of the fear thing. If it was changed by a US dealer, I thought people would be more comfortable later than if I had a Canadian dealership receipt. The cluster HAS to be changed by BMW (Dealer) to be meet the federal rule and you need proof. Otherwise, some hardass DMV person might brand your title as unverifiable mileage. Anyway, I went to cars and coffee and right away some 16 year old looks inside and says, man this thing has a 300 MPH speedo!. After some giggles I told it was KM, then he said, man Euro style...Rad! I personally always liked it because it is the same cluster German 1Ms get, but after having it here 5 years, everyone has been super positive about it and there is also something extra reassuring about having the same cluster and odometer that came with the car. So I am keeping it and I recommend that anyone that imports one keep it too. If you ever sell it, the new buyer can take it to the dealer if they want.
Now for the sake of transparency I will let everyone know three minor "negatives" with Canadian 1Ms that I have discovered.
-1. The title had KM in it and the Californa DMV has a checkbox for KM or MILES. Carfax is smart enough to look at that box. I found out the EXPERIAN does not. So they show my car going from 14000 miles to 8900 a day apart because they are using 14000 KM on the title as miles, then the next entry is a smog test showing 8900 miles because I had switched the cluster to miles by then. I sent them documentation but they don't care and probably still on there but i have the documents that show all of that and Carfax is more comon anyway. So you could possibly end up with something stupid like this on some report.
-2. Whilst the Canadian 1M is a North American car, the VIN number is still a Canadian VIN **so if you have to go to the BMW Canada website to check for recalls. If you enter it in the US site, it just says no recalls but if you enter the number in the BMW Canada site, it will show your recall. If you try to register with the Canadian site for automatic notifications, you can't because you have to enter a Canadian province. So I just track recalls on US 1Ms and take it into my dealer and they call BMW and do the recall work.
-3. This one might not be minor depending on your luck but a couple of years ago after many injector issues, BMW sent a letter to US 1M owners extending the warranty on the injectors for 10 years. Since this is not a "safety" recall, they did not extend it on the Canadian VIN 1Ms. Only US VINs. So if my injectors were to go, I would most likely have to pay out of pocket, however, the SA said that since it is a known issue, they can probably do something for me should they fail. The car will be 10 years old in a year so this might not matter anyway. I stil have the original injectors and they are fine.
So I hope that helps explain things a bit.
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