We were told that if we chose to buy in the US and import it, the warranty would be void.... is this true? We've imported two other vehicles from the US into Canada in the last two years. One of them is a Winnebago View RV...that has a Sprinter Chassis. We do take our View for service in the US (not really a problem). The warranty was honored. So, can someone please enlighten us on the warranty for the Sprinter??? Thanks so much in advance.[/quote]
Well hello Jazzmanrocks, welcome to the forum.
In effect you answered your own question, took the sprinter back to the country of origin from where it was purchased , and the warranty was honored.
As I have stated above in previous posts stands! and is fact, it is illegal under the Sherman's act for anti- competitive trading to price fix, but what can you do.
There are ways it can be done , one is dual citizen ship then you have cross boarder warranty being honored.
Have it registered in the US ,in a relatives name
but you have to drive out of Canada to keep out of trouble with Canadian authority, just to keep the unit in compliance to the law, as a non Canadian resident status.
Of course I understand where your at, especially with price differences.
Repeating myself on precious posting's was not that long ago when the Southerners were a knocking on your door buying imports to bring them back Stateside , "because the Canadian dollar was so low in value",! Now the tide is turning and off Goes the Canadians to the cross broader buying trips to the Local Westfield shopping center to buy on a spending spree, because the Lonnie is now worth $1.8 cents to the Lower US dollar and it's still going up through the roof , thanks to your strong economy based on the mineral wealth sector.
Previously The Sprinter was in partnership with both DB Hence DCX.... The license was fixed it had to be sold via Chrysler's outlet, event though the Canadian Sprinters were fully imported from Germany the down side You pay Canadian tariffs on importation where the US does not , You pay a higher GST ration where the US does not have a higher impost on sales tax, There is also local provincial tax a double tax whammy That does not occur in the US , Canadian Sprinters have the top end emission standard US had it on only five sates so they had two engines but with different emission standard's , that changed towards the end so all is equal there now, You may have a had a higher quality Sprinter, many small variations are showing up on the older model 902 903 series Sprinters.
Now that 2007 has finally hit home base Chrysler no longer owns the Sprinter or shared in it , the rules start to change.
This is a headache that won't go away this time around.
Governments are ducking for cover on this one... Mercedes-Benz Sprinters should be sold via a Mercedes-Benz outlet and serviced by the Benz outlets, there is no logical reason for them to handled by an independent franchisee in the States, such as Chrysler.Dodge or Freightliner.
However the limited amount of Sprinters sold in Canada would cost local MB dealerships a fortune to take them on with only one single line up of very limited Sprinters it's more trouble than they want.(financially it's not viable)
To do it Canada would have to have the whole range of sprinters and options run Vito's as well to do this the cost of the range would jump another 30% in Retail pricing because export Sprinters are set up on a limited production line US orders x amount in bulk with a stand-alone warranty it's not an MB warranty! They pay for warranties on the US side from profits.
So a full MB warranty of three years two hundred thousand kilometers is a lot higher than any sprinter can get in the states the warranty is marginal and extended warranty's cost lots of dollars to take it into the 5 to seven year range.
Today in Canada you can buy imported goods less than you could three years ago , this is hurting the local economy in many sectors especially automotive which is a huge factor on the employment and tax revenue base for the Canadian sector money goes round.
You have tariffs in place to protect the local automotive sector this does not help with prices in compassion to local versus imported.
Nor does it help Canada for export of it's produce
there are many equations as to what is right and what is wrong, not a level playing field for locals that are not really sharing in the wealth generated by the mineral sector that really forces up everything in Canada from needle nuts to building infrastructures.
Stop for one moment in time and think what would happen if every one did the boarder walk to the US side and bought every thing at the other side. Great for the US economy!... What happens to the local economy it would have no sales , local business would fail, people would be placed out of work, no work no money goes around , in the simplest rules of economics the whole economy would collapse.
However Sprinter prices should fall The discrepancy's are too high between Canada and the US but this is the same world=wide everyone pays and pays for the US side , because we all used the US currency as the main trade of exchange. lately the rules have changed Europe Australia Japan UK have moved away from the US as it continued to spend and spend, Now the evidence is clear for all to see the results of decades of indecisions .
And it has not stopped There are days to come on the US side! where hurt will continue on the local folk , your economy will continue to grow as it is everywhere else, that in part cushions the negatives of higher inflationary presses for locally made goods.
I am ex-Canadian I was there when Canada was nothing but a basket case, But I come home and each time I see the changes, some are good many bad, I see old business gone with the wind I see Canadians forced out of homes because of Asian clustering "My Home IS Vancouver" not that many locals left, are there
.
Work it out, either support the local economy or put some one else out of work.Its not as simple as Mr and Mrs average Thinks it might be big business and Governments are answerable, only time will change it.
Richard.