| Finally, class action lawsuit to auto companies for price fixing! HAH!
- Click HERE for Original Thread
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| uopercival |
I know many of you have heard me rant on about how Canadians get shafted on pricing, especially now that the dollar is at par.
I guess someone's finally had enough and a law firm in Toronto is filing a class action lawsuit against the auto makers.
Defendants listed are:
General Motors Corp., General Motors of Canada Ltd., American Honda Motor Co. Inc., Honda Canada Inc., Chrysler Canada Inc., Chrysler LLC, Nissan North America Inc., Nissan Canada Inc., along with the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association and the National Automobile Dealers Association in the United States.
CTV News Link to Story |
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| craniotes |
Good. Even though I'm not Canadian, this practice is utterly ridiculous and needs to be put to bed. I can understand if the manufacturers don't want to drop the MSRPs in Canada, but they shouldn't be doing an end run around buyers and forcing US dealers to turn away Canadian customers seeking a fair deal.
Ideally, the MSRPs should be reigned in so that they're closer to US prices, even though that would have an adverse effect on the resale value of cars purchased at the inflated prices. Oh well, let's see how it all pans out.
Regards,
Adam
PS - Ironically, I saw more 2nd generation MDXs over the course of five days in Monteral than I have in almost a month of driving in NYC and CT. I guess Acura isn't having too hard a time moving them up north... |
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| drjay |
| Great news. I read a report this morning that "in response to the rising dollar (and perhaps the threat of the lawsuit), Porsche, BMW and Mercedes have announced that they will be lowering their prices for 2008 models." |
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| gmc74 |
I think this practice sucks and it is wrong, but I don't think the lawsuit will win.
Gas is cheaper here in the US, so how about a class action law suit on that?
This is still a free market, they can price their products based on supply and demand, and if people don't want to pay for them, they can buy something else. I think that is the argument that will cause the lawsuit to get dismissed, eventually. |
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| drjay |
| You may be right. But all the publicity may force some sort of conciliation. On Tuesday, Porsche became the first automaker to reduce its 2008 Canadian sticker prices; it reduced the price of the Cayenne by roughly $5,000. Let's hope others will follow suit. |
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| uopercival |
As with most class action suits, the law firm will come out ahead of the consumer or the manufacturer. Despite that fact, perhaps it's enough of a nudge to make automakers perk up.
Maybe Porshe was the first manufacturer to 'react' to this suit as they've lowered their prices between 8-10% as reported by the local paper, yay! those who can afford the a Cayman can get 10% off.
I've yet to see BMW or Mercedes do the same. BTW, a loaded X5 in Cananda sells for over $90,000 so i'm sure they can afford to trim off a few points off.
As far as gas, oil, lumber and even food goes, it's for another discussion altogether.
;) |
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| vicpai |
quote:
Originally posted by uopercival
I know many of you have heard me rant on about how Canadians get shafted on pricing, especially now that the dollar is at par.
I guess someone's finally had enough and a law firm in Toronto is filing a class action lawsuit against the auto makers.
Defendants listed are:
General Motors Corp., General Motors of Canada Ltd., American Honda Motor Co. Inc., Honda Canada Inc., Chrysler Canada Inc., Chrysler LLC, Nissan North America Inc., Nissan Canada Inc., along with the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association and the National Automobile Dealers Association in the United States.
CTV News Link to Story
......it's amazing why a vehicle Manufactured and built in CANADA costs something like $15,000 more in the very country it was made in. That is simply ludicrous!!! :eek: .....sorry, more like HIGHWAY ROBBERY!! :rolleyes: ......and yes, the U.S. dollar is going down the toilet tubes by the day!!....tells you something about the state of our economy!! :rolleyes: .....it's not just at par, but I heard just yesterday that the canadian dollar is now officially $1.06 to 1 to the U.S. dollar!!! :eek: |
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| golfski |
quote:
Originally posted by gmc74
This is still a free market, they can price their products based on supply and demand, and if people don't want to pay for them, they can buy something else. I think that is the argument that will cause the lawsuit to get dismissed, eventually.
I think the basis for the lawsuit is not the difference in pricing, it is the refusal to honour waranties or service cross border. So the companies are trying to impose artificial restrictions on the free market. The MDX is a great example - made in Canada, yet priced differently across border (priced differential set when the Cdn $ was only worth 65 cents U.S.) Virtually identical cars, made in Canada, so what possible reason (other than trying to fix the price) would Honda have for NOT honouring a U.S. warranty?
At the very least, I hope the suit forces the manufacturers to honour the warranties across North America. Then the laws of supply and demand can take effect. |
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| gmc74 |
You mean the rear seat warmers and the headlight washers aren't worth $15K? :)
It is absurd |
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| uopercival |
I'm glad that it's not just me or Canadians that feel the manufacturers are being unfair. Truth is, if Honda did honor the warranty, back in June I would've driven down the the US and picked up my MDX there.
Like others have said, if not for anything, i hope that lawsuit does make the companies pay attention a little. |
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| theauditor |
the flip side is that you could easily see vehicle prices in the US actually increase. there are huge inflationary factors at bay here which may ultimately result in consumer products in the US rising substantially. when will this happen? it will be gradual but as the rest of the world's purchase price parity increases relative to the US (and it will, according to all the economists and think tanks out there), prices in the US will increase and the standard of living in the US will decrease.
bleak picture :( i was just attending a week conference in san diego a couple of weeks ago and several speakers kept on saying the US needs to continuously innovate in order to maintain its economic superpower status. there was this one speaker named dan pink who was talking about the migratory trends in white collar jobs to india alone. his message resonated powerfully and in a room of 800 corporate senior executives, there was one moment where the entire room went dead silent (no side chatter, no blackberries being looked at) and you could feel your skin tingle.
anyways, in terms of the mdx, if you want one, i think now may be the time. sorry for going off topic here. |
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| gogozy |
quote:
Originally posted by gmc74
I think this practice sucks and it is wrong, but I don't think the lawsuit will win.
Gas is cheaper here in the US, so how about a class action law suit on that?
This is still a free market, they can price their products based on supply and demand, and if people don't want to pay for them, they can buy something else. I think that is the argument that will cause the lawsuit to get dismissed, eventually.
mmm, but.... gas stations in US are not prohibited to see to Canadians ) |
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