Carfax history is in Canada, car is for sale in Rochester, NY

[Murdoc]

I was browsing car listings in Rochester, NY on Cars.com, and I came across a 2013 Ford Focus that is for sale at a local Ford dealer, but the Carfax report shows that all of its service and registration history is in Ontario, Canada. Yet, the pictures of the odometer are showing miles, and the larger numbers on the speedometer are showing MPH.

How can this be? Would this be a car to avoid?

Here's the car in question:

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/667364594/overview/

 

[Jumpem]

Canadians purchase vehicles across the border in NY because it is much cheaper. I sold my truck to a Canadian.

 

[RGUN]

My car as well as my parents cars are US origin. They were all purchased when the Canadian Dollar was favourable vs the US Dollar ($1 CAD gave you $1.07 USD). As it stands right now, the opposite is true. I'm told that when our dollar dropped to 0.69 vs the USD that a lot of the vehicles sold at auction were going directly to the US.

 

[Murdoc]

Ah, ok, I didn't know that it was that common to buy and sell cars across the border. I would have thought that there would be too much red tape.

Maybe I'll go look at the car since it appears to have a good maintenance history.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

I'd be more worried about the paperwork to verify it was imported legally. Otherwise you won't be able to register it.

 

[Euchrestalin]

During your pre-purchase inspection you may want to check the VIN on the frame matches the VIN on the window. This may be an example of VIN cloning.

 

[cbrunny]

Canada is not a 3rd world country. With the exception of cars from Quebec, there's no reason not to consider this. Just a bit of extra due-diligence to ensure import is clean.

 

[Murdoc]

During your pre-purchase inspection you may want to check the VIN on the frame matches the VIN on the window. This may be an example of VIN cloning.

Good idea. I will definitely do that.

 

[Murdoc]

Canada is not a 3rd world country.

I certainly agree and I didn't mean to imply otherwise :thumbsup:

 

[RGUN]

I'd be more worried about the paperwork to verify it was imported legally. Otherwise you won't be able to register it.

I only know about the process going the other direction but there is no cumbersome paperwork. Just a lien check and recall check.