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Vancouver v Seattle?

Doug

1/12/2011
9:01:18 AM

We're just trying to nail down flights for a trip to Canada & the U.S. next year. Always intended to fly in and out of Vancouver but have just started to wonder if Seattle mightn't be a bad idea as fares are a bit cheaper.
What about buying and - most importantly - INSURING a car?
Any advice much appreciated.

citationx

1/12/2011
9:32:28 AM

Some threads have been around recently answering these questions (about the car, not the cheap airfares :-P)
The only thing I remember is that bought in Canadia = sold in Canadia.
Look up some thread about "what should i do with Bernard" on the for sale forum.

dmnz

1/12/2011
11:17:25 AM

Much cheaper to fly ti Seattle plus there is some climbing in the PNW. Depends what you want to climb and when I suppose.

Duncan

1/12/2011
11:59:25 AM

I looked into buying a car in Seattle but I seem to remember it's almost impossible. I can't remember why though. I chose to buy in Vancouver, which is a pretty expensive place to buy, and yes, you can't sell a car from Canada in the States unless you're a citizen. Insuring a car in BC is super easy though, and not too expensive. Obviously if you can bring over a copy of your record you can get a cheaper rate too.

Richard

1/12/2011
1:05:19 PM

My knowledge of buying a car in the US is limited by my vague memory of how we did it one year ago, but I recall we needed an "insurance binder" from an insurance company before we could purchase a car - and could not buy and then get insurance. It would also not surprise me however if the process varied significantly from state to state - certainly getting a US licence does - ( so if people say "this is how to get a licence in the us" I'd take it with a grain of salt).

In VA I recall a lot of paperwork buying a car - way more than in Oz.

Cheers

Wendy

1/12/2011
6:34:26 PM

We flew in and out of Seattle: the flights were cheaper, car hire was cheaper, petrol was cheaper, beer and food were cheaper ... I couldn't tell you anything useful about buying cars though. But the border crossing was painful. On the way into Canada, they were deeply suspicious we were on a drug run. On the way back, US customs were cruisy, but it was a 2 hour queue in the car to get there.

RNM

1/12/2011
6:55:04 PM

The first consideration should be visa's. If you land in Seattle your three (or six?) month visa will start, and therefore expire earlier. If you then go up to Squampton, then you are burning up your US visa time. Trust me, three months ain't long to climb all the US has on offer.

If you fly into Vancouver then you get longer before you have to worry about visa issues.

You can travel between the two cities for anywhere from $40, if you do want to pop from one to another to purchase a car etc.

RNM

1/12/2011
7:00:58 PM

Buying a car very easy in BC. Cheaper if you buy outside of Vancouver (eg Squamish... very convenient!), as there is a pollution surcharge thingo.

That may only apply to heavy vehicles with big motors though. But of course what other kind of vehicle would you want to drive in the god damn US of A?!?!

If you don't look like Wendy or Mr Patterson you probably won't have too many issues with customs...! ;)

I wrote the book.

1/12/2011
9:16:41 PM

On 1/12/2011 RNM wrote:
>If you don't look like Wendy or Mr Patterson you probably won't have too
>many issues with customs...! ;)
>

It's the dreads.

timfreddo

2/12/2011
5:51:45 AM

I bought a car in Vancouver about a month ago...
Was pretty cruisey, but if you buy a car in Van, it needs to have a current "Aircared" certificate (makes sure cars dont put out really bad emmisions in big city), as long as it has that you can register it under your name.
From there, if you go up to squamish etc, it only matters if your aircare runs out if you are planning on selling your car in Van again... its sweet to sell it anywhere else in BC without Aircare cert.

To register your car in BC, you and the seller go into an insurance brokers office (they're everyhere) and sign one or two peices of paper, and then pay for as much 3rd party/property insurance as you want. we paid $1900 for 6 months in vancouver (but we are under 25), and then when we moved to the rockies we got $250 back, as theres less chance of a crash here, and If you bring a letter from your insurer in australia (http://www.icbc.com/autoplan/moving/moving-to - scroll down to insurance discounts), you can get 5% off for each year of no claims in australia...

Check out www.kijiji.ca, its the canadian trading post, u might be able to find a car that you like the look of in Squamish area, and cath a greyhound bus up there...
There are cars for sale everywhere over here. I'm in revelstoke, pop 8000, and have seen about 15 cars for sale in the last month.

The point about not wasting the US visa makes sense...

asavage

6/12/2011
2:33:39 PM

PM'ed you.

Cheers,
Ant

There are 11 messages in this topic.