Tips for Buying a Car in Canada

Last Modified: May 28, 2019 by Jeff Ostroff

If you need tips on buying a car in Canada, you've found the right site. Here at CarBuyingTips.com we will review the most useful sites to get car prices, true dealer cost and vehicle history reports for Canadian cars. Reading the information here can save our friends to the north thousands of Loonies.

Useful Web Sites For Canadian Car Buyers

These are the best sites for Canadian car buyers to use. These sites can save you a lot of money, while arming you to defend yourself against car dealer scams pulled on Canadian car buyers every day. It would be foolish to not have the information from these sites in your folder when you visit a car dealer.

Please note: Many of the U.S. based loan sites and extended warranty companies do not service Canada.

Canadian Car Dealer Cost and Car Prices

It's very hard for Canadians to get good pricing data on cars, because most of the auto related web sites only list cars in U.S. dollars. We don't know if the pricing can be simply converted to Canadian dollars or not, as we believe Canada has it's own type of pricing.

Knowing this pricing in advance can be very advantageous for you. Here's an email I got from a Canadian car buyer:

YearMakeModel: 2003 HONDA CR-V EX
Invoice: $27,394
MSRP: $29,850
Negotiated: $28,146

Feedback: (Canadian prices) Thanks for the good advice! Made buying a car easy, and I was happy to know that I wasn't getting ripped off! After I made the deal, I entered the deal back into your "Buyer's offer" spreadsheet, and I had talked him down to 3% profit! Thanks again for keeping money in my pocket.

We get tons of questions from Canadian buyers who can't find dealer cost. Finally, Canadians can look up dealer cost at CarCostCanada. They list Canadian car prices in Canadian dollars as well as the dealer invoice price, and rebates instantly online so you can get a better car deal. Get Canadian factory rebate and incentive program information from CarCostCanada.

Having this secret dealer cost information is crucial to getting the lowest price on your new car. At last, salvation for our friends to the north. The reports appear online instantly and give details on the base model and options, as well as the MSRP price and the dealer's cost. If there are any rebates and incentives, those are listed, and they even list the average national mark-up on the cars. That gives you a great start on determining how much to offer the dealer.

If you're a Canadian looking for the best information, TheCarMagazine.com online has road tests, car reviews, recalls, new and used car information, leasing tips and advice. Available in both French and English.

Using Lease Busters you can take over a lease and get hundreds or even thousands of dollars in cash in your pocket. There's big money in getting people out of a lease in Canada.

Why We Recommend Warranty Direct:

Over 25 years in business (been through several full claims paying cycles)
Not an Internet only company, one of the largest brick-and-mortar warranty providers to car dealers, banks and credit unions.
Financially stable
The best Better Business Bureau report we have ever seen in the industry. Only 2 complains in the past 3 years (as of May 2006). To put that into perspective, they handle over 7,000 claims every month.
Over 100 verified customer testimonials at WebAssured.com
All coverages include wear-and-tear (except high mileage PowerShield)

Canadians tend have a tough time getting a good deal on a car and we get numerous email complaints from Canada about some really nasty car dealer scams. This occurs because buyers don't arm themselves with pricing information and other data.

Our tips apply to Canadian car buyers as well, but only a few of the sites we mention are usable for Canadians. We made this page for our Canadian visitors that lists just the Canadian sites. Be sure to use these sites while following our negotiating advice.

If you plan to buy a used car in Canada be sure to read our article on buying used cars and avoiding scams.

Now that you've gotten the information you need from the Canadian specific auto web sites, you are ready to start the article on car buying. All the other tips and scams that we reveal are applicable to Canada as well, so be sure to read entire guide.

Click Here To Get Started: How To Buy A New Car & Avoid Scams >