While trying to trade-in a vehicle that I've owned for 4 years I discovered that my car began its life in Canada as a lease vehicle and then was imported into the US via auction where it was titled and sold to the previous owner. Every dealership I've spoken to won't touch the car or offers me a few hundred bucks when the fair market trade in vallue should be over $5k.
The reason that I hear the most is that the speedometer had to have been changed to show MPH instead of kilometers and they therefore cannot verify the vehicles mileage. The possibility of rust was also mentioned, but my car lived in Vancouver, BC where they get much more rain than snow. The car has some surface rust underneath that is normal for a vehicle that is 9 years old.
Doesn't the car's computer track the miles? I've scanned it with an OBDII scanner and, as I recall, it showed the vehicles mileage at the time.
it's a 2012 Dodge Journey R/T, btw. Should have probably mentioned that.
It would not surprise me if one of the main reasons, if not the reason, is the kilometers vs. miles issue. Whether it's good, bad, or indifferent, almost nobody here in the U.S. wants to deal with kilometers. I can see dealers being concerned that they would not be able unload a car equipped with metric speedometer and odometer.
I can't imagine it would be that hard to change the speedometer to MPH instead of KPH and convert the current milage in kilometers to miles, would it?
There's probably a setting in the computer but on cars that have analog-style gauges the cluster would have have to be replaced. Could be a big job depending on the car. Dealers just want to push them out the door for maximum profit with a minimum of fuss.
Let me reiterate that the vehicle DOES have a US mph speedometer and, to get titled in WA state, where I am from, it needed to pass the US Dept of Transportation/NHTSA inspection certifying that it meets all US standards. It may have started its life in CA, but it is 100% the same vehicle that was sold in the US.
I've spoken to a few other dealers since posting this and have gotten some interest in the vehicle, but for the most part if they'll take it as trade I get a low ball offer blamed on its origin. This is just a form of vehicle discrimination based on outdated notions designed to maximize dealer profit. Once again, the rich get richer and the rest of us get screwed.
That being the case the only thing I can think of is that dealers are very risk-averse when it comes to the possibility of losing money. The fact that the car was brought in from Canada is probably making them think "Are we going to get stuck with this thing because of X?", where "X" is some unknown factor that will arise to bite them in the rear like Canadian Cooties or whatever.
I live in Vancouver and vehicles here get a lot of rust and leaks.
