1988 Chevrolet Caprice Estate

Hey glide thanks for that. I find it really interesting that the seller asked to FT with you.....because he said the same to me......2/3 days ago and never followed up. I have had 2 phone conversations with him , one at length discussing the car and a second exchanging emai address. I have sent at least 2 email to him, one requsting he call or text email, whatever, before we do the FT thing so I can be prepared and.....no reply.

He sounded perfectly reasonable on the phone but now he is stonewalling...or something, I'm not sure. I sent an email yday and if I dont hear back by this aft I will have to call him again. This may be why the car is still for sale.....lack of follow through on some level by the seller. My email assured him that despite the distance and logistics involved I am a serious buyer, I mean geez, I gotta do all the heavy lifting here! But I dunno, maybe he is not taking me seriously??

I am going to continue on this until it becomes to frustrating or awkward.

I dont understand people who put an item up for sale and then make it a pita to make the sale happen. isnt it easier to just follow through with the most serious one get the deal done and move on?

I dont get it.....

 

Makes no sense to me either. Maybe he is suffering from pre-sale seller's remorse..? Separation anxiety? LOL.

Has he resurfaced YET?

Regardless, good luck.

 

Still listed for sale at $1200 on kijiji.

http://bc.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-classic-cars-1988-Chevrolet-Caprice-Wagon-W0QQAdIdZ532143541

 

And then on the 28th it jumped to $1290 ...........



I said it before and I'll say it again.... even if I was looking for another wagon I'd stay far away from this one.

 

Yeah, the seller seems to be all over the map on this one. He says in the add that "collector plates ordered", which locally would mean the car is in good enough shape to qualify, however you don't order the plates you apply for them with 10-12 pictures of various spots on the car. The point being that you only get them if the car is in exceptional shape for it's age (must be 25 years or older).

With respect to importing this into the US, you would have to do some research (they may be a thread or two on that in this forum), I understand it's pretty easy at the border. If anyone wants to fly in to Vancouver and hop the ferry to Nanaimo to get this, I would offer to pick you up at the airport and drive you to the ferry terminal. The cost of the ferry would be $15.50 for a passenger walk on to Nanaimo then $51.25 plus $15.50 for driver and vehicle on the way back, assuming your were driving it. You can check online for ferry rates from West Vancouver to Nanaimo at bcferries.com.

Other things to be aware of is how you would transfer it and get a permit to operate in BC, if you were going to drive it. We don't have titles here, but a centralized registration system. When you register a car here, you have to pay the taxes which are 5% to the federal gov't and 7% to the provincial gov't, usually on registration. If you were immediately driving out of the province, there must be a way to not register and just get a operators permit to drive out. When I bought my Estate Wagon in Washington, I had arranged "binder insurance" from my home insurance company that covered the car pre-registration here and drove the car back using a WA state permit.

Good luck!

Edit: Found the threads about importing a car from Canada to US here: http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26494&highlight=importing+to+US

 

Ok, I will give everyone an update on the status of this car so far...

The seller and I FINALLY hooked up with a FaceTime appointment and we viewed the car. I really didn't get to much from it,FaceTime was a bit grainy and laggy. The owner was pleasant and helpful. I emailed a couple of questions to him later that I had thought of....but he doesn't seem interested in replying to emails even thought he admitted to receiving them.

I have made an offer on the car.

Then I had a brain wave and contacted a member on my motorcycle forum who lives in qualicum beach who has agreed to actually go and see the car in person. This should happen within the next couple of days.

Just for info purposes I have had some dialogue with uship members and received a quote to drive the car from the island to my house for.....$3000..

But if I can get it OFF the island the price comes down a lot,but still ridiculous.. The island is the sticking point. I have come up with a much cheaper idea that may work.

The price went way up earlier because the owner replaced the brakes at some cost to himself. I forgot to ask if he has receipts.

So far as I understand it the price variances have been thus....750.....2500.....1500......1299......1200.......1995( that one was quick, you may have missed it but I saw it).....1290......I think that's pretty much covers so far. Why?......well, the BIG jump makes sense if he put money into repairs but it wasn't as much to warrant the huge jump in price.,as he told me what repairs cost.

For the other ones....your guess is as good as mine. It's almost as if he goes on the computer in the am and just randomly enters a price...?

So I am waiting for my guy to view the car and I asked him to Suss out the sellers possible weirdness factor.

Stay tuned,the mystery is still unfolding as we speak......

 

Rite from the horses mouth, ICBC..... Insurance Corporation of British Colubia.......

The collector pates........ WHY???? if you are selling a car go through all the red tape for collector plates? Yeah it will save you $ on insurance but if the car is for sale...?????? So lets say the seller gets the collector plates, they will only be good for that car. If the car sells he cannot transfer them to another car, once he cancels insurance they will take the plate back. ( and yes, owner must provide a dozen clear/good pics...... but can't send them to a prospective buyer..?????)

Seller will/must provide transfer of ownership papers witch in this case, if the car will be driven back to Ontario the new owner must get a BC temporary permit witch in tales..... Primary ID and because new owner is out of province the Ontario drivers licence won't do it. You must provide 2 piece of primary ID = Your passport and birth certificate and your Ontario drivers licience as secondary ID in order to get a driving permit witch is legal all across Canada. Oh and buy the way, you will be temporarily registering and insuring the car with ICBC so you WILL have to pay taxes on your purchase price....... and then what ever taxes etc, etc in Ontario or what ever province.

If you wish to buy storage insurance until you pick up the car in the spring...... well you have to be here, passport and birth certificate and ICBC just told me even with private BC auto insurance this would apply, no online insurance/storage insurance period unless you have a bonded/insured shipper involved. There is a grey area because new owner is not present.


Sorry theshnizzle, but as I mentioned before in this thread and in our PM's........ Seller is a flake, storage until spring, and now learning you would have zero insurance if you tried to store it until you got here......

Put the $ into your Buick this winter........

 

Tedy;
I agree on the collector plates, doesn't make much sense, unless the seller is trying to convince a buyer that the car would qualify for the cheaper insurance. That may be important to a local buyer, but you're right, the plates don't transfer if the car is sold and the new owner would have to apply again.

I'm not sure you are totally right on the insurance registration thing. I've brought two cars into BC from the states. In both cases I had to get an inspection before I registered the car. In both cases, ICBC did give me a operating permit before I registered the car (or paid any tax) so I could get it inspected and/or repaired. I only paid the taxes for the car once I registered it with an approved inspection certificate. I think I needed my Drivers Licence and another piece of Government issued ID. And in both cases, they gave me insurance on a car I didn't yet own, so I could drive it back to BC (one was from Nevada and the other from Washington).

There has got to be a way where Snizzle could get insurance for the car from his carrier in Ontario and get a permit here to simply get the car out of the Province. Keep in mind I haven't called the friendly folks at ICBC, but based on what I've done before, I think there is a way.

 

I did ask ICBC about inspection, I was told that if the car is currently registered/insured in BC with no out standing vehicle inspections towards it there would be no problems with temporary insurance other than what I posted above. I did not mention crossing the border, but clearly mentioned "a friend in Ontario wishes to buy a BC car" That is where above I put the etc,etc, as ICBC did tell me there would be a good chance that the out of province car would have to go through a Ontario inspection before granted Ontario insurance. BC does the same with out of province cars even if you bout one brand new in another province. It was clearly suggested witch I forgot to mention, to find out what Ontario requires via out of province cars inspection wise for registration/insurance. That's now whay I'm saying it again and I don't want to be the bad guy but it's 1988 car.....it's gona have to pass smog at least in Ontario....and the seller is a flake......

 

good advice on the smog test... I would think it's a guarantee that the car would have to be inspected in Ontario (along with any other state or Province).

On the mainland, we have something called AirCare which is effectively an emissions test, but on the Island it's not required, so there is no real way of knowing whether it would pass or not. My '78 required a new catalytic converter before I could get it passed, but the '67 Electra didn't require anything and it passed with flying colors!

 

I just called ICBC and spoke to an agent there. All I would need is to buy a temporary driving permit for the car. Provide bill of sale,ownership, license and I can buy a permit.

I would pay taxes in Ontario once I register the car there where it WILL need to pass a safety certification and emissions test. IF it does NOT pass an emissions test, I can still get a " conditional pass, which allows the car to be sticker end and legal on the road, BUT if I decide to sell the car it will not come with a valid e test.

My current insurance that I have on my cars now covers ANY vehicle I may purchase for a period of 16 days.

Hey, it could go two ways, the car is a gem, an absolute deal of the century and well worth the time and effort or its a piece of ****e underneath and the seller has certifiable weirdness, in that case ,we can watch his ads in the future with bemusement.

 

....... you WILL have to be in BC to get the driving permit if you are going to drive it home, as mentioned with the noted documents but what do I know after talking to the horse's mouth, I only live here, what do I know... wishing you the best of luck................with a clearly flake seller.

 

Yes, I know I have to buy the permit in bc. I am trying to methodically work my way through a potential out of provice purchase. I bought my motorcycle in the states and approched that transaction in the same methodical way and everything went off without a hitch and no suprises.

 

I see no connection with your Cycle and the States, has nothing to do with Province to province, this is Cunukastan and the car is in BC and you say you can afford to buy it but you can't afford by any means getting it home to Ontario let alone storage until spring when you can get a bus ticket out here as you mentioned in a PM. I feel I have wasted my time finding information that could help you with what you want to do, yet you respond with a..."you know better because YOU just talked to ICBC" If that is the case I bow down, best of luck for you and the car witch the FLAKE seller keeps changing his price........The same car witch you have not received any pictures, no email responses, but now you have a another person from a different forum going to look at it for you.


Forget methodical , keep it real......... As some one said "work with what you got". And to ad to that, work with what you can afford and getting this wagon home is not one of those things.....even if the seller was not a FLAKE! I honestly can't understand the obsession with this wagon, you have PM'd that you can't afford to get it home and you can't even afford storage!


PUT YOUR $ INTO YOUR BUICK THIS WINTER!!!! You said the car is worth it..?


But what do I know.............

 

Tedy........relax.

My point was for a long distance or across the border purchase you must follow all the steps carefully and then when you have all the info ,decide if the purchase is worth it.....to you.

This car is possible to purchase but why would I want to do the most expensive way to do it? I have researched options on storing it in bc ,shipping and driving. There are even more options available that I haven't posted all that are of minimum cost.

Any sort of "adventure" I plan has to have some sort of interest or twist to it. When you " rough it" or "shoestring" a trip, that's when I find the most fun and unexpected,things,people and places happen.

The person whom I have contacted to view the car lives in the neighbourhood ,is intrigued enough to check it out,what's the problem.

I appreciate your information but I did not ask you to do research for me so I am not sure why you are so upset.

Reviewing the posts on this particular car,how many were what a great deal, I would take it if I could, looks amazing, I want it,spectacular car, ect.ect.ect. Of course, everybody says that about every ad that goes up!...lol....although most forum members are on the same page about the funky one with the strange painted mural on the roof.....what the.......????

So, in closing, whatever happens....happens. When I have exhausted my resources, ideas,lose my motivation or just get bored of the whole thing,whatever. I am really not stressing to much over it.


Everybody have a wonderful day !!!!!!!