Why is it so hard to find a used truck NOT from Canada????

bullet225ho · May 3, 2025

Hey folks,

I'm in the market for a truck. During my search I'm seeing the vast majority of late model (22,23) GMC trucks for sale near me in the south east are trucks that originally sold in Canada.

Was there a shortage of trucks designated for the US during these years? Is this a thing that I never knew about? What are your thoughts on buying a truck that was exposed to northern elements for a couple of years?

GETGONE · May 4, 2025

Cheaper exchange rate makes them more profit to bring them in from Canada. I had a 2008 Avalanche that had 95K when I bought it and after owning it I found it was from Canada and had been shipped around the Canadian side then the Detroit, Michigan area before ending up over near Grand Rapids Michigan. There was a lot of sketchy chassis rust and wiring corrosion. If it's only been there a couple years, probably not a big issue. There were a lot of chip shortage issues in 21 and 22 and vehicles stuck "in transit" status waiting for chips before they could be shipped.

silveradosid · May 4, 2025

we bought a new denali dually pick up in 2021 and paid 88k for it, this is considered a low mileage truck and in our market would still be worth 70k. at an exchange rate of 38% american dealers can and do buy canadian trucks like ours for 40k and if it was built in the USA pay virtually nothing in duty and taxes. so like our truck with only 60k miles and more demand in USA it would probably still sell for 50 to 55k dollars. nice profit margin

newdude · May 5, 2025

On 5/3/2025 at 3:12 PM, bullet225ho said:

Hey folks,

I'm in the market for a truck. During my search I'm seeing the vast majority of late model (22,23) GMC trucks for sale near me in the south east are trucks that originally sold in Canada.

Was there a shortage of trucks designated for the US during these years? Is this a thing that I never knew about? What are your thoughts on buying a truck that was exposed to northern elements for a couple of years?

As GETGONE and silveradosid mentioned, cheap, cheap, cheap. The exchange rate has made it very beneficial to import ex Canadian market vehicles at auctions right now for auto dealers, be it new/used brand name dealers or independent used car dealers.

As for what to look for? Paint work. Lots and LOTS of paint work. Bad work, mis-matched colors, heavy sanding, massive orange peel. They will re-use the badges too so like the "SILVERADO" on the tailgate. The letters are spaced normally like "S I L V E R A D O" but some that are fixed, they just stick them back on like "SILVERADO". And crooked. Many of the trucks come from some sort of fleet companies up there. Oil, mining, etc. I think somewhere in the chain of command before they are listed at the auctions they are fixed up and fixed poorly in many cases. Some of them have had 80-90% of the panels re-painted from damage. I've seen roofs too.

The Carfaxes come back clean though so I'm guessing insurance wasn't involved and either the place renting the truck fixed them up or the fleet company or pre-auction shop fix them up.

As for what gets changed coming over, there is always an importer or exporter or both involved. Somewhere off the QEW between Niagara Falls and Hamilton is one of them, don't know their name. They will handle swapping over cluster faceplates or entire clusters to make them FMVSS compliant for the US if need be. If its not done there, its done here in the US by the importer. One of them is actually within 5 miles of my home. They have all sorts of cars/trucks and other equipment. Seen anything from a Mitsubishi Mirage to a Rolls Royce and forklifts.

All has to do with what symbols are on the dash for certain warning lights, like the red brake and parking brake. US is supposed to say "BRAKE" and "PARK" and not use the international symbols. Otherwise most of them that are compliant, they will just change the units so you will have a speedo that will go up to 200+mph when set to US in the dash.

Edited May 5, 2025 by newdude

redwngr · May 5, 2025

My dealer works with bid prices from US truck jockey to establish how much he will pay for trade.

This is for clean trades.

Vehicle with more life experience, that he doesn't want on the lot, go to the used vehicle auctions for bidding from both US and Can buyers.

ktl5005 · May 9, 2025

I would have no issue buying one if the price is right, and all is good with the truck.

In fact, I am actually just about to do that in the next few days. I am about to trade my 2024 GMC Canyon AT4 for a 2024 GMC 1500 elevation with premium package, sunroof, x 31, and protection with 24,000 miles. 3.0 diesel. Originally in Ontario.

Per GM policy as long as the truck was in service there for 6 months, had at least 7500 miles before import and cluster is in miles they will allow warrantee and recall work.

Biggest thing to look at is the frame. Mind looks great and then they even under coated it for me.

One of my friends just got a 2021 Silverado 2500 LT 6.6 Duramax that 41,000 miles, originally from Quebec.