canadian trucks

firefighter84 · June 11, 2003

i was recently talking to a truck salesman about a

used GMC 2500 HD Duramax. this truck was built in canada, he tells me that any brand truck that is biult in canada is built with cheaper parts than ones built in this country. he told me to stay away from them. can any of you guys support this or deny it. just how can they build them cheaper.

firefighter84 · June 11, 2003

let me clearify that last post. he said any truck built FOR CANADA not just in canada. This truck has all metric measurements on it.

SpiritoftheWild · June 11, 2003

The truck could not have been made in Canada. The D-Max is only put in the HD trucks made in Flint, MI and Pontiac, MI. The truck was made FOR Canada and it's cheaper because that's the Canadian market right now. GM does its pricing based on market conditions and regions.

k1500chevy97 · June 11, 2003

Check the vin number . 1 means built in us 2 means canada

Mine was built in the us but was made for canada market then i purchased it in 2000 here in the states

firefighter84 · June 11, 2003

so what your saying is the salesman is full of sh t. and i shouldnt worry about it. believe it or not this truck only has 13,400 miles on it. carfax confirms the miles as correct. they are asking 31,900.

robsawatsky · June 11, 2003

Plus:

- there are trucks assembled in the US that contain many Canadian made parts.

- there are trucks assembled in Canada that contain many US made parts.

- there are trucks assembled in both Canada and US that contain parts made in Mexico.

- there are trucks assembled in Canada, US and Mexico that contain parts not made in any of those countries.

- the same part can be made by more than one manufacturer

- the same part can be made by the same manufacturer at different plants in different countries

- the same quality standards apply to the parts and assembly regardless of where the manufacturing and assembly takes place - BUT there are going to be quality problems that differ from place-to-place BUT not necessarily on any consistent basis of manufacturer or location.

2 DA WDS · July 1, 2003

I bought a Canadian truck. My trans temp guage didn't work and my tach was erratic. I took it to my local Chevy dealer and they said that the problem was in the instrument cluster and because it was a Canadian truck the cluster would have to be sent away and rebuilt. Its been a week so far.

robsawatsky · July 2, 2003

Was it a truck built for the Canadian market (i.e. it originally had a metric instrument panel)? If so, was your IP with the faults US Spec? If so, it may be whoever did the conversion buggered up the IP or the connections.

boflaade · July 3, 2003

Canadian trucks only vary with metric requirements and small differences in safety requirements. EPA standards are similar to those in California. Canada"s number one export is "car parts" to American manufacturers. The length of time for a dealer to get parts would not matter where the vehicle was manufactured but more so on who the Courier is.

bowtiebob · July 3, 2003

A little off topic, but I think it might be of interest to you. I live on a small town right on the Canadian border (I could swim from my house to Canadian waters). We have only one route south in our valley, so all the cross-border traffic is easy to watch and see. There are a tremendous amount of vehicles, mostly pickups, that are imported accross the border. Most of these rigs have about 10K miles on them, and are then sold in dealerships accross the northwest. This is mostly done with Furds, but there is a fair amount of Chevy's too. At peak times, you will see 20-30 trucks a day cross the border. When I asked the dealer about this, he said the trucks are bought in Canada at apparently lower prices, driven until they qualify as used, and then pumped into the American market. Most of them are less than one year old, so they cut into the new truck market. In summary, when people ask about Canadian trucks, I always think of the numerous Dmax's I see each week that have been ridden hard and put away wet, yet with low mileage. Hehe, looking back on this, I don't know why I even posted it.

BDBWTE · July 4, 2003

For what's this worth. We have a 1999 GMC 2500LD 6.0L 4x4 pickup from Canada and we have the most problems out of this truck of any of the trucks at the shop. The rear sliding glass leaks, even after 3 different ones installed, Water is always on the floor and we've just stop caring trying to find where it comes in at. Tranny is slipping with only 80,000miles on it. both seats are broke they don't slide anymore GM told us that it's not a warranty item this at only 20 something thousand miles so we got it in a good position then welded it in place. But that's just our experience.