I have no idea what you'd have to pay at the border.(or even how to do it).
My guess is that if you could spend $4,000 up here (our dollars are pretty much at par) you would be picking from the cream of the crop. My car is in really good shape compared to others. I have no rust on mine (that shows) but I still don't think I could get more than $3,000. With $4,000 to spend you'd be able to find a rust free, clean car.
I'd stay away from a car that was modified, that usually means they drove the snot out of it. You can always mod it yourself after wards. Ask them what's been fixed on it. If the list is long they probably drove the hell out of it.
I drive like an old man,... I've had no major repairs done and am expecting to get at least 300,000 km on the clutch. When I delivered pizza (when it was 30 min. or free) I only got 40,000 km on my third clutch (1983 GLC). You can wreck a clutch in one day if you really put your mind to it.
When you drive gently, (not necessarily slowly) you can extend the life of your car by leaps an bounds. Aggressive driving is hard on the car from one end to the other. Bearings (clutch, release, pilot, wheel, rod, main,... every one) Pivots (ball joints, tie rod ends),.. not to mention brakes. It is good to bring it up to red line once in a while,.. helps to blow out the cats. I only do it once or twice a month.
I would ask the seller if you can check the parking brakes. Same procedure as changing a flat tire. Lift up each corner and make sure the wheels spin freely with no wobble or strange sounds (except for that tiny bit of pads rubbing).
Grab the tire at the top and bottom then again at the sides and give it a good reef (don't forget to bring a jack and wheel chocks with you). Make sure that the parking brakes grab hard enough that you can't rotate the wheels by hand with them engaged and release when the lever is released.
A car won't pass a safety if the P brake doesn't work (our cars are bad for rear calipers. I needed p brake cables too,... make sure you get the proper cables, not the one for the regular Protege we have rear disks which mean the lugs at the caliper end has to be a t-lug not the kind for the drum brakes. Our cables have rubber boots at both ends too. I have a thread here some where about seized brake cable if you're cheap like me and don't want to spend the money.
Make sure your mechanic knows about the rear adjustment screw for the rear caliper. I got burned for new calipers because they were "seized". The $200 brake job came out to $750,....same thing with happened with my alternator,... I'm my own mechanic now, thanks to this web site.
The free service manual was my first $200 savings (speaking of which,... does anyone have all that "secret" electrical info,.. and a legible parts list,.. I can't find it any where,..)
My guess is that if you could spend $4,000 up here (our dollars are pretty much at par) you would be picking from the cream of the crop. My car is in really good shape compared to others. I have no rust on mine (that shows) but I still don't think I could get more than $3,000. With $4,000 to spend you'd be able to find a rust free, clean car.
I'd stay away from a car that was modified, that usually means they drove the snot out of it. You can always mod it yourself after wards. Ask them what's been fixed on it. If the list is long they probably drove the hell out of it.
I drive like an old man,... I've had no major repairs done and am expecting to get at least 300,000 km on the clutch. When I delivered pizza (when it was 30 min. or free) I only got 40,000 km on my third clutch (1983 GLC). You can wreck a clutch in one day if you really put your mind to it.
When you drive gently, (not necessarily slowly) you can extend the life of your car by leaps an bounds. Aggressive driving is hard on the car from one end to the other. Bearings (clutch, release, pilot, wheel, rod, main,... every one) Pivots (ball joints, tie rod ends),.. not to mention brakes. It is good to bring it up to red line once in a while,.. helps to blow out the cats. I only do it once or twice a month.
I would ask the seller if you can check the parking brakes. Same procedure as changing a flat tire. Lift up each corner and make sure the wheels spin freely with no wobble or strange sounds (except for that tiny bit of pads rubbing).
Grab the tire at the top and bottom then again at the sides and give it a good reef (don't forget to bring a jack and wheel chocks with you). Make sure that the parking brakes grab hard enough that you can't rotate the wheels by hand with them engaged and release when the lever is released.
A car won't pass a safety if the P brake doesn't work (our cars are bad for rear calipers. I needed p brake cables too,... make sure you get the proper cables, not the one for the regular Protege we have rear disks which mean the lugs at the caliper end has to be a t-lug not the kind for the drum brakes. Our cables have rubber boots at both ends too. I have a thread here some where about seized brake cable if you're cheap like me and don't want to spend the money.
Make sure your mechanic knows about the rear adjustment screw for the rear caliper. I got burned for new calipers because they were "seized". The $200 brake job came out to $750,....same thing with happened with my alternator,... I'm my own mechanic now, thanks to this web site.
The free service manual was my first $200 savings (speaking of which,... does anyone have all that "secret" electrical info,.. and a legible parts list,.. I can't find it any where,..)
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