Topic: Just bought a car privately. Odd situation. Need advice.

[dkaz]

Anyone should skip OOP.  The likely scenario is that it is too cost prohibitive for the seller to pass OOP inspection and they don't want to deal with it. Unless of course the price is so good and a PP(OOP)I reveals that you'll still save money over a non-OOP vehicle.

I also see people market these cars as a vehicle to drive back to say Alberta.

[quadzilla]

What am I missing here?

Person buys car, doesn't do any background paper checking or car inspection FIRST then is upset the car isn't what they thought it was.

Personally I don't see how you have any recourse against the person you bought it from.

misrepresentation is the question here.

Did you ask if the car was from out of province?

[peach3000]

^nope. there was an alberta plate on the car and he told us his brother had been driving it in Alberta.

Anyway the guy allowed me to return the vehicle today. lesson learned the hard way, and lots of valuable information learned here in this thread. thanks everyone.

[Fobroader]

^nope. there was an alberta plate on the car and he told us his brother had been driving it in Alberta.

Anyway the guy allowed me to return the vehicle today. lesson learned the hard way, and lots of valuable information learned here in this thread. thanks everyone.

Well thats good.  Now you know, always take the VIN down to the registry office before you pay for it. Its cheap insurance.

[initial_D]

^nope. there was an alberta plate on the car and he told us his brother had been driving it in Alberta.

Anyway the guy allowed me to return the vehicle today. lesson learned the hard way, and lots of valuable information learned here in this thread. thanks everyone.

The plate could be a dealer plate, starts with M or D or some other letter, not the normal ABCD-123 plate format. Vehicles don't need to be registered if the seller has a dealer/garage insurance policy.

Good that this turned out OK at the end for you. Always ask for a second opinion or more when buying a vehicle. 

[blur911]

All cars in Ontario require a safety before it can be registered in your name. An e-test too, depending where in Ontario you live

Not quite, cars in Ontario don't require a safety to be registered in your name, but do need it to be licensed in your name.  You can buy a un-safetied vehicle.

[dkaz]

Wouldn't you get the vehicle registration? If someone handed me a pink coloured slip, I'd know right away it wasn't a BC car. Heck, I wouldn't buy out of Vancouver cars because of AirCare.

[tooscoops]

glad it worked out for you... take this as a lesson and use what you have learned for your next purchase!

good luck.

[HeliDriver]

I'm still curious as to which province it came out of, and why, other than an Ontario COTU car, would it matter...

Alberta has some strict rules for bringing cars into the province. If you buy a used car that is already in Alberta, no problem. The exact same car, but currently registered in another province, might cost thousands to get it to pass the Alberta out-of-province inspection.

and yes of course I would want all the safety issues addressed. that is a very good thing to do! It's just that with an out of province inspection I only have 2 weeks to deal with it and try to manage the funds. whereas if I didn't need to adhere to those strict guidelines, I could deal with my finances better and fix the tires later. like I can still safely go on 70% tire life left for a few months. but with an OOP they only accept 80%. so i have to try and toss up all this money at once and suffer instead of balancing it out if i had the opportunity to prepare properly. I am paycheck to paycheck. far from rich.

[dkaz]

If I were to move to Alberta (my wife and I have been casually talking about it, for family reasons), my Mazda 3 should probably come in without a problem since it's a newer dealer maintained vehicle but I should sell my Odyssey in BC and get another minivan in Alberta?

[jamie1]

If I were to move to Alberta (my wife and I have been casually talking about it, for family reasons), my Mazda 3 should probably come in without a problem since it's a newer dealer maintained vehicle but I should sell my Odyssey in BC and get another minivan in Alberta?

If you feel comfortable with the wife and kids in it, than it will most likely pass the OOP. Make sure all the lights work, all warning lights are off[ TPMS warning light can be on], Struts and shocks can have sweat. Windshield cannot have a crack coming into the drivers view. The tires can be down to 2/32 and the brake pads can have 2mm left to pass. Ball joints, tierods etc must be tight. All dash switches must work. Cannot have the exhaust altered to make it louder. Oddly enough, the can have a lift kit.

[EV-Light]

I'm still curious as to which province it came out of, and why, other than an Ontario COTU car, would it matter...

Alberta has some strict rules for bringing cars into the province. If you buy a used car that is already in Alberta, no problem. The exact same car, but currently registered in another province, might cost thousands to get it to pass the Alberta out-of-province inspection.

and yes of course I would want all the safety issues addressed. that is a very good thing to do! It's just that with an out of province inspection I only have 2 weeks to deal with it and try to manage the funds. whereas if I didn't need to adhere to those strict guidelines, I could deal with my finances better and fix the tires later. like I can still safely go on 70% tire life left for a few months. but with an OOP they only accept 80%. so i have to try and toss up all this money at once and suffer instead of balancing it out if i had the opportunity to prepare properly. I am paycheck to paycheck. far from rich.

Sounds like buying a used car from Alberta is a great idea. I wish more provinces were as strict...I see so many people driving junk on MB roads.

[2JDM]

If I were to move to Alberta (my wife and I have been casually talking about it, for family reasons), my Mazda 3 should probably come in without a problem since it's a newer dealer maintained vehicle but I should sell my Odyssey in BC and get another minivan in Alberta?

If you feel comfortable with the wife and kids in it, than it will most likely pass the OOP. Make sure all the lights work, all warning lights are off[ TPMS warning light can be on], Struts and shocks can have sweat. Windshield cannot have a crack coming into the drivers view. The tires can be down to 2/32 and the brake pads can have 2mm left to pass. Ball joints, tierods etc must be tight. All dash switches must work. Cannot have the exhaust altered to make it louder. Oddly enough, the can have a lift kit.

That doesn't seem too different from the Ontario safety standards?

[johngenx]

Prices for used cars in Alberta are much higher than in most places in Canada, so people were bringing trailer-loads of cars here and dumping lots full of garbage onto consumers.  The province enacted legislation to ensure that cars from other places were road-worthy.

[HeliDriver]

I'm still curious as to which province it came out of, and why, other than an Ontario COTU car, would it matter...

Alberta has some strict rules for bringing cars into the province. If you buy a used car that is already in Alberta, no problem. The exact same car, but currently registered in another province, might cost thousands to get it to pass the Alberta out-of-province inspection.

and yes of course I would want all the safety issues addressed. that is a very good thing to do! It's just that with an out of province inspection I only have 2 weeks to deal with it and try to manage the funds. whereas if I didn't need to adhere to those strict guidelines, I could deal with my finances better and fix the tires later. like I can still safely go on 70% tire life left for a few months. but with an OOP they only accept 80%. so i have to try and toss up all this money at once and suffer instead of balancing it out if i had the opportunity to prepare properly. I am paycheck to paycheck. far from rich.

Sounds like buying a used car from Alberta is a great idea. I wish more provinces were as strict...I see so many people driving junk on MB roads.

No, once the car is in Alberta it is allowed to stay on the road no matter how horrible the state of repair. There is no safety check for cars already in the province, only when they first come in.

[Arthur Dent]

I'm still curious as to which province it came out of, and why, other than an Ontario COTU car, would it matter...

Alberta has some strict rules for bringing cars into the province. If you buy a used car that is already in Alberta, no problem. The exact same car, but currently registered in another province, might cost thousands to get it to pass the Alberta out-of-province inspection.

and yes of course I would want all the safety issues addressed. that is a very good thing to do! It's just that with an out of province inspection I only have 2 weeks to deal with it and try to manage the funds. whereas if I didn't need to adhere to those strict guidelines, I could deal with my finances better and fix the tires later. like I can still safely go on 70% tire life left for a few months. but with an OOP they only accept 80%. so i have to try and toss up all this money at once and suffer instead of balancing it out if i had the opportunity to prepare properly. I am paycheck to paycheck. far from rich.

Sounds like buying a used car from Alberta is a great idea. I wish more provinces were as strict...I see so many people driving junk on MB roads.

No, once the car is in Alberta it is allowed to stay on the road no matter how horrible the state of repair. There is no safety check for cars already in the province, only when they first come in.

Not quite. When it changes owners there is a less strict insurance inspection. But if you keep it at one insurance company then yes no more inspections.

The out of province rules into effect a long time ago when BC dealers tried dumping flood and accident damaged vehicles on mass in Alberta.

For Alberta I would insist on seeing current reg before buying a car. Anyone can toss a plate on. If the previous owner ticked the "registered in AB" box on the bill of sale you might have some recourse in small claims court. Doubtful though. Sucks.

[johngenx]

Most insurance companies require an inspection if you purchase a car older than 10 years.  Then you're inspection-free for as long as you own the car.

We've never had emissions tests, and it looks like we might have been "ahead of the curve" on that one.  Federal emissions standards now mean that cars remain within spec for long periods of time and tail-pipe sniffing is becoming irrelevant.

[dirtyjeffer]

We've never had emissions tests, and it looks like we might have been "ahead of the curve" on that one.  Federal emissions standards now mean that cars remain within spec for long periods of time and tail-pipe sniffing is becoming irrelevant.

that was never more than anything other than a make work project / money scheme...be thankful your government hasn't acted as stupidly.