Paying for a car in Canadian monopoly money with USD

[MrAceman]

Question for you all. I'm looking for another GTR up there in the Frozen North to get and drive back down here. I did it last November with an 89 BNR32, so this isn't a post about "OMG HOWZ DO I IMPORT A CAR PLZ KKTHXBYE?!"

Rather... with the last car I bought, I crossed the US -> Canada border with USD cash... declared it... endured the anal probing on the Canadian side of the border (they were very gentle)... converted the USD to CAD in Montreal, and then bought the car in CAD.

So I've got a different idea this time.

1. Find the car (i.e. All due diligence, etc).
2. Fly to car, inspect and decide to buy.
3. Transfer USD funds, via Paypal fee free "Friends and Family" gift transaction, to CAD account of seller.
4. Wait in beautiful Canada for the payment to clear into seller's account whilst enjoying wonderful things like maple syrup, Tim Horton's coffee and watching the Leafs win/lose (depending on your preference).
5. Drive off in a 4WD blaze of glory.

I know the "Friends and Family" transaction is usually a "No No" with purchases, since it takes away all of the protection of PayPal. But that's with a sight unseen purchase. I would counter that argument by saying that handing someone 10,000 CAD in cash affords you roughly the same long-term protection.

Thoughts, concerns, etc.

Thanks in advance for shooting holes in my idea.

[MrAceman]

Did I make one too many stereotypical Canadian jokes?

Honestly... I love your kind. My times in Canada were always very pleasant. That's better, eh? Dang it...

[rvander1992]

No just never seen this thread before. I'd steer of paypal personally. I'd rather cash in hand, cad or usd I don't care. My gripe with paypal is they've already frozen my account for receiving 500$ in a week after I got my car, and have now locked it from transfering funds out(i had to spend 500$ on parts oh noes!). I use my dad whenever a buyer on here doesn't want to use EMT but wants me to ship it. Then I have to transfer to his account because my bank account has suspicious activity according to paypal and can't be transfered to have to go through the hassle of getting it from him. Then there's the annoyance of just general **** paypal does. If someone received 10k all of a sudden you can sure as hell bet their account is getting locked for 3-4 weeks while they call every single day to argue that its not suspicious activity and they need their cash. Bad idea. I'll take your usd please.

[MrAceman]

Excellent point. I'd also be concerned about the "safeguards".

Honestly, it's not as much about carrying the USD cash with me as it is the pain in the butt of finding a place to convert to CAD. In downtown Montreal it was super easy, since I used Globex http://globex2000.ca/ (and would HIGHLY recommend them).

But if I end up flying into a less metropolitan area I'm thinking I won't find a place as accommodating as they were.

[RixR32]

As others stated, avoid paypal. Any bank up here will exchange usd cash for cad.
Use sellers bank.....done.

[MrAceman]

Use sellers bank.....done.

But that's just too simple. I don't know why I didn't think of it.

[rvander1992]

We canadians are smarter than we look. Yeah any bank will exchange for you though usually at a worse rate than those booths meant specifically for exchanging cash. There's a few of those in malls around where I live and I'm not in big city(though not small backwoods area either).

[cooke24]

Or you could wire the funds to him....

[bobbo]

Certified cheque.

[RixR32]

I just figure you're meeting with the seller anyways, to buy the car, using their bank should be easiest and most comfortable for both of you.....albiet at a possibly slightly higher exchange rate.
Wasn't trying to be captain obvious. Lol

[dustyGTR]

Pay Canadian seller in US greenbacks