When Renting A Car, Always Check the Details, and Ask Questions as each car rental experience revealed some new peculiarity.

First, we discovered that it costs significantly more to pick-up a car at the airport location. In one case, it was twice the price! The airport location also gives you less flexibility for drop-off as you have to return the car to that location. If you don’t, you pay a $75 fee! Non-airport locations let you return the car to another location in that city.

When we booked an Economy Car on Enterprise’s website, we expected a 4-door car like a Suzuki Swift or a Kia Rio. The confirmation page on screen indicated this plainly, but when I printed the “print-friendly version”, the reference to “4-door” was gone and I found myself spending a little bit more to get a quattro-porte in the Compact class. The little bit more isn’t enough to make one baulk, particularly when one realizes that the reservation paper in one’s hand makes no reference to “4-door”, but over a few thousand rentals per day, I’m sure it pads the company’s bottom line. Since online reservations aren’t always as they appear, call your pick-up location or the reservation line and demand the internet price, which you have in front of you when you call. Since we booked our rentals, Enterprise has amended its site so that Economy and Compact cars show as “2-door”.

One-Way Tickets, Young Men, and Dark Skin Attract Attention. I thought our tickets singled-us out for attention on the way back to Canada, but that was nothing compared to what I faced as I went back to the United States by myself. Not only were my bags, person, and shoes checked with excruciating detail, but I was subjected to a barrage of questions by the US Customs and Border Protection officer. I was relieved that I had brought my work identification card with me when he asked for proof that I had a reason to return to Canada. I shudder to think what I would have faced had I had a middle-eastern accent.

Automobile Distribution Systems Must Modernize in this more global age. Up until now, I was under the naive impression that car companies’ branches in various countries were all tied to the parent in the Detroit, Tokyo, Stuttgart, Seoul, or Stuttgart. Essentially, I thought that Honda Canada was a wholly-owned arm of Honda’s mothership in Japan. However, this is not the case at all.

The best way to think of the local firm is as an independent distributor like in any other sector of the economy. Honda Canada has an exclusive right, granted by Honda in Japan, to distribute Honda vehicles in Canada. That right carries obligations to look establish, support, and police a dealer network, provide warranty coverage, etc., but Honda Canada remains an enterprise whose focus is on its own success in Canada, not Honda’s success globally.

While this description appears to hold true for all companies, I’m focusing on Honda for a couple of reasons. First, I find that Honda Canada’s positions to be among the most extreme of the mainstream manufacturers and illustrative of the narrow, single-country focus of national distributors. Second, and most importantly, I own a Honda, have suffered a major ordeal with my Honda, and despite that ordeal, continue to see Honda as a brand that I would purchase in the future.

With the Canadian and US dollars virtually at par, Canadians are taking note of sometimes massive price gap between Canadian and US new car prices. When one considers that a Honda Element LX with AWD is about $21,000 in the US and about $31,000 in the Canada, it’s no wonder that Canadians are looking hard the viability of importing vehicles from the United States. However, the local distributors aren’t making it easy.

While some, like Audi and Volkswagen appear to be honouring the warranty on cars brought in from the United States, some, like Honda, are taking the extreme position that the vehicles will have no warranty coverage in Canada at all, despite the cars have virtually identical mechanical specifications. In addition, other marques are charging fees ($500 in the case of BMW) to “certify” that the vehicle is eligible for warranty coverage in Canada. Again in BWM’s case, they have chosen to make imported vehicles ineligible for the brand’s “free scheduled service” warranty. Subaru Canada has yet another variation under which owners must pay a Canadian dealer to complete warranty service and then submit the bills to Subaru USA for reimbursement — could you think of a better scenario for unscrupulous Canadian dealers and for “burned” Canadian owners?

At this point, let me say that I understand the Canadian distributors’ need to keep their businesses viable and that they don’t benefit from the same economies of scale leveraged by their US counterparts, so I can’t lay the blame entirely at their feet. Still, it is hard to comprehend conditions that warrant a $10,000 differential on a $30,000 vehicle.

And this is where I feel the actual manufacturers need to be more involved. As I’m sure anyone would agree, automobile manufacturers are global corporations that promote global brands and reputations. In that regard, I would think that Honda Japan would want Canadian Honda buyers to have an ownership experience that is largely comparable to that of a Honda buyer in the US, Japan, or Europe. In that sense, I would have expected Honda Japan to take steps to ensure Canadians don’t feel like they are being abused during this period of near parity between the Loonie and Greenback. Not only would this serve the brand’s image, but I suspect that Honda Elements at $26,000 (cutting the price gap in half) would sell better than Elements at $31,000. Essentially, I’m saying that manufacturers should update their distribution models to recognize the integration of Canadian and US economies, as well as similar integration in Europe. To continue to operate as if Canadian buyers can compare with the US price is hurting everyone: Honda (parent and distributors) look like they are hosing us, dealers have a hard story to tell prospective buyers, those that do import are faced with no warranty coverage and poor Honda ownership experience, and buyers feel gouged.

Obviously, I don’t know enough about the financials to propose fixes, but I don’t get the sense that anyone is looking for a fix. The real test will be (a) whether the loonie continues to fly high; and (b) how 2009 model pricing in both the Canada and US adjust to reflect the currency situation.

All I know is that while my Honda vehicle has impressed me, Honda Canada’s current stance has left me cold and is pushing me to look at other brands like Volkswagen, offer models that meet my needs and show me some respect as a consumer by continuing to offer a warranty on US vehicles. Even if I buy in Canada (choosing to ignore the additional options available in the US), I’d be prone to reward this good behaviour on the part of VW rather than support Honda Canada’s draconian stance.

Let’s hope car makers and their distributors see the light, that consumers force them to do so, and that “Canada’s new government” sees fit to stay out of the way.