This could be a sign of many things, including that the local dealerships do not get calls for such vehicles, or that others thought they would but don't, and are eager to move their inventory.

I guess we are maybe not the service centre we thought we might be in some cases. This is certainly not the only area where we are still lacking in being able to provide service at levels that other communities to the south can provide.

Vehicles are cheaper anywhere south of Prince George. Kamloops Ford dealers are 10 to 15k cheaper on trucks.

I'm not suprised at all!

Hard to figure. The local dealerships seem to always bid on city opportunities. I wonder if when the time comes for service or repairs the R.D. gets treated the same way as private citizens who buy a vehicle from elswhere (poorly) Never done that, have always bought my rolling stock locally, but that is not to say I have not been tempted. One thing I have not seen is any appreciation from a new vehicle dealer for having purchased another new truck from them (they can't even remember your name half the time) and they can't be bothered to phone you back Grr, grump.
metalman.
metalman.

I purchase about 20-30 vehicles a year and sorry the local dealerships do not offer that great of a price. I can purchase them in Vancouver or Alberta and get them delivered to PG often $1,000 - $3,000 per vehicle cheaper. I try to purchase in PG but sorry I am not putting out that much money just for the privilege of buying locally. The service is done locally, so at least they get that.

My question is why would the Regional District need to buy SUV's in the first place? Seventy five thousand for two vehicles and that includes taxes! How about a Neon oe a Yaris?

I guess they want to keep up with the City. They have a lot of emploees riding around i full size 250's with four wheel drives and Northern Health is also a big fan off large vehicles. Oh weel its just tax dollars theres more were that came from.

Cheers

Let me know how much it cost to replace the Batteries on this , you will find it would have bean cheaper to just get the Gas one, or even better something else. Why to you need a SUV, all the Years I did my work with a Van installing at any season and driven all kind of Roads working for a very large Company, one more thing SUV have a higher rollover Rate!

Apparently a battery pack for a hybrid costs about $ 12,000.- bucks. Hybrids are about being green, not about making sense economically/financially.

If you try to trade in a seven year old hybrid (seven years is the expected life of the battery pack) expect to have a large amount deducted because of that.

The better choice would have been a *clean* diesel vehicle.

Yes 12000 Bucks buys a lot of Diesel

Battery packs eh? With many more of these electric "motorized appliances" on the road in years to come are we gonna send the used and worn out batteries from them to some Southeast Asian country for recycling? Just like we do now with computer electronics? Could happen. I will wait to see it on TV or read about it in the print media in years to come.

I believe one of the big problems with the dealerships here is they are part of big auto groups now. Take for example Wood Wheaton. Part of a group of 16 dealerships.

[url]http://www.wheatongm.com/dcm2/location.html[url]

Or Northland Dodge is part of Auto Canada which is 1 of 23 dealerships.

[url]http://www.autocan.ca/dealers/?gloc=ft[url]

So when the regional district wants a deal like this the big companies don't step up because the beacracy causes the message to get lost because they are too big.

There is something to be said for the smaller dealerships.

Another problem I think is for whatever reason people in Prince George buy expensive vehicles. I think the dealerships don't have to be competitive because they already have healthy bottom lines. Why sell a vehicle that you aren't making a good profit. That's why a few years ago the City of PG went to Williams Lake to get there vehicles. LOL