Of course there going to put the U.S. cluster in it. Ram owners upgrade to the Laramie/ Rebel and nicer trim package cluster on our own, of course it was swapped for the us market at the dealership.
Out here in Spokane, WA, there are a lot of Canadian used cars. The dealers can come out on top apparently, I could only guess after exchange rates, import taxes, registration there is still enough money in the game.
I live in MA and was looking for a Big Horn with a very specific combo of color and options. There was one I found and I should have jumped all over it, but it was actually the first truck I looked at and I thought I could win a game of chicken with the dealer. I lost. He sold the truck to someone else. My mistake. That's another story.
Anyway, I widened my search and found the truck I wanted in Ohio. The color/options were
exactly what I wanted and the price was about $2,000 less than anything I could find locally. I called the dealer and had multiple conversations with him and was comfortable that this was the truck I wanted to buy. I had the a copy of the original window sticker so I knew it was a "Canadian" truck. What I didn't know was the warranty exclusion. So I flew to Detroit, and the dealer sent a car to pick me up and bring me the 75 miles to the dealership. After test driving the truck, and then having it inspected by a local shop, I agreed to buy the truck.
It was at this point that the salesman told me this was a US built truck for the Canadian market (which I already knew), and therefore there would be no factory warranty on the truck (which I didn't know). I was a bit taken back, and frankly didn't believe him. I ended up calling FCA myself and they confirmed that the salesman was correct. Part of the salesman's response to me was, "We're 2 grand under anything you could find locally...you're getting a great deal. If you're worried about warranty, use the money you saved to buy an aftermarket warranty." (which he would have been more than happy to sell to me - I didn't buy one). Although I was disappointed that I wasn't getting the factory warranty, he wasn't wrong.
Before I signed on the dotted line, I had a long conversation with the salesman about this and he was actually very honest and informative (as far as I know). He explained to me that due to the strong US dollar against the Canadian dollar, it was very lucrative for US dealerships to buy cars and trucks from Canada and resell them here in the US. He said that the trucks all come from Canada with dashboards set up in kph, and they have companies that swap the faceplates to mph for all of the vehicles they import. He said it costs about $300 per truck. I don't know if switching the dash is a requirement or not to sell in the US market. I think it is, but I am not sure. When I was looking at trucks in MA, I drove one that had a kph speedo, and the dealer told me that it was from Canada and would be swapped out before I took delivery. NOTE: He never mentioned the warranty exclusion. I assume that never happens until you are about to sign the contract, then they hit you with that at the last minute. Clever dealers...
You would think every dealer would at least offer a warranty based on the manufacture warranty, or whatever would be remaining at no cost.
"...at no cost"??? Why would you think that? Dealers are in the business of making money, and we all know that rarely are they going to do anything that benefits the consumer...especially on that large of a scale. They might make a concession on a deal with an expert negotiator, but even that is rare. Dealerships that make money do so for a reason, and that reason is NOT because they spend money they don't have to spend.