| Author | Message | ||
     Hremodo |
Hey, I'm thinking about buying a bike from the US and would like to bring it into Canada. Does anyone have any info on what issues I should be worried about such as insurance and bringing it across the border? Thanks | ||
| Firemanjim  |
Talk to Sportyeric as he bought my S-2 and brought it into Canada. | ||
| Sportyeric  |
Canada Customs website has a step-by-step guide somewhere. It takes a while to get to ride it. You need to present the title certificate (and maybe a bill of sale)to US customs. They will take, supposedly, three days to produce an export permit. You can't bring the bike into the country without doing this first! When you bring the bike to the border (8:30 to 4pm, Monday-Friday), you get the export permit from US customs, take it to Canada customs with bill of sale and possibly other papers. Pay registrars fee of a few hundred. ($250?) Pay GST. They don't take VISA or MC, I think. Cash is best. Once in Canada, you need to wait for the Registrar of Vehicles to process your registration. About ten days. Once you have that, you take the vehicle to an inspection centre. (Some Canadian Tire Stores are so authorized, for bikes.) They give it a (quick) once over, sign it off, and you're now good to go. That's if everything goes well. If it goes badly, it goes like this: rant number one (March 3, 3:09) then: rant number two (March 8, 9:28) Reading back over that, I must have gotten a special dispensation from the moderators to be able to post so much vulgar language. My, I was ticked off!!LOL! (Message edited by Sportyeric on February 12, 2005) (Message edited by Sportyeric on February 12, 2005) | ||
| Newfie_buell  |
Eric, Would it be easier for the owner of the bike to ride it over the border, once its in Canada then sell it? | ||
| Oddbawl  |
Hey, I just did it in the summer, I'll get back to you tomorrow with the deatails, I'm really wasted right now. S'easy to do. Mostly what Eric said. I gotta go sleep this off... | ||
| Sportyeric |
I think they would frown on that. I would guess that they would make you take it back out of the country before they'd process anything. Like applying to immigrate from inside the country. There is an assumption, actually a rule, that Americans who bring their vehicles with them into Canada will take them out again. They'd look at anything other as "sharp practice" and jerk you around. Maybe seize it and charge you for storage or something. Doing it legally is not that difficult. You just have to accept the time constraints. You won't be licensing it the day you cross the border. Bear in mind that you can't bring in any vehicle that hasn't been approved for Canada. No Buell pre-1995, no Aprilia pre-2003 (?), no Custom Harley Clones (with a few exceptions), etc. (Message edited by Sportyeric on February 13, 2005) | ||
| Sportyeric |
Found the right site for the info: Registar of Imported Vehicles | ||
| Oddbawl |
Go to the Ducati club of Canada, they have a good walk through article. http://www.docc.ca/html/border_crossing.html DO NOT try just bringing it across the border, it MUST to be cleared for export by US customs. If you're lucky, you'll just get sent back. If you get a dick customs guy, they'll crush your bike! Another thing I learned- If you're buying online, take copies of the emails or auction with you showing the cost. I got caught declaring less than the declared value (got a bill of sale from the guy for less) thought I could save some tax. Well guess what? I ended up having to pay double the tax and given a letter stating that they could've confiscated the bike, and now I'm on a 2 year border-harrassment list. So's my license plate. Any time I cross the border for the next two years, I'm gonna get searched for sure on the Cdn side. It's not worth trying to save a few hundred bucks. I did end up saving about $2500 on my bike, with the dollar where it is, and the cheaper American Buell market, it's worth the 2-3h of hoop jumping and running around. Any questions, drop me a line. Good luck! | ||
| Oddbawl |
Btw, I apologise for taking so long getting back to you on this thread, I actually forgot I posted... I was on the losing (or winning?) end of a ten pint Guinness night. |
