Importing a Motorcycle into Ontario | GTAMotorcycle.com

Importing a Motorcycle into Ontario

O

o0ollo0o

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TwistedKestrel said:
A recent experience would be great to read, would appreciate it.
Click to expand...

I was debating between posting in the original thread, but realized it wasn't really motorcycle specific. I hope I don't get flamed for posting it here.

http://www.gtamotorcycle.com/vbforu...-Motor-Vehicle-To-Canada-(the-be-all-end-all)


My experience for a private sale

SUMMARY
-Black 2011 Ducati Monster 796.
-Only had 805km
-Picking up from Tampa Florida
-Crossing border through Ambassador Bridge
-Final Destination -> Toronto
-Private Sale
-Flew down and rode back (2400km)


BEFORE IMPORTING
1. Go the the RIV site and prepare a checklist. Read through checklist thoroughly
https://www.riv.ca/ImporterChecklist.aspx

2.Pick a bike
I used CycleTrader to find a bike. Since I wasn't too concern about pick up location, I left the location search criteria blank and made sure it wasn't ridiculously far.
http://www.cycletrader.com/

3.Make sure it is admissible into Canada through RIV and Transportation Canada sites.
https://www.riv.ca/VehicleAdmissibility.aspx
http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/safevehicles/importation/usa/vafus/list2/Section8_0.htm

4.Call the US Customs and Boarder Protection (CBP) to find out what you need to send them before crossing. Contact info is on the RIV checklist.
I came through Ambassador Bridge and all they needed was for the Title to be faxed to them 72 hours before crossing. Keep the fax confimation as you will need to show it to CBP when crossing

5.Contact the seller and get the following. You may need to provide the seller with a reasonable deposit at this point.
-VIN #
-Copy of Title (VIN should be on title)
-Copy of Registration (Nice to have not necessary)
-Maintenance Records\History (Nice to have)

6.Fax the Title and bring the confirmation with you. I don't know what other crossings need, this is just for Ambassador Bridge. I choose this crossing as it was open 24/7 for vehicle importing unlike other ones which are only open M-F, 9-5.

7.I checked the VIN # for liens and number of owners. Fortunately, "Florida's Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle" website provides this
http://www.flhsmv.gov/
Handle It Online ->Motor Vehicle Check

8.Print a Bill of Sales before going and bring two copies with you. One for you and the other for the seller. Once again, "Florida's Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle" website provides this
http://www.flhsmv.gov/
Driving? -> Buy or Sell a Vehicle

9. Call your insurance company and print out of your insurance papers. Bring it with you.

10. Make sure you can get the Clearance Recall Letter. I called the dealer in Tampa and he refused to give me this saying it doesn't belong to him and couldn't print it out. More on this further down...

11. If you are flying down, make sure the bike is close to the airport. Shop for flights! Google flights is awesome for this
https://www.google.ca/flights/

DEALING WITH THE SELLER
1. Inspect the bike!
-Seller was super nice and picked me up from the airport.
-I brought a Bank Draft (Money Order) for most of the price and cash for a smaller portion. This was in case there were any issues, and I would ask for a discount. Fortunately, all was good and I paid the full price.

2. Fill out the Bill of Sale and have it signed by both parties

3. Get the Title signed over to you.

4. All bikes come with two keys. Get both!
-Get the Manual. If not you can downlaod it from manufature site.
Note: Ducati comes with the following
-Key Code Card
-Number engraved on a metal key chain tab

5. As the bike only had 800 km on it and I was going to put 2400 km in two days, I decide to gets its first maintenance (@1000km) done there before I left. This was worked out well as I was able to talk to some of the sales guys and get a Clearance Recall Letter printed out for me!! Unfortunately, since it had not exceeded 1000km they could not disable the maintenance wrench on my bike's display until it appeared. So I have to go to a dealer here to get if off... bleh.

6. Off topic, but dress appropriately for the ride! Never trust the weather forecast.
-went through -6 degree weather (which feels like -35 when riding at 120 km/h).
-drove hours through rain. I had to stop since the inside of my visor was condensing water. I couldn't figure out why wiping the outside of the visor wasn't working for the longest time....
-had to pay a visit to walmart for extra gloves, sweater, long johns and a hat.
-Rode long hours to avoid an oncoming snow storm.
-Waffle House was my bestfriend. Eat here if you ever see one!

7. I went to the DMV for temp plates. Bad experience here. When I called them in advance they said all I needed was to pay $15 for temp plates. When I showed up, they said it was $7.50 but that I had to pay tax to the state I would be registering the vehicle in. I said I'm going to Canada. So they said that I'd have to pay them Florida tax, which is 7%. This didn't make sense to me, but i guess someone has to collect.... I told them that I would be back with the money. (Note, I had the sellers plates). You may want to consider purchasing from a seller in a no tax state.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_taxes_in_the_United_States#By_jurisdiction


DEALING WITH US CUSTOMS (CBP). For Ambassador Bridge

1. You will porbably miss the CBP entrance at the boarder.
-If you hit the Duty Free shop or gas station, you've gone too far. Get a piece of paper form the duty free shop and follow their instructions on how to get to CBP
-If this helps, the entrance is under the bridge, where the truck is sticking its head out on google maps. There is a sign for CBP in blue.
http://goo.gl/maps/15DkT

2. I parked at the parking with nexus signage and went into the building on the right.

3. Customs will ask for
-Bill of Sale
-Passport
-Driver's License ( i think)
-Title
-Fax Confirmation

They will stamp the title and off you go.

4.You may have to wait at the gate to get out of the CBP facility, as someone needs to open it. Apparently someone comes every 15 minutes or so. Someone working their said the gate guys were lazy and let me go back into the US. I drove back to the boarder. I think he felt bad as it was pretty cold.

DEALING WITH CANADA CUSTOMS. For Ambassador Bridge

1.When crossing the boarder Canadian customs will ask you to park and enter their building

2.Customs will ask for
-Bill of Sale
-Passport
-Driver's License
-Title

3. They will give you "Vehicle Import Form - Form 1"
-Make sure they print clearly. I was nervous as my guy was semi blind. Constantly squinting.... Made me nervous that he would make a mistake.

4. Customs officer will send you to another window to pay the 5% tax (GST)
-She will give you a blue form\receipt that you will need when registering your vehicle at Service Ontario

BACK HOME IN TORONTO, CANADA

1. Email Form 1 and Recall Clearence Letter to RIV
recall@support.riv.ca
-They respond quickly. eg less than 2 days

2.Pay the fee online. $220.35
https://www.riv.ca/MakeAnRIVPayment.aspx
-All the info to fill out is on Form 1

3. Once everything is okay. RIV will provide you with a RIV Inspection Form through their website. RIV is associated with Canadian Tire. Their website will tell you which Canadian Tire to bring your bike to get your RIV Inspection Form filled out and stamped.
-I changed the digital display dash to metric. They didn't need to affix a km/h speedometer in my case.
-It's suppose to take 5 min. But it took an hour for me as I watch their technicians texting on their phones....

5. Before going to Service Ontario. Get a safety on the bike $40. Canadian Tire cannot do this for you despite Service Ontario saying so. I went to Rosey Toes. I wasted my time going to Service Ontario first.

6. Go to Service Ontario to Register your bike and get Plates.
-Pink Insurance paper from Insurance Company
-Bill of Sale
-Original Title
-Safety Paper
-Blue Receipt from Canadian boarder
-Driver's License
-Form 1
-RIV Inspection Form
-You DO NOT need emissions check

7. Pay the HST and Registration. $60 plus 8% tax (PST). You'll get your plate sticker too.

8. You will get an RIV sticker in the mail that you will need to affix somewhere on the bike.

9. Insurance
Called up my insurance and the told me to send them a copy of my registration. Scanned and emailed them a copy

WHY I DID IT
-It was a great experience and quite the adventure

-Great purchase price

Bike $8000 (8300 CAD)
Flight $325
Hotels $144
Gas $116
GST 5% $368.68
PST 8% $589.89
RIV Fee $220.35

(Standard fees not including in total)
Maintenance $303.43
Safety $40
Registration $60

I'm not sure how they calculated the base price of the bike, but taxes were less than I expected. Total price of the bike as if I bought it here.
Bike + Flight + Hotels + Gas + GST + PST + RIV Fee
Total $10,063.92


Finding a black Monster 796 with reasonably low KM is nearly impossible in Ontario as I have been scouring for one for a while. Especially for $9105.35 ($10,063.92 / 1.13), as I would have to pay taxes for it if purchased used.

I was quoted for a new one at $14,200.

-It was a great riding experience to test my gear, bike and myself. But damn was it cold! I didn't realize you lose soo many calories for your body to stay warm.... lost a couple of pounds in 2 days.
 
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Thanks for posting! I'm picking up my bike tomorrow from Ohio and it's nice to have a check list to go over.
 
great write up, this should be a sticky, 2 things to add,

1.) If you import a Honda from the US, you can get the recall clearance document from a VIN search on the Honda website.
2.) Re-emphasis on bringing the fax transmission report to the border, they will not confirm whether they actually received the fax if you call them (Port Huron at least). In my case they were adament about seeing it first before doing anything.
 
smergy said:
great write up, this should be a sticky, 2 things to add,

2.) Re-emphasis on bringing the fax transmission report to the border, they will not confirm whether they actually received the fax if you call them (Port Huron at least). In my case they were adament about seeing it first before doing anything.
Click to expand...

And then again CALL THE CROSSING FOR DETAILS. Queenston-Lewiston bridge crossing only wants an e-mail, not a fax.
 
One bit of clarification on the temp plate and tax issue: many states will only issue temporary plates if you're registering the vehicle (thus, paying the taxes on the vehicle). So, having to pay the tax isn't necessarily because of the tax status of a state.
 
Rick CH said:
One bit of clarification on the temp plate and tax issue: many states will only issue temporary plates if you're registering the vehicle (thus, paying the taxes on the vehicle). So, having to pay the tax isn't necessarily because of the tax status of a state.
Click to expand...

Nope. Their computers will not issue a temp plate without paying tax to someone. In this case since there was no one, florida would then get it as default. I even got the DMV lady to call US revenue services. They told her I would have to pay. I wasted 2 hours at the DMV and created a mess of a line behind me.
 
Can I add mine? My experience for a private sale, March 20 2013

SUMMARY
- 2008 Yamaha scooter
-Only had 1000 miles, 1,600 km
-Picking up from Ohio (close to Sanduski)
-Crossing border through Detroit (please avoid if possible, more details below)
-Private Sale
-Rented a truck and went to pick it up, it was all done in 1 day with no need to pay for hotels.


BEFORE IMPORTING
Exactly like above. Just let me add the following details to steps number 4, 5, and 10:

4. Call the US Customs and Boarder Protection (CBP) to find out what you need to send them before crossing. DIFFERENT CROSSING POINTS HAVE DIFFERENT PROCEDURES. Call the CBP and ask a real person, confirm, confirm, confirm!
Detroit CBP needs a fax of the title 72 hours before crossing (no bill of sale, nothing else). Keep the fax confirmation as you will need to show it to CBP when crossing.

5. Contact the seller and get him to scan the title and email it to you. If he doesn't want to (some people don't), just move on to the next seller. I posted some questions here http://www.gtamotorcycle.com/vbforu...operative-seller-how-to-avoid-the-3-days-wait

10. Clearance Recall Letter: The seller got it for me, he just called his local dealer, when I picked it up it was waiting for me.


DEALING WITH THE SELLER
I guess it varies, but pretty much like the OP posted. I paid cash. One thing about step #7

7. "I went to the DMV for temp plates. Bad experience here". In my case I had a rental truck from Budget, so I did not need plates or insurance to ride it back. However, the seller in advanced had offered me his plate to ride it back!!! Some people are really nice. He was like "Just use it and mail it back to me when you get home"


DEALING WITH US CUSTOMS (CBP) DETROIT Bridge

DETROIT CBP IS A ZOO... BUSY, BUSY, BUSY. It's like every truck in the country is trying to cross there at once. I was lucky because I didn't waste much time in there, but I can picture wasting hours there if something goes wrong, so I WOULD TRY TO AVOID IT IN THE FUTURE.
1. Just like the OP posted, you will probably miss the CBP entrance!!!! Drive slowly, there are CBP patrol cars next to the entrance. BTW, Google map directions to the actual address were WRONG.

2. I parked the rental Budget truck in the same parking lot with the 18-wheelers. SIGNS ARE ABSOLUTELY NOT HELPFUL, there are several buildings, ask for directions, people are generally very nice.

3. Customs officer asked me for (this is different that the OP)
-Title
-Fax Confirmation
- Nobody looked at the bike

They will stamp the title, do their thing at the computer, and off you go.

4.You will have to wait at the gate to get out of the CBP facility, as someone needs to open it. Just like the OP posted, someone comes every 10 to 15 minutes. I asked the truck driver in front of me and he told me to wait patiently INSIDE my vehicle.

DEALING WITH CANADA CUSTOMS at Windsor
Just like the OP posted. It was faster and more efficient than at the CBP facility
- Nobody looked at the bike

BACK HOME IN TORONTO, CANADA
Just like the OP posted
I just want to add that the RIV is very fast to process Form 1, clearance letter, etc.

I do not have the total cost yet... I have not been to Canadian Tire yet, even when I got the form already....

:p
 
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Two questions, if someone could please clarify for me:

1. How do you email Form 1 to RIV? Scan and email or I was thinking to take a pic with my iPhone and email that?
Also, I cannot get a Recall Clearance Letter from Honda. Their website for motorcycles is down.

2. Once I get the inspection form from RIV what do I do with that?

Thanks.
 
rorider said:
Two questions, if someone could please clarify for me:

1. How do you email Form 1 to RIV? Scan and email or I was thinking to take a pic with my iPhone and email that?
Also, I cannot get a Recall Clearance Letter from Honda. Their website for motorcycles is down.

2. Once I get the inspection form from RIV what do I do with that?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

All these questions have been answered in the original sticky thread many times. Why do we need another giant thread? Would be nice to make references to recent experiences, maybe sticky them, but making another import thread and answering the same questions all over again is too much.
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