Importing a Motor Vehicle To Canada (the be all end all) | GTAMotorcycle.com

Importing a Motor Vehicle To Canada (the be all end all)

NinjaNikki

NinjaNikki

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Tired of all the post about this topic so here it is the be all end all... Hopefully this can be made a sticky.

What to do before you import?

- Make sure your vehicle is admissible and can be modified to meet Canadian requirements by checking Transport Canada’s List of Admissible Vehicles (this list includes passengers cars, trucks, vans, jeeps, chassis cabs, trailers, motorcycles, and snowmobiles less than 15 years old; off-road vehicles manufactured after May 1, 1988 and buses manufactured after Jan. 1, 1971. www.riv.ca (1-888-848-8240)

- Contact the original equipment manufacturer or authorized dealer of your vehicle to obtain a recall clearance letter (YOU MUST HAVE THIS DOCUMENT IN ORDER TO PASS THE FEDERAL INSPECTION)

- Make sure you have the required documentation: title documents, registration, sales receipts, statement of compliance label and manufacturer’s recall clearance letter.

- Find out about any additional provincial or territorial requirements, such as safety inspections and emissions tests.

- Arrange for insurance.

- Present your vehicle along with original title docs to US Customs prior (72 hours) to entering Canada. www.customs.gov

- If you are importing a trailer you may call RIV to have your VIN number verified ahead of time.

What to do at the border?

- produce your title documents, registration and sales receipts.

- Complete Vehicle Import Form- Form 1 which will be provided by CBSA (Canada Border Services Agency formally Customs) this form must be kept with vehicle until it is licensed.

- CBSA will check vehicle against Transport Canada’s list of admissible vehicles they will also verify the public VIN #’s and manufacturer’s statement of compliance label to ensure a match.

- CBSA will facilitate the payment of your nonrefundable RIV fee of $182 in all provinces except Quebec where it is $197.

- Payment for the RIV fee may be made directly to CBSA with major credit cards CBSA DOES NOT ACCEPT CASH OR CHEQUES FOR THE RIV FEE.

What to do after the vehicle enters Canada?

- Within 10 days, you should receive a letter from RIV with your inspection docs (form 2) which details what must be done to bring your vehicle into compliance.

- It is your responsibility to complete the necessary mods within 45 days (they can be preformed by the garage of your choice)

- Make sure you keep receipts of all your modification work

- The RIV has contracted Canadian Tire to perform their federal inspections.

- When you pass the inspection they inspection center will stamp your form 1 and you will have to present this paper work to the licensing authority

- If the vehicle fails the inspection within the 45 days it will have to be exported.

Common Modifications?

Motorcycles
- recall clearance letter
- U.S statement of compliance (S.O.C Label) at the border
- The RIV will mail a Canadian statement of compliance label to you after passing the federal inspection
- Valid alpha-numeric 17-digit VIN
- Metric speedometer and odometer labels (provided by inspection centre)
- All lights on

Restricted-Use Motorcycles

- Recall clearance letter
- Off-road statement label
- Reflectors

Numbers you’ll need?

Registrar of Imported Vehicles
1-888-848-8240
www.riv.ca
info@riv.ca

Canada Border Service Agency
1-800-461-9999 (English)
1-800-959-2036 (French)
www.cbsa.gc.ca

Transport Canada
1-800-333-0371
(613) 998-4831 (fax)
www.tc.gc.ca

United States Customs
www.customs.gov
 
Nikki,

Everything looks good on those with one exception....

For Restricted use motorcycles (which include mini/pocket bikes) that off road label must state that the vehicle is for closed course competition and off road use only and must be In both FRENCH and ENGLISH or we will refuse it at the border as per transport Canada's Instructions.

Importers can make up their own bilingual label ahead of time, but it must be on a sticker such as a vinyl one that won't be removed by rain or other elemental means.

For a wording of this label they can get that from the RIV.CA website under restricted motorcycles. Provided the we the inpectors at the borders are satisfied with the wording and translation we can watch the importer affix it to the machine and then complete the necessary paper work. As almost all machines that are being imported from the USA don't have labels in French but rather english and spanish, this is important to at least print up a french label to affix. The US off road stickers are yellow in colour.

Hope this helps...

Sandra
 
Thanks Sandra.. been I while since I've done RIV's did a bit this summer over at Cargo but that was mostly with Brokers who had all their ish together.

I should also add that the above post is for importing motor vehicles into Canada from the United States.... If you want info on overseas importations please contact the RIV as unless it's over 15 years old it's virtually impossible.
 
damn...someone did their homework. Nikki should start some consulting gig on the side :wink:
 
6up said:
damn...someone did their homework. Nikki should start some consulting gig on the side :wink:
Click to expand...

I used to say if I ever got fired I would... :twisted:
 
Nikki, I am currently thinking about buying a car from the States (Florida) and have it registered in the state of florida since I own a condo there, now I want to bring it into Canada and have it registered here. I spoke to the licensing office and they told me that if it's already registered in my name in the state of Florida I would not have to pay any taxes ect to have it registered here. Do you know if I would have to pay any duty charges at the border?? I remember hearing that if the vehicle is 6 years or older then it can be brought in duty free....is that true???

Sorry for the questions, hope you can shed some light on it for me :wink:
 
Thor7000 said:
Nikki, I am currently thinking about buying a car from the States (Florida) and have it registered in the state of florida since I own a condo there, now I want to bring it into Canada and have it registered here. I spoke to the licensing office and they told me that if it's already registered in my name in the state of Florida I would not have to pay any taxes ect to have it registered here. Do you know if I would have to pay any duty charges at the border?? I remember hearing that if the vehicle is 6 years or older then it can be brought in duty free....is that true???

Sorry for the questions, hope you can shed some light on it for me :wink:
Click to expand...

Okay if you are importing the vehicle as in getting it registered here with Ontario plate (which by the way is a much it is illigal for an Canadian resident to drive a US plated vehicle in Canada) then there is tax.

Follow the above procedure to insure that it is admissible in Canada There are certain cars (some Toyota off the of my head) that are inadmissible.

We usually go by the red book value of the car unless you have reciepts to show another value. If the car is US made then it's gst/pst and $100 excise tax for a/c if it has it. I'm not sure of the duty off the top of my head on non-US manufactured vehicles but I can check for you in a couple of days.

I'd suggest you pm zx7marco for the loop hole in the system but that is the general procedure as I know it.
 
Tnx for putting this togather. THIS SHOULD BE A STICKY as ppl ask the same question every month or so. I have one question, If I was to import a motorcycle, do i have to be at border or seller can bring it over for you?

Cheers
 
What is Customs' general position regarding importation of 15+ year old vehicles from non-US countries, and does it matter whether they were or were not available in North America? Pro? Con? Dependent on cutting through miles of red tape and conflicting regulations?
 
NS400R said:
What is Customs' general position regarding importation of 15+ year old vehicles from non-US countries, and does it matter whether they were or were not available in North America? Pro? Con? Dependent on cutting through miles of red tape and conflicting regulations?
Click to expand...

Over 15 years no problem (no matter the country of orgin)... doesn't require RIV fair game! All that is required is payment of D and T (Duty and taxes)

Desi: Either or can bring the bike over but either or must be willing to do the paperwork pay the taxes etc and have all the relevant info... therefore it is more likely the buyer is the one that is seen at the border. There are brokers that will do all this for you off the top of my head LIVINSTON.
 
If you provide a bill of sale I thought that CBSA had to use the invoice price provided? If there was doubt to the price and the seller (if someone actually could find a phone that allowed LD to the USA) confirmed the "price" Customs had to use the price provided by the "client".

The only thing Customs could do is forward the info to Trade Admin Services (TAS) for follow-up investigation which would never get done.

That's how it worked when I worked there. The Red Book was only a guide.
 
Gil said:
If you provide a bill of sale I thought that CBSA had to use the invoice price provided? If there was doubt to the price and the seller (if someone actually could find a phone that allowed LD to the USA) confirmed the "price" Customs had to use the price provided by the "client".

The only thing Customs could do is forward the info to Trade Admin Services (TAS) for follow-up investigation which would never get done.

That's how it worked when I worked there. The Red Book was only a guide.
Click to expand...
Yeah Gil but you were at Cargo it's very different at the Land border... let's just say more hard core and less messing around... At least that's how I remember it from my days in Windsor... maybe pigeon can testify to how things are now down in Niagra.
 
NinjaNikki said:
Gil said:
If you provide a bill of sale I thought that CBSA had to use the invoice price provided? If there was doubt to the price and the seller (if someone actually could find a phone that allowed LD to the USA) confirmed the "price" Customs had to use the price provided by the "client".

The only thing Customs could do is forward the info to Trade Admin Services (TAS) for follow-up investigation which would never get done.

That's how it worked when I worked there. The Red Book was only a guide.
Click to expand...
Yeah Gil but you were at Cargo it's very different at the Land border... let's just say more hard core and less messing around... At least that's how I remember it from my days in Windsor... maybe pigeon can testify to how things are now down in Niagra.
Click to expand...

Yeah things are a little different now... We start by using the invoice provided, then we start our own investigations... We search the vehicles for the right invoice a cheque or something. We've been told we can't ask for Ebay passwords anymore so now we just look into the archived items and we can usually find the record, if it was an ebay purchase. Regular duties and taxes get paid on the invoice presented then the seizure is made on the undervalued amount. 90% of the seizures at Queenston are undervalued vehicles. Most vehicle imports are done at the Queenston Bridge as Lewiston is the designated export location for US vehicles.

If there is no invoice we will use the redbook or the black book from the USA as it usually goes back further than the redbook.

Hope this helps...
 
I notice that car prices are less in the US - is it worth buying a car or a bike in the US to save a few bucks, or is the hassle not worth it?

Always been curious about that, especially after helping an American buddy of mine buy a new truck in Maryland last year... my eyes popped out of my head when I saw what he paid for it.
 
Hey, for Suzuki motorcycles on the list of admissible and inadmissible models/years, it says that all Suzuki's are admissible. Does this mean you can bring over any year of Suzuki or does the 15 year rule still apply? And if so, does a 1990 Suzuki fall under the 15 year rule?
 
Endri said:
Hey, for Suzuki motorcycles on the list of admissible and inadmissible models/years, it says that all Suzuki's are admissible. Does this mean you can bring over any year of Suzuki or does the 15 year rule still apply? And if so, does a 1990 Suzuki fall under the 15 year rule?
Click to expand...

Any year as long as you are importing from the United States...
 
NinjaNikki said:
Endri said:
Hey, for Suzuki motorcycles on the list of admissible and inadmissible models/years, it says that all Suzuki's are admissible. Does this mean you can bring over any year of Suzuki or does the 15 year rule still apply? And if so, does a 1990 Suzuki fall under the 15 year rule?
Click to expand...

Any year as long as you are importing from the United States...
Click to expand...

Do you know if we can import 'Salvaged' bikes from the United States? Brand new, but salvaged.
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