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

[l84toff]

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No, I do mean that I will have insurance. My insurance company (MM) has no problems giving me insurance on the bike, as long as I give them Ontario ownership after the bike gets registered. I am just worried that people at Canadian Tire will get fussy with the bike not being registered in ON and me riding it.

I rode my bike to CT. In fact I rode it everywhere until it was registered here. I had insurance and a temp plate from FL. No one batted an eye. Of course I'm assuming you have a temp plate on the bike. Riding a bike without some sort of permit gets frowned upon by the 5-0.

 

[l84toff]

I just talked to the folks at the Florida DMV as I'm looking at doing the same thing, they said you got lucky because you should not have been driving with that permit and if you'd got into an accident you and the seller could be sued and not covered by insurance. *shrug*

Does anyone know where I can find a list of which states have sales tax on used vehicles? Paying 6% Florida tax is out of the question for me, I might as well pay them to ship it to the border as it would work out to the same amount and save me a lot of time.

I would certainly take that chance again. My insurance covers me and the bike. FL DMV not only suggested giving me a temp plate but in fact did. As far as I'm concerned I did nothing wrong. What you're suggesting would never stand up in court. Now if I had put on my own plates from Ont let's say, then I could see how someone might have a problem with that as those plates are not registered to that bike.

I imagine that calling the DMV will get you the most law biding response possible. It would from me.

Not sure if anyone else has had any real life experience with FL DMV or other states that charge tax where they weren't charged tax. Regardless it would still have been worth going to FL to make that buy even with the extra cost. But you do have a point, you could ship the bike for similar cost, saving you the drive down. Given the choice I would gladly ride the bike back up again, to me that's the point, to ride!

But the whole tax issue was definitely a consideration for me. In fact there were 2 other bikes that were similar to mine but due to a few factors, this one seemed like the right one.

 

[plutoz]

I imagine that calling the DMV will get you the most law biding response possible.

Yep, I definitely considered that I am looking at a similar bike in North Carolina, just called the local DMV in Raleigh and they will give you a 10-day in-transit tag for $5 - no state sales tax. Seems like a much better option.

 

[ViperZ]

I rode my bike to CT. In fact I rode it everywhere until it was registered here. I had insurance and a temp plate from FL. No one batted an eye. Of course I'm assuming you have a temp plate on the bike. Riding a bike without some sort of permit gets frowned upon by the 5-0.

I'm trailering my bike so I won't have temp plates. I wonder if NY state DMV will give me temp permit.

 

[ViperZ]

After reading all the horror stories, we were pretty surprised. Both, officers at US exports office and at Canadian customs were pleasant, helped us with the paperwork in timely manner, and we were out of customs in no time. So now I have the F4i sitting in my garage

 

[rg0r]

After reading all the horror stories, we were pretty surprised. Both, officers at US exports office and at Canadian customs were pleasant, helped us with the paperwork in timely manner, and we were out of customs in no time. So now I have the F4i sitting in my garage

Great work. Was it worth it in the end? How much did you save compare to buying here?

 

[ViperZ]

Great work. Was it worth it in the end? How much did you save compare to buying here?

After all is said and done, I'd say I saved close to 1200-1500, compared to current Toronto prices. I really wanted to experience exporting a vehicle from USA into Canada, because I want to get my next car from the States too. So it was a great experience. I enjoyed the road trip. And I'm also planning to take some of the money that I saved and invest it back in this bike. For example, I picked up a nice carbon Jardine RT-One exhaust for this bike 5 miles down the road from the place where I bought the bike .

The only real additional expense was probably the RIV fee (192+tax, so 217). I may add the cost of renting a van ($131) and gas (I think, 94 bucks total), so lets say 230, but the other two blue F4i that I was looking at were even further away than this one, although both were in Canada. On the flip side, the conversion factor on the tax being paid saved me was like 0.94, so that shaved off a couple hundred bucks off the price on conversion - that's like 30 bucks in taxes .

I am pretty sure I would probably be able to buy F4i within $500 or so in October/November time frame, but at the same time I'm sure I'd be able to find even cheaper F4i in the States come fall time...

 

[ViperZ]

Wow, imported the bike on Friday, paid the RIV fees Friday night. Form 2 was e-mailed by RIV to me this morning!!

 

[ViperZ]

Quick question. Can any authorized mechanic perform safety inspection, not just CT? There is a huge line-up for tomorrow at my local CT. I was thinking about doing the RIV inspection at CT and safety at Rosey Toes to save some time. Would that work?
From what I understand, RIV fee does not cover cost of safety inspection anyway?

 

[robertojiang]

Yes, you can do that. I would rather do it at Rosey Toes instead of CT any day as I can't really even trust CT to do my car, much less my bike. RIV inspection at CT only because we have to do it there.

 

[ciprian]

Looking for a motorcycle trailer for 2 days pick-up thursday evening (28 July 2011), drop off saturday evening. I live @ Younge and Bloomington (Richmond Hill).

 

[plutoz]

Does anyone know if you can email the required documents to the Port Huron/Sarnia (bluewater bridge) crossing or is it something that only the Queenston/Lewiston accepts? If so, does anyone know the email address?

Perhaps this was recently posted on their site:
Vehicle Exportation document fax (810) 982-2704; 4) Export Control (810) 985-9541 x 259 or email: PortHuronOutboundOperations@cbp.dhs.gov

I've seen mention on this thread that Port Huron is 24 hours but their site doesn't seem to indicate that. Is there any location that is 24 hours?

Detroit does not seem to handle vehicle exports according to the webpage found here: http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/contacts/ports/mi/3801.xml

Heres an example of Triumphs recall checker.
http://www.triumph.co.uk/usa/Recall_and_Tech_Update_VIN_Enquiry.aspxhttp://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/contacts/ports/mi/3801.xml

This URL doesn't seem to work anymore, does anyone have an updated recall checker URL for Triumph? I found this one but it might only be for UK: http://www.triumph.co.uk/uk/7094.aspx (I don't have a VIN yet to try)

 

[Skurj]

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

Can't plate them... Believe yes you can import for track duty though..

 

[macrider]

For some reason Triumph has taken down the VIN checker for the USA.
To tell you the truth I am sure you can use the UK one for RIV purposes.
They only seemed concerned with the fact that there are no safety recalls and I am sure they will not even notice that its from UK.

 

[ViperZ]

Wow, the RIV sticker is GIANT. I think it's wider than the frame. Sucks to stick it on the bike.

 

[etobrider]

Hi everyone,

Have a few questions from people who have bought a bike from the u.s. I have read the sticky about it but still a bit confused........... if bought brand new yamaha sport bike from a dealer with cash, can extended/regular warranty be used in canada or just in the us? is extended warranty worth it? also regarding the paperwork does the dealer fax/email it or do i and how do i get it? i know you have to wait 72 hours before bringing it over the border so how did you go about doing that. Also once at the border after done on the us side do you head to the can office part? sorry if these ??? have already been answered somewhere.

 

[fastar1]

Honouring the warranty in Canada is up to each manufacturer, so in this case Yamaha Mo. Co. USA. I don't think any extended warranty is ever worth it. It's just another profit device but then your peace of mind may be worth more than mine.

I'd get the paperwork from the dealer and send it to US customs myself, to be safe. In any case, you'll need a copy of everything when you cross with the bike. I emailed them to tell them the day I was going to cross, I said I had all my paperwork (didn't attach it to the email) and they replied with an all clear. They said to just print out the reply and show it when I crossed.

Once you're done with US CBP then you have to go through Canadian customs. They'll have the regular questions and when they ask if you bought anything tell them you're importing a bike. They'll send you to the office to fill in some paperwork (Form 1) to get the RIV process started, including paying the RIV fee and GST (this is a federal department so PST is paid later in whichever province you register the bike).

 

[robertojiang]

Just finished my RIV inspection. Anyone know how long it takes for the sticker to arrive? I can't wait to get on the bike, especially since I pushed it to my nearest CT last night -- it was brutal! Pushing a bike 4km each way is not fun when it's hot and the bike is heavy as hell.

 

[ViperZ]

Just finished my RIV inspection. Anyone know how long it takes for the sticker to arrive? I can't wait to get on the bike, especially since I pushed it to my nearest CT last night -- it was brutal! Pushing a bike 4km each way is not fun when it's hot and the bike is heavy as hell.

You seriously pushed your bike to the CT? Ouch! I had insurance on my bike, so I slapped my old plates and carefully rode to the local CT (3 km ride). They didn't care at the store.
Sticker will take about a week to arrive. You don't need this sticker to complete registration or anything, just ride without it, then slap it on when it will arrive in the mail.

 

[rx_se7en]

Hey guys,

How much does it cost roughly to import a new bike from the USA to Ontario?
I am looking at the Street Triple R, and the cost difference is around $2000 (MSRP prices in USA vs Canada)
Will I save enough money to pay for all the expenses to import the bike??
Just want to know high level if this will be worth it.

Thanks!

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