[Auto] WOW ---- New and used cars from US up to 30% cheaper - Read post #1

[mangoman]

No I think you misunderstood him. He meant he didn't have to bother changing out the odometer cluster because it already shows the speed in km/h on the inner ring. Since the digital portion is still displaying the Imperial measurement of distance covered, his vehicle technically hasn't put on any km's. <Insert laughter here>

Thank you! H3's have like you have - the numbers for the speedometer, and the digital odometer. How did u switch the odometer. Was that an issue?

[Dina_E]

if your importing a car from a private sale?

do they tax you on the value of the car on the book, or what you paid for it?

lets assume i paid $20,000

but the owner "mistakenly" wrote down $13,000.

and the car is worth $18,500 on the book.

[trusoulja2g]

I just imported a 2006 BMW Z4 today. Everything went smoothly except for one question that I have - see below.

My process:

1. Found the car listsed on cars.com and eBay. Asked questions and negotiated the price with the dealer via email. Once I had decided to purchase the car, I fly to Florida to view the car in person and brought payment by bank draft.

2. Ask the dealer to obtain the recall letter in the form of the Warranty Vehicle Inquiry. Even though I purchased from a used car dealer, they were able to get this report from their local BMW dealer. Also, asked the dealer to activate the DRL. The dealer agreed but it later turned out that his technician didn't know how to, so I ended up doing it locally.

3. Dealer arranged for the car to be shipped from Florida to Buffalo - cost $750.

4. Shipping took about 5 days. In the meantime, the dealer faxed the title, bill of sale, etc. to the US border crossing in Lewiston.

5. The car arrived yesterday. This morning, I first went to the NY State DMV to obtain an in-transit permit. The DMV refused to issue the permit since I didn't have the original copy of the title (which was in the car) - so I proceeded without the in-transit permit.

6. Picked up the car from the shipper's lot and drove it to the Queenston-Lewiston bridge. At the border, I did not see US customs. I couldn't see a US customs office and before I knew it, I was at the Canadian customs inspection. I did not get my title stamped "export" by US customs. At Canadian customs, I filled out Form 1, presented the title and bill of sale, and paid GST and AC tax. They let me go without mentioning anything about US customs. Took about 15 minutes.

7. After crossing the border, I went to the RIV office in Etobicoke. Gave them my recall letter and paid the $206 fee.

8. I knew that prior to going to the Canadian Tire inspection, I needed to get the DRL turned on, and get a safety inspection and emissions test.

9. Went to Techmax in Mississauga to do the DRL ($96) and safety ($60). Took an hour. Went to the emissions testing centre at Eglinton & McLaughlin for the emissions test. Took 15 minutes.

10. Took the car to Canadian Tire for the Form 2 inspection. Completed in 10 minutes.

11. Took the forms to MTO licensing office. Gave them the relevant forms, paid PST, and got my ownership slip and license plates. Took about 15 minutes.

Picked up the car around 9:30 am and got my plates around 5 pm. At this point, I think I am done.

However - I think I obviously missed a step by not going through US customs. What is the implication of this? Since Canadian customs let me through, am I fine now? Will there be any trouble if I take the car back to the US with my new Ontario plates?

For anyone else considering importing a BMW, I strongly recommend getting the Warranty Vehicle Inquiry to use as your recall letter. This would avoid having to deal with BMW Canada prior to registering your vehicle. As long as you have the recall letter and DRL turned on, that's good enough for RIV. No need to change instrument clusters, etc.

[trusoulja2g]

Regarding bypassing US custsom - I found some posts in this thread dating back to 2007 where people speculated about possible penalties and other troubles if the car is taken back to the US on personal trips, etc.

Has anybody had recent experience with this?

I don't mind driving back to the border to go through US customs again. However, my car has been plated in Ontario and I no longer have the original copy of the car's Florida title. The dealer did fax a copy of the title and bill of sale to US customs, and I still have a photocopy. Do you think it's worthwhile to go to US customs and explain to them?

Thanks.

[CanuckFlyHigh]

if your importing a car from a private sale?

do they tax you on the value of the car on the book, or what you paid for it?

lets assume i paid $20,000

but the owner "mistakenly" wrote down $13,000.

and the car is worth $18,500 on the book.

DONT mess with the border. It will be on your record forever. They arent stupid.

[Jolio1]

WOW nvr knew you could do that.. time to research..thx

[james-007]

if your importing a car from a private sale?

do they tax you on the value of the car on the book, or what you paid for it?

lets assume i paid $20,000

but the owner "mistakenly" wrote down $13,000.

and the car is worth $18,500 on the book.

It's not worth it. They kept me at the border for 2.5 hours and I wasn't even trying to pull a fast one on them. They wouldn't believe me because I didn't have all the paper work on me. I had an invoice but that wasn't good enough for them. They wouldn't let me or the car leave the border to prove them I wasn't lying. I finally convince them and when I got home I emailed them all the evidence of the transaction I had.

[Dina_E]

It's not worth it. They kept me at the border for 2.5 hours and I wasn't even trying to pull a fast one them. They wouldn't believe me because I didn't have all the paper work on me. I had an invoice but that wasn't good enough form them. They wouldn't let me or the car leave the border to prove them I wasn't lying. I finally convince them and when I got home I emailed them all the evidence of the transaction I had.

darn that sucks

[Dina_E]

how smart are the people working at canadian tire when they check your DRL?

i was thinking i can just stick a piece of black tape over the light sensor by dash so the cars its night and will turn on the lights.

[yummie]

I just imported a 2006 BMW Z4 today. Everything went smoothly except for one question that I have - see below.

My process:

1. Found the car listsed on cars.com and eBay. Asked questions and negotiated the price with the dealer via email. Once I had decided to purchase the car, I fly to Florida to view the car in person and brought payment by bank draft.

2. Ask the dealer to obtain the recall letter in the form of the Warranty Vehicle Inquiry. Even though I purchased from a used car dealer, they were able to get this report from their local BMW dealer. Also, asked the dealer to activate the DRL. The dealer agreed but it later turned out that his technician didn't know how to, so I ended up doing it locally.

3. Dealer arranged for the car to be shipped from Florida to Buffalo - cost $750.

4. Shipping took about 5 days. In the meantime, the dealer faxed the title, bill of sale, etc. to the US border crossing in Lewiston.

5. The car arrived yesterday. This morning, I first went to the NY State DMV to obtain an in-transit permit. The DMV refused to issue the permit since I didn't have the original copy of the title (which was in the car) - so I proceeded without the in-transit permit.

6. Picked up the car from the shipper's lot and drove it to the Queenston-Lewiston bridge. At the border, I did not see US customs. I couldn't see a US customs office and before I knew it, I was at the Canadian customs inspection. I did not get my title stamped "export" by US customs. At Canadian customs, I filled out Form 1, presented the title and bill of sale, and paid GST and AC tax. They let me go without mentioning anything about US customs. Took about 15 minutes.

7. After crossing the border, I went to the RIV office in Etobicoke. Gave them my recall letter and paid the $206 fee.

8. I knew that prior to going to the Canadian Tire inspection, I needed to get the DRL turned on, and get a safety inspection and emissions test.

9. Went to Techmax in Mississauga to do the DRL ($96) and safety ($60). Took an hour. Went to the emissions testing centre at Eglinton & McLaughlin for the emissions test. Took 15 minutes.

10. Took the car to Canadian Tire for the Form 2 inspection. Completed in 10 minutes.

11. Took the forms to MTO licensing office. Gave them the relevant forms, paid PST, and got my ownership slip and license plates. Took about 15 minutes.

Picked up the car around 9:30 am and got my plates around 5 pm. At this point, I think I am done.

However - I think I obviously missed a step by not going through US customs. What is the implication of this? Since Canadian customs let me through, am I fine now? Will there be any trouble if I take the car back to the US with my new Ontario plates?

For anyone else considering importing a BMW, I strongly recommend getting the Warranty Vehicle Inquiry to use as your recall letter. This would avoid having to deal with BMW Canada prior to registering your vehicle. As long as you have the recall letter and DRL turned on, that's good enough for RIV. No need to change instrument clusters, etc.

Purchased my truck in New York State and all paper work faxed to American Border. Stopped at Lewiston bridge before exporting to Canada. What a waste of time. If anything, if you don't have your papers in order, they will not let you export the vehicle.

Anyways we purchased another vehicle in Ohio and had papers faxed to American border Detroit/Windsor. We didn't bother stopping on the American side. The vehicle has crossed the border several times already, no problems....

I think if your vehicle was reported stolen, then they would keep a lookout for the vin...

I guess anything we buy in the states and bring back to canada would constitute exporting/importing, whether its cars, food, clothes etc...

[michelb]

I think the biggest reason to export from US is simply to protect yourself. If you don't export it, the US title remains valid so there's nothing that prevents the previous owner from reporting it stolen (as far as the DMV is concerned, he's still the owner as the sale will never have been recorded) or simply getting a new title (saying that he lost it) and then registering a lien on the vehicle. Odds of that are pretty low but it could happen ...

In the end, you could probably get it cleared up but it would be a pain to do.

[smacd]

I agree. If it's not a major inconvenience, I'd call first, then go back and export properly, since they already have your info. Let them know ahead of time that you gave up the original title when you registered in Ont.

[quigon]

Has anyone spoken or got replied from Karl Lindemuth of Van Bortel lately? I sent him an email few days ago and still haven't heard anything back.

[jed]

Anyone know if GM roadside assistance transfers over?

I didn't use mine, so not sure, but I would call Roadside Assistance a call to see what they say.

[mojo415]

Has anyone spoken or got replied from Karl Lindemuth of Van Bortel lately? I sent him an email few days ago and still haven't heard anything back.

Same here, no reply yet.