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

Re: $35 aes itn

Anyone have any experience importing a pre-1980 bike with a 'short' VIN. I just filed and received my ITN with Simplified Trade Solutions for a 1977 BMR R60/7 I am picking up next week but the email I got back said VERIFY VIN IS TOO SHORT.

I have three photos of the VIN on the bike from the bike's seller, it is indeed only 7 digits.

I'm hoping this is just a heads up to the CBP people to verify that the VIN is correct and I won't have any issues. Status on the document says 'ACCEPTED' so I'm hoping it is OK.

EDIT: Just got the confirmation from Buffalo VINNY Office (less than 5 min, impressive) so hopefully that is a good sign!
 
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Re: $35 aes itn

Anyone have any experience importing a pre-1980 bike with a 'short' VIN. I just filed and received my ITN with Simplified Trade Solutions for a 1977 BMR R60/7 I am picking up next week but the email I got back said VERIFY VIN IS TOO SHORT.

I have three photos of the VIN on the bike from the bike's seller, it is indeed only 7 digits.

I'm hoping this is just a heads up to the CBP people to verify that the VIN is correct and I won't have any issues. Status on the document says 'ACCEPTED' so I'm hoping it is OK.

EDIT: Just got the confirmation from Buffalo VINNY Office (less than 5 min, impressive) so hopefully that is a good sign!
I had that issue when I moved back to Canada after living abroad for several years. I brought over a BMW K-bike with a short VIN. I had to provide photos of the various plates and registrations on the frame as well as the original ownership docs. It ended up going well with MOT but the problems started when I went to get insurance. The agents just couldn't offer me insurance because their systems couldn't handle short VINs. Eventually found a broker from this site who was able to get around the problem but I sold the bike some time after that.
 
Re: $35 aes itn

I had that issue when I moved back to Canada after living abroad for several years. I brought over a BMW K-bike with a short VIN. I had to provide photos of the various plates and registrations on the frame as well as the original ownership docs. It ended up going well with MOT but the problems started when I went to get insurance. The agents just couldn't offer me insurance because their systems couldn't handle short VINs. Eventually found a broker from this site who was able to get around the problem but I sold the bike some time after that.

Ya, when i tried to insure my 92' JDM MR2 back in the day they couldn't bring it up in their system due to the VIN. I had to tell them over and over for 2 hours straight that it was exactly the same as the NA version, with a steering wheel on the right side. They demanded i had it inspected, took 10 minutes no sweat.
 
This is untrue unless you've signed an agreement for e.g. with a dealer or other external contract outside of the import process

I'm currently investigating importing a US vehicle to Canada, I read something somewhere about not being able to re-sell the vehicle for 1 year. Anyone heard of this?
 
I agree. I didn't see any such limitation in the RIV documentation. When I bought a Honda Odyssey back in 2001 from Ideal, they made me sign something like that because people were buying them and shipping them outside of Canada (don't know where or why).

This is untrue unless you've signed an agreement for e.g. with a dealer or other external contract outside of the import process

I'm currently investigating importing a US vehicle to Canada, I read something somewhere about not being able to re-sell the vehicle for 1 year. Anyone heard of this?
 
I have a line on a vintage bike I am considering buying that's located in the US (model year 1991). The bike was in an accident, written off by the insurance company because of its age and branded salvage. The owner rebuilt it including replacing the frame with one that had a clear title and history from Colorado. He's applying to the DMV to get a clean New York title on the bike since it meets certain DMV criteria. I know that bike with a salvage title are not able to be licensed in Canada for road use. If this bike does get a clean New York title based on the Colorado history, does this change matters when it comes to importing? Does the history of a motorcycle follow the motorcycle or the frame/VIN? What about engine number / VIN match?
 
My understanding is that Ontario will see through a title-washing attempt and not allow that VIN to be licensed for road use.

edit: If the new bike inherits the clear-title VIN from the bike from which the frame came from, then it really will be a clear-title bike with that new VIN. The fact that all the bits and pieces came from the other bike is irrelevant to them.
 
May as well tack this on this thread here for others.

This is the 2nd superbike I've imported from the US. The first one was road-going, this one was a parts bike (track bike) with a clean US title. Long story short, found one out in California and had it shipped to CBI USA in Niagra Falls, NY via motorshippers.com.The team at CBI was great (just give them a heads up its coming, since its a big item), but motorshippers.com was basically a disaster.

They rescheduled 3 times for pickup, only to show up on a date they weren't supposed to. They had another bike rubbing against mine (the R1 I shipped was nearly brand new ffs). They did admit it was their fault, and I'm still waiting for a resolution which they seem to have gone really quiet on. One of the stands is missing and no one seems to have a clue what happened. Quick to take payment, but it's downhill after that. The frustrating part is no communication at all, I wouldn't use them again.

Back to the story. The RIV is fairly responsive on email, but they only give verbatum textbook answers. I wanted to know if the RIV actually requires vehicle export for a parts bike. It says you must (for all vehicles), but it doesn't say anywhere this is a legal requirement of Canada. Dig deep enough and you only see things about penalty under US law for not exporting. I believe it is only a US requirement, but I couldn't get a straight answer from the RIV. I know of a couple people that just drove across parts vehicles without any US export, but I'm not sure how strict the Canada border guys are on this. I did get asked on the way over if I had exported it by the US guys. I did export just to be safe, and the Lewiston bridge is the only Niagra bridge with a vehicle export office. It is only open M-F 8-4. The online export tool the RIV points you to is straight forward. You get an ITN (within an hour), forward that to a border email address, they confirm (again, within an hour), wait 72 hours, you are good to go.

When you get to the Lewiston border from the US side, there is only one turn off point that says "exports" on the left and an office in the middle of the Canada and US traffic lanes. Note that the office that says "Export" in front of it, is not the vehicle export office. This is way off to your immediate left, past the traffic lanes coming into the US (you need to drive across them which is a bit weird), in a separate building that looks like a maintenance building. It does have big red letters saying "Vehicle Export Office" so just have a good look around. They take the title double check the VIN and stamp the title saying "US Export". On the Canadian side, they will ask you to go to secondary inspection. I specifically asked for "Form 3" to import the vehicle. The guy didn't have a clue what I was talking about. He gave me a Form 1. I said, no, it must be a Form 3. Why? If you declare form 1, but can't get a vehicle to pass the federal (RIV) inspection, it must be returned to the US or destroyed. You cannot change your declaration to a parts vehicle, according to the RIV.

After a rather lengthy explanation on the differences to him, the border guy just said "I don't know, you're going to have to wait for someone else". That is not an acceptable answer. Finally, another person comes by and says "they are in the drawer". lol
Fill it out, pay 13% tax on claimed value (no one verified anything, other than the cashier made a copy of the title and bill of sale), and you are on your way.

I really wanted to get an answer on the US export stamp thing on the title, but given how this was going, I didn't want to start asking questions. It would have been nice to know for sure, but clearly this was the wrong person to ask anyways.

To be fair, the first time I did this (Form 1), they tore the truck apart and we were grilled hard. This time not at all, so you're mileage may vary.
 
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I agree. I didn't see any such limitation in the RIV documentation. When I bought a Honda Odyssey back in 2001 from Ideal, they made me sign something like that because people were buying them and shipping them outside of Canada (don't know where or why).
I've had the same experience. I guess it's a new procedure needed to import to Canada.
 
Are we able to import bikes that are not available in Canada? For example, for some reason Honda has decided they don't want to sell cruisers here except for the beginner rebel. Fury, Interstate, Stateline, Shadow, all gone from Canadian dealers. Is a different process available for a still crated bike that has never been registered? Like can you just ship it in with the certificate of origin, and title it for the first time in Ontario?
 
Are we able to import bikes that are not available in Canada? For example, for some reason Honda has decided they don't want to sell cruisers here except for the beginner rebel. Fury, Interstate, Stateline, Shadow, all gone from Canadian dealers. Is a different process available for a still crated bike that has never been registered? Like can you just ship it in with the certificate of origin, and title it for the first time in Ontario?
I doubt it. Last time I checked the rules they explicitly prevented that. If you want to bring in a vehicle that isn't available in Canada, they needed to be x years old (15 or 25, I can't remember).
 
I think it has to be the 25 year mark.

Or which ever age makes it a Classic/historic.


If you could bring a new vehicle over from another country, you would see tons of people bring cars over from Europe.
 
Are we able to import bikes that are not available in Canada? For example, for some reason Honda has decided they don't want to sell cruisers here except for the beginner rebel. Fury, Interstate, Stateline, Shadow, all gone from Canadian dealers. Is a different process available for a still crated bike that has never been registered? Like can you just ship it in with the certificate of origin, and title it for the first time in Ontario?

I have to assume there is a list of approved bikes somewhere that the border service follows. Is Honda allowing Canadians to buy US bikes now? Exchange rate sucks, 70 cent dollar, +45%
 
I have to assume there is a list of approved bikes somewhere that the border service follows. Is Honda allowing Canadians to buy US bikes now? Exchange rate sucks, 70 cent dollar, +45%
I'd settle for knowing why Honda doesn't like selling cruisers to Canadians period.
 
I'd settle for knowing why Honda doesn't like selling cruisers to Canadians period.
Probably not enough volume/margin to bother getting them approved. It takes a lot of time and money to prove that they meet all required standards.
 
Probably not enough volume/margin to bother getting them approved. It takes a lot of time and money to prove that they meet all required standards.

I was once told but never looked into it that a vehicle manufacturer needs to "donate" three vehicles of each model to Transport Canada in order to conduct safety. These vehicles essentially get demolished.

This is why some really high end cars are not available in Canada. Not worth it for the Manufacturer as they wont recoup the costs with low sales.

Is this still or at all correct?
 

Vehicles over 15 years old

All vehicles (except buses) that are 15 years old or more from the date of manufacture, are exempt from the Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV) program. You must be able to prove the age of the vehicle to the Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA). Buses (including school buses) manufactured before January 1, 1971 are also exempt from the RIV program. More information about RIV exemptions.
 

Vehicles over 15 years old

All vehicles (except buses) that are 15 years old or more from the date of manufacture, are exempt from the Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV) program. You must be able to prove the age of the vehicle to the Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA). Buses (including school buses) manufactured before January 1, 1971 are also exempt from the RIV program. More information about RIV exemptions.
I am aware of that legislation, it's why you can bring an R34 here and not the US(atleast for the next few years.). I'm wondering if there are other exceptional circumstances. For example if a car is so rare that it wouldn't be practical. Like say Koenigsegg, they made so few(only 25) of the Agera RS, that many have individual names. I know where Drakken is right now, he's for sale. If I win lottomax tomorrow, that car is coming to Canada. The US has such exceptions, I don't think any hypercars have been subjected to destruction, but they are allowed. Really I can't see Lamborghini handing 3 SVJs to the Canadian government either, but you can pick one up in Toronto.


Additionally, there must be exceptions for vehicles that are sold in both countries. It's a fact that people buy new cars across the border already, in order to get a better deal. Of course I'd have to do some checking before trying to pull it off, but if a model that was previously approved and hasn't changed, was discontinued here and is still available there, should still be allowed here.
 
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