Hey so we have TONS of info for importing a bike into Canada. Does anyone really know the reverse process? I imagine it is easier but never having imported a vehicle before and I've got two bikes and a car to do soon.
Importing a bike TO the states
- Thread starter Cat13
- Start date
frekeyguy
Well-known member
pm EL ZINCHO
The gubermint knowns.
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/safevehicles-importation-index-443.htm Canada government site gives a link to this site... http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/import/ .
Here is the guide lines http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/import/VIG_Canada03262010.pdf .
I would call the number on the Canada gov site... 1-800-333-0371
Here is the US customs site too. http://customs.gov/xp/cgov/trade/basic_trade/importing_car.xml
Good luck hun, hope you can find all the info you need from those sites.
Here is the guide lines http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/import/VIG_Canada03262010.pdf .
I would call the number on the Canada gov site... 1-800-333-0371
Here is the US customs site too. http://customs.gov/xp/cgov/trade/basic_trade/importing_car.xml
Good luck hun, hope you can find all the info you need from those sites.
Salos Dafee
Well-known member
Here is exactly what worked for me.
Starting point. I live in Florida, and all my papers say so. I was visiting Ontario in September 2009. I drive a van with a Florida plate, pulling a trailer with a Florida plate, carrying a 650 with a Florida plate and a 125 with an Ontario plate. My objective is to have a proper Florida title for the Ontario bike and put a proper Florida plate on it. I will tell you how I achieved this objective.
I have crossed the Peace bridge, both ways, about seventy times, usually carrying a motorcycle or two, in or behind my van. There have been MANY combinations of Florida and Ontario plates on van, trailer, and bikes, and often no plate at all on a bike. The only question I have been asked about motorcycles is, "Are those your bikes?" I have replied, "Yes" and no more mention has been made of motorcycles.
And so I smoothly entered Buffalo New York, and two days later Florida.
For the 125, with the Ontario plate, I had a signed bill of sale and the signed-over Ontario registration from the original owner (not me, but that never mattered). I also had insurance in my name. For a while, I rode the bike, here, with its Ontario plate.
I visited a Florida DMV office in Sarasota FL, and learned what to do. In order to verify the bike's VIN, I needed to go to another DMV office in a nearby county, pay a $20 fee, and have somebody write the bike's VIN on a form, stamp the form, and hand it to me. This I took to the first DMV office, and I explained what I wanted. "Easy as pie" was the response, and so it proved. I paid two fees: "usage tax" which was equivalent to sales tax (6% in Florida) of the price I paid (I showed the bill of sale), and the annual license fee for a motorcycle (less than $40 for a year). I would have paid a third fee, for issuance of a plate, but I had retained the plate when selling another bike, and it was OK to use that plate, so it is on the 125 now. I surrendered the Ontario ownership and got a valid Florida registration, and within three weeks, Florida sent me the proper title to my 125.
And that was the entire story.
Did you notice that something did NOT happen? I did, and I still wonder about it, but I am not going to investigate. Uncle Sam did not get involved. There was no attempt to collect duty or any other fee for importation of the vehicle into the USA.
In fact, I have imported several vehicles of my own into Florida over the years, all starting with valid Ontario registrations and license plates. There was never any attempt to involve Washington in the process; Florida collects fees, Florida issues a plate, Florida prints documents, and the feds never get into the act.
Any questions?
Visit this, and then you may have some questions:
http://www.dmvflorida.org/sarasota.shtml
Starting point. I live in Florida, and all my papers say so. I was visiting Ontario in September 2009. I drive a van with a Florida plate, pulling a trailer with a Florida plate, carrying a 650 with a Florida plate and a 125 with an Ontario plate. My objective is to have a proper Florida title for the Ontario bike and put a proper Florida plate on it. I will tell you how I achieved this objective.
I have crossed the Peace bridge, both ways, about seventy times, usually carrying a motorcycle or two, in or behind my van. There have been MANY combinations of Florida and Ontario plates on van, trailer, and bikes, and often no plate at all on a bike. The only question I have been asked about motorcycles is, "Are those your bikes?" I have replied, "Yes" and no more mention has been made of motorcycles.
And so I smoothly entered Buffalo New York, and two days later Florida.
For the 125, with the Ontario plate, I had a signed bill of sale and the signed-over Ontario registration from the original owner (not me, but that never mattered). I also had insurance in my name. For a while, I rode the bike, here, with its Ontario plate.
I visited a Florida DMV office in Sarasota FL, and learned what to do. In order to verify the bike's VIN, I needed to go to another DMV office in a nearby county, pay a $20 fee, and have somebody write the bike's VIN on a form, stamp the form, and hand it to me. This I took to the first DMV office, and I explained what I wanted. "Easy as pie" was the response, and so it proved. I paid two fees: "usage tax" which was equivalent to sales tax (6% in Florida) of the price I paid (I showed the bill of sale), and the annual license fee for a motorcycle (less than $40 for a year). I would have paid a third fee, for issuance of a plate, but I had retained the plate when selling another bike, and it was OK to use that plate, so it is on the 125 now. I surrendered the Ontario ownership and got a valid Florida registration, and within three weeks, Florida sent me the proper title to my 125.
And that was the entire story.
Did you notice that something did NOT happen? I did, and I still wonder about it, but I am not going to investigate. Uncle Sam did not get involved. There was no attempt to collect duty or any other fee for importation of the vehicle into the USA.
In fact, I have imported several vehicles of my own into Florida over the years, all starting with valid Ontario registrations and license plates. There was never any attempt to involve Washington in the process; Florida collects fees, Florida issues a plate, Florida prints documents, and the feds never get into the act.
Any questions?
Visit this, and then you may have some questions:
http://www.dmvflorida.org/sarasota.shtml
Last edited:
Salos Dafee
Well-known member
I mentioned that I had entered USA with various combinations of plates, including Ontario plates on the van and trailer and both bikes. Same question, "Are those your bikes?" was the only question about motorcycles at the border, and sometimes there was no question at all. I never was asked for documentation for a vehicle at the border, whether the vehicle was under me, around me, or behind me. Never, in many dozen crossings both ways, from Calais Maine to the Peace Arch way out west.
And when I told Florida I wanted to import this here van or car or bike, I met smiles, hands open for the money, and machines ready to print the documents I wanted. Every time, smooth as silk. And my citizenship never mattered.
Specifically, with no American documents at all, I said I wanted to register my van in Florida, because I was in the process of moving to Florida. Florida asked for nothing except the valid Ontario registration of my van, and a suitable amount of money. Somebody rolled out on a wheelchair, squinted at the VIN of the van, and signed the form showing the VIN had been verified. That was the extent of the scrutiny I faced.
I think the OP will have no hassle at the border, and just a small amount of red tape to work through in the state where he wants to register the bike. Understand that all states work differently, especially with bikes, especially with bikes older than perhaps twenty years, so my specific experience in Florida will not be duplicated in New Mexico or South Dakota (I chose those because in years past they have each called themselves The Sunshine State).
Delaware or Idaho will not care what happened at the Canadian border. They want to receive money,
issue documents, hand over plates, and on to the next person in line, please.
You may think citizenship doesn't matter but it does on the hassle factor of coming into the States whether or not you want to believe that is up to you. It's nice that you've crosed so many times with out a problem but why even take a chance when all the information is above and they can make sure before they get there. They will be travelling for so many hours why make it longer if they don't have everything done that is needed to be done.
Salos Dafee
Well-known member
I did not reveal my thoughts; I related my actions and their outcomes, including the exact outcome the OP desires. My citizenship matters greatly to me. In my many years of experience, crossing as a Canadian and as an American, my citizenship has never affected the process, and never caused any kind of hassle. If YOU have crossed the border, dozens of times, at more than ten sites, both as a Canadian and as an American, perhaps you qualify better than I do to provide precisely the specific advice that the original poster requested. Until then, please pick up the fiddle marked "2". I got the one in front.
You say, "why take a chance". OK, please identify the risk you are talking about, and identify the steps to take to avoid said risk.
You say, "all the information is above". WHERE? See the original poster's question.
Finally, what specific steps do you mean by, " ... if they don't have everything done that is needed to be done", and then tell us what needs to be done and how to do it.
I have imported seven vehicles from Ontario into Florida, using the steps I descried above. No problems arose, even when I later had to turn around and import one of them into Ontario when circumstances changed.
You didn't take any steps, according to your original post you just went to the boarder and had no issues.
If you take a look at the link's I posted it tells you all the steps you need to properly import vehicles from Canada into the United States.
Cat and Gilligan are my friends and sorry but I would rather they went through all the government information listed in the sites posted then take your word from your experiences.
Thanks and Marry Christmas.
If you take a look at the link's I posted it tells you all the steps you need to properly import vehicles from Canada into the United States.
Cat and Gilligan are my friends and sorry but I would rather they went through all the government information listed in the sites posted then take your word from your experiences.
Thanks and Marry Christmas.
Salos Dafee
Well-known member
I have seen this all before.
Somebody asks how to do something that I have done with complete success, often.
I explain how I have done it many times, with no unnecessary hassle or expense.
I spell words properly and use proper grammar in my explanations.
Somebody who has utterly no experience spills buckets of red tape on the project,
offering the original poster lots of ways to waste time and money to no purpose.
These wasteful suggestions are full of misspellings and grade-school errors in grammar.
Well, no. I explained the way that solves the problem as easily
as it can be solved. My method has worked for me every time.
Go ahead and use any method you want. If you try to jump through all
the hoops that four governments hold up for you, you will find that there
is always another hoop, and always another form and always another fee,
and the process will be endlessly tedious, cumbersome, and expensive.
I really have explained the easy method that works,
and any other method is so far inferior that it does not
even deserve the term WRONG. It is far worse than that.
Reply if you like, but I am surely done with this thread.
Somebody asks how to do something that I have done with complete success, often.
I explain how I have done it many times, with no unnecessary hassle or expense.
I spell words properly and use proper grammar in my explanations.
Somebody who has utterly no experience spills buckets of red tape on the project,
offering the original poster lots of ways to waste time and money to no purpose.
These wasteful suggestions are full of misspellings and grade-school errors in grammar.
Well, no. I explained the way that solves the problem as easily
as it can be solved. My method has worked for me every time.
Go ahead and use any method you want. If you try to jump through all
the hoops that four governments hold up for you, you will find that there
is always another hoop, and always another form and always another fee,
and the process will be endlessly tedious, cumbersome, and expensive.
I really have explained the easy method that works,
and any other method is so far inferior that it does not
even deserve the term WRONG. It is far worse than that.
Reply if you like, but I am surely done with this thread.
OpenGambit
Banned
Kinda like how you post great info on the HTA forum?
sit down.
sit down.
lmao you're concerned about my grade level of spelling.... Let me assure you that no matter what level of education someone has, does not determine how smart they really are
You are trying to say because you've never had a problem at the boarder that no one else will??? Seriously scratching my head on that one.
You are trying to say because you've never had a problem at the boarder that no one else will??? Seriously scratching my head on that one.
DoubleJ
Well-known member
I have trailered and loaded bikes in my truck so many times and crossed the border both ways and never have been asked for any paperwork. All I have ever been asked was if the were mine! Yup. Now searching the RV was another thing! Sorry nothing there officer in training. lol
Boob alert: You also gave completely wrong and deceitful advice on my trailer importing thread. Yes, if I followed it, it COULD have worked, but more likely I would have been facing inconveniences and penalties that would far outweigh the whopping hour of my time and a few hundred bucks to do it according to THE PUBLISHED AND CORRECT WAY. Your grammar is meaningless if the content is all horse ****.
omg Adri it's horseshoe not horse shoe. Come on man, no one will know what you're talking about cause it's grammatically incorrect
What if shoe looks like a horse?
