Thinking of importing a vehicle? Honesty is the best policy | GTAMotorcycle.com

Thinking of importing a vehicle? Honesty is the best policy

f1mauro

f1mauro

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Dude got burned.

Friday, August 24, 2012[h=2]Seizure at Queenston crossing[/h]



Another reported incident from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) at the Queenston Lewiston border crossing had a 45 year old Stoney Creek man arrested.
The man allegedly under-valued his declaration, when he was bringing back a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro.
He claimed the value of the car to be $10,000; but during a secondary review, officers determined the true value of the car at over $67,000.
Criminal charges are still pending.
 
is calue different then purchase price? I imagine there is a $10k 69 Camaro out there, but likely would be a basket case...

but what if the purchaser did get a great deal on a pristine car, from a long lost uncle or... Maybe the car is worth $67k, is the declaration of value at $10k valid?

recent similar thread, I noted a friend/aquaintence bought an engine on ebay, seller agreed to give him a receipt for about 1/2 of what he paid. When coming over the border, they got pulled in and when looking thorugh his truck, they found a print out of his "you are the winning bidder" notice from ebay with his purchase price.... doh!
 
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How exactly did the officers determine the true value of the car?
 
f1mauro said:
Dude got burned.

Friday, August 24, 2012Seizure at Queenston crossing




Another reported incident from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) at the Queenston Lewiston border crossing had a 45 year old Stoney Creek man arrested.
The man allegedly under-valued his declaration, when he was bringing back a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro.
He claimed the value of the car to be $10,000; but during a secondary review, officers determined the true value of the car at over $67,000.
Criminal charges are still pending.
Click to expand...
Perhaps he was honest, he might have paid 10,000 to a desperate seller that is about to loose his home(not an uncommon thing in the states at the moment). When you cross at Queenston you have to show them everything, bill of sale, ownership, title (that you have faxed or mailed to them atleast 3 days prior to crossing) all correspondence with seller, the original ad posting.
It's possible the new owner paid far less than the border twits think it's worth.
 
If it's a COPO ZL1...and he tried the $10k route..he might have fibbed a bit.. :)
 
Nevermind... found the answer to what I asked under the sticky in General Motorcycling Forum.
 
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I remember talking to a Canadian Border Services guard, a few years back, about a somewhat similar situation. A Canadian had been working in the US for a little over a year. He took a bunch on the money he made and converted it to a new car, then didn't declare it at the border. The US Customs guys called the Canadian side, to let them know that he was coming, and they just collected his car when he got across the bridge.
 
I've stood with a border guard while he looked up the trailer I was importing on Craigslist. Unfortunately the listing had gone so he took my word for it. I told the seller to remove the listing and he did. Although there wasn't a $57k difference between the 2 numbers.
 
Listing doesn't mean anything, I've printed out and showed them the ads. And my declaration price has always been lower, the value of something and what I paid for it are not the same thing. The customs officers like to think we live under a communist state, actually you'd probably be treated a lot better if that was true.

If you are willing to get treated like scum at the border for a few hours because you found an "awesome" deal, dont admit to anything and you'll save a buck.
 
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vdubblues said:
the value of something and what I paid for it are not the same thing.
Click to expand...

i completely agree... just wondering how would it work if, hypothetically, i get a brand new porsche as a gift from someone in the states. would i need to pay the tax?
 
vdubblues said:
Listing doesn't mean anything, I've printed out and showed them the ads. And my declaration price has always been lower, the value of something and what I paid for it are not the same thing. The customs officers like to think we live under a communist state, actually you'd probably be treated a lot better if that was true.

If you are willing to get treated like scum at the border for a few hours because you found an "awesome" deal, dont admit to anything and you'll save a buck.
Click to expand...


Great advice:rolleyes:. Because Canada Customs have no power to detain you while they complete their investigations. They have no power to hold you and strip your vehicle apart.

Have you ever tried arguing with Canada Customs and winning?
 
Fiery254 said:
Great advice:rolleyes:. Because Canada Customs have no power to detain you while they complete their investigations. They have no power to hold you and strip your vehicle apart.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if they have the power or not but some of them are certainly not afraid of doing that. a friend was held at the custom for hours and the officer literally released her the very next minute after the scheduled departure time of her flight. the funny thing is they didn't even have a legit reason to do this to her. they searched and investigated and my friend was clean. She was just on her way to the states for school.
 
people underdeclare all the time, it just has to be a defensible amount. but more than 6x the declared amount? good ****ing luck
 
I think those guys are pretty well trained. Somehow they always seem to know when I am up to something. When I truly have nothing to declare they know that too.

Also sometimes you fit a profile - not your fault but you do - and then you get grilled for no apparent reason. And it only makes sense that they don't explain why they are all over you - security reasons.

Nobody has a right to scam though, including not me.
 
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If you have proof that what you paid was what was accepted for the item then I don't think there's a problem. The big problem comes when your definition of proof doesn't meet the Canadian Customs definition. I'd say big red flags might be transactions in cash with no paper trail for instance.

I've shown a receipt and e-mail conversations with people about an article on my phone before and been fine.

The chances are you're already saving a packet by buying from the US so why try to game the system by underdeclaring when the risks are not really worth taking?
 
when you're asked at the border for the "value of goods" coming back, that is not the value you paid.

this guy very well may have paid 10k, but that is not the value.

esp. remember this for garage sale items. my mother in law was held for almost 5 hours trying to determine the value of a dresser and some old jewellery
 
They have this funny problem of focusing to much on the vehicle and of forgetting to search the driver.
 
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