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Canada - US import


jbim

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Looking for help in regards to a Canadian citizen buying a bike in the US for use and eventual import. I live in Ontario. I will be going to Florida for 3 weeks in December. I am thinking of buying a new bike in Orlando or Daytona. I would like to use it for those three weeks. Then, I would most likely store it until Spring. In the Spring, I would fly down and ride back with the bike as import when I cross the NY State / Ontario border. My Questions are as follows:

 

1. Would I be able to license a bike in Florida as Canadian citizen. Would Florida recognize my Ontario motorcycle permit.

 

2. Would I be able to insure it for a few months to use it and then store it.

 

3. Are dealers in Florida likely to make deals in December on either outgoing 07 or new 08. I am thinking of getting a R1200R.

 

4. Other than the importing procedures, are there any issues I should be aware of.

 

Thanks

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I would contact Florida's equivalent to Department of Motor Vehicles to determine if they would issue you a temporary licence to cover your stay. You won't be able to register the bike in Canada until it has crossed the border and had its safety check. You will also have to determine if you can acquire US insurance coverage for your stay, because a Canadian policy won't be available until you can provide the papers to a Canadian company. CAA might be able to advise you on this process.

 

I suspect the dealers in Florida are pretty swept up and have the process cased. I know the Washington State dealers are ready to help Canadians get through the hurdles.

 

Your driver's licence will not be an issue. A Canadian licence is valid anywhere in the states, even if you are riding a US registered bike.

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3. Are dealers in Florida likely to make deals in December on either outgoing 07 or new 08. I am thinking of getting a R1200R.
I would suggest sending email or a fax to the sales manager of a number of dealerships. I've had very good success using this technique with car purchases. There seem to be a lot of folks on this board from FLA - hopefully you'll get some recommendations on dealerships, but if not just use the shotgun approach! thumbsup.gif
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Two additional hurdles to cross....

 

$500 for the clearance letter from BMW Canada when the bike hits Canada.

 

Then there is the part about the US selling dealer being in violation of his dealer agreement by selling a bike to a canadian resident.

 

Good Luck

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Two additional hurdles to cross....

 

$500 for the clearance letter from BMW Canada when the bike hits Canada.

 

Then there is the part about the US selling dealer being in violation of his dealer agreement by selling a bike to a canadian resident.

 

Good Luck

 

As far as I know, BMW is one of the companies that DOES NOT have a policy of prohibiting U.S. authorized BMW dealers from selling to Canadians.

 

And if the OP has concerns regarding the transferability of a U.S.-purchased BMW's warranty to Canada, there is a former Edmontonian who is now the owner of an authorized BMW dealership in the U.S. He has sold a number of BMWs (including at least one new K1200GT) to Canadians - he says BMW warranty is honoured world-wide.

 

FWIW.

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As far as I know, BMW is one of the companies that DOES NOT have a policy of prohibiting U.S. authorized BMW dealers from selling to Canadians.

 

Don't be so sure about that..... times have recently changed. Check with your US dealer friend now and see what he has to say.

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I live in Vancouver B.C. and recently purchased a part for my 2006 r1200rt from a seattle dealer. They told me that I could buy the part but they were not allowed to ship to a Canadian address. This leaves with two choices,either supply a American address(dont have one) or go and pick it up myself.From this experience I would say do your homework before buying in the U.S. I have also been told that my local dealer charges $ 150.00/ hr. for service work on new U.S. bikes.brought into canada. Now let me see, what ever happened to that FREE TRADE AGREEMENT??????????? Hope this helps

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what ever happened to that FREE TRADE AGREEMENT??????????? Hope this helps

 

Yeah. I have a query into my Canadian friend who now owns a BMW dealership in the U.S. asking him BMW's current export/import policy.

 

These corporate policies prohibiting dealers from not selling certain products to residents of another country has nothing to do with the Free Trade Agreement, which is a treaty between governments.

 

These unscrupulous 'prohibitions' on dealers are set by private sector corporations - the very same b*astards who scream 'free enterprise' at the first hint of government intervention, and the very same people who then turn around and beg government to help them when they get into trouble. Chrysler in the late 1970s/early 1980s is a perfect example.

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As far as I know, BMW is one of the companies that DOES NOT have a policy of prohibiting U.S. authorized BMW dealers from selling to Canadians.

 

Don't be so sure about that..... times have recently changed. Check with your US dealer friend now and see what he has to say.

 

Satguy:

 

My Canadian friend who owns a BMW dealership in the U.S. has responded to my query, and says this:

 

Quote: "I can only tell you that we have not received any indication that BMW has altered their warranty policy to limit warranty work to the country where the motorcycle was purchased. In fact they provide a listing of international BMW dealers with each new bike purchase."

 

I received this email response from him today, so I think it would be safe to say that BMW NA has not changed its corporate policy on PROHIBITING U.S. dealers from selling to Canadians.

 

In fact, my friend in the U.S. is welcoming sales to Canadians, and he is located closer to you than me. If you want more info on this U.S. dealership, pls send me an email.

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We received a letter from BMW last week stating that we can not sell BMW's outside the U.S.

 

Exactly what I am talking about. Nothing to do with warranty...all to do with sales of new units.

 

 

Tim, your dealer friend could face some problems from BMW NA if he continues to sell NEW units to Canadians.

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All to protect Canadian dealers. Our local BMW dealer went out of business two weeks ago, though how much of his closing had to do with Canadians buying new bikes in the US is hard to say. He was a multi-line dealer, also selling Yamaha and Suziki. When the store closing was announced there was an article in one of the local papers, and the owner was lamenting the Japanese manufacturers for not protecting Canadian dealers, but he complimented BMW in that regard.

 

I think you'll see a lot of potential Canadian buyers keeping their wallets in their pockets until the manufacturers/distributors either reduce the gap between US and Canadian prices, or justify -- in some detail, not vague generalizations -- why Canadian prices are so much higher.

 

A new RT is about $4,800 less in the US. Allowing for heated grips being standard here, the difference is about $4500. You don't have to be an economist to understand that prices would be higher in Canada (smaller market with lower number of units sold over which to recover overheads, higher transportation cost in-country etc.). That said, I've yet to see any cogent explanation as to why prices would be that much higher. If some of these companies weren't so arrogant, they'd explain that in detail to Canadian consumers. If they don't, some of them will be getting a rather rude awakening. Dealers are caught in the middle of all of this.

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Mark, you're right. Dealers aren't the culprits, it's the corporate head offices in Canada.

 

You're also right that Canadian motorcyclists could very well stop buying new bikes in Canada, because we're all waiting for the other shoe to drop - i.e. waiting for an announcement that MSRPs are being reduced to account for the strength of the Cdn dollar.

 

As for BMW 'prohibiting' U.S. dealers from selling to Canadian customers, there's an easy way around that, as Phil Edmonston (author of Lemon-Aid) astutely points out when car manufacturers try to do the same thing - companies have popped up in the U.S. and they will buy the U.S. car and re-sell it to you for a fee.

 

Consumers aren't stupid. I'm telling all my friends and family to vote with your wallet.

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stubblejumper

Of course there may be other factors effecting the prices of bikes than the previous difference in the dollar.Regardless though,if the Canadian dollar increases in value by 20%,the Canadian price should drop 20%.

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ShovelStrokeEd

Ah, but has the Canadian dollar increased vs the euro? By 20%? I don't follow the money market so I don't know. Sure, it has increased vs the US Dollar, but last I looked, BMW is in Germany, not the US. Sounds to me like BMW NA has moved to keep the US prices low (a relative term, I know).

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stubblejumper

If the Canadian dollar has increased 20% against the American dollar ,then either the Canadian prices should fall,or the American prices should rise by an amount totaling approx 20%.To my knowledge,this has not happened.

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The C$ is now up by >21% on the greenback in the past year. The C$ is up 5.6% on the Euro. Th US$ is down 13.6% on the Euro. So BMWs should cost 6% less in Canada than last year, and 14% more in the US than last year if the prices from Germany were fairly distributed.

 

I believe the Germans (along with the Japanese are holding their prices in the US and absorbing some currency loss to maintain market share.

 

The best way for a Canadian to benefit from this is to buy a 1 year old bike in the US. You start with the 20% lower retail price, and then the bike is depreciated by 20-30% in the first year so it is available at $13-15k vs. $25k for a new model in Canada. A used import avoids any questions of dealers not being able to sell.

 

When I imported my '02 in 2005 it was BMW USA who provided the recall clearance letter, not BMW Canada. Try that to save the $500 fee.

 

I do believe it is not the dealers who are at fault, although they may not be trying hard to solve the discrepancy.

 

FWIW this is happening also with ski-doos and other vehicles. Honda is trying to prohibit US dealers from selling cars to Canadians. THe biggest irony of all - Bombardier. AFter decades of Canadian Gov't subsidies they are now preventing US dealers from selling Canadian made Skidoos to Canadians as they would be about $4k cheaper. eek.gif

 

Too bad we can't get a class action suit going under NAFTA!

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Too bad we can't get a class action suit going under NAFTA!

 

Once again, it's NOT NAFTA that's the problem; it's the private sector policies and the power big business has because of the oligopolistic environment they do business in.

 

And Canadians (two people from ONtariio, I believe) HAVE launched a class action suit against four auto manufacturers, Honda, Nissan, GM and Ford (or Chrysler, I don't remember which) regarding the high prices of vehicles sold in Canada between August 2006 and August 2007. I wish them luck.

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I live in Vancouver B.C. and recently purchased a part for my 2006 r1200rt from a seattle dealer. They told me that I could buy the part but they were not allowed to ship to a Canadian address. This leaves with two choices,either supply a American address(dont have one) or go and pick it up myself.From this experience I would say do your homework before buying in the U.S. I have also been told that my local dealer charges $ 150.00/ hr. for service work on new U.S. bikes.brought into canada. Now let me see, what ever happened to that FREE TRADE AGREEMENT??????????? Hope this helps

(slight hijack)

That dealer was JOHN VALK, geez they must have dropped their prices because they told me $175.00 Needless to say he won't see another penny of my money. (Go to Pacific BMW, A grade service and the best BMW mechanic in Canada, Eric)

Get your parts shipped to Canamer in Blaine, then go across the border and bring them in yourself ($2.50 per item and super nice people)PM me for details.

End hijack

To the OP, definately check into the dealer agreements, my friend wanted to buy a 250 Yamaha from a Talahase dealer (the bike was $4,000, exactly HALF of what he would pay in 100 Mile, BC eek.gif)but was told that since he is Canadian his price is $6,200. tongue.gif Now his comment was that it's nice to have that little ol' thing called NAFTA but it is mighty handy when the ol' toilet flushes only one way - imagine the sh%$ hitting the fan if the positions were reversed and Americans had to pay "American" prices here in Canada. The whole thing stinks to high heaven. OP, why don't you just buy used? There are excellent prices to be had in Florida on virtually new bikes and you wouldn't have to deal with all this crap.

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Here is my part story, a few years ago I needed a part for the dist. on R100/7 it ran OK but cams were worn to activate points I was quoted from 342.00 to 550.00 from BMW dealers in BC,Alberta [2] and a 'wholesale' BMW mailorder house in Manitoba I gave them the part # so there was no mistake,I rode bike to STurgis and stopped in at BMW gave them the part # quote was $119.00 I paid them and they mailed it to me and I paid GST at the post office. How can the price diff. be explained?

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Don't like going long distances on my '53 R67/2, so went down to Seattle and picked up an '02 RT1150RT from an authorized dealer. I got a document on their letterhead, stamped and signed, stating that the the bike with this VIN had no outstanding recalls. The Registrar of Imported Vehicles accepted this and was able to license and insure in Canada with no problems, thus I avoided BMW's insulting $500 recall letter fee.

However, my buddy who bought an '02 R1100S with basically the same letter from a different authorizeda dealer had his rejected by the RIV. He's still arguing the case hoping to avoid the $500.

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