importing fz1 from u.s. to canada

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yukondood

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Anyone have any expereince with customs, delaerships fees etc. Keep finding smoking deals on US bikes and may buy and bring one into canada.

Any advice appreciated
 
This is from a guy who did just that in the FZ6 forum. Hope this helps... long story but worth the read for you since you'll want this info. Good luck!

Zack @ [url said:
www.fz6-forum.com]Hi[/url] everybody,

As promised here is complete purchasing experience. To express my feelings at the times I would have to use a lot of "French" but Admin probably wouldn't allow it so we'll stick to nice words only.

Greatly influenced by members of this forum my son Igor and I decided to buy FZ6. Best price we got here in Mississauga was from Envy Riders, 9500-9600 dollars. Thanks to the forum we knew that good US price is in range of 6500 dollars. USD and CAD are about at par so we decided to take things in our own hands and do it ourselves. It turns out to be we got much more than we were bargained for.

Initial idea was to buy bike in the crate, load it into our mini van and bring it home. None of the dealers wouldn't do it so we ended up transporting it over. Went to Yamaha site and found bunch of dealers around Buffalo. Called one by one and found out that price is dropping as you go more out of the town. So we found our bike at Pioneer Motorsport in Chaffee, small place about 50 km south of Buffalo. Nice dealership though, nice selection of bikes. Spoke to Rick at 716-496-6000 and we cut the chase and got OTD for 6599. We paid 500 bucks using credit card immediately and selected cobalt blue color. They had black one in stock and it took them 3 weeks to get the other one. We didn't care much since bad weather was persistent. In the meantime I found insurance, 1011 dollars. All they wanted was VIN and model. I faxed them Invoice, sent a check and got my insurance faxed.

Since I don't have friend with pickup or trailer and U-Haul would not rent a van for across the border trip (full size van called cube van you can take anywhere) I decided to drive the bike. I asked for temporary plate at my local licensing office and they said I have to totally import bike and then they'll give me the plate. I decided that minor thing like that will not stop me so we proceeded. I asked dealer to get me temporary license plate valid for day or two so we can drive bike to the border.

Knowing about 3 days lead time on Wednesday, well before pickup I faxed letter and Invoice to US border office at Lewiston Bridge near Niagara Falls. So we were ready. Finally came the day for pickup.

SATURDAY, day 1 (April, 26):

Nice sunny day.We woke up at 6:40 AM and after easy drive to Chaffee we were in front of the dealership at 8:55. it is about 200 km from Toronto. Bike was ready. I paid balance by cash and asked for Recall Clearance letter. They wrote me a 2 letters. One they wrote themselves on their letterhead and second one they printed of Yamaha dealer's WEB site. Both letters saying that there is no recalls on FZ6.
No plate though. Rick said that they didn't have situation like this and didn't know how to handle it. They expected us to show up with truck or something. In 30 minutes all together I dressed up and we went on our way. Slow ride, observing all speed limits, enjoying new bike, my son following closely in car, just picture perfect.

We passed by Buffalo and we were about 8-10 km from border on the highway 190. I am at 60-65 MPH (speed limit!) and there is kind of line behind me. Suddenly big dark pickup drives in parallel, maybe few meters behind me for about minute. Unphased I am holding my slow speed and than truck turns on red and blue lights. Police! I slow down and stop immediately. Police truck stops behind me and my son behind him. We all get out and policeman yells at my son: "You there! Stay where you are and don't move!". He also grabs handle of his gun. I approach and start explaining what we are doing. Policeman kind of cools down, leaves his handgun alone and after that my son approached with folder full of papers. Now we are having normal conversation. He looks at the insurance and title and looks VIN at the bike. I was afraid that papers will go flying across the highway in strong wind. Everything checks out. Another police cruiser stops and they talk for a minute. It looks like he was just passing by and stopped to help officer. I can't tell if first officer called him.
Policeman says that he wanted to check why there is slow moving vehicle (??, I was at speed limit) and than he decided to ticket my son for following too closely. Now everything is explained in different view.
Anyway, he said that he would expect us to have temporary plate from dealer and was surprised when I told him that we couldn't get it. He says to proceed to the border which was only 5-8 minutes away from there anyway.
So we come at the border, park vehicles and there comes offices with standard "May I help you?".
I explain that we are exporting the bike and looking for the office. He says: Not today or tomorrow, office works from Monday to Friday 8 to 4!"

I felt like somebody hit me with a shovel, WTF, WEB site says 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He goes, " You didn't read it right, not export office. Now you have to move from here".
So we moved to smaller parking lot. Standing around scratching our heads. What to do now? We are stranded on US side with new bike and can't do anything before Monday 8 AM. I am looking around and see nice big building on the right at the border. I thought, it's probably motel, we'll stay there or pay them to garage the bike for 2 days. We started walking towards that place. Building is at distance of some 400 meters. Suddenly new officer emerges from border building. At first it looked like he is going to the car in parking lot but than it is apparent that he wants to talk to us. We stop he comes closer and yells at my son: " You, stop there! What are you doing with your hands!!?" (putting car keys into the pocket).
He grabs the handle of the handgun with his right hand (WTF! for second time in 10 minutes). We freeze. He comes bit closer and I tell him what we are doing and that we are looking to leave the bike because we can't move it across the bridge. He relaxes a bit and still holding his right hand on the gun says that we can't leave the bike anywhere on their parking lots because they'll take it away. He says:
"Take it back to some gas station and pay them to store it for 2 days. That building you see there is not a motel but hospital."
So, we turned around and I started driving back towards the Buffalo. 3-4 km down the road at exit 23 I got out of the highway and now I am driving aimlessly don't even know what I am looking for. Wal Mart, Wallgreens ... passing by, nothing useful.
Suddenly I see Carstar. They repair cars there and it was open. We go to front desk and explain situation. Peter there says that we can leave a bike inside and we'll pay 20 dollars per day when we come back. He says:
"Just come back on Monday as you are saying. Somebody left ATW like that forever here"
I would like to tell him that I would actually rather put bike besides by bed overnight and would not leave it like this otherwise. He understands, he has big Honda cruiser parked right at the entrance. We glance at our prize bike and leave.
Driving back was uneventful, we were down big time, felt like you know what....

MONDAY, day 2 (April 28)

Got up at 6:00AM and after 120km drive stopped in front of the Carstar at 7:30. I paid 60 dollars to Peter and sincerely thanked him for favor. I dress up quickly and 10 minutes after that we were at the border. Export office opens at 8:00AM. I am 4th or 5th in line up. There is about 15 people waiting.
They open office and you have to sign your name on the clipboard and go to waiting room. There they call you on PA. I go back. There is younger female customs officer. I thought,
"Good, I always have easier time dealing with young people". How wrong I was.
She calls my name and I approach the desk giving her title. She asks me:
"When did you fax it?" (voice annoyed, edgy, like something happened or didn't happen last knight and it's purely my fault).
"5 days ago on Wednesday"
" Did you confirm it?"
"??"
"Did you confirm it?
I am wondering how you do that? It is very hard even to fax anything since fax is always busy, let alone phone it. You get voice prompts.
She says, do you have copy of title? I say no. Go get it. Where, everything is locked up? Hopefully Igor saw fax machine in one open small room and we make copy on that machine. I go back to see her. She takes copy and puts date stamp on my original Title. I open mount to ask something like can you still do it today? She snaps:
"See you on Thursday"
"But..."
"Good bye!"

What now? We are in same s... again. It's Monday and we can't do anything until Thursday. We drive back to Carstar to our friend Peter. We leave our baby again. Drive to Toronto uneventful.

THURSDAY, day 3 (May 01)

We are up at 6:00AM again. Sun, quite cold. Show up at Carstar at 7:30, pay another 40 to Peter. This man really helped us. I really don't know what we would do without him. We are at border at 7:50. We park at small parking lot. I undress riding clothes, helmet and gloves. My daughter this time walks across the parking lot behind the truck and I go slowly on the bike, walking speed. I am crossing a road where big tractor trailer was stopped for inspection and officer looking at it. He yells after me:
"Hey you stop!!!"
I freeze.
"What are you doing, where is helmet, where is license plate??!"
Again, I felt like all my ships went down in one stormy night. I start telling about exporting the bike and that all the papers are with my daughter walking around. He cuts me off:
"Get off and push it!"
"Yes officer, thank you officer".
I am pushing it across the parking lot to position below the export office window.
I am first at the door and only one person behind me. Younger male tall officer opens the door at 8:05. We sign up and he says:
"OK, you can stay here since it's only 2 or 3 of you"
He takes my title and asks:
" Where is a vehicle" (you must present it at the time of export).
"Right below your window Sir"
He glances out, walks to computer and enters VIN, turns around and stamps the Title.
"Go, rock it!"
It took about 60 seconds for his actions! That was all. I am out in the heartbeat. Push my bike across back to small parking lot. I dress up and drive across the bridge.
There, nobody in line. Very young officer at the post and somebody else with him probably doing a training. They are in good mood, smiling, looking at the bike (who wouldn't?)
I tell him what I have to declare and he takes notes, price of the bike, when I got it and all that and tells me:
"Just go to that building one the left and somebody will help you"
I go there, park, my daughter is behind me. We enter the place. Difference is like Earth and Mars. Bunch of officers, everybody looks and talks pleasantly, nobody mad here. They hand me clipboard with form. "...please fill it up and hand anyone you see that is free.."

I feel so much relaxed. Huge tension drained out of me. It took me less than 10 minutes there. They sent me to cash counter, I pay GST (tax) and person there says. You can go now and go to RIV office for next step.
Hour and 10 minutes later I was in Toronto. My legs and hands frozen but happy to be home. Left bike in garage and went to RIV office. 2 people in front of me. One importing 13 cars and second one 10 cars. Quiet, relaxed atmosphere. Nobody is mad about anyone. Lady at counter took my papers and I paid 205 dollars for RIV. Few minutes later she calls my name:
"Your Recall letter is no good"
It turned out that they didn't like letter hand typed saying that my bike is not under recall. Hopefully I had the other one, printout from Yamaha site. She glances at it.
"Ha, this is what we are looking for!"

5 minutes after that I am on my way. Went home, picked up the bike and next step is Canadian Tire to see that bike complies to Canadian regulations (daytime running lights, KM speedo). Nobody yelled at me there either. 20 minutes later they call me on PA and said that everything is OK and there is nothing to pay (??). They already faxed papers to registration office but I can go there only tomorrow. They kind of need 24 hours to enter it into the system.

FRIDAY, day four (May 02)

Few hours ago both of us went to reg office. Got our plate and had unexpected expense, 532 dollars for PST (provincial tax). I am clinching my new plate and asking:
"Madam, why do we have to pay PST? We bought bike in USA not here"
"What do you think that they would like everyone just to go across the border and pay less than here?!" She is in good mood happy to entertain us.
So we went home. I will still investigate about this and try to get my money back (good luck fighting with tax office!).
Plate is on the bike and we already took turns driving it. As soon as I finish this we'll go to parking lot do some training.
So to put everything into perspective I am listing expenses and adding FF (fun factor, 1 for very hard and 10 for very easy:

* buying experience - 6599 - FF = 9
* going to border first time - FF = 7
* at the border - FF = 1
* storage at Carstar - 60 - FF = 10
* second try at border -FF = 1
* storage at Carstar - 40 - FF = 10
* at the border parking lot - FF = 1
* at the export office - FF = 9
* at Canadian Border - 333 for GST - FF = 10
* at RIV office - 205 - FF = 9
* at Canadian Tire - 0 expense - FF = 10
* at the registration office - 532 - FF = 9

Total money expended: 7769.00 (should be -100 with no storage fees).
Total savings: 1831.00
How do we like the bike: it's everything you people said it is going to be!
What we don't like: it is very hard to put it on center stand

Savings paid for all our equipment (helmets, gloves, jackets, boots and M2 courses).

Now I'll include 2 pictures and post this into General section and Canada - Ontario section. You can ask me whatever you want, hope I'll help somebody else.

Best regards, happy owners of the FZ6
Zack & Igo
Click to expand...
 
Glad I remembered who had done this already and posted the details. It can be a great savings but it is nice to know all the "gotcha's" that will happen along the way. Keep us informed of it and I'm curious to know if your savings will be a great.
 
Anyone gone the other direction and brought a non-US bike in?

I'm looking for an Aprilia RS250 and in the UK they're pretty cheap, like $2,500 USD for a nice one. In the US, the same bike would be $6,500 to $10,000.
 
I'm wondering if Zack and Igor will have warranty work issues? When I was hot for a Honda CBF1000 (available in Canada, but not the US). a Honda dealer told me my warranty would be void if I imported the bike to the US. It wasn't that the mechanics wouldn't know how to fix the bike, but a Honda policy not to honor warranties for imported models. It's possible Yamaha does this as well (even though the FZ6 is available in Canada) to protect their dealers from losing sales to US dealers.
Seems from the account that Zack and Igor made their lives difficult by not doing enough homework. Hope they looked into the Warranty. :beer::smoking:
 
Polestar said:
I'm wondering if Zack and Igor will have warranty work issues? When I was hot for a Honda CBF1000 (available in Canada, but not the US). a Honda dealer told me my warranty would be void if I imported the bike to the US. It wasn't that the mechanics wouldn't know how to fix the bike, but a Honda policy not to honor warranties for imported models. It's possible Yamaha does this as well (even though the FZ6 is available in Canada) to protect their dealers from losing sales to US dealers.
Seems from the account that Zack and Igor made their lives difficult by not doing enough homework. Hope they looked into the Warranty. :beer::smoking:
Click to expand...

I never thought to ask... I think it has been over a year now and they didn't have any issues (it IS a Yamaha.... :D ) so it was a lucky break for them.
 
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