Canadian sleds or US Sleds?

[mrcoops]

Anyone out there looking for a used sled should take there money and a weekend and make a trip down to the US to get a sled, it is retarded what you will save. what guys are asking for year old revs and cats up here you can go get mod turbos down south. I have made 2 trips and will be making one more. on average saving between 3-5G after paying for the trip. It has been quite hassle free to bring across border. If I had more time I would buy a trailer and fill with mod sleds and come back. you could make enough to pay for the trailer or your hole year of sledding. If any one is interested in taveling I would pay for your time to go south and bring back somes sleds and trailer, unfortunatly my time is becoming mcuh less, and there is only 3 weekends left before the first trip of the year.

[Sweigh]

Correct me if I'm wrong but... The way I understood it, there was lengthy process of paperwork involved.. which had to be set up in advance with customs.. Not only that, but unless you got buckets of cash laying around, it's even more difficult to make the large purchases, because we can't finance across the border.

[catmando]

The paperwork should be there 72 hrs in advance,less if you use a broker.It is not that difficult if you go through the process correctly.
catmando!

[Summitric]

Originally Posted by mrcoops

Anyone out there looking for a used sled should take there money and a weekend and make a trip down to the US to get a sled, it is retarded what you will save. what guys are asking for year old revs and cats up here you can go get mod turbos down south. I have made 2 trips and will be making one more. on average saving between 3-5G after paying for the trip. It has been quite hassle free to bring across border. If I had more time I would buy a trailer and fill with mod sleds and come back. you could make enough to pay for the trailer or your hole year of sledding. If any one is interested in taveling I would pay for your time to go south and bring back somes sleds and trailer, unfortunatly my time is becoming mcuh less, and there is only 3 weekends left before the first trip of the year.

HOW YOU DOOIN' MRCOOPS....I MIGHT BE HEADIN' SOUTH FOR A TRAILER... WE NEED TO KEEP IN TOUCH ON THIS SUBJECT... MAYBE YOU BUY A COUPLE SLED, I'LL PICK UP THE TRAILER AND BRING'EM BACK FOR YA... MIGHT BE BENEFICIAL TO BOTH OFUS???

[mrcoops]

Summitric keep in touch, I too want a trailer from down, would sve around 3g's easy

Too the rest who have doubts on the border crossing, I say this. I have been down twice in the last 6 weeks. the first time I sent all paper wrok to border 72hrs it was easy 5 minutes. note that paper work goes to the US customs, when you come back into canada they don't even know whether you have sent that paper work and do not ask. you need a bill of sale, the sled needs the original manufactureres label (usually on the right side of tunnel near the SN) if that has been removed call the manufacturere and they will fax you letter and that will work as well. I would suggest you ask the seller for a lower selling price listed on the bill of sale, will save you some GST. there is no duty. you do not need to pay the RIV fee unless you want to register and plate your sled. I have been riding in the mountains for 8 years and never registered a sled, never had an issue. You can still insure just not register it, unless you file with RIV, pay there fees and jump through there hoops. Yes you are right if you need to finance a sled it may be a little difficult. I suggest you talk to your bank, it is worth it for the savings. If our dollar hits a 1.10 I will be making a few more trips some how.

[crushd]

Not just a good idea for sleds, how about quads, trucks, rv's.... The price difference is ridiculous, thinking about importing some stuff myself

[joshua335]

Originally Posted by mrcoops

Summitric keep in touch, I too want a trailer from down, would sve around 3g's easy

Too the rest who have doubts on the border crossing, I say this. I have been down twice in the last 6 weeks. the first time I sent all paper wrok to border 72hrs it was easy 5 minutes. note that paper work goes to the US customs, when you come back into canada they don't even know whether you have sent that paper work and do not ask. you need a bill of sale, the sled needs the original manufactureres label (usually on the right side of tunnel near the SN) if that has been removed call the manufacturere and they will fax you letter and that will work as well. I would suggest you ask the seller for a lower selling price listed on the bill of sale, will save you some GST. there is no duty. you do not need to pay the RIV fee unless you want to register and plate your sled. I have been riding in the mountains for 8 years and never registered a sled, never had an issue. You can still insure just not register it, unless you file with RIV, pay there fees and jump through there hoops. Yes you are right if you need to finance a sled it may be a little difficult. I suggest you talk to your bank, it is worth it for the savings. If our dollar hits a 1.10 I will be making a few more trips some how.

So did you cross at the Sweetgrass border, if so are they open 24hrs a day for importing across the border, or are there office hours?? Just trying to plan my trip back up...

[summit889]

Originally Posted by joshua335

So did you cross at the Sweetgrass border, if so are they open 24hrs a day for importing across the border, or are there office hours?? Just trying to plan my trip back up...

Sweetgrass is 24hrs. a day on everything.

[mrcoops]

I crossed at north portal (24hr) and eureka (not 24hr) south of fernie.

[Sledgirl]

I read the part where you recommend requesting a cheaper price on the bill of sale to save a few dollars on the GST. I strongly recommend against this, as they can impound the item you are importing AND the vehicle you are driving to obtain it. The fees can add up to ten times the amount of GST you are saving. Is it worth it? Not according to the people I know that it happened to. Make the price too ridiculous, and you will raise suspicion, and flag yourself on future border crossings.

[mrcoops]

Make sure you have the support of the seller and don't get rediculous with bill of sale. worth saving 300 or 400 to me covers the trip down to get the thing. besides if they inpound your truck, you have done something else to envoke that.

[Sledgirl]

Nope. NO other violations whatsoever. The individual admitted they had falsified the bill of sale, paid a $1600 fine so they could leave (the item's price had been reduced from $5500 to $3000, so the GST to be saved was peanuts.) On their subsequent border crossing, they were flagged in the system.

The other individual falsified the price of a collectors car, and it sat impounded until they antied up the fine, which was $25000.

I'm not interested in picking a fight with you, but I think it's a bad idea to
advise people to falsify a bill of sale, without also advising them of the risk if they get caught. To save $300 or $400 GST, you'd falsify the purchase price by $5000-$6600. You saved far more than your $400 going south in the first place. Spread over two or three items, it might not be as noticeable. But is it really worth getting caught, paying a far larger fine, and risking future hassle? If they NEED to save so little to pay for their fuel costs of the trip, can they afford the fine? Will you pay it for them?

[Sledderglen]

I was told the same thing on the car i brought into Canada. It adds up to just a few dollars so dont cheat or you could lose it all

[WhiteDragon]

I have gone through the effort of bringing back 2 sleds, 9 motorcycles, a car and a trailer. I used to live in the United States, and was out of the country for more than 5 years, hence no GST/PST was required. I had the motorcycles and 1 sled shipped back, and this was cleared by customs, so no problem there. The U.S. authorities do want to know about vehicles being exported, and the 72 hour lead time is a good idea.
About the RIV program. I had TITLES for all of the vehicles, all in my name, so no taxes had to be paid. I suggest getting TITLES for the vehicles, it does make registering the vehicles here much easier. Now, if the vehicle is more than 15 years old (as were 7 of the motorcycles), the vehicle is exempt from the RIV program, and can be registered immediately. I was able to prove Canadian origin on one of the snowmobiles, so that exempted it from the RIV program. Otherwise, you do have to go through the RIV program. The cost is $195 plus GST. Prior to purchase, I suggest getting the VIN number, and using that to get the recall letter. It is my experience that this takes the longest time. Once the recall letter has been received, it is to be sent to the RIV center (in Toronto, Ontario), and they will send back the form 2. Once you have that, then you can go through the federal inspection, which is more of a formality.
My experience with Canadian customs was actually quite good. I was living near St. Thomas, Ontario, and to get the form 1 for the motorcycles, the nearest port of entry was London, Ontario airport. The customs officer was very nice, he actually came out to the house to do the inspection-and gave me all the required paperwork. I had nothing to hide, and he knew this.
Yes, it is possible to not go through the program. However, I do not recommend this, as I have been checked for registration for my snowmobile (in both Ontario and Quebec).
I really do not recommend falsifying the bill of sale. I have a good relationship with customs, and they do not give me any hassles.
However, the Arctic Cat/Yamaha dealer in Saskatoon will not work on U.S. branded snowmobiles/motorcycles. (They also will not work on vehicles more than 10 years old, which may be a common practice.)

[Uturn]

For Arctic Cat, skip the dealer and go directly to AC Canada in Manitoba. I had my recall clearance letter within 20 minutes of faxing them the bill of sale.