Worth Repeating….

Now that boating season is just around the corner, only 11 weeks to go until the May long weekend, some people may be starting to ponder a new boat. In the fall I wrote about the deals to be had in the US, (see Buying a Used Boat are they Cheaper in the US?) given the majority of the boats are manufactured there and the size of their population, it’s only natural that they have a larger market for used boats.

One of our reader’s, RunningCar, has imported several used boats from across the border for resale and explains the paperwork process involved in clearing customs.

He writes:

• You will require clear title for the boat and the trailer.
• You need a letter from the manufacturer of the trailer that there are no open recalls on it (contact either the manufacturer or the authorized dealer to obtain a recall clearance letter.
• You also need a certificate of origin. If the boat and trailer are not built in Canada or the US, its a different ball game. Click on Transport Canada’s website as well as Canada Border Services Agency’s website.
• Determine additional cost, such as duty and taxes (contact Canada Border Services Agency at 1-800-461-9999)
• When you get to the border make sure you have:
  • title documents
  • registration
  • sales receipts
  • statement of compliance label and manufacturer’s recall clearance letter
• At the border, you need to go in and fill out Form 1 (it needs to be kept in the vehicle until it’s licensed). Canada Border Services Agency will collect a nonrefundable Registrar of Imported Vehicles fee of $195.00 + GST (avoid paying by cheque as it will add an additional 10 days to your clearing time) or you can go to www.riv.ca and pay it online. The serial number on the trailer is inspected at this point as well.
• After payment and recall documentation have been received by the Registrar of Imported Vehicles, an Inspection Form will be mailed to you
• Take this and the boat to Canadian Tire where they will confirm the serial number and perform the provincial inspection.
• Once you pass the inspection the Form 1 gets stamped
• You then take the Form 1 to the provincial or territorial licensing authority to get the numbers for you boat.
• Within one week of passing the federal inspection, they will send you a new Canadian Certification label

For more information visit How to Import A Vehicle to Canada.

It’s important to note you only have 45 days to get all the inspections and paperwork completed. After that the boat will have to be exported back to the US.

Missed the Boat on Deals

As far as finding deals in the US, RunningCar has this to add:

“You missed the boat so to speak on deals for this season. You need to be buying in November and December. This is now prime time and I’m getting tons of action on my stuff and the prices are at their highest level of the season.”

Oh well, there’s always next year.

Cheers,

Julie

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 at 10:33 am and is filed under Boating. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.