strong dollar.. buy from the US
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 21,095
Likes: 47
From: Toronto, GTA north
Here's someone making a couple of bucks with a complete "HOW TO" guide for $10.
A couple of people have said it's pretty good.
ucanimport.com
A couple of people have said it's pretty good.
ucanimport.com
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 21,095
Likes: 47
From: Toronto, GTA north
Originally Posted by RBull
He might get a few bites on that Ian. It's certainly very timely.
Triple Sol, does your post have some relevance to this thread we're missing?
Triple Sol, does your post have some relevance to this thread we're missing?
Last year I bought my car used in Georgia. This year I was looking for a NEW Murano of FX 35. I have a few connections down there and one guy tried to buy a NEW Yukon Danali but apperently Georgia or GMC recently (2 weeks ago) passed a requirement that you must be a Georgia resident to purchase a new GMC vehicle(unsure if its all new vehicles at this point). My connection thinks its just new cars but he is going to look into if its all dealership vehicles or just New vehicles. I am curious to see if other states follow suit and I would like to know if its a Georgia law or GMC/Chevy USA trying to shut down the cross boarder sales? I have heard similar stories about ATV dealers in Montana not selling to Canadians.
^ I highly doubt it is the state itself as that seems it would be hard to enact and it doesn't make any sense on why they would want to limit trade. How could they target only one consumer industry like cars? GM itself (and others) is trying to dictate to dealers who they can sell to ie. not Canadians. These same restrictions are happening with other products like BRP selling snowmobiles, ATV's to protect the dealers in Canada/other regions. IMHO, it has more to do with franchise agreements.
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Yes, that thread has become the de facto 'gold standard' on importing info. Any question you have will probably have been answered there. It is so active that's it's almost impossible to keep up with.
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 21,095
Likes: 47
From: Toronto, GTA north
New article from G&M
Did any of you see this article in the Globe this morning, and were you aware of this? Are the US E90s/E92s also suffering from the lack of this theft immobilization device? Just another fly in the ointment.
Buyers of barred cars can drive home, but no farther
GREG KEENAN AND STEVEN CHASE
Globe and Mail Update
November 20, 2007 at 1:23 AM EST
TORONTO AND OTTAWA — — Michael Hill saved $15,000 on a Toyota Sienna minivan, but he can't drive it around Calgary because it's sitting on a dealer's lot 320 kilometres away in Kalispell, Mont.
Mark Perry saved $11,000 on a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck that remains parked in his brother's driveway in Spokane, Wash.
They and dozens of other Canadians have cars and trucks that are stuck in legal limbo because their vehicles don't have a theft immobilization device that meets a new Transport Canada regulation and thus were banned from entering Canada. There's no similar requirement for U.S. cars.
Now, in a bizarre twist in the saga of the high Canadian dollar and low U.S. car prices, cross-border car shoppers can drive their vehicles home, but nowhere else.
Enlarge Image
Toyota’s Sienna minivan, one of numerous U.S. vehicles without the required theft immobilization device. (David Zalubowski/Associated Press)
Related Articles
From the archives
Cars face border roadblock
Buyers of new vehicles that lack the proper theft immobilization device may now import them, but must park these cars or trucks until Transport Canada finds a permanent solution to the regulatory snafu that prompted the ban. The reprieve may be temporary and the ban put back in place, Transport Canada spokesman Patrick Charette said Monday, but for now Mr. Hill, Mr. Perry and others are allowed to bring their vehicles home.
“But that doesn't solve the issue,” Mr. Charette cautioned. “If their vehicle is not admissible, they will not be able to plate their vehicle and it's not a guarantee that their vehicle will be allowed permanent importation and licensing in Canada.”
Ottawa banned vehicles sold by several manufacturers in the United States because they didn't have theft devices that met a new standard established by Transport Canada for vehicles manufactured after Sept. 1. The ban was rescinded after the Canadian Border Services Agency raised the problem of cars being denied entry to Canada, Mr. Charette said.
There are “dozens and dozens and dozens” of Canadians affected, said Robert Lamb of Kirkland, Que., who has a 2008 Honda Civic EXL in his garage that he bought in the United States, but can't drive in Canada. Mr. Lamb is leading a group seeking to persuade Ottawa to eliminate the regulation or find some other way to permit them to drive their vehicles in Canada.
Mr. Charette said Ottawa wants to “find a fair and balanced solution,” but declined to elaborate. In the meantime, importers are allowed to drive these vehicles to a parking lot, but won't be able to do much more because they remain in legal limbo.
“Right now we appreciate that there's obviously an issue with the anti-theft immobilizer, but it's the requirement and it was long planned,” Mr. Charette said of the new regulation, which Ottawa announced more than two years ago would take effect on Sept. 1.
Blocking U.S. vehicles because of the theft immobilization devices “is discriminatory to Canadians as it is allowing automobile manufacturers to maintain their high pricing structure for new cars in Canada,” said Mr. Hill, a Calgary financial consultant who bought a 2008 Sienna last month. “This is either collusion or unintended consequences.”
Several auto makers have pointed out that they actually opposed the change in the regulation on theft immobilizers, that discussion of the change first started more than four years ago and that the timing of the new regulation accidentally coincided with the rise in the Canadian dollar.
The list of banned vehicles was broadened last week to include 2008 models manufactured after Sept. 1 and sold in the United States by Ford Motor Co. [F-N], Hyundai Motor Co. and Suzuki Motor Co. Ltd. All 2008 General Motors Corp. [GM-N] models, several Honda Motor Co. Ltd. vehicles and about half of the Toyota Motor Corp. [TM-N] lineup are also affected.
“It was just a matter of timing,” Suzuki Canada Inc. spokesman Mike Kurnik said Monday. Suzuki vehicles sold in the United States either don't have the device or it doesn't meet the new Canadian regulation, he said.
In the case of its models that are inadmissible, Honda Canada Inc. [HMC-N] is not aware of a compatible after-market kit that meets government requirements, senior vice-president Jim Miller said Monday.
“If there is and it is installed the question becomes who is going to certify that the vehicle is compliant with the regulation as no testing has been done?” Mr. Miller said. “Who is responsible for any warranty problems as you are cutting into the wiring system of the vehicle?”
Neither Transport Canada, the Canadian Border Services Agency or the Registrar of Imported Vehicles was able to provide a definitive figure – or even a guess – at the number of Canadians who bought vehicles in the United States but were turned back at the border because their cars did not meet the new standard.
Buyers of barred cars can drive home, but no farther
GREG KEENAN AND STEVEN CHASE
Globe and Mail Update
November 20, 2007 at 1:23 AM EST
TORONTO AND OTTAWA — — Michael Hill saved $15,000 on a Toyota Sienna minivan, but he can't drive it around Calgary because it's sitting on a dealer's lot 320 kilometres away in Kalispell, Mont.
Mark Perry saved $11,000 on a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck that remains parked in his brother's driveway in Spokane, Wash.
They and dozens of other Canadians have cars and trucks that are stuck in legal limbo because their vehicles don't have a theft immobilization device that meets a new Transport Canada regulation and thus were banned from entering Canada. There's no similar requirement for U.S. cars.
Now, in a bizarre twist in the saga of the high Canadian dollar and low U.S. car prices, cross-border car shoppers can drive their vehicles home, but nowhere else.
Enlarge Image
Toyota’s Sienna minivan, one of numerous U.S. vehicles without the required theft immobilization device. (David Zalubowski/Associated Press)
Related Articles
From the archives
Cars face border roadblock
Buyers of new vehicles that lack the proper theft immobilization device may now import them, but must park these cars or trucks until Transport Canada finds a permanent solution to the regulatory snafu that prompted the ban. The reprieve may be temporary and the ban put back in place, Transport Canada spokesman Patrick Charette said Monday, but for now Mr. Hill, Mr. Perry and others are allowed to bring their vehicles home.
“But that doesn't solve the issue,” Mr. Charette cautioned. “If their vehicle is not admissible, they will not be able to plate their vehicle and it's not a guarantee that their vehicle will be allowed permanent importation and licensing in Canada.”
Ottawa banned vehicles sold by several manufacturers in the United States because they didn't have theft devices that met a new standard established by Transport Canada for vehicles manufactured after Sept. 1. The ban was rescinded after the Canadian Border Services Agency raised the problem of cars being denied entry to Canada, Mr. Charette said.
There are “dozens and dozens and dozens” of Canadians affected, said Robert Lamb of Kirkland, Que., who has a 2008 Honda Civic EXL in his garage that he bought in the United States, but can't drive in Canada. Mr. Lamb is leading a group seeking to persuade Ottawa to eliminate the regulation or find some other way to permit them to drive their vehicles in Canada.
Mr. Charette said Ottawa wants to “find a fair and balanced solution,” but declined to elaborate. In the meantime, importers are allowed to drive these vehicles to a parking lot, but won't be able to do much more because they remain in legal limbo.
“Right now we appreciate that there's obviously an issue with the anti-theft immobilizer, but it's the requirement and it was long planned,” Mr. Charette said of the new regulation, which Ottawa announced more than two years ago would take effect on Sept. 1.
Blocking U.S. vehicles because of the theft immobilization devices “is discriminatory to Canadians as it is allowing automobile manufacturers to maintain their high pricing structure for new cars in Canada,” said Mr. Hill, a Calgary financial consultant who bought a 2008 Sienna last month. “This is either collusion or unintended consequences.”
Several auto makers have pointed out that they actually opposed the change in the regulation on theft immobilizers, that discussion of the change first started more than four years ago and that the timing of the new regulation accidentally coincided with the rise in the Canadian dollar.
The list of banned vehicles was broadened last week to include 2008 models manufactured after Sept. 1 and sold in the United States by Ford Motor Co. [F-N], Hyundai Motor Co. and Suzuki Motor Co. Ltd. All 2008 General Motors Corp. [GM-N] models, several Honda Motor Co. Ltd. vehicles and about half of the Toyota Motor Corp. [TM-N] lineup are also affected.
“It was just a matter of timing,” Suzuki Canada Inc. spokesman Mike Kurnik said Monday. Suzuki vehicles sold in the United States either don't have the device or it doesn't meet the new Canadian regulation, he said.
In the case of its models that are inadmissible, Honda Canada Inc. [HMC-N] is not aware of a compatible after-market kit that meets government requirements, senior vice-president Jim Miller said Monday.
“If there is and it is installed the question becomes who is going to certify that the vehicle is compliant with the regulation as no testing has been done?” Mr. Miller said. “Who is responsible for any warranty problems as you are cutting into the wiring system of the vehicle?”
Neither Transport Canada, the Canadian Border Services Agency or the Registrar of Imported Vehicles was able to provide a definitive figure – or even a guess – at the number of Canadians who bought vehicles in the United States but were turned back at the border because their cars did not meet the new standard.
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 21,095
Likes: 47
From: Toronto, GTA north
Importing is starting to get wacky....
posted on E90 forum.....
Big Bucks now for BMW importers - hold your hats...
Just back from Parkview BMW in Toronto. As of now this is what you are looking at to bring your e90 or e92, among others, into Canada:
1.) Obtain letter of admissibility before crossing the border by providing the VIN, year and model of the car to Canadian dealer. You must present this letter to the Canadian Border agents. Pay by credit card at dealer onsite or over phone but must have access to fax to sign. Cost is $350 + tax = $399 in Ontario.
2.) Bring the car across with appropriate RIV and US customs documents etc. Take car to Canadian dealer for Recall inspection. $500 + tax. Wait 25-40++? days for receipt of letter before you can register.
3.) HERE's the Clincher: ALL E90 AND E92 IMPORTS AS OF TODAY ARE REQUIRED TO PURCHASE AND INSTALL THE CANADIAN SPEC INSTRUMENT CLUSTER AT A COST OF $1408.50 + TAXES TO COMPLY WITH CANADIAN STANDARDS!!!
There it is folks - we're now up to about $2500 CAD for BMW Canada compliance. I have inquired about installing a used cluster, according to the dealer (who in my opinion were not trying to BS me and seemed somewhat sympathetic) a used cluster installation will likely not successfully link up to the computer - of 4 such attempts by Parkview, one was successfull and 3 were not - so I guess you take your chances.
I have requested from the service manager a discount on the cluster in light of this obvious extortion by BMW canada and am awaiting a response.
I have not inquired about purchasing this part from US dealers directly so if anyone has a US dealer contact and is importing now perhaps you could check into and post back here - I will attempt to do the same.
Stay tuned.
Just back from Parkview BMW in Toronto. As of now this is what you are looking at to bring your e90 or e92, among others, into Canada:
1.) Obtain letter of admissibility before crossing the border by providing the VIN, year and model of the car to Canadian dealer. You must present this letter to the Canadian Border agents. Pay by credit card at dealer onsite or over phone but must have access to fax to sign. Cost is $350 + tax = $399 in Ontario.
2.) Bring the car across with appropriate RIV and US customs documents etc. Take car to Canadian dealer for Recall inspection. $500 + tax. Wait 25-40++? days for receipt of letter before you can register.
3.) HERE's the Clincher: ALL E90 AND E92 IMPORTS AS OF TODAY ARE REQUIRED TO PURCHASE AND INSTALL THE CANADIAN SPEC INSTRUMENT CLUSTER AT A COST OF $1408.50 + TAXES TO COMPLY WITH CANADIAN STANDARDS!!!
There it is folks - we're now up to about $2500 CAD for BMW Canada compliance. I have inquired about installing a used cluster, according to the dealer (who in my opinion were not trying to BS me and seemed somewhat sympathetic) a used cluster installation will likely not successfully link up to the computer - of 4 such attempts by Parkview, one was successfull and 3 were not - so I guess you take your chances.
I have requested from the service manager a discount on the cluster in light of this obvious extortion by BMW canada and am awaiting a response.
I have not inquired about purchasing this part from US dealers directly so if anyone has a US dealer contact and is importing now perhaps you could check into and post back here - I will attempt to do the same.
Stay tuned.