Transport Canada Regulations regarding admissibility to import a BMW into Canada CHANGED YESTERDAY.

In order to be able to import a BMW into Canada, you must now contact a BMW Canada Retailer to determine if the vehicle
can be imported and if any modifications are required along with the cost of these modifications. A LETTER OF ADMISSIBILITY IS NOW REQUIRED FROM BMW IN ORDER TO CLEAR CANADA CUSTOMS.

BMW have gone the way of Mercedes Benz Canada who have had this policy in effect for some time now.

DO NOT IMPORT A BMW Without doing your homework first as this could prove to be a very costly venture, and the vehicle may have to be returned to the USA.

If anyone has a question, I will try to help.

GABMAN

What specifically changed Gabman? The riv.ca site does not appear to have changed as it pertains to BMW.

The RIV site has indeed changed, look under BMW, revision date on bottom of first page should read Nov 27/07
Page 9 of the list is where you will find BMW's for passenger cars, it now state " See Notes" look at the notes on the far right column, same thing appears under SUV Section in Section 5 of the list.

Perhaps you are looking at an old list, you always need to check the bottom of first page for revision date,

Thanks for the heads up.

I am in the process of bringing up a Z4. I have already purchased the car! I am going to contact the dealer today to ask for the letter of admissibility. I'll keep you posted on the out come. (I'm not pleased that the game has changed half way through the process!)

Bill

Desperate Times = Desperate Actions on behalf of car Manufacturers

Make sure to ask Canadian Dealer if there are now any modifications required and if so, what they are and the costs, try to get it in writting, at a minimum I am sure that they will charge you CAD $ 500.00 to provide you with the recall letter. If you need me to do the Customs Clearance for you and get the Form 2 , let me know.

i thought as long as the car passes the RIV list, no modifications are needed as it meets CDN standards. But now not all vehicles on the RIV list do? and needs modification?

and thanks gabman! good man for posting a heads up for everyone

You are partially correct, the car must be on the RIV list as admissible, Last Friday BMW's were on the admissible list and as of yesterday they are no longer, I am not saying that they cannot be imported, what I am saying is that as of yesterday the list of which BMW's are admissible was taken out of the public domain, and now you have to check, get letters from BMW and INSURE that there will not be any costly modifications that need to be done here in Canada before you can register the car to be driven on the roads.

Thank you for the heads up. I feel that this a real poor way for BMW to treat their Canadian customers. I can understand why they did this, but I just wish that their solution was to lower prices for Canadian models rather put controls in place to limit the number of vehicles that can be imported. Honda has already taken the same approach. It just would have been nice if BMW's approach was a price drop like Porsche. I guess as long as sales in Canada are high, there is no reason to cater to the customer. Our loss. :(

The following was on the mini board...

BMW/MINI Canada Rant

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I have been looking for a Cooper S to import back to Canada for some time now and finally found one in North Carolina. I contacted my local MINI dealership to ensure there would be no serious modifications required in order to make the car comply with Canadian standards and they advised that all that needed to be done was to activate the DRLs. However, they told me a new process would be in place starting Monday.

By way of background, right now to import a MINI I need only:

1. check whether the car can be imported from the U.S. by looking on the website run by the Registrar of Imported Vehicles for Canada. The vehicles that can be imported are listed on the site - it currently says that all MINIS (except for the GP) can be imported.

2. Supply a letter from MINI USA or a dealership confirming that all recalls have been dealt with. These were easily obtained without charge, often overnight.

Starting Monday the process is:

1. Contact BMW Canada to obtain a Letter of Admissibility - $350. :o

2. Order the recall clearance letter from BMW Canada (who in turn order it from MINI USA) - $500 and takes 5 to 7 weeks. :o

3. Once you have the letter, make an appointment at the dealership for an inspection and to activate the DRLs - inspection is $190 and activation costs $375. They are currently booking in February for this 'service'. They say the activation may only be performed at an authorized dealership so you cannot have it done elsewhere. Only once this is done can you register it in my province.

I understand that the recent big movement in the exchange rate has created problems for them in new car sales but this new routine is aimed directly at preventing the importation of used cars. Why bother with this?

I do not understand why these people make it so hard to remain loyal to the brand. I have 3 BMWs now but their arrogant and condescending attitude has ensured that I will never buy another.

There - I feel marginally better but still hate them with a passion.

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I'm not here to defend dealers, but in this case I think they are caught in the middle of this issue.

Canadian dealers have been given orders from BMWCA that they must charge for the clearance letters. They have no choice, they have to get them from Whitby and BMWCA charges them for the letter.

It is understandable that when people are looking for all of the savings and things change that they are upset.

The other side of the coin is that local dealers are seeing cars brought in that have had the DRL's hacked and or merely turned on in iDrive (not legal) and or with component issues that are causing or will cause folks grief down the road. The only way to ensure proper modification is to have it done at the retailer level. BMW takes it on the chin for charging for these features, but they take it on the chin way harder when the car requires major repairs later (component replacement etc) and E60 may be one of the more sensitive vehicles BTW, because of improper (ie. corner cutting) import methods.

The recall letter that used to be acceptable from US dealer on letterhead issue is also reasonably straightforward. There have been reported cases of unscrupulous US dealers essentially writing the letters regardless of actual facts to facilitate a sale, leaving huge liability issues. Again, a couple bad apples spoil it for the rest.

Word is that BMW Canada is going to tactically address the market with rates and residual support and that cash credits are disappearing on Dec 1. We'll have to see what this will really mean to Canadian buyers.

BMW Canada will not lower prices in my opinion, they have too much at stake. The only way that this will happen is if one of the other premium brands lowered their prices first and not like Porsche bringing their 36-38% premium in line with the rest of the luxury brands.