bhorne

I am importing an e60 from USA to Canada. One of the things the Canadian government wants to see is an airbag warning sticker in french and english.

Can somone with a Canadian Car please take a picture of a bilingual airbag sticker and post it here so that I can reproduce it.

Thanks

gabman

When you clear customs, you will have to go thru the Registrar of Imported (RIV) vehicle program at a cost of CAD $ 205.00, a vehicle import form 1 will have to be made which Canada Customs will stamp and return to you. Within two weeks you will receive a letter from the RIV along with a Form 2. You will need to take the forms 1 & 2 to a Federal Inspection Center ( Any Canadian Tire Location), they will do the federal inspection, make sure that Daytime Running Lights are activated in I-Drive. After the federal inspection is done you can then have the car plated. Either Canadian Tire will give your the required airbag sticker or the RIV will send it to you later in the mail. Also keep in mind that you must get a letter from any Authorized BMW dealer, can be Canadian or American but must be on their stationary stating that there are no outstanding recalls on the car.

Also keep in mind that the speedometer will be in mile per hour and not kilometers, I believe that the inspection center will put a label close to the speedometer indicating this. You can change the odometer to kilometes in I-Drive.

I assume you know that there will be 6.1% duty and GST of 6% at time of import?

Also, in case you are not aware, the permanent export of a Motor vehicle from the USA is subject to export controls by US Customs. You must send the ORIGINAL TITLE along with a copy of the sales invoice to US Customs Export Control at the port of exit at least 72 hours prior to the car leaving the USA. You or the transport company must stop at export control at time of departure so that they can verify the vin number at which time they will return the original title and invoice to you.

If the original title mentions a finance or leasing company you must also obtain a lien release and also send it to US Customs with the title.

If you need any help, let me know

bhorne

Thank you for the information.

I'm glad RIV provides the sticker (at least you get something for their fee).

I don't know if things have changed, but US Customs is looking for a only faxed copy of th title 72 hours before, and then the original at time of crossing. I just phoned a double checked with them (Portal Bording Crossing). Perhaps different crossings have slightly different proceedures.

It sounds pretty straight forward. I hope it goes smoothly.

Bill

elyk

is importing an e60 from u.s cheaper then buying a new/used one in canada? about how much are you saving?

gabman

Yes each border does have different rules, some will start the 72 hour clock upon receipt of a fax'ed copy with original to be submitted once the car arrives at the border, while others demand the original, which is a real pain in the neck. Good Luck

bhorne

e60 s aren't very popular in Canada, so there is limited selection on the used car market. I really wanted a 2005 or 2006 530i with 6sp manual and could find only one for sale Canada over the past few months. The auto 06's that I did see in Canada were going from about $53,000 to $60,000 Can. I ended paying $37,000 US which will be $45,000 Can (including duty). You have to add GST to all the prices.

What you do loose is the BMW included service plan which I figure is about $1000 (note the Canadian service plan is not as comprehensive as the US plan), . The cost of picking up the car is also ontop of it.

In the end I have saved about $9000 (ignoring the car pick up costs - this is coming out of the holiday funds account!)

Bill