The Official CDN Importing A Car Thread! www.riv.ca

Remo, I would like this info forwarded to me if that is not asking too much.
I have been thinking about buying a Superleggera lately because of the pricing.
Thank you in advance.

 

Hello Omer , pls pm me for the information if you don't want to post it here. I really want to bring one over; I think CAN$ vs US$ would be at least 1:1 or even higher in C$ in a very near future. Thanks in advance.

 

With the lambo Gallardo's prices still tanking in the states why would you try catching a falling knife.

 

From a 1999 Civic to a 2010 Lambo the proces is the EXACT SAME for EVERY SINGLE CAR.

Our dollar is almost at par, however don't forget 6.1% Duty,Shipping)$1-$3500,depending on where the car is) $2-$2500 lambo charges for the recall letter,inspection's,daytime running light's(can be done here),provincial taxes,a/c tax,customs's broker, check the weight too if over a certain weight CAN be up to a extra $4000. Emisson's and provincial safety inspection's and the cost of plate's and you're good to go.



Superleggera's are going for a steal right now but like Rocco said still have a long way to drop. Buying one now for anywhere near retail would be a big mistake.

 

Better watch out when buying a Lambo. If you think Ferraris were expensive to fix, try a Lambo. You will soon find out that the cost of the car was only half of what you might spend on it in the next few years. These cars look great but if you ever get into the guts of one, you begin to wonder whos backyard garage builds these things. Some of the parts on them look like they belong on a tractor. Many many parts need to be moved just to get at almost anything. Try changing the clutch on a Murci and see what it costs you. On top of all that, they are a straight line car not great at high speed turns. The 355 gives up 100+ horses on a Gallardo but the 355 is faster in a lap on a track. There is so much many do not know about Lambos besides their fantastic looks.

 

I guess that the F430 would be a better choice compared to the Superleggera.

 

It's apples to orange's I think.

Superleggera's are stripped down gallardo's basically, so it's a harder ride,louder etc.,

A 430 is more of a daily driver I would say.

430 and regular Gallardo or lp560 is a better comparison.


Lambo's are made by Audi right now and all I ever read/hear is how great everyone's Gallardo's have been and how reliable they've been...plus never seen any pic's of them on fire at the side of the road...

 

The parent company is Audi. The car is still built in Italy by Lambo. You may not see them on the side of the road burning because they are usually on a hoist getting their $5000 clutches redone .. again.

 

personal experience with one?

I know a handful of people who daily drive their G's and as long as routine service is done... not one hitch.

 

hmmm interesting, i've never heard anything remotely like that for Murcie's and Gallardo's..however I would agree fully that the older Countache's and Diablo's are a real service nightmare.

 

Yes I agree with James that Superleggera should be compared with 430 Scuderia .. not F430. I have a 430 Spider and plan to import a Superleggera from the South solely for the attractive price (C$ vs U$) . James pls PM me for your recent Superleggera experiences if you don't mind.

 

So James you have to pay for the Lambo recall letter??

 

Yes sir, client paid Lambo for it way before even calling me. He paid $2000 but i've heard $2500 from some dealer's.

 

I've looked at a few cars in the US and have them narrowed down. I'll post a little blog in here on the steps I took to import a car and all the fun stuff that comes with it.

Only question so far, anyone find a way to live in Alberta for a year to save on tax when registering the car?? Urg, I hate this HST business when it comes to cars in Ontario.

 

Its super easy once you've done it once or twice and have the right people in place to make it as smooth as possible.

Good luck!

 

I imported a M5. We're it not for the RIV toolbags, the whole process was a breeze. Still with it to get exactly what you want.

Agreed on the HST! Blah.

 

Rent a place, get a job and you are in in.... Goodbye ON.

 

I imported 8 cars from the US. Last one was a month ago so I know the process. Just dont be in a hurry. The last car,a land rover, came in with Florida temp. plate so I could drive it for cert,emmisions,Canadian tire. Interesting that Canadian tire said they no longer wanted the "no recall" letter which I got from a US dealer rather than pay the $400 charge from Jaguar/Land Rover in Vaughn.. Has anyone had the same experience cause I want to bring in a 550 and dont want to put up with the FOO bulls**t.

 

I think it's the RIV that requires the recall letter, not Canadian Tire.

 

Correct. And RIV is a private company. Canada Customs or MOT has nothing to do with their policies. With bringing up my M5 last month, my BMW of Portland watermarked ad letterhead document of recall learner was deemed NOT ACCEOTABLE simply because it had the word invoice on it. Absolutely ridiculous. I went to their office in person at Etobicoke and complained at length at how preposterous this was, considering it fit ALL
the criteria (must be from an authorized dealer on their letterhead paper OR from BMW Canada; must constant my VIN; and must contain a statement that it was clear of any recalls.). Guess what they accepted after my head banging? A fax from a GTA dealer with NO mention of the dealer's name or BMW Canada that only had the last 7 digits of the VIN with the only nod towards recall clearance was "recall performed: BMW Business CD Radio." It was something I could've typed up on Word.

RIV is a joke.

 

Finally, here is my update. This is my process of importing a 2006 Ferrari F430 Spider into Ontario.

Obtained the following 3 hard copies from the dealer.
Vehicle transfer and reassignment form
Certificate of title
Bill of Sale (Sale Contract)

I got the car shipped close to the border and loaded her onto my trailer. With the border crossing (Port Huron) I only had to email the VIN and description of the car 72 hours in advance of crossing. That's it, no attachments, just a short description of car. You get an automated email back, saying you can export your car from USA 72 hours from the time you get the email, which you print off and bring with you. Every border crossing is different, check CBP.gov - home page for up to date instructions and phone to double check. My brother will be importing a G37 into Manitoba, and the US side he'll cross doesn’t even need 72 hours in advance there (even though it says on their website). Like I said, phone and double check everything what you read online.

We stopped at the USA customs building (right before the toll booth), showed the agent the three documents above and they stamped my title. No money was given, and they didn't even look at the car. I don’t think they even looked on their computer system. Basically they want to make sure the car isn’t stolen and no liens are left on the car.

Drove onto the Canadian side, declared car at customs booth and went into office to pay the tax man. Paid 6.1% foreign duty, 5% GST and $100 A/C tax. Since my car is a 2006, I didn't have to worry about the green levy tax. They convert what you paid in USD to CND (not sure what rate they use) and tax on the CND amount. They fill out the Form1 for RIV and stamp it. Funny thing, the Canadian border people, asked permission to open up the trailer door to see the car once they heard what it was. I laughed in my head, they have the right to tear down every bolt of the car, yet ask permission to even open the trailer. I’ve never been so lucky at the border, getting all these nice people to deal with.

Got home after paying the tax man enough money to build a few more roads. Went online to RIV.ca that night and paid them their $240 fee, using the information on Form1 that was filled out for you from the Canadian border. You get emailed an 'Vehicle Inspection Form' that you will take to your local Canadian tire for them to check to make sure modifications required conform to Canadian Vehicle Safety Standards. For the Ferrari, all we had to do was DLR which the US dealer did for me. I believe the dealer ordered a pigtail from Ferrari to turn them on. Convertibles do not need infant restraint kits. That's it.

Canadian tire did their walk around and approved the car. Once all the cell phones taking video stopped, they faxed the Vehicle Inspection Form to RIV. A few hours later, I checked online at RIV.ca and it said “Congratulations! You have successfully completed the RIV Inspection. A Canadian certification label will be mailed to the address that appears on the Vehicle Import Form – Form 1 shortly.” Wow, that was easy!


Now the most talked about issue with importing. The RECALL LETTER. You noticed I haven't talked about it, until now. Leading up to the actual day of shipping the car, Ferrari of North America said the carfax is good enough for the recall information. Yet you read stories that carfax is denied from RIV, yet sometimes it works. Furthermore, every single webpage on RIV tells you, you need a recall letter. Here comes the weird thing, I never sent RIV anything. Left customs at 4pm, At 10:27pm I paid online, 10:30pm I got an email with the inspection form. No recall letter was sent to them. I’m not going to phone RIV to find out what happened, from my understanding you only get the inspection form once they get paid and verify the recall information. This is my experience, I can’t tell you how it happened to me, but it did.

So the only thing left is onto MTO and register the car, like you would normally do. Oh, and no emissions testing in GreyBruce county. My butt still hurts from paying the first part of tax, I’ll wait a few weeks until the snow melts here, roads get washed and get ready for my butt to hurt again paying the rest of the 8% HST.

Pics will follow this weekend.

 

Your thread is very interesting as I am considering importing as well. I got everything you said except for one throw away phrase where you mentioned a broker. With all that you did; did you also need a broker? why?

I know some brokers will do all that you did. Did you consider that route?

Thanks!

 

Glad to hear it went smoothly. The US customs never even checked any of my documents when importing. Never dealt with a US agent at all. You definitely lucked out on the Recall Letter fiasco! Further proof that it all depends on who handles your case...

 

On the last import I did,Canadian tire did not require the "no recalls" letter which they forward to RIV. I got their stamp and went to MOT ontario and got the car licensed. Heard from RIV 4 weeks later that my car passed all import requirements and I got their sticker to put on the door jamb. Has anyone had the same experiece lately- no more recall letters on dealer stationary?. This would really take away the last obstacle to a smooth process.

 

IceMan1 = I didn't mention a broker. It's easy to do it yourself if you take the time to read, phone, and double check what they tell you.

From my understanding with RIV, the process should be this.

Fill out form 1 at Canadian border
Go online and pay RIV
Submit recall letter to RIV
Once approved, RIV will tell you the Vehicle inspection form is ready to print for Canadian Tire.
Canadian tire passes car and faxes results to RIV.
That's it.

Canadian tire AND the border people DO NOT require the recall letter.
In my case, as soon as I paid RIV my Vehicle inspection form was ready to print.