Almot wrote:
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Homefor2 - yes, if you plan on bringing it to Canada, you better go through the process of importing (or buy locally). There was very good thread on Airstream forum. Rigs newer than 15 years need to be inspected by people from some federal Canadian office - you will get the appointment date and place when you cross the border, often the inspection takes place in Canadian Tire. You will need some paper called "manufacturer's recall letter" (? not sure), and the title from the seller, nothing else I think. If you don't pass the inspection - say, something serious like bent frame - you can't register it and have to remove it from Canada or destroy. It might be cheaper to buy new in the US than used one in Canada, new rig will likely pass the inspection. Rigs over 15 years don't require inspection. Either way, with or without inspection, you'll have to pay GST/PST or HST, same as if you bought it in Canada.
Just to clarify, the inspection is purely to confirm that the vehicle conforms to Canada Safety Requirements. In most of Canada, it's done at CanadianTire although there are a few 'non-CT' garages that do it (maybe in areas that don't have a nearby CT). It pretty much only covers things like DRL (daytime running lights), child seat anchors (for passenger cars), and make sure there are km/h markings on the speedometer (I believe they provide you stickers if it doesn't), etc. They also verify the VIN, the GVWR of the vehicle, tire pressure, etc (I believe all the ladder are because they print and send you a label for the door side). It usually takes about 5-15 minutes (I've had it done on 5 vehicles (4 mhs and 1 minivan)). This is not a mechanical or safety inspection (although if your Province requires these to register a vehicle, the imported vehicle will also have to pass that). You do need a 'Recall clearance letter' (a letter that states that there are no active recalls on the vehicle) from the manufacturer - for vehicles like a motor home which can have 2 manufacturers (one for chassis and one for the coach, they say you need both but for the last 2 or 3 motor homes I imported, I only got it from the chassis manufacturer and it wasn't a problem (i.e. 2 years ago, I imported a National RV Tradewinds on a Freightliner - National RV has been out of business for about 6 years now so I obviously didn't get a recall letter from them but I had one from Freightliner and that was fine).
If you're interested in importing, there's quite a bit of info in the forum so just do a search. Also look at
www.riv.ca which is the agency responsible for this. The most important part is that not all vehicles are admissible for import into Canada (some because they don't comply and can't be made to comply and some simply because the manufacturer simply never disclosed admissibilty to RIV (it appears to be a voluntary process) - if it's not admissible, you cannot import it (until it's 15 years old - as mentioned above, most vehicles 15 years or older are exempt from the program)).
