I am thinking about purchasing a small dozer in Canada. It weighs approx. 8 tons. Was going to try to rent a truck and trailer to move it as I think having it done by a transport or rigging company would be very expensive. Has anyone ever done this? Are there any issues I should be aware of? Looking for some advice and guidance. I don't want to drive there, pay the guy, and then get refusal to come back into the US with the machine. I have a valid passport if needed. I had heard that as long as it's from one private party to another and the item is not for resale, there is no problem. I cannot verify that. Would like to hear from someone who has done this, how it went for them. Thanks !!
Best to talk to a import spe******t to get the paperwork done up front. It costs little for a single machine and can save many headaches.
Thanks for the advice, I just emailed the Canadian Border Service asking them what's required of me. Would that also apply if it was not a machine,,like say a diesel engine for a machine??
I have wondered about this myself. I'm in Montana and there are many equipment auctions North of here across the border. I would think that there are two kinds of import spe******ts. One who is public sector and knows only one word: "no". The other is a private import agent who has no motive to help someone he sees as circumventing his commission.
Engines or parts can sail through or they can be a bear. I bought a used $50.00 unimog wheel in Calagary a few years ago and had it sent via UPS. UPS put the free $500.00 insurance on it. Customs said it was worth $500.00 because that is what it was insured for. so they confiscated it and held it until they got from me $50.00 in duty fees and then waited for my check to clear before they released it. One of the BB guys on the old cat site bought a Clark Airborne in Canada a couple years ago and gave a import spe******t a few bucks to do the paperwork. At the border they glanced at his paperwork and waved him on when he came through with his pickup and gooseneck. Its anyones choice how they want to do it.
Canada don't seem to care what goes out. It is US customs that will be your problem.
Yep, for sure will need a broker that deals in equipment movement to get it done. I've done a couple from Canada a few years back and lots of machines from Japan. Figure a minimum of a grand for paperwork, fees and a single entry customs bond. One thing you need to be certain of is the emissions status, anything made after about 1996 (depending on the horsepower) will need the proper EPA sticky on the engine or other copious documentation to clear the customs emission hurdle. The EPA can still come after you forever after if it's not legal EVEN THOUGH customs cleared it, and it's fifteen grand per engine fine, plus they can force you to re-export the machine if they want to. I don't know about Canada, but US customs watches what leaves the country like a hawk, seems to me that one direction or the other there's actually a 24 hour quarantine on used machines where they hold you up waiting to see if anybody reports the machine stolen or whatever. I know I sold a new machine to a customer in Canada and US customs held it up for six or seven days because the agent in charge of that particular crossing insisted on a document from the factory in Japan and it had to be a FedExed original. Eight grand in trucking standby and per diem charges! Didn't need that document to enter the US, but it wasn't leaving without one, jerkwads. Probably best once you get the paperwork sorted to have trucking outfit get it on a stepdeck and bring it to you, you can use a rollback tow truck at either end for loading/unloading if there's no loading dock handy. Good luck with it. Lanway
It also makes a difference if it is personal or business. I used to buy a lot of parts ect. in Canada until the border got so busy it takes to long to make it worth it. But many times what I had to pay duty on as a business came through free if the customer picked it up and brought it through as personal. The other thing is if you transport it yourself, do a little homework and have all the paperwork completed when you cross. It make a lot of difference if it looks like you know what you're doing. Call or stop by the customs office at the border crossing and ask questions, they will tell you what you need to know and all the necessary forms can be downloaded from their website.
Thanks for all the great info guys !! I am having second thoughts now on this. I did email the Canadian Border Services Agency and they messaged me back saying that are no special requirements on personal goods leaving Canada. The issue at hand is with the authorities allowing it to come in the US. They advised me to contact US Customs. At this point, I am going to try and see if the owner has a vendor he deals with in Buffalo NY and try to make arrangements to act as an intermediary. Would be much easier for me. There is no way I am going to rent a truck and trailer, pick up the machine, and then on the return, get held up at the border. I know it's possible I could sail right through with no problem, but I just don't want to take that chance. It would be a disaster for the whole rig to be held up for 2 or 3 days and have to pay the extra dime on rentals on the load.
A little off topic on this same subject. If you take a rifle from the US into Canada and do not fill out papers that the US custom agent must sign showing you owned the firearm going into Canada when you come back they will charge you import fees on the value of your firearm. True for any expensive item you take along.
Another thing to check into is how clean the machine needs to be. We had one machine that was coming to canada from the states, and I don't know if it was going across state lines or coming into Canada but it had to be washed CLEAN before it was allowed to go. No dirt or organics were allowed. I had a friend in his travel trailer get turned back because he had some fire wood in the back of his truck. He had to remove the wood and wash the box of the truck out so that there was clean, no trace of wood. Just something else to check into, might not be an issue but you never know
LOL! For anyone who's wondering what the heck is going on with that--You may or may not have seen the rash of pharma spammers that we had not too long ago. In an effort to stop them, I put a whole list of drug names on the auto-censor list. I figured there wasn't a whole lot of probability that those names would come up in heavy equipment conversation. One of those was drugs was, of course, the middle of the word "spe c i a l i s ts" :duh
Thanks digger, I was trying to equate that with some kind of vulgarity but came up empty.
If you ever have the need to deal with one, you will equate it with vulgarity, I guarantee it! LOL!
Thanks digger. I was wondering.
Thats a funny one! You must have a good eye to catch it. I have hauled a bunch of stuff Canada bound. If you own it, and its on your own truck, it is pretty easy coming into canada. Normally for large items, you need all your SN/VIN/country of manufacture/anything else you can think of. I also pay the seller to wash the machine extra good. They usually jump at the chance to make a few hundred extra on the sale. Going into the US, I would have no idea....
:lmao