Importing a boat from the USA

M

mmmroe

Member
Hi guys,

I'm looking for any advice tip and guidance in regards to importing a boat from the USA.

I wanted to make a checklist and have all proper documentation to make this experience as hassle free as possible.

My wife and I would be travelling to Oregon to pick the boat up ourselves.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.
 
You need a bill of sale and clean title for the trailer, you might need to fax the title and bill of sale to customs at your point of entry a few days before you bring it through. The customs agent will fill out the forms you need to get the trailer inspected for RIV. Pay the get and your on your way.
 
Separate bills of sale for the boat and trailer. Make sure the serial numbers of both match what's on the bills of sale. Take a copy of the craigslist ad or whatever you can to show that the price you're declaring is realistic in terms of the real value of the boat. Talk to your insurance agent here to get a rider on your vehicle insurance for the trailer. When I bought my boat from Oregon, the seller left the Oregon plates on the trailer so I didn't have to worry about towing an unlicensed trailer through Oregon and Washington. You'll have to deal with the transportation authorities in both states to get the necessary permits if the trailer doesn't have a plate on it. You can use google to find out what you need to do. The process at the border is simple and quick if you have the right documentation. The customs agent will fill in the appropriate paperwork, you pay the GST and PST on the boat as the GST on the trailer. You'll pay the PST on the trailer once you have it inspected for RIV purposes and register it in BC. The whole thing took 20 minutes when I came through with my boat.
You might also want to google "importing a boat to Canada from the US". There's plenty of good information there.
 
Just follow what big Bruce has said and you won't have an issue, I brought mine up from the south and had the same experience, a printed copy the sales add is a must to have in your file
 
The way things are going down South it might be wise to thoroughly check all compartments for stowaways. Lol
 
Think about the border crossing you'll use and time/day you cross. The big places like Peace Arch and PTC probably have commercial officers on duty 24/7. But secondary entry ports like Sumas and Aldergrove don't. You show up on a Sunday or at night and there's no specialist at hand, the regular guys don't always handle it well. You get the runaround and a long wait at best, quite possibly over taxed or even the trailer not permitted into Canada. There's supposed to be one set of regs and they're applied consistently every time, but in practice that's not the way it goes. Individual persons administering those rules come up with different interpretations and the outcome may not be good. It's probably worth the wait and/or extra drive to go through one of the busy crossing where they deal with this stuff all the time.
 
sly_karma said:
Think about the border crossing you'll use and time/day you cross. The big places like Peace Arch and PTC probably have commercial officers on duty 24/7. But secondary entry ports like Sumas and Aldergrove don't. You show up on a Sunday or at night and there's no specialist at hand, the regular guys don't always handle it well. You get the runaround and a long wait at best, quite possibly over taxed or even the trailer not permitted into Canada. There's supposed to be one set of regs and they're applied consistently every time, but in practice that's not the way it goes. Individual persons administering those rules come up with different interpretations and the outcome may not be good. It's probably worth the wait and/or extra drive to go through one of the busy crossing where they deal with this stuff all the time.
Click to expand...
Great advice. I came across at Pacific after a long drive from Salem. It was obvious the customs officer I dealt with knew exactly what he was doing. He even complimented me on having all of the documentation he needed to do the job. He didn't even leave his desk to come and look at the boat!
 
Same as above. Brought a boat over from New Jersey. Had it shipped to Blaine, picked it up there and drove across.

I didn't even have a title for the trailer, just the registration/insurance docs. But I had a print out and link to the State of New Jersey DMV that states that trailers under a certain size aren't titled. They were fine with it. Copy of the ad, and title for the boat. The boat was towed cross country and up to my house on the seller's plates. Which I then fed-exed back to the seller.

I think it took 15 minutes total at the border. No RIV as the trailer was greater than 10 years old. The agent barely looked out the window to see that the boat looked the same as in the AD.
 
A couple things to keep on mind exchange rate is approx 30% after the bank does it's thing your kicking 35% pretty much then be prepared to pay sales tax on the purchase at the border 12%. By the time the boats back from the states right now add 50-60% to the price pending your trailer makes it all the way home. Tip do the wheel bearings down there before you start the journey learned the hard way :) The deals are not so good with our exchange rate and buying site unseen you better get a screamin deal or your in the hole.
 
uclueletcharters said:
A couple things to keep on mind exchange rate is approx 30% after the bank does it's thing your kicking 35% pretty much then be prepared to pay sales tax on the purchase at the border 12%. By the time the boats back from the states right now add 50-60% to the price pending your trailer makes it all the way home. Tip do the wheel bearings down there before you start the journey learned the hard way :) The deals are not so good with our exchange rate and buying site unseen you better get a screamin deal or your in the hole.
Click to expand...

You'll get dinged on the sales tax if you purchase the boat locally as well, so it comes out in the wash. Definitely harder to find a deal buying from down south than when the Canadian "dollarette" was closer to par, but the deals are out there. There is so much more inventory in the States that if you are patient, know what you want and what the typical selling price is, you will find what you are looking for.

RE the FX rate, if you have a online brokerage account, the best way to convert CAD to USD (or vice versa) is to perform a trade called a "Norbert's Gambit", which will give you the closest possible FX rate to the spot rate. The principal is that prices of dual listed stocks (i.e. TSX and NYSE) will only differ by the spot exchange rate. You lose a bit on the bid-ask spread, but for highly liquid stocks this will be minimal. The only other fee is your trading commission. I use it all the time and keep track of my costs - I typically save about 1.5% - 2% when converting $10 - $20k vs. paying the bank's rate. Note that you need to be converting $5k or more to make it worthwhile.

You can read how to do the Norbert's Gambit below, but let me know if you have any questions.
http://www.moneysense.ca/magazine-archive/norberts-gambit-a-better-way-to-buy-u-s-dollars/
 
Superb advice from many who have experienced the border challenges. I can't offer much else, but will add this. When I bought my boat, owner was fantastic. He had a friend who was a notary public who signed and stamped all the invoices (boat and trailer) so everything was in perfect order. He then put it all in a binder. When I went in to declare the boat and trailer, CBSA had absolutely no questions and was impressed at the level of detail. Spent only 10 minutes or so on a Sunday going through the truck crossing and was on my way.
 
^x2

Most banks and credit unions in the US have in-house Notaries. All the docs (separate bills of sale for boat, motor, trailer) were embossed and signed by the seller's notary. Made the crossing at 176 a breeze.
 
have you had a survey done before pending purchase agreement? a couple purchases that i know of were cancelled as the surveyour gave advice to not even pay have of what the seller was asking.

i bought mine out of port orchard and was simple to bring back.. dollar was at par and taxes paid at the border. buy here or wait!!

the gal at the customs booth was so nice it seemed i could have told her i was down fishing and drove right through!!
 
All great info above. Couple things I could add from my experience.

1) money

Certified check - great way to go but the current owner would be crazy to sign his boat away before money clears. I spoke to my bank as did my seller to his and best both banks could do was a couple days to clear the cheque. Didn't love this option as I didn't plan on spending days to bring the boat back.

Wire transfer- again takes time between banks. I would have had to go down, make sure the boat is what I thought it was, then call my bank to execute the transfer. Was going to take time that again I didn't want to spend. (Time off work, away from the fam, travel accommodations ect.)

Carrying cash- route I chose because I could go down, inspect the boat and if all was good do the deal at that time. Security concerns for sure... for the boarder issues I declared the cash going down and called ahead to let them know I was doing it. Had all my paperwork in order in a binder including: Craigslist add, email corespondance and bank withdrawal papers. Proof it's not crime money. Then I was also worried about getting robbed of cash upon arrival. So I never told the buyer what I drive and as I got close to the meet point I squared the block several times looking for anything outta place. Once I was satisfied it was legit I approached. It was exactly the boat I had always wanted and got it at a screaming deal. No regrets.

2) Trailer - I was advised to get the serial number for the trailer and contact RIV before going down to make sure the trailer is transferable to Canada. Read some horror stories of guys who got their trailers easy enough into Canada but then could not get them insured and transferred to here.

I did some serious google searches. Some great info out there that walks you through the process. If you do your homework and have all paperwork in order the process is very simple

Best of luck.
 
Thank a bunch guys for all the helpful advice! I really appreciate the time people have taken to steer me in the right direction!

I will have ready:

- title for both boat and trailer
- bill of sale for each boat, trailer and motor (can boat and motor be on the same bill?)
- will have bills of sale notorized
- craigslist ad and emails printed
- rider insurance added for border to home travel

my last question is regarding trailering the boat from oregon to the Washington border. The seller mentioned there are no plates required on boat trailers in oregon? Any input on what I need to do to be able to drive thru both states?
 
You will have your ICBC rider and the Oregon title. You will be fine to travel through WA. AFAIK.
 
You don't need to have your documents notarized - unless you can get done free, it's a waste of money, particularly if you have something that suggests the price you're declaring is fair market value for the boat. You need to check with the Washington Department of transportation with respect to pulling the trailer through Washington without a plate. DO NOT rely on advice you get on this Forum. It won't help you a bit if you're stopped.
 
I would check with both Oregon and Washington to see what is required for you to pull the boat trailer through each state.
 
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