Buying boat from USA with 4 partners. Any special considerations?

Have your storey straight at the border for the tax man ,take the ad with you ,contact info of the seller, just google it and you can find out all the documentation you need and its not a big deal,at the border they don't care what you're doing they just want money they are not really border guards they are just tax collectors
 
Make sure VIN on trailer is visible and readable. Make sure the sales documents ( on Trailer and on boat) have VIN and S/N that match the actual numbers on the trailer and boat. I have had a situation where the seller's original trailer title from Arkansas had a typo ( Y instead of a 4) . All the documents since then had the typo, even my sales invoice. Had I not noticed that before the shipping the trailer may have sat at the border for days. I was able to get the seller to have the a new title paper made up by the State of Arkansas and sent to NY prior to the boat being shipped to me. All ducks need to be in a row!

-- A 'recall waiver letter' for the trailer from the trailer manufacturer is a good idea to have too.
 
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They have quit with the reall letters since so many trailer manufacturers have gone under since '08. You can submit the s/n to RIV before you go down and they can tell you if it is a valid number. They will start a file for you and you can refer to it when you go through the border.
 
um Frenchcreek not sure about that! I imported in feb of this year and I sent the vin to RIV the reponse email says the following regarding the recall letter!

"The Registrar of Imported Vehicles makes every effort to assist the importer with the importation process and recall clearance. Recall clearance is ultimately the responsibility of the importer; however we are able to verify the recall status of most trailers ourselves.
If we are unable to verify the recall status for a trailer you are importing we will notify you by letter or email that we require recall documentation."

To make sure you don't have any issues I would call the trailer manufacturer and get a recall letter issued! Why take the chance of getting to the border only to findout you need the recall letter!
 
If the trailer is 15 yrs old or older it is RIV exempt, I bought a 1995 trophy last year, easy process to do yourself, lots of good info on this site
 
Captain PartyMarty said:
um Frenchcreek not sure about that! I imported in feb of this year and I sent the vin to RIV the reponse email says the following regarding the recall letter!

"The Registrar of Imported Vehicles makes every effort to assist the importer with the importation process and recall clearance. Recall clearance is ultimately the responsibility of the importer; however we are able to verify the recall status of most trailers ourselves.
If we are unable to verify the recall status for a trailer you are importing we will notify you by letter or email that we require recall documentation."

To make sure you don't have any issues I would call the trailer manufacturer and get a recall letter issued! Why take the chance of getting to the border only to findout you need the recall letter!
Click to expand...

Yes, that is still on the website, but when I spoke with the guy at RIV, he said they do not do it anymore. The border guys do not need it, it was for when you had the trailer inspected and registered
 
Thanks A lot for all you responses.

I agree, 4 partners - is a LOT. I understand everyone's hesitance to share a boat with that many people but honestly, it is just not financially viable for me to do it alone. I appreciate all the advice on setting up "the rules" before problems arise. If it all blows up in my face, I will post a detailed story about the saga. I will then accept all the "I told you so's" silently red faced, and in shame.

My question regarding import with 4 owners was really about declaring all four owners at the border, and having all four names on the bill of sale, so the boat can be registered in BC with all the owners on the registration. Should we do that?
Or should we just pick one owner on paper from washington through the border and then register it under one name. Or...what do you think is the best idea?

d
 
When I crossed the border a couple of weeks ago they did not want to see the recall clearance letter for the trailer. It was only to be forwarded to RIV. I would go with one owner on paper to make things easiest and maybe come up with a business agreement between all parties involved.
 
The easiest part of this whole thing is going to be getting the boat across the border. Go back to my earlier post on this thread and go to the link I posted. It will provide you with all you need to know about that part of the deal. I used Pat's site and had everything I needed to get my boat from Oregon, through the border in 20 minutes, to my driveway in Courtenay, through the RIV inspection process and registration of both my trailer and boat.

The Bill of Sale and the boat registration are separate documents. When I brought my boat up from Oregon, the Bill of Sale had my name only on it. When I registered the boat with Transport Canada, I put both my name and my wife's name on the registration document - and that is how the boat is now registered. The Customs folks want to see a Bill of Sale, and the boat's Title signed by the previous owner, so they know whoever is declaring the thing has the legal right to do so and so that they can collect the appropriate taxes. Transport Canada will want to see the same documents so they too know the previous owner has relinquished his/her right to the title. They really don't care whether how many names you register the thing under.
If you have any doubts about this, I'd strongly suggest you call the Boat registration folks at Transport Canada (google 'Canada boat registration' and confirm that you can register the thing in as many names as you want.

As a final piece of advice, DON'T rely on a bunch of opinions from well meaning people on a fishing forum for the final answer on any of this stuff. Make sure you and your friends have documentation on your agreement surrounding this whole deal - about everything, including what happens when one of the group wants out.
 
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frenchcreek said:
They have quit with the reall letters since so many trailer manufacturers have gone under since '08. You can submit the s/n to RIV before you go down and they can tell you if it is a valid number. They will start a file for you and you can refer to it when you go through the border.
Click to expand...
just did it 2 weeks ago and had to have a recall clearance letter from the trailer manufacturer, I think if you can prove they are gone then thats different, but in my case the manufacturer is still around and I had to provide it, no big deal just quick email requesting one from them and had it back right away before the boat hit the boarder,
the only obstacle for me was proving that South Carolina did not title trailers and therefor I did not have one and only the bill of sale is used in that state as proof of ownership. strange way they do it, no title for the trailer but each motor is registered.
apparently their way of thinking down there is alot more boats have motors rather then trailers so they can collect more tax.
explains the 2 different registration stickers on my twin yammy's
so if wherever you buy from is a titleless state be prepared to prove it, I merely printed an excerpt from their department of natural resources website which RIV accepted
Tim
 
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To name 1 or 4 of the partners on the documents I would suggest you give Transport Canada (or whomever looks after boat registration these days), RIV and the border guys a call before bringing boat up, and getting their opinions.
And even ICBC for the registration and licensing of the trailer.
Also whomever you are going to insure the boat with, especially if you hope to cover the boat under your house insurance policy.
You don't want to get into a scenario where you have to transfer titles more than once as that could put you into a position where you could be liable to sales taxes on each transfer.
To that end a legal agreement between the partners covering buying out one or more of the partners should be in place and dated before the purchase(preferably notarized by a notary public - usually cheaper than a lawyer). That would at least establish validation of the percentage that each partner owns so that, if for example two partners buy out the other two, any tax on the transfer would be based on only 50% of the market value.

For the trailer recall variance letter, it is required to be submitted to RIV, but not at the border. If, as occurred with my trailer when I brought it up, the Company has gone out of business, RIV will want some evidence of this. I included an explanaton that the company had gone out of business and included printouts of newspaper stories about the company folding. Got the newspaper stories from the internet by doing a search of the company name.
RIV was happy and sent me a sticker to affix to the trailer.

Good luck with the project.
 
I have imported a couple of boats from washington state,without any problems or hassels from BSA.The trick is having all the paperwork ! I always print off the ad ,craigslist ,ebay, yachtworld etc,makes crossing the border easy ,showing the BSA agent the ad.As mentioned in other replys to this thread, Bills of sale,Titles,registrations, hand written bill of sale if possible,all signed and dated.The boats are very straight forward,the trailers have to have visable serial numbers,matching the paperwork,home built trailers without a manufacture sticker ,are asking for problems,manufacturing stickers that are,unreadable or ripped off ,more problems.I get the seller to take a pic of the vin sticker on the trailer ,and email it to me ,with any pics of the boat(good for extra paper work at the border)Anybody I have heard having a problem xing the border,has been with "fudging" the price of the boat .Putting 3 or 4 names on any document xing the border,might create a problem,getting thru the xing,fiqure that mess out when back in canada !!
 
Big Green Machine said:
Does this include you?
Click to expand...

Of course! Much of the advice given by the well meaning folks (including me) on this thread could be considered very helpful, when it comes to legal and technical issues around insurance, title and ownership I would certainly want to seek advice from the appropriate authorities, and was simply suggesting that this person would be wise to do so as well.
Anyway - what's your point?
 
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Ya, don't do it unless you own it out right ......... the splitting thing rarely works. Some one's never happy.

HT
 
I have a partnership on my boat. Me and one buddy. We have set up a limited liability corporation in WA and the corporation owns the boat. We each own part of the corporation. While I don't know the law at all in Canada, I would suspect that some similar arrangement might be useful there. The advantage is that such an entity removes issues with paying sales tax on the boat when the corporation is sold or when a partner drops out or is added. More importantly, it removes liability from one owner when the other has an accident and injures a 3rd party. That's a biggie - e.g. in WA if I and another guy own a boat and he runs over a jet skier, I as a co-owner of said boat could be sued for the partner's accident. Like others have said, don't count on advice from here, see a lawyer and set things up right up front. Otherwise, it could cost you MUCH more later when things like an unanticipated legal liability pops up and slaps you in the face.

Additionally, before I had this boat, I had another boat that I owned alone. My current co-owner and I fished together on that boat for many, many hours. By the time we were ready to get the current boat, he was on the my boat almost as much as I was. He always stayed behind to clean up, he always contributed to the expenses and he always was there on time or when I needed help with the previous boat. That was a good basis for establishing a co-ownership arrangement. Without that, I would have never done it.
 
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