BC Ferry Commercial Rates now for RVs, Tow Riigs and Trailers

Jeep09

Jeep09

Member
Went to Calgary with Dodge dually shortbox , camper and 22' car trailer. Went thru Duke Point , measured 51', $262 bucks to Tsawwassen .

On the way back , same setup, Jeep on the trailer go thru Horseshoe Bay. Ferry lady measured up, went in booth, made a call, remeasured, went and looked hard at the back of my rig/trailer. Called someone again and said I was a commercial vehicle , $329 for a one way trip.

Parked and spoke to a manager , was given a hand out. A vehicle or combination of vehicles/ trailer over 5500 kg's now get bumped up to the commercial rate.

Spoke to my local ICBC office, they have had similar complaints


Q: What is considered a Commercial Vehicle?
A: A*commercial vehicle is any vehicle or trailer with a Registered Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) of over 5,500 kg or 12,100 lb.* You can make your commercial vehicle reservation on line for commercial vehicles up to 9 feet wide. A combined truck and trailer constitute a commercial rate even if the tow vehicle is registered for less than 5500 kgs

Am I just cheap or is $660 round trip to Vancouver abit much?
 
Just shut up and Pay. It used to be a crown corporation but now it runs at arms length. It's not easy running a company with a Monopoly service that needs to feed its CEO a million a year ya know. I have not been to the Island in two years and with what your describing probably be a few more years.
 
STAY AT HOME IF YOU ARE OVER %%)) COMBINED VEHICLE WEIGHT or for our US friends, 12,100 pounds
Ford tow vehicle - F!%) , typical 1/2 ton common truck
Example - According to the specs on here: http://www.fordf150.net/2010/2010-ford-f150-specifications.php

5,295lbs is the base curb weight, but I bet the actual weight is closer to 6,000lbs

Trailer - 19' Jayco Travel Trailer
FLOORPLAN 19RD
Weights
Unloaded Vehicle Weight (lbs) (estimate) 3,915
Dry Hitch Weight (lbs) (estimate) 465
Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (lbs) 6,200

Welcome to commercial rates.
 
Check your Island house tax bill, up 10% even though the assessment is down. That should help make your day, water meters, Taxes, Sky hi ferry rates-pretty soon the only ones able to live here will be the ferry workers, Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin. Grab some popcorn now cause the Fish Assassin ain't going to let this bad boy go!!! LOL
 
spring fever said:
Check your Island house tax bill, up 10% even though the assessment is down. That should help make your day, water meters, Taxes, Sky hi ferry rates-pretty soon the only ones able to live here will be the ferry workers, Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin. Grab some popcorn now cause the Fish Assassin ain't going to let this bad boy go!!! LOL
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Yup that's not all. Everything will go up now that the H.S.T. have been revoked! You can thank Bill Vanderscam. Did people really think everything was going to stay the same once the H.S.T. was gone????


It's a two way street with the ferries thing. I feel trapped on an Island. I get off the rock once or twice a year. At least it's a cool place to live lol.

Those commercial rates don't seem fair to me. First they drove the real commercial vehicles away now they want to drive away the tourists. Brilliant.
 
I'm not going to complain for personal use...I've chosen to live on an island and will deal with the related costs... But BC Ferries has managed to kill tourism to the Island, and that's f#$%ing bull@$%^!
$600+ is enough to change most people's minds thinking about towing an RV over here for a vacation.
 
Don't forget that the government removed mos of the massive subsidies that the ferry corp used to get
 
Sculpin said:
Yup that's not all. Everything will go up now that the H.S.T. have been revoked! You can thank Bill Vanderscam. Did people really think everything was going to stay the same once the H.S.T. was gone????


It's a two way street with the ferries thing. I feel trapped on an Island. I get off the rock once or twice a year. At least it's a cool place to live lol.

Those commercial rates don't seem fair to me. First they drove the real commercial vehicles away now they want to drive away the tourists. Brilliant.
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I recall being told over and over by Bill Good on NW that the HST tax was revenue nuetral. That being the case it should not matter that we switched back.
 
I don't really see anything wrong with the company's that strip all of our raw logs out if this province and then ship them to China pay some PST on the Value of our wood. Under the HST they got a Frebee.
 
That is what I call smart business practice! Drive people away with high prices and increase the prices for those who have to use the service to make up the difference. :(
 
terrin said:
I recall being told over and over by Bill Good on NW that the HST tax was revenue nuetral. That being the case it should not matter that we switched back.
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No, the carbon tax was revenue neutral not the HST. The HST made an enormous difference for all business operations in BC. Far less accounting, booking and paper work, less tax as they pay once for HST and not multiple times as with the PST. Massive bonuses from the federal government for simplifying the tax structure. Now that's all gone.

The PST makes operating a business far more costly so prices are now going up as a result. In the end the consumer always pays. Now that we've got PST back costs are rising for business so prices are rising for consumers.

But hey, now we save 12 cents on a coffee from starbucks so I guess it was worth it? lol

Cheers
 
Ahhh bc ferries...............this is why I run my boat from vancouver to bella bella when people ask why the hell you would do that. it would be like 300$ each way on the ferry plus the gas to drive to hardy.
 
I only have to charge 5% Gst instead of 12% hst on my fishing charters and packages
 
Fishtofino said:
I only have to charge 5% Gst instead of 12% hst on my fishing charters and packages
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Another way to look at it is your customer now only has to pay 5% GST instead of 12% HST. I can understand why business liked the HST because it shifted 2 Billion in tax revenue from Business onto the taxpaying public. As far as PST making business far more costly I didn't notice any prices coming down when they originally went from PST to HST and even if they did they would only return to where they were before.
 
Fishtofino said:
I only have to charge 5% Gst instead of 12% hst on my fishing charters and packages
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This is true. However now all your input costs are higher because you can't use the 12% HST you pay on costs as an input tax credit. You will only be able to claim the 5% gst.

So your rods, tackle, bait, repairs, maintenance, electronics, license fees, boat cleaning supplies, food / beverage guests, fishing line, downrigger balls and whatever else you purchase just became 7% more expensive.

Well not a full 7% as you will be able to retrieve a small portion of the PST depending upon how much income you report for the year. But it's far less than what you would get back using the 7% as a direct input tax credit.
 
I rest my case. It's a tax shift from a business to the customer. Good thing is though even a businessman can now get a cheaper haircut like the rest of us. But then again they could probably right that off too.
 
I personally think the gov wants a connecting bridge to the mainland and what better way to change how people feel about that. Drive up prices so most will welcome a modest priced toll bridge. Then Van's gangs can expand into our neighbourhoods and traffic congestion will be an nightmare.
 
terrin said:
I recall being told over and over by Bill Good on NW that the HST tax was revenue nuetral. That being the case it should not matter that we switched back.
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It's rev neutral from a government perspective. Not businesses. For most businesses hst > gst+pst
 
terrin said:
I rest my case. It's a tax shift from a business to the customer. Good thing is though even a businessman can now get a cheaper haircut like the rest of us. But then again they could probably right that off too.
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Yes but you're missing the point. Supply and demand drives prices of goods not taxation. When you reduce the cost of operating a business, that business can then reduce the price of their product while still maintaining the same profit margin. In fact the effect of transitioning from a PST style tax to a value-added style tax is so beneficial to business that price could technically be reduced enough that the increased cost for HST to the consumer is completely negated.

This is not something that happens over night. It take time for this type of change to flow through the entire economy and show any significant effect for consumers. In a healthy economy you will have competing business that drive down prices and with the HST they were able to do so to a greater extent.

In Ontario, government economists came to this conclusion after only the first year and it gets only better for the consumer. BC would've been even better off as consumers had more tax credits and reimbursements for thing like natural gas and electricity.

The School of Public Policy said:
The effect of harmonization was to raise consumer prices in Ontario by an estimated 0.9 percent in July 2010.

By December, the effect of harmonization had fallen to an estimated 0.6 percent, as sellers increasingly adjusted prices to absorb some of the consumer tax increase.

The gradual decline in price impact over time reflects how input tax credits are passed on to consumers by businesses, or how the new taxes are otherwise being absorbed by sellers. These estimates suggest that about two-thirds of new input tax credits are already reflected in lower consumer prices.

Incorporating the compensating income tax changes also enacted by the Ontario government, the reform's net effect at the end of 2010 was extremely small for the average family. Incorporating all the changes, the after-tax real cost of living is estimated to have risen $121, or 0.24 percent of household consumption, for the average family based on December prices.

Most families of below-average income experienced a net gain as a result of the reform, as compensation through the income tax changes more than offset higher taxes on consumption expenditures.

In other words, the net impact of the reform for most families by the end of 2010 was a gain or very small loss in after-tax real incomes. Since input tax credits are likely passed on as lower prices or higher wages only gradually, the long-term positive effect of the policy on the after*tax real incomes of Ontario families is understated by this very short-run estimate of its impacts.
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