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Has anyone had experience importing a Canadian unit (originally manufactured in USA & exported to Canada), and then trading it in on a unit from a US dealer?
We're from Alberta, Canada and have been travelling through the warmer States to escape the cold & snow back home! Found a nice Newmar Mountain Aire that we'd really like to buy & trade in our HR Endeavour. The dealer told us "no problem" importing the unit but I'm finding the information isn't easily found via the internet.
So far I have learned that CBP requires form 7501 and EPA requires form 3520-01. We will need to have the unit inspected by CBP and I think DOT requires form HS-7.
Any tips/advice on this topic greatly appreciated. Was it worth it? When we do the math, given the value of the Canadian dollar to the US dollar, we think this is a good deal.
I looked into that in May last year regarding our fifth wheel. Same story - manufactured in the US, exported and sold (to us) in Canada.
The paperwork necessary wouldn't have been too bad and I calculated about 2k in expenses to get the unit imported (plus the cost to drive it to the trade in location). Problem is you can not import while being in the US. You have to drive home and then import properly. However, a lot of dealers are familiar with the procedure and some even provide full service regarding the process.
We finally decided against this route mostly for the reason we weren't better off than trading in in Canada. The high US Dollar would have given us a nice trade in value but on the other hand we would have bought in US Dollar too - where the exchange rate wasn't in our favour. Also RV prices in Canada have gone up a lot within the last two years and so have trade in values. After all we would have saved less than 1k all costs considered. But that might be different in your case. It depends on what you buy.
I would only import with an appraisal and fixed trade in value in hand from the buyer. If the promised trade in value is contingent on a thorough inspection when bringing the unit to the dealership you might find yourself in a very uncomfortable situation: if the buyer finds enough problems to lower the trade in value substantially you're stuck. The unit is already imported and you have little choice but selling at a lower price.
Good luck with your sale and save travels
Bernd
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2009 Alpenlite 31CK Limited
2016 Northern Lite 10.2 CD SE
both hauled by 2015 GMC Sierra 3500HD Dually (one at a time ...)
