Purchasing a truck from Canada

Neil Stratton · Jul 8, 2017

Hey guys,

I'm jumping from a pickup a trailer to a straight truck for our business. I found a Volvo truck with a 24' box that seems like it would work perfect for us.

The only problem is it is in Canada. The price is right, but I am concerned with import duties and taxes.

The information I found relates to imports duties of 25%. But I am not clear if this applies to this Volvo that was manufactured in the US.

The US dollar is strong and bringing down the Canadian prices. But if I am wasting money with import duties of 25%, it may not be worth it.

Does anyone have real world experiences for buying CMVs from Canada? What other issues am I facing ahead if I make this purchase?

Any helpful input would greatly be appreciated.

Andyinchville1 · Jul 27, 2017

I have family living in Detroit (just a hop skip and a jump from the border) and looking at Canadian vehicles they are pretty much our vehicles with the exception of the gauges all being in metric.

Some people used to buy cars over there when the dollar was strong and simply drive then over and rebadge them for use in the USA...

By rebadging I mean getting VIN numbers (plates / door stickers etc) from a wrecked USA vehicle (wrecked but NOT officially titled as wrecked or salvage....i.e. a clean title) or a USA vehicle of similar type but really mangy (i.e. sitting in a field with parts missing). and by just changing out the respective stickers / tags on the good Canadian vehicle....it "becomes" a USA vehicle

Oh...if you want to be more thorough, switch out the instruments so they read in English and not metric.

While the above may not be totally kosher and on close examination things can be found out (example engine serial numbers will or can be a clue to the vehicles actual origin etc...) most people don't go that far and simply look at vin numbers and MFG stickers on the doors etc...

The further you live from the border, the less scrutiny you may encounter.... (as an example, merchants in detroit are more observant and object if you try to slide them Canadian Quarters in lieu of American quarters (due to lesser value) but if you did the same thing further away chances are the people wouldn't even notice the difference and would accept the Canadian quarters as quarters since they are basically the same size).

As far as bringing something over "formally" , I would guess there would be mucho paperwork., costs, and rules to follow....sigh.

Good luck and keep us posted if you do it "formally".....i'd be curious to know what it takes to do it that way.

floridawheels · Jul 27, 2017

I have been watching this thread since day 1 with some interest. I was hoping there would be several responses, I'm surprised there has only been 1.

My question is simple: What does it take to purchase a truck from Canada and bring it back into the US to use it commercial here? Specifically a class 8 semi tractor if it makes any difference.

Treadmill · Jul 28, 2017

floridawheels said:
I have been watching this thread since day 1 with some interest. I was hoping there would be several responses, I'm surprised there has only been 1.

My question is simple: What does it take to purchase a truck from Canada and bring it back into the US to use it commercial here? Specifically a class 8 semi tractor if it makes any difference.

This probably isn't the proper place for this post as well as probably the wrong site to post to for this info regarding this topic. Don't really know which site to recommend.

floridawheels · Jul 28, 2017

What makes you say that?

This is a site full of people that buy both new and used trucks for commercial use in the US all the time, is it not?

Presumably, some of those people may have purchased a truck from Canada and gone through the process, whatever that process is.

I assume there is a process and that it is not illegal to do so. Even if it is illegal to do so, asking the question here should not be a problem as the answer would be something like, "It would be nice if you could do that but you can't. It is not legal to do so and this is the reason it is not legal...."

However, I find it hard to believe there is no legal process to get a truck from Canada and use it here.

I do find it confusing that this is an inappropriate place to ask a question that clearly involves trucking. I suppose it may not be in the correct subheading in the forum, I don't know what subheading it's under, I didn't make the original post. I assume if it is incorrectly located a forum officer can, and will relocate it if it's current location is problematic for some reason. Beyond that, I don't understand why this is not an appropriate place to ask a question about truck acquisition from Canada.

scottm4211 · Jul 28, 2017

Importing a Motor Vehicle | U.S. Customs and Border Protection

floridawheels · Jul 28, 2017

scottm4211 said:
Importing a Motor Vehicle | U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Thanks..

Don't know why I didn't think to look for something like that. Almost everything is online these days, no reason this shouldn't be as well.

I'll take a look at it later tonight.

Treadmill · Jul 28, 2017

floridawheels said:
What makes you say that?

This is a site full of people that buy both new and used trucks for commercial use in the US all the time, is it not?

Presumably, some of those people may have purchased a truck from Canada and gone through the process, whatever that process is.

I assume there is a process and that it is not illegal to do so. Even if it is illegal to do so, asking the question here should not be a problem as the answer would be something like, "It would be nice if you could do that but you can't. It is not legal to do so and this is the reason it is not legal...."

However, I find it hard to believe there is no legal process to get a truck from Canada and use it here.

I do find it confusing that this is an inappropriate place to ask a question that clearly involves trucking. I suppose it may not be in the correct subheading in the forum, I don't know what subheading it's under, I didn't make the original post. I assume if it is incorrectly located a forum officer can, and will relocate it if it's current location is problematic for some reason. Beyond that, I don't understand why this is not an appropriate place to ask a question about truck acquisition from Canada.

I didn't see anything wrong with his post. I was just suggesting he might get better results using another forum to get his answer. I know it can be done because I see it all the time when I cross into US from Canada. By the way in the 20 yrs that I have been expediting I do not know of one such person who has done this.

scottm4211 · Jul 28, 2017

I've bought 5 vans (all under 10k gvw) from the US and imported to Canada. It's pretty straightforward but not sure about doing it the other way.

floridawheels · Jul 28, 2017

I didn't see anything wrong with his post. I was just suggesting he might get better results using another forum to get his answer. I know it can be done because I see it all the time when I cross into US from Canada. By the way in the 20 yrs that I have been expediting I do not know of one such person who has done this.

Oh, OK, no problem.. I misunderstood your post to mean it was wrong to post it here like it was a violation of terms or something..