FZ6 buying experience - it could happen to you!

[mckracker]

I just imported a 08 FZ6 Raven on the 25th of April. Bought the bike from a dealer in Tonawanda NY, about 10 to 15 mins from the border. Paid 6650. The dealer had all the paperwork I needed and knew a lot about the import, as they sell a lot of bikes, sleds and quads to Canadians. They faxed the title to the boarder 3 days prior to me getting there. I rented a uhaul trailer to pick it up.

At the border, had a bit of trouble finding the export office. Spent about 5 minutes there and it was done. At the Canadian border filled out the Form 1 and paid the GST. One of the officers was to check my paperwork before I left the office. She went through every piece of paper and asked a lot of questions, scattered the papers all over the desk. Told me I was good to go and clean up my mess of paperwork. She was the only bitter person I talked to. Everyone else was pleasant.

When I got home, went to RIV.ca site and paid the 205 dollars, scanned my recall clearance documents and emailed them to RIV. On monday I called RIV to see if they got my paperwork. An hour later they emailed me the inspection form. Went to Canadian Tire, then to the licensing office paid the PST and for the plate. Bike is on the road.

The process for me went very smooth, thankfully. Hope I didnt hijack the thread but just wanted to give my story. Great site.

 

[SirIsaac]

Zack,
Regarding the PST, are you sure you paid any tax to the State of New York? I cannot speak for New York, but in Ohio if I go to Kentucky to buy a vehicle, I do not have to pay Kentucky sales tax. When I register the vehicle in Ohio, I then must pay Ohio sales tax (plus the applicable additional county sales tax.) So check your invoice, if you didn't pay any tax to New York, then you have no beef. If you did pay sales tax to New York, I'd say your beef is with them, unless their laws require charging sales tax to everyone. If buyers could avoid paying sales tax by buying a vehicle in another state, nobody (except maybe residents of Alaska and Hawaii) would buy in their home state. It would be worth driving to the nearest state to save the hundreds or thousands of dollars.

 

[HavBlue]

HavBlue beats me and common sense big time! That was one of the points why we did it in the first place. I will definitely investigate this issue further. Zack

Just a thought but did you happen to write a check or use a credit card for the sales tax on the sale that never took place in Canada? If so, put a stop to it until it is established as a valid issue. Takes all the hassle out of fighting to get it back if they didn't deserve it.

 

[segue00]

Here in Massachusetts, we pay our state sales tax to the RMV when you first register the vehicle no matter where you bought it.

 

[HavBlue]

Here in Massachusetts, we pay our state sales tax to the RMV when you first register the vehicle no matter where you bought it.

Is it actually sales tax or is it the taxes you would normally pay during the registration process? When we came to Kentucky with our California registered vehicles they wanted tax too but we later found this was the tax which was part of the registration process. In California the sales tax is based on where that vehicle will be registered and garaged.

Now, if the tax you are paying is actually sales tax and lets say you bought the bike in New York and paid a sales tax there, I would have to respectfully request they seek their tax from New York as you have already paid sales tax on the purchase. Now, in my case if they chose not to do this and wanted to charge me for sales tax a second time, I would, and have gone without registration. This happened with the FZ6 which remained registered in California because of a valuation issue the first year we were here. I wasn't willing to pay the registration fees based on their value of the vehicle which was over the top so much the fees were actually more than California if you can believe that.

 

[segue00]

When you buy or lease a vehicle, the license fee, sales tax and title costs are collected by the state agency RMV.

 

[Zack]

Mckracker I am glad you had easy time bringing a bike over. Nobody spoiled your day. I wish it was like that for as. I am sure happy that bike is in garage and I am still glad we did it.

In regards to tax it looks like we put fuel into the fire. Everybody has opinion about that. Here is how I see it.

Our Invoice says:
Unit: 6599.00
- - - - - - - -
Vehicle tax: 0.00
Sales tax: 0.00
Doc Fees: 0.00
License Fees: 0.00
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

PST is Provincial Sales Tax (8%) and is charged by the merchant if you purchased something at the spot. If person orders something from another province (State) merchant shall not charge that tax. It is paid only by residents of the same Province (State).
If you take in account that we purchased a bike from USA (State of NY) for all practical reasons it is not even neighboring province (state) but rather foreign country. Same as it was purchased from Japan or Belgium or wherever else.
If you ordered CCTV camera from me and it's exported out you I am not allowed to charge PST for that purchase. Simple as that. Looking it in reversal why would I have to pay PST tax for something I purchased from USA?
I am right or wrong?

Zack

 

[rottenkid]

mckracker, did you purchase that at Freewheelin cycle? I grew up 5 minutes from there. I bought my first bike (Ninja 500, back in 1990) from them.

 

[tolgatt]

you guys are still missing a very important point..as i told before,,do not compare a motorcycle with a cell phone that you purchased online...This is a motor vehicle and taxes work differently....pst is collected by motor vehicle bureau here in Ontario..it doesnt matter where you purchased your vehicle,,,,if you want to ride or drive it in Ontario,,you have to pay your Provincial Sales Tax.....if you have purchased your vehicle from a dealership you also have to pay gst with it...

i was thinking of the option of Zack could have also asked to pay NY taxes on the bike,,but ive seen that they didnt charge taxes,,which is the right thing to do....i was going to say if they charged tax,,that is the one Zack should question,since this is not a vehicle that is registered in NY....

So......i really dont see any problem,,,no matter where you buy your vehicle you have to pay GST if you bring it into the country and pay PST to put it on the road....if it was in Alberta,,,,no PST would have paid since there is no such thing as PST there...
comparing vehicles with other electronics or else is just a waste of time....

 

[Zack]

As last info I did complaint to tax office and believe it or not lady called me yesterday. She said that it is posted in the WEB site that residents pay PST on imported vehicle. Short of suing Government there would not be a practical way to recover tax paid.
Unofficially she agreed that it doesn't make much sense (as many other taxes) to charge sales tax on something purchased in foreign country.
So much for that.

Zack

 

[Pirosko]

Sorry about the experience, but it won't ever happen to me as I would never buy a vehicle in another country, and yes, the USA is another country. I purchased my 2006 FZ6 from a local dealer, new with full warranty for $8300, with one visit to dealer the day I bought it, bike delivered to my house in 4 days with license and registraton in hand, no police with handguns drawn, and no offcials with attitude! They even suggested insurance company which costs me $550 per year. All in all I think my costs were about the same if not less if you take into account lost time, gasoline, bridge tolls, plus the stress of being at the end of a gun barrel. Yikes! Expensive and stressfull lesson learned here for all. What may seem cheaper upfront may bite you in the end.

I don't intend to be mean or unfeeling, but many I know go cross border shopping not realizing hidden costs to their ventures.

Anyway, you have the bike now, so enjoy the ride!!

 

[sideslider]

that's amazing, my experience with the us/canadian border is that it usually is harder to get into canada the the us.

so was the savings worth all of the trouble? and did you subtract gas from the total savings?

may have been easier to buy a slightly used fz6 locally..

glad you got it though

 

[Zack]

Hi guys (Pirosko, sideslider), thank you for posts.
Total savings were 1800-1900 dollars, would be a bit more if we didn't have to store (and pay for it) 2 times in Buffalo.

Did it worth? I don't know. That is why I wrote whole thing so everybody can judge and learn for themselves.

If you look at money figure itself, savings paid for 2 helmets, 2 gloves, 2 jackets and 2 of the M2 courses with Humber College.

If you look at aggravations it didn't. Consider that I would pay about 9600-9800 for ready to go buy at local dealer. In 2 days bike would be ready for pickup.

While I was at RIV office in Etobicoke people around me were importing nice cars in bunches. In the end of the story when you look at it in garage that beauty makes up for everything ...

 

[Pirosko]

Hey Zack, no problem, it is nice to look at, and more fun to ride. So just look forwrad from here. Regards the cars, a guy I worked with purchased a higher end Ferrari from Kentucky or somewhere further south. No he is not rich, just a car buff, but it seemd worth it for him and all the hassels to have it delivered over the border. So maybe getting something very high end is worth it, not that our FZ6'rs are not high end!!! Enjoy.

 

[Yankee]

It is definitely worthwhile to import from US after learninig from Zack's story and numerous emails asking Zack all questions.

My story was a lot easier than Zack. Back in June, I left home at 8AM driving a van to buffalo, it was only 3pm when my bike reached home (including paying GST/US Custom stamp/RIV payment/CanTire inspection). I saved even more because I purchased my US dollar when $100 CAD = $108 USD. Overall, my saving was close to $2300 after factoring in gas and cargo van rental.

It was a fun experience if you done enough homework before picking up your bike.

I also like to thank Zack :rockon: again for being so helpful. I am very happy with my new FZ6.