Importing a Spyder from the USA to Canada....

[Questions]

Greetings all:

I'm new to this board, but have been reading it for a bit as I'm considering making the plunge into a Spyder RT-S.
Because I live in the wilds of Canada, I don't have a lot of options on any type of local dealer. I do have one several hundred miles from me, but talks with them have not left me with a warm fuzzy feeling about their ability to actually fix any issues with a Spyder, or anything else for that matter.

So with the prospect of NOT having a local dealer, I'm wondering if importing a bike from the USA should be an option? Does anyone know how the BRP warranty would be effected?

Now I have read many times that the dealer involved in your purchase is a very important component. But in my case, my next closest dealer will be 10 - 14 hours away, so I'm wondering if one should look at one of the highly respected dealers in the USA and take advantage of the lower MSRP in the USA compared to Canada.

At the end of the day - getting this thing serviced is going to be a major issue!

Thanks in advance for any light folks can shed on this issue

Cheers

 

[NancysToy]

I do not believe this can be done, either legally or economically. There are many hurdles, if it can.

 

[Questions]

I do not believe this can be done, either legally or economically. There are many hurdles, if it can.

Thanks Scotty - That is sort of what I thought I just was not sure

 

[bullant12]

I do not believe this can be done, either legally or economically. There are many hurdles, if it can.

:agree: Even if your dealer selection is limited, I would keep searching other dealers in Canada rather than making it all the way south. I'm sure there is another dealer in Canada that can give you the ease of buying and service. Good luck and :welcome:

 

[Dudley]

My thinking...see who the closest dealer in the US is to you and use him for service and buy from a Canada dealer. No law says you can't cross over and get serviced, and if you explain to the servicing dealer in the US you might knock 2 birds with one stone.

 

[ARtraveler]

:agree: I think Dudly has a pretty good idea.

 

[Questions]

:agree: Even if your dealer selection is limited, I would keep searching other dealers in Canada rather than making it all the way south. I'm sure there is another dealer in Canada that can give you the ease of buying and service. Good luck and :welcome:

Thanks for the welcome....
You are right, there has to be some better Canadian dealers (and I'm sure there is). This just becomes a distance thing. If it ends up my closest (good) dealer here in canada is say 14 hours away. That very much opens up the use of a US based dealer who might be closer.

My thinking...see who the closest dealer in the US is to you and use him for service and buy from a Canada dealer. No law says you can't cross over and get serviced, and if you explain to the servicing dealer in the US you might knock 2 birds with one stone.

This might very well be an option. But I still need to figure out if a bike purchased in Canada can get warranty coverage in the USA or the other way around....

Thanks everyone for your help

 

[Dudley]

Thanks for the welcome....
You are right, there has to be some better Canadian dealers (and I'm sure there is). This just becomes a distance thing. If it ends up my closest (good) dealer here in canada is say 14 hours away. That very much opens up the use of a US based dealer who might be closer.



This might very well be an option. But I still need to figure out if a bike purchased in Canada can get warranty coverage in the USA or the other way around....

Thanks everyone for your help

I would think that your biggest hassle will be in the import legal quagmire. I read somewhere about that but I can't remember where. So maybe step one will be calling your Canadian motor vehicle and find out what all is involved in buying US and registering Canadian. As for the warranty, warranty should be warranty...I would think.

 

[bigbob 321]

Greetings all:

I'm new to this board, but have been reading it for a bit as I'm considering making the plunge into a Spyder RT-S.
Because I live in the wilds of Canada, I don't have a lot of options on any type of local dealer. I do have one several hundred miles from me, but talks with them have not left me with a warm fuzzy feeling about their ability to actually fix any issues with a Spyder, or anything else for that matter.

So with the prospect of NOT having a local dealer, I'm wondering if importing a bike from the USA should be an option? Does anyone know how the BRP warranty would be effected?

Now I have read many times that the dealer involved in your purchase is a very important component. But in my case, my next closest dealer will be 10 - 14 hours away, so I'm wondering if one should look at one of the highly respected dealers in the USA and take advantage of the lower MSRP in the USA compared to Canada.

At the end of the day - getting this thing serviced is going to be a major issue!

Thanks in advance for any light folks can shed on this issue

Cheers

You cannot buy a new spyder in the US.
You can buy a used one but not a new one.
Been there, tried that

Ride safe Bob

 

[NorthStar]

When contemplating the purchase of an RT a year or so back I was shocked to learn that the MSRP for the Spyder was way higher in Canada than it is in the U.S. I queried BRP head office about this and the bottom line is I did not get a credible response. My next step was to contact two local U.S. dealers to see if I could purchase one from them since they were my closest dealers. Lo and behold they both said that they were forbidden by BRP to sell any roadsters to Canadians who do not have a valid residence in the U.S.
So, the bottom line is you must purchase your machine from a Canadian supplier if you are a Canadian resident or you will not receive warranty coverage.

Oh, by the way, all OEM add ons for the Spyder are listed in their Cdn. catalogue at prices 20% higher than the U.S. catalogue. Sort of matches the premium purchase price strategy for the bike here in Canada. Oh well, c'est la vie.

 

[Questions]

Thanks everyone - I will try and contact BRP next week and see if I can get the final word on the warranty issue.
As for a bike being used, that is not a big issue as I did that with a tractor a few years ago, where I purchased a new JD tractor and hired a kid to drive it around a parking lot for a few hours before I imported it into Canada.
According to the Canada Customs website, the Can-Am product will not trigger duty when being imported, so now the only outstanding issue is the warranty.

Thanks again

 

[Questions]

You cannot buy a new spyder in the US.
You can buy a used one but not a new one.
Been there, tried that

Ride safe Bob

Hi Bob - just so you know, I just sent you a PM.....

 

[ataDude]

... As for the warranty, warranty should be warranty...I would think.

Nope. Canadian not good in US, US not good in Canada.

.

 

[BajaRon]

The US market usually enjoys lower pricing on just about everything. For example, Arai helmets here in the US are much less expensive than in Europe. There are a few factors for this such as the outrageous tax structure in Europe, (though we here in the land of the free and the home of the brave are doing all we can to catch up to them in this regard).

But the real difference is volume. There are a lot more Arai helmets sold in the US and that gives our buyers a lot of leverage to get lower pricing. The net for Arai is less on each helmet sold in the US as compared to Europe, but the volume more than makes up for it. So the total Net for Arai from US sales far exceeds the total Net for sales in Europe.

I'd say it's the same story for BRP and the Spyder. Bigger sales volume = lower unit pricing. I would be surprised if Canada and BRP don't have things worked out to where there is no way for a Canadian to save money by getting a US Spyder. If that were possible the Canadian dealers would be screaming!

 

[KipDM]

hmmm, and when is an industrious individual going to start buying Spyders, driving them for one month and then selling it used in Canada? especially if they have a big truck that can pull a trailer with 3 Spyders in/on it? oh, how i wish that were me.......then i would have enough to get the tricked out RT that i want....

 

[fastfraser]

I tried to by my RTS Limited from Len in Cuba at Cowtown for about 3,500 cheaper than I could buy it from my locale Canadian dealer . After researching this Len would have to buy and register it Pay the taxes on it and then sell it to me as a used or demo bike . Then I would bring it back through customs and pay duty on it and hope someone would do the warranty work on it or take it back to a closer American dealer . At the end of the day the money that I would have saved didn't justify the added inconvenience .


P.S. Thanks again for the effort Len !!!!

 

[Star Cruiser]

I was in Florida and had warranty work done on my Spyder that I purchased in Canada.

I could not buy an extended waranty from the dealer in the US though. I had to get that up here in Canada. Oddly enough, even that is more expensive up here too!

The question was asked at Daytona in 2009 and the BRP rep said that it was simple economics. Products are sold at what the market will bear. The Canadian economy was better than the US economy and to sell the machines, they had to be priced to what people could (or would ) pay.

I am not sure what happened to NAFTA and the Free Trade Agreement? I could not buy a Ford in Florida and bring it to Canada, but I could buy one using my Florida address and then get the Licence plates transfered to Ontario when I came back. I think that might be possible with the Spyder as well. I never did that though - for the same reasons as Fast Fraser.

 

[bjt]

I am not sure what happened to NAFTA and the Free Trade Agreement? I could not buy a Ford in Florida and bring it to Canada, but I could buy one using my Florida address and then get the Licence plates transfered to Ontario when I came back. I think that might be possible with the Spyder as well. I never did that though - for the same reasons as Fast Fraser.

What I've found regarding NAFTA is all it really helped was to allow the US businesses to move their manufacturing facilities to Mexico to build products with cheap labor and easily sell the products back in the USA. If we're lucky, we might get the benefit of slightly cheaper prices on those products but at the cost of thousands of US jobs. More likely, the companies just reap bigger profits and we pay the same price for US made vs. Mexico made products.

 

[Questions]

Thanks for your input on this......
It was good to hear you accessed your Canadian warranty at a US dealer. That would lend one to believe that it would also work the other way around.

I was in Florida and had warranty work done on my Spyder that I purchased in Canada.

I could not buy an extended waranty from the dealer in the US though. I had to get that up here in Canada. Oddly enough, even that is more expensive up here too!

The question was asked at Daytona in 2009 and the BRP rep said that it was simple economics. Products are sold at what the market will bear. The Canadian economy was better than the US economy and to sell the machines, they had to be priced to what people could (or would ) pay.

I am not sure what happened to NAFTA and the Free Trade Agreement? I could not buy a Ford in Florida and bring it to Canada, but I could buy one using my Florida address and then get the Licence plates transfered to Ontario when I came back. I think that might be possible with the Spyder as well. I never did that though - for the same reasons as Fast Fraser.