Hi all,
I just wanted to share my experiences, having just recently immigrated from the USA to Ontario, with regards to importing my vehicle - a 2003 Chevy Avalanche, in the hope that it will save someone else the hoops we have been through.
Basically, for those that don't know, a pick up vehicle here is considered a Commercial Vehicle - even if it is for personal use only......more to come on this below:
So after going through the border processes (72hrs notice, Exporting, importing, Form 1, RIV, Safety inspection etc) which I know have been well covered elsewhere on this site, the final stage is registering the vehicle at ServiceOntario so you can get your Ontario plates and finally close out the import process.....
Easy eh? Well as it turns out, 2.5 weeks, 4 ServiceOntarios and a bunch of phone calls later we are done and have our plates. Why the hassle? Let me explain:
So the whole thing hinges on the fact that Ontario views pick up vehicles as Commercial vehicles, (not personal vehicles like passenger cars) even though you will be using the truck for personal use. Consequently in order to process the vehicle they need to assign an Unladen Shipped Weight to the registration (note: NOT Gross Vehicle Weight or GVWR which is what you see on your vehicle sticker). All new vehicles in Canada are initially titled with a Shipping weight which the Manufacturer provides with each New vehicle, therefore every transfer/renewal of tabs etc thereafter references this weight and no-one questions it.
On the US titles, vehicles are assigned a weight fee category based on the price of the vehicle when new (MSRP) not the actual weight, so ServiceOntario has no way to convert this over to the new Ontario registration. So after a lot of back and forth on the phone, and in person, the only way to resolve this is to visit a MTO approved weigh scale facility - which you think would be easy to find eh? We ended up going to a GM dealership who were super helpful, had never come across this issue before, but pointed us in the direction of a super helpful weigh scale facility that weighed our vehicle for only $10!!
Note: Tell the weigh scale facility that you need the Unladen Shipped Weight (from what I can tell it is very similar to Curb weight) which basically means empty your vehicle of all cargo and people (inc the driver) before weighing. Once weighed have them add the Vehicle VIN to the receipt to show it is for this vehicle, and off you go, hopefully to ServiceOntario to now hand over all docs (US Title, Form 1, Safety Inspection, Weight receipt, your casual goods accounting document (showing if taxes were paid at the border), plus a couple of forms they will give you, and some cash for your new plates), breathe a sigh of relief that it's all over and head over to Tim Hortons for a Mocha Iced Capp, a Honey Cruller and a well earned sit down! You've earned it! ;-)
Thanks for reading!
I just wanted to share my experiences, having just recently immigrated from the USA to Ontario, with regards to importing my vehicle - a 2003 Chevy Avalanche, in the hope that it will save someone else the hoops we have been through.
Basically, for those that don't know, a pick up vehicle here is considered a Commercial Vehicle - even if it is for personal use only......more to come on this below:
So after going through the border processes (72hrs notice, Exporting, importing, Form 1, RIV, Safety inspection etc) which I know have been well covered elsewhere on this site, the final stage is registering the vehicle at ServiceOntario so you can get your Ontario plates and finally close out the import process.....
Easy eh? Well as it turns out, 2.5 weeks, 4 ServiceOntarios and a bunch of phone calls later we are done and have our plates. Why the hassle? Let me explain:
So the whole thing hinges on the fact that Ontario views pick up vehicles as Commercial vehicles, (not personal vehicles like passenger cars) even though you will be using the truck for personal use. Consequently in order to process the vehicle they need to assign an Unladen Shipped Weight to the registration (note: NOT Gross Vehicle Weight or GVWR which is what you see on your vehicle sticker). All new vehicles in Canada are initially titled with a Shipping weight which the Manufacturer provides with each New vehicle, therefore every transfer/renewal of tabs etc thereafter references this weight and no-one questions it.
On the US titles, vehicles are assigned a weight fee category based on the price of the vehicle when new (MSRP) not the actual weight, so ServiceOntario has no way to convert this over to the new Ontario registration. So after a lot of back and forth on the phone, and in person, the only way to resolve this is to visit a MTO approved weigh scale facility - which you think would be easy to find eh? We ended up going to a GM dealership who were super helpful, had never come across this issue before, but pointed us in the direction of a super helpful weigh scale facility that weighed our vehicle for only $10!!
Note: Tell the weigh scale facility that you need the Unladen Shipped Weight (from what I can tell it is very similar to Curb weight) which basically means empty your vehicle of all cargo and people (inc the driver) before weighing. Once weighed have them add the Vehicle VIN to the receipt to show it is for this vehicle, and off you go, hopefully to ServiceOntario to now hand over all docs (US Title, Form 1, Safety Inspection, Weight receipt, your casual goods accounting document (showing if taxes were paid at the border), plus a couple of forms they will give you, and some cash for your new plates), breathe a sigh of relief that it's all over and head over to Tim Hortons for a Mocha Iced Capp, a Honey Cruller and a well earned sit down! You've earned it! ;-)
Thanks for reading!
