Import bike from Canada?

[warkshop]

Perchance someone who has gone down this road can help me. I am considering buy a 1948 UL Harley a fellow has in Ontario. I'm thinking since NAFTA that bringing in a vintage bike is not a big deal. Am i right? Cha-ching at the border? All input is appreciated. I am new to the forum, been a club member for a short while. I am a self employed bike painter/sidecar seller/installer in south eastern Ohio. Have ridden both on and off road since 1964 and truth be told i am bike obsessed! Anyone who'd rather type than talk,,,740-538-4746 8AM-8PM Eastern time. bob wark

[Jerry Wieland]

Two things - US made products have "free right to passage" home and second off automobiles and parts have free passage because of the huge volume of parts that cross the border between the car makers different plants. This agreement was reached decades ago because politicitions figured it would be a wash.

I re-imported many Harleys and a few Indian bikes from Quebec a few years ago and never paid a dime on any of them. Sometimes I had to declare them and sometimes not.

Jerry

[sirhrmechanic]

Did it a year ago with my EL. Couldn't be easier.

No Cha Ching at border. They won't charge you a cent. If it was made in USA... it comes back to USA gratis. The only issue I had was a couple of the wags at customs (and being an LEO, I know most of them) suggesting that they needed to keep the bike there for at least several weeks until they finished riding it.

Biggest thing I made sure to do was declare cash as I went into Canada. Because taking more than, I think, 1000 in cash out of the country requires paperwork. Not an issue. you go to the Canadian Border and say you are buying an antique motorcycle and are bringing XXXX in cash into the country. They give you a form, you fill it out, you are on your way. If you are paying another way, no worries.

If you know what border crossing you will be using, you can e-mail USCBP and ask them if there will be any issues (I did this) and they will respond "no." Take the printout with you.

It will be far easier than you think.

Cheers,

Sirhr

[Lonnie]

A friend within the last six months purchased an almost completely original panhead via Ebay from Canada. In order to bring it back into the U.S., he had to get documentation from Harley-Davidson that it was manufactured in the States. Telling Canada Customs that there had never been a Harley-Davidson manufacturing plant or even an assembly plant in Canada was not sufficient. I suppose it depends on where the entry point is and who is in charge. Once the documentation was furnished, everything was fine. No duties since the bike was "coming home".

[warkshop]

Thank you all very much. This puts me one step closer to my dream bike!
Best Regards, bob wark
PS you may find my website of interest warkshop.com