Tuesday, January 29, 2008

BMW Motorcyle Imports from the US - BMW "Unhappy" With Rule Bending

Submitted by: UCanImport Subscriber
Comments welcomed

Well, things are not all good in the BMW motorcycle import world. The TC (Transport Canada) listing has changed for BMW motorcycles as of Jan15 to the same as that for cars.

After a first discussion in early January with a RIV service person, who told me that the requirements placed on me would be those listed on the web as of the time I purchased the motorcycle, I did not panic and felt comfortable waiting until spring to pick it up in Michigan and ride it home. However, in talking with RIV now, they are telling me BMW changed their rules back in Nov of 2007 regardless of what was on the website at any point in time and I would have to get both a letter of admissibility for BMW Canada and the Recall Clearance letter from BMW Canada. The recent person I talked to indicated that maybe RIV would let me slip around the rules as she knew of one case that had happened the week before, however in checking with her supervisor, she was advised that they would stick hard to the BMW rules as they had rec'd "unhappy" comments from BMW.

In talking directly with BMW, they have sent me a message that indicates that they are not requiring letters of admissibility for motorcycles and that the RIV/TC info indicating that is incorrect and would be corrected soon. They did confirm however that they are requiring recall clearance letters from BMW Canada Dealers at a cost of $500.

So I don't know exactly what the situation will be when I do bring it home. I do know it will be more hassle and more money that what was indicated on the website at the time of my purchase and than what I was told by the intital RIV service person.

Thought you might be interested in this bit of info.

2 comments:

UCANIMPORT PUBLICATIONS said...

Submitted by: UCanImport Subscriber

Just to add to all this BMW import Pain. Purchased a 2006 325i in December and brought it across the border. You all know the story about RIV not excepting the US recall letters.

So I discussed with BMW Canada and the said that this Model (E90) would require DRL, Child restraint kit and an instrument cluster. Why the Instrument cluster?? It has programming instructions that interface with the DRL and needs to be replaced.

So, I am to pay $500 for DRL $1,100 for the cluster part and $800 for the programming. Yes I'm pissed off! Does anyone know about this? Can anyone find technical information that the cluster must be replaced in conjunction with the DRL? Or have I just been had by BMW dealer and BMW Canada!

UCANIMPORT PUBLICATIONS said...

Please see this posting from http://www.carswithoutborders.com

My brother imported a 2007 BMW 328i Hardtop Convertible just weeks before this whole mess started with BMW Canada.

He did not have to deal with a Canadian BMW dealership at all. The US dealer supplied him with a service department printout of any recalls that were performed, this printout stated at the bottom that there was no outstanding recalls at that time.

He paid his transport company an extra couple of hundred dollars to act as his broker as well. They did all the necessary paperwork to get the car through customs and delivered it to his house. He turned on the daytime running lights himself... all new BMW's are done through the driver accessible adjustments.

He then took it to Canadian Tire so they could inspect it to make sure it meets the Canadian Standards. The guy at Canadian Tire told him the only thing they check for is to make sure the daytime running lights are working. Other than that, he told him the US cars are the exact same as the Canadian cars. It was at Canadian Tire for 10 minutes.

He bought the car with 500 miles on it so it was technically a "used car". If you import a "used car" into Canada from the United States you DO NOT have to have the instrument cluster changed as long as it has both MPH and km/h readings.

You only have to change out the instrument cluster so that the main readings are km/h if you import a "new" car. Used cars are ok aslong as it display both readings, even if the km/h are the small ones on the inner part of the dial.

By the way, don't blame the conservative government... the liberals made up the RIV department and put them on the destructive course of helping the auto manufacturers ripoff the Canadian public. Lets hope that the Conservatives put an end to it or at least change it so its fair.