Warranty Transfer Process
If you are importing a BMW vehicle from the US, you may come across conflicting information on the process.
For example, RIV doesn't require a Letter of Compliance from BMW Canada in order to release the Federal Inspection Form (Form 2) to you. You can register your vehicle in Canada without a BMW Canada Letter of Compliance. However, BMW Canada insists that one of its registered Canadian dealerships must perform modifications to your newly-imported vehicle, often to the tune of $3,000. They also insist that once the modifications are done, they must issue a Letter of Compliance at a cost of $500.
While the Letter of Compliance is not required for RIV/Transport Canada, BMW insists it is required for Warranty Protection on the balance of your vehicle's warranty.
This is a verbatim response to a customer query:
"Dear [BMW X3 Importer];
Thank you very much for your reply email.
We are truly sorry for the experience that you did receive at Calgary BMW and we can certainly look into this further if you would like us to do so.
However our response does remain unchanged regarding reimbursement of the costs associated with importing your vehicle from the United States. You are correct in stating that there are ways to go about importing your vehicle into Canada without paying the $500.00, but these ways are not suggested by BMW Canada as your vehicle would not be properly registered with us and the remaining portion of your warranty would not be validated.
If there is anything else that we can help with please email back and we would be glad to assist.
Sincerely,
Matthew
Customer Interaction Specialist
BMW Canada Inc. "
When asked by the importer to verify that folks need to "register" their imported vehicle with BMW Canada in order to have the warranty recognised, this was Matthew's response.
"Dear [BMW X3 Importer]
Thank you very much for responding.
I have contacted Calgary BMW and spoken with Service Manager Kevin Mah regarding your concerns and we certainly aim to improve the quality of service that you receive during your next visits. Regarding the importation of your vehicle, there is a difference between vehicles that are visiting from the United States and vehicles that have permanently moved to Canada and not registered their vehicle properly with BMW Canada. We certainly do assist our counterparts in the United States by honoring the warranty with customers visiting, but with vehicles that have moved to Canada permanently we do ask that the importation procedures that you have followed are performed.
I hope that this provides clarification regarding your concerns and if you would like to discuss these issues further please do feel free to contact me directly at 1-800-567-2691 and ask for extension 5069.
Sincerely,
Matthew
Customer Interaction Specialist
BMW Canada Inc. "
BMW does not come out and state that they will refuse to honour the warranty if the $500 is not paid for a "registration" fee. So, what exactly is their policy? We have long decided that BMW is seeking these financial rewards to appease their Canadian dealerships who have lost sales to importers seeking better deals in the US.
We encourage other readers to share their experiences. Like you, we are frustrated by the rules that BMW imposes and the penalties they charge.
If you have paid these fees to BMW, you may wish to put your name on the list of potential plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit. If so, please e-mail info@ucanimport.com and we will add your contact information to the growing list.
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7 comments:
Likewise with Mercedes Benz. I recently imported a 2006 ML class and MB requires you to take your vehicle to a Canadian MB Dealer to have the modifications completed. However, you can easily have your mercedes-benz vehicle registered in Canada without it ever seeing a Canadian dealer, if you don't care to transfer the warranty. In my case, I only had 3 months remaining on the factory warranty anyway so paying them $2000+ in modifications seemed silly.
When I contact RIV for my BMW R1150RTP they stated I needed to submit the recall letter to get the form 2 released. How did you go about not having to do that? If not, add me to the list for the lawsuit, as I will be forking over $500.
John, unfortunately, RIV will not release Form 2 without proof of no outstanding recalls. There are 2 ways to provide this information to RIV.
1. Negotiate the Warranty Inquiry Report from the BMW dealership as part of your vehicle purchase. This screen printout shows if any recalls are outstanding on the vehicle. With this proof in hand, RIV will release Form 2;
2. If you were unable to obtain the printout from the US dealership, then you will have to take your vehicle to a Canadian BMW dealership and have them modify the vehicle based on BMW-mandated requirements. Once they complete their modifications, which may include an instrument cluster changeover and a heater module conversion, they will issue a compliance letter which will confirm to RIV that there are no recalls outstanding on the vehicle. This letter costs $500.
Please e-mail your contact info to info@ucanimport.com and we will add your name to the lawsuit database.
I just purchased a X3 from US - but with 83,000 kms....basically no warranty, if I get the Recall letter form the seller, I do not have to get the modifications done from BMW dealership?
Thanks for your post.
Recall printouts show whether the vehicle has an open recall campaign, and RIV will accept this printout as part of the documents required to release Form 2.
Certain modifications may be listed on Form 2 and if those cannot be completed by a mechanic other than the local BMW dealership in Canada, you will have to go to the dealership to have the modifications completed.
It is prudent to first determine what modifications are required, figure out whether they can be done in the US or in Canada and whether you can avoid going to the BMW dealership.
Don't mistake the recall printout for a free pass.
Thanks - I have an update with my X3.
Only modifcation is day time running lights re-programming which BMW charge $250. Plus the recall letter $500 (but I am getting from USA for free - seller getting it) I emailed RIV, and they claimed this was fine. Other than that, everything was easy.
On Mercedes M-Class - being built in USA...is duty not supposed to be paid - as they are assembled in Alabama?? does anyone know?
Thanks for posting your importing experiences. You'll be helping a number of people.
To determine duty payable, just read the VIN. If the VIN begins with a letter such as "W" the vehicle was made in Germany. ("J" for Japan, and so on.) If the VIN begins with a number that is 1,2,3,4 or 5, the vehicle was made in a NAFTA country and is therefore exempt from duty at the time of importation into Canada.
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