Informed Importer Receives Refund From BMW
Comments from UCanImport reader:
I am pleased to announce that I was able to get my $350.00 for the Letter of Admissibility refunded from BMW/ Mini.
After reading the UCanImport Blog, it prompted me to re-look at the RIV admissibility list and see the changes. Armed with the downloaded RIV info, and the fact that the Mini I am importing has not made it to the border yet, I contacted the issuing Mini dealer and stated that the letter is useless and I would like a refund placed on file towards my required modifications. They complied! The total mods are still going to be $1750.
Thanks for the new info on being able to get the Recall letter from a US dealer, that will save me another $500!!
I love this site!
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19 comments:
Mine was refused. Could you tell us when you ordered the letter and when you got it? Thanks.
Can you elaborate on your comment about the Recall letter? Where did you find the information that they will now accept a US dealer recall letter?
Thanks!!!!!
We spoke to RIV and they informed us that they would release Form 2 upon receipt of proof of no recalls. (As well as RIV fee payment and a copy of Form 1.)
This proof could come in the form of an internal dealer printout from the US dealership, or the US offices of the manufacturer.
The recall letter could also be issued from the Canadian offices of the manufacturer after any modifications have been completed.
NOTE: release of Form 2 does not mean that you can bypass any manufacturer-specific modifications that must be completed at your local BMW, MB, Jaguar or Volvo dealerships. It simply means that you have met Transport Canada's preliminary requirements.
To confirm this information, please call RIV at 1-888-848-8240.
I ordered the leeter June 23 and received it on the 25th.
Do I understand uCanimport publications that one can now get a recall letter for a BMW vehicle from an internal dealer printout from the US dealership or the US offices of the manufacturer? How do we go about doing this? Will BMW allow us to go ahead and obtain this from a US dealer? Is this a recent change? We are bringing our car across the border on Thursday, August 6, 2008 and we would love to present the recall letter at this time.
How did garnet order his letter?
Thank you for your questions Splash.
The recall clearance information is required by Transport Canada/RIV. It can come in any of the forms described on their website, the easiest one being the internal system printout from a US dealership.
You may submit the recall letter to RIV at any time. Steps to doing so, including a pre-written letter, and process for obtaining a General Inquiry Number are provided in the UCanImport guide.
If you are unable to get this printout from your BMW dealer in the US,then you will have to wait until your local BMW dealership has completed any manufacturer-required modifications to your imported vehicle before BMW Canada will issue this letter.
Getting the printout from the US dealership is free of charge.
If you wish to see a sample copy, please send us an e-mail to info@ucanimport.com
Garnet's letter refers to the Letter of Admissibility and the refund of the $350 fee, so it doesn't apply to your situation.
Oh, so we still have to pay $500 to obtain the recall letter as I'm sure the BMW dealerships have a directive not to fulfill any requests for this recall letter from Canadians, so that we have to get it from Canada and pay $500. This is protectionism.....I'll email BMW USA right away just to make sure.
Thanks!
Splash
The internal dealer printout in question here is called Vehicle History Report or Warranty Vehicle Inquiry. If there is no outstanding recall on a vehicle, it simply says 'No Open Campaigns'. If you can get this from any dealership in the US or in Canada, you do not have to waste that $500 + tax. RIV will accept the dealer printout in lieu of Recall Clerance Letter. It'll be hard for you to get the printout from Canadian dealer because they work with BMW Canada who still insists that the Recall Clearance Letter from them is the only document RIV/TC accepts, which is not true as we speak.
If you bought yout BMW from a dealer in the US, maybe used, just ask your salesperson to print the report. It's got warning message in red on screen saying that it's confidential info, and that it should not be distributed to 3rd party..., but, if you bought your BMW from a dealer, you are not 3rd party anymore. Rather, you are directly involved party in the purchase transaction, and I think you are entitled to get the report free of charge because that report is nothing but history of vehicle; when it was manufactured, when it was delivered to a dealer, when warranty started, when warranty terminates...
Even if you bought your BMW by private transaction off ebay or something, you might be able to get the report from any dealer, because, after all transactions are completed and if your name is in the buyer's field on the back of the certificate of title, you are the owner of vehicle, and you have rights to get the history of the vehicle.
I am confused. When I read the ebay forum the post by "renegade056" clearly indicates that modification does not need to be performed by BMW.
http://forums.ebay.ca/thread.jspa?threadID=500022243&start=480
All he needs is to pay for the compliance letter ($500) in order to bring his car across the border and he immediately receives Form-1. Form-2 is fetched easily by emailing RIV. Then he made the DRL change himself and brought the car to Canadian Tire for an inspection.
Viola, and that's all he need to import a bimmer at $562.
Thanks for your comments Richard.
1. Form 2 will be released by RIV on proof of no recalls, Form 1 and RIV fee payment. BMW Letter of Compliance is not required by RIV.
NOTE: Compliance letter and recall clearance are two separate items. Compliance refers to meeting Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, whereas no recalls confirms that the vehicle has no current service campaigns underway (Vehicle History Report or Warranty Vehicle Inquiry).
2. Before you proceed with completing any modifications by yourself, please make sure your work doesn't compromise your BMW warranty. If your warranty is void, these modifications may not seem to be such a bargain in the long run. Please check to keep yourself protected.
I finished modification required by BMW Canada, but I heard something weird. As far as I understood, it was necessary to replace the speedometer cluster in Miles with the one in Km to properly activate the DRL, so we were required to replace it.
I asked my service advisor why we needed to have the speedometer cluster in Km only even though the US vehicle already had Miles and Km at the same time and TC wouldn't mind if the cluster had Km on it. He said it would not be necessary for me to replace it if I did not want to.
I asked him if the cost for the modification would be cheaper without replacing the cluster, but he said "No, it would stay the same."
It's weird. #1. The cost of the part, a speedometer cluster, is $1,650, and I have to pay for the part regardless of replacing it or not. #2 BMW Canada insisted that the speedometer in Km was a part of activating DRL. If what the service advisor said was right, it was not the part of DRL, and we would not need to pay for it.
Thanks for your comments Jadis. This circular argument only reinforces our original belief that BMW is going after a money grab.
We welcome your comments on this topic.
I'm confused... I thought that once you had Form 2 from RIV, all you need to do was proceed to Canadian Tire where they would ensure your car meets the requirements (metric units on speedo, DRL, etc.). Once you have Form 2 how can BMW still intervene in the process? Are they somehow forcing Canadian Tire to disqualify the inspection?
Hello virtualrain;
Thanks for your comments and valid questions. As we understand it, BMW Canada has a number of modifications that it prescribes and which can only be completed by one of its Canadian dealerships.
This will allow them to continue to honour the warranty on your vehicle. Of course, if your vehicle is out of the warranty window, then the option to take Form 2 and proceed to Canadian Tire is available to you.
Canadian Tire and other federal inspection centres are the only places who can confirm that your vehicle meets Transport Canada's standards.
If you pass the federal inspection after getting Form 2 from RIV, BMW Canada cannot stop you registering your vehicle in any provinces/territories, provided that your vehicle passes provincial inpection only if your vehicle is used.
Warranty policy, however, is something government authorities cannot control 100%, and BMW Canada might not honour warranty here for the vehicles which do not meet the canadian standards.
Thanks for the clarifications. This is a very important distinction. The BMW requirements calling for an instrument cluster change (for $4-5K) are unnecessary to just get your vehicle registered and insured. That's only required if you want BMW warranty support? If so, you are probably much better off ignoring BMW Canada and ear-marking that $4-5K for repairs in lieu of having a warranty. Alternatively, if you live close to the border, just save up a few minor items and then get them serviced next time you are in the US. Finally, if your engine or transmission blows, I assume the worst case is you either pay for the cluster upgrade at that time to get your warranty compliance from BMW Canada. Either way it seems like you are better off not paying their extortion unless you are extremely risk averse and can't live without the comfort of the warranty. Does this all make sense?
I just imported a US 2006 5 series - an owners DVD comes with the car. In that DVD the 'host' explains how your dealer can easily program your car for day time running lights!! I guess the same car - once it is in Canada suddenly blows up when this is done unless the instrument cluster is changed. (I had one dealer tell me the iDrive had to be replaced too!!)
Come on BMW!
The company that transported my car told me he shipped up a full trailer of BMW's last month - the customer? A BMW Dealer in Vancouver..the same one that wanted to make me buy a new iDrive!!! I wonder if these cars all have new instrument clusters and iDrives???
Please everyone - boycott BMW by having yours serviced at an independent garage - mine is changing the DRL settings for $60!
We too are about to purchase a 2008 BMW 535xi and wondered about getting it serviced in Bellingham to avoid paying BMW Canada their outrageous fees. Is this what you did Virtualrain? Anyone else?
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