Purchasing Used Motorhome Owned By A Canadian

[Mikefpt]

I want to purchase a used motorhome that is owned by a Canadian spending the winter in Fla. He bought it in the US took it into Canada paid Canadian duty tax. He will take it home again in Canada unload it and meet me in Vermont for completion of the sale. Will I be faced with a US duty. Can't find an answer anywhere.

[tbutler]

We purchased a motor home from a Canadian couple in 2001. It was our first motor home and became our home as we full-timed. The motor home was a 1994 Monaco Dynasty and was manufactured in the US. As such, it was exported to Canada where it was sold to the original owner. Since it was manufactured in the US, we didn't have to pay any import taxes. We did however have to get a statement of compliance with US vehicle laws as of the date of manufacture from the manufacturer before we were able to get an import certificate. Most motor homes are manufactured in the US but if the motor home was manufactured in Canada or another foreign country, you will likely have to pay import fees. We could not register the Canadian title in the US without an import certificate. With many manufacturers out of business in recent years, that certificate of compliance may be difficult or impossible to obtain. I strongly suggest that you check with US Customs regarding requirements for importing the motor home you are thinking of purchasing. Assuming that the certificate of compliance with US laws is still required, you may want to contact the manufacturer and obtain that certificate. Once we had the compliance certificate, we filled out the import application and submitted it to Customs. There were no problems with Customs, it was a routine transaction. With the Import certificate in hand, we were able to get a US title issued and get our license plates.

Although our motor home was manufactured in the US and complied with US standards, it did have a metric odometer/speedometer. The MPH numbers on the speedometer were too small to read easily so I created a MPH scale overlay for the speedometer. I also used a spreadsheet to keep track of the kilometers and do the conversion to miles. When we traded the coach for our present coach, it still had the metric odometer/speedometer. It also had daytime running lights which are required in Canada.

[StellersJay]

I had a Canadian camper move in adjacent to me a couple of days ago. He has a fairly new coach (about 2010) and it has suffered major corrosion damage from calcium chloride on the roads. His hydraulic unit for the leveling jacks was leaking because it had rusted through. Also, some of the aluminum trim on his fiberglass coach had galvanic corrosion damage. He has replaced some of the aluminum and other is corrodied for a second time. Just a heads-up to be aware of potential damage from road salt.

Sam