fietsbob

Are you Pre Worrying , or did this already, actually happen ?

it's an old bike, its value has depreciated immensely over all those years..

revcp 

Why not have a friend take you to the bike, pick it up, have your friend drop you off a mile from the border. Ride through customs, go a mile down the road, have your friend pick you back up.

PedalingWalrus

move on to the next available bike store. I don't even know what this is about...I have taken my bike on the roof of my car to Canada countless times. (and returned unharmed)

canamdad

If you are bringing it back yourself and out of Canada for 48 hours, you have a $800 CAD allowance on goods being brought back from US. I have friends in the US to whom I ship goods purchased on line in the US (usually get free shipping to a US address) and then when I go down to visit I bring them back without tax or duty with my $800 allowance. So the suggestion of getting it shipped close to the border is a good one. If you are getting it shipped to you directly from the US then I'm not really sure how it will play out but bike parts in general are duty free to Canada so you could have someone take it apart enough to qualify as parts. Although the law says that anything over $20 CAD is liable for sales tax, in practice I've never had anything taxed if it was under $100 CAD and a couple times have not been taxed over that either. Good luck!

Tranquility

Hi Everyone,
Yes, I guess you're right. My 35-year-old bike is probably worth more in sentimental value than it is in US or Cdn dollars.
It is being shipped by a relative in Portland, OR to Toronto, Canada.

Sadly, the bike store at King & Church Streets in Toronto is long gone. They used to build custom bikes there and carried high-end bikes too. Unfortunately, I threw out the registration tag when I moved from Portland, OR to Toronto. I just got a letter from the university police with my bike's serial number that shows I registered it shortly after I moved to Columbia, MO. I spoke to a couple of bike shop dudes here in Toronto at two different bike shops and they both said I should definitely have it shipped to me. Who should I trust? You guys & gals or them?

If I was to get a bike here what do you recommend as a replacement? The problem is I don't have money to buy a bike here right now.

Thanks for all your help!

dh024

Have it shipped to you as a"gift," with a declared replacement value of $50. Canada Customs likely won't be bothered to try to collect any import fees on it. And if they do, seriously - it will be trivial compared to the cost of a replacement bike. You are worrying needlessly.

Tranquility

Yes, my Miyata 610 (that I bought in 1980) is in Portland, OR and I'm in Toronto. Canadian Customs told me it depends on the officer I get. S/he may charge me 13% duty on my bike. I spent $25 to insure it for $2000 in case I need to replace it. I figured $25 was cheap, however, this may be a red flag to customs. Any thoughts?


Btw to the person who told me to always save my receipts: I found your advice condescending and not helpful It may make you feel better but it is neither kind nor does it help me in this circumstance. If you knew the circumstances you would not have been condescending.

Thank you to those of you genuinely trying to help me.

jefnvk

At risk of sounding rude, if you are worried about the cost of taxes (likely nothing), have you considered how much it is going to be simply to ship? Bikeflights shows about $135-150 in shipping costs, presably without customs taken into consideration as I didn't enter a value. Packing will be another $50 or so on top of that, if your relatives don't do it themselves.

And does the purchased insurance cover shipping? I figure that would be done through the shipper. If it was through the shipper, meaning you already shipped, I'd assume that value would be what Customs looked at.

Happy Feet

Boy. You should just stop for a moment and think before acting and then asking.

You have a 35 year old bike with a replacement value of a couple of hundred dollars. Sentiment has no monetary value. Even with 13% duty that's like.. $26. If they would even bother. You just spent $25 insuring it!
But you put a replacement value of $2000 on it so now the duty will potentially be $260 plus the $25 plus the shipping costs - probably more than you will get from the insurance company anyway.

It a cheap old bike. No one's gonna care until YOU start indicating how expensive YOU think it is. Stop shooting yourself in the foot.

spinnaker

I remember being waned of this for my first tour in Italy. I brought along all the appropriate documentation. after a couple of crossings without being asked I no longer brought the documentation along. I think you are worried about nothing but then again I could be wrong. It might make a difference with you being Canadian crossing back into Canada.

I do know Canada immigration would give me an awful time when I was working there being a US citizen.

One thing for sure. Don't ship it across.

spinnaker

You don't want to ship across borders. I huge customs hassle. I would ship tools and test equipment over and it was always an enormous hassle but far less than trying to explain why a Canadian could not do the job I was there to do. No tools, I could just tell them I was simply visting when crossing over.

jefnvk

Yeah, but to be fair there is a bit of a difference in tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of test equipment in a suitcase, and a $150 30 year old bike.

I can't wait until I start getting to take all that stuff across international borders, I've already got the getting into Canada with a bike down