Importing into Canada

[canacamper]

Hi All, New to this forum, been looking for a 5er for awhile and have decided on a Cruiser. I am trying to deal locally here in Alberta on 2010, but the pricing from RV Wholesalers in Ohio is so much less. Even after the exchange, delivery, inspections, duties, etc. it is still worth while dollar wise. I was wondering if anyone has imported a new Cruiser into Canada and if they had to do any modifications to meet Canadian standards. Any help is appreciated, Thanks.

[mwebber78]

Contact RVW yourself, they have all the information and some if it is online. Those folks sell a lot of trailers to Canada so I'm sure they have a Manager or specific salesperson handle them.

[calgarygringo]

I have been working the same from Calgary on a Cruiser from them. I have done many emails etc. and check with other folks and they set it all up for you. Just do the crappy tire inspection when you get it home and that is it. Pay your gst and fee at the border and yes we do save a bundle compared to what they want here. I plan to do a delivery to Sweetgrass and meet there and just drive it from there to save me a bunch of travelling. If there is anything else you need that you cannot find let me know as I have researched it to death and talked to several others. Just need to get my current unit sold off until I order my nre Cruiser.

[62dno]

Iordered my 2008 CF32BLCruiser from RV Wholesalers and drove down from the Edmonton, AB area to pick it up. I savedover 16 K compared to the best cash price I could wrangle out of any of the Dealers in Alberta at that time. RVW had all the proper paperwork in order for me to cross the Border with and the Import forms took me all of 15 minutes to complete at the Border crossing. All I had to do was pay the GST owing (there is no duty) and arrange for an inspection at Canadian Tire onceI got the Trailer homeso I could Register it. I ordered my Trailer with the CSA certification butyou can still import one withoutthis as it is not a requirement to get it across the Border. A few weeks after the Inspection is completed (which consisted of verifying tire size and capacity) the Registrar of Imported Vehicles will send you a Certification label that you affix to your Trailer adjacent to the Manufactures capacity label.I would certainly do it again!

[canacamper]

Thanks for the info folks.62dno,The warranty work is what concerns me, how has your service been? were do you go to get warranty work done, I am in Drayton Vallley so very close to you.
Did you drive to their location or meet them at the border? Sorry for all the questions but I have not talked to anyone who has gone the importation route, any info is appreciated. Thx

[62dno]

To be honest with you, my Cruiser has never beento a dealer for warranty work. Crossroads builds a very good product, and maybe I have been lucky. The only issues I had to deal with warranty wise were minor fit / finish / trim issues. I dealt with RVW and they shipped me whateverI needed right to my doorstep and I did the repairs myself. If you were to need serious repairs you would surely be put on a waiting list at local Crossroads dealers far behind their customers or you can work with Crossroads and see if any local independent shops will help you out. I learned long ago that most dealers will promise you the world when it comes to service if you buy from them, but once you bring it in to them you quickly find out that you areno longer so special... at least this was the case with the last 2(Non Crossroads) 5th Wheels I have owned.



I drove down to RVW in Lakeview, Ohio and pulled the Trailer home. We made a bit of a holiday / adventureout of the trip and it took us 3 days to go down and 4 days to come back.

[croberts]

I met a family in Buffalo, NY who had just bought the ST31QB in the US. They met the salesman somewhere near the boarder and got no PDI. Nothing major was wrong off the bat, but they didn't know how to work everything, including half of them getting locked IN the trailer.

[calgarygringo]

Like buying anything from a long distance to save money you have to weigh the pros and the cons. If you are like some of us that have been rv ing for years and handy, the odd fix it problem is no big deal. As far as figuring out things in the unit most are very similar and a good walk through and around should point out most things. There are manuals that come with it and good boards like this one with lots of help if you need. If you still fear buying long distance you should probably not worry about saving dollars and buy from your local dealer and sleep better.

[mwebber78]

Crossroads will authorize and independent dealership or RV repair shop to make repairs, so long as you get prior approval.

[ONTHEROAD]

We also bought from RVW. Importing was no problem.



However, we had a wheel fall off 10 miles from RVW!!!

They did some of the repair work but body parts didn't come.

So, an independent RV Shop in High River did the repair work. It was all covered.



However, when we left RVW after the repairs, I noticed that the rear wheels were splayed. I mentioned it to the RVW Service Foreman and he said that was how the Equiflex system worked.



We didn't use it much for the next 2 years. We finally went on a holiday with it. Quess what? The rear tires were worn on the insides. So bad that we had to replace them!

Liepert said you're past warranty too bad!!



We took it to a trailer repair shop. They found that the rear axel had collapsed!!! The U-bolts were loose which could have caused us to be in real danger had we needed to brake hard or swerve. Please tell me how the rear axel would collapse before the front axel. The axel guy said that he had never seen anything like it. He figured that the U-bolts were over tightened and that the strain on the axel during the time that the wheels were loose and then one falling off caused the axel damage. That was one day (not two years) after we got the trailer. Rust on the damaged part of the axel indicates that the damage had been done some time ago. We were misled by RVW and are now hoping that Crossroads will step up and help with the cost of repairs.



Anyway, don't worry about your local dealer. He's bound by his agreement with Crossroads to fixall Crossroadsunits in a timely manner. Most problems occur when you are 'ONTHEROAD', not near your local dealer. Any Crossroads dealer will service your unit (their service department makes money on service work not unit sales).

[Stolinights]

Try Wana RV in Indiana 6miles from the factory just ordered one through them fully loaded got a great deal I live in the states and have to drive 600 miles to pick it up

[NC Retiree]

I also suggest Wana RV in Shipshewana, Indiana. I just purchased a CF27RLX from the owner Gary long distance and he and his team were outstanding to work with. He told me they sell many units to many distant locations from Canada to Australia so they know that part. Their price and service (pre-delivery inspection) were clearly attractive to me.

[canacamper]

Thanks for the information everybody, after much research we decided to purchase our new unit here in Alberta. Our local dealer new we were looking south of the border and gave us a great price. I could have still saved some money going stateside but they gave me what I wanted for my trade(yes alway's better to sell private). So it came down to how muchI was willing to pay for the convenience of dealing locally, if I didn't have a unit to trade I would have bought from RV Wholesalers. Going in today to order our new CF31RE, it's going to be a log winter waiting for our first camping trip.

[mwebber78]

Congrat's

[Canucklehead]

Why wait till Spring? Winter camping is the best as you can have a lot of space to yourself. Our Cruiser has been pretty solid so far in the cold (-15 to -25C) with no heating problems.
Next trip... New Years in Jasper.

[mwebber78]

I like your ambition !

[cowboy_71]

>>>Now theres someone who really likes to camp!...

[NC Retiree]

Thicker skin than thissoutherner, but whatever rings their bells more power to them. Good to know the Cruiser can handle more than I can.