Insulting experience at Canadian Customs Today

[dsmyth]

Brough my new 95 993 through customs today in Ontario and was given a real undeserved rough time. I bought the car with 70k miles on it for $20,000 US. Its a fair price based on what the real car market is today on these cars in the US. The dealer offered him $14000 on a trade in so he was happy. However being honest is not protection from abuse. I was threatened and pressed hard by a Canadian border security agent. The nice gentlemen that sold me the car was also handled the same way on the phone. I think if he was to reconsider he would have taken the dealers offer. I doubt he would ever sell a car to a Canadian again or even visit our country. I dont blame him. The moral of the storey... make sure you over document everything financially and get whitnesses like a bank manager to sign. Bring copies of any correspondence like e mails ect as well as the last advertised price. The guy at the border kept referring to a $29995. price that the seller started off with 5 months ago. He dropped the price five times before I made him the offer. His recent ad was cancelled and no longer available on the site. He let me go after about an hour and basically called me a liar. The cars awesome though.

[Charlie V]

Proves there are a$$ holes in the world. Unfortunately, you had to deal with one.

On the flip side, there must be a large number of folks cheating the system and not willing to pay their duties/taxes.

However, still not appropriate for the border people to paint everyone with the same black brush.

Put this one behind you and enjoy the car. Sounds like you got a hell of a deal.

Have fun!!

[shinrai]

I've gone through the same issues coming into Canada with cars/other items. It's really unfortunate when you come across a young guy who likes to abuse the little authority he has. I always find it incredible how these morons are more concerned with people paying small amounts of tax then they are with stopping the influx of prohibited weapons, drugs and just plain bad people coming into this country.

[JJ 911SC]

Doug

The girls at Ogdensburg are very nice too me... of course I better looking

Should have M to handle the paperwork!!!

Do you habe his Tag #?

Cheers

J.J.

P.S. Pics?

[rvanderpyl]

Always get the name of the person you are dealing with. If you get **** service, complain. If you get good service, praise.

But also always save all correspondence and ads to prove what you paid, because there is a LOT of attempted scamming going on.

[briefescape]

You think you had it bad , just last week here in BC a Canadian border guard was just found guilty of sexual assault . He would threaten females with arrest if they did not consent to a strip search . He took the victims in private spaces alone and strip search them . There is bad apples every where and on both sides of the border .

[Christien]

Wow. I also brought a car across today, an 09 Mini Cooper S. One of the 2 Canadian customs people I was talking too was also impressed with the price, but rather than hassle me, she asked me to find a Cayenne for her!

[GWN7]

Canada Customs gave me a hard time with one of my P car imports. They kept questioning the price also. It wasn't until 2 days later when a newspaper article came out about a guy importing one with a fake bill of sale was published that I understood. Same day I crossed too. So their radar was up. The dummy kept the original bill of sale and they found it in his papers.

[philip j]

Congratulations on your new car. Lets have some pics, so we can all enjoy. I always use a cutoms broker/shipping company to bring cars into Can. Its actually cheaper than driving it back! Plus there are no hassels, and it shows up at your door. Philip

[1990C4S]

There is no reason to have any issues if you are honest.

Tell the truth and stand your ground. All they can do is delay you.

I had the same problem. They searched me, and my car, went through my files in my car, went on the internet, tried to intimidate me etc etc.

In the end if you tell the truth they can't do anything.

[haycait911]

I have a strict policy of never, never, never lying to a border guard. they have way too much discretionary power. be glad they didn't dismantle your car into many small pieces looking for 'something' , and leave it that way.

also, be very careful what you talk about while in the line-up at the border. due to a couple of odd comments made to me by border agents, ( US ) I strongly suspect they use directional mikes on cars in line.

[jorian]

The guards assume everyonbe is lying about the purchase price. The last time I brought in a Pcar, the couple ahead of me in line were just being told their car would be impounded until customs could get it 'sorted out.'