[Christien]

You don't need a broker if it's non-commercial (i.e. you're not a dealer), assuming you go to the border and pick it up yourself. Fedex custom critical will do all the paperwork and take care of it from beginning to end, but they do charge for that service. I've done the process myself, twice now, once private and once commercial. For private I'd do it myself again. Commercial, I'd hire. It's much more complex and from what I heard from other folks at least an hour wait at the border (we were closer to 2) isn't uncommon.

Either way, it's a crappy process, and you get absolutely raped (pardon my french) by the canadian gov't for taxes, service charges, etc. but it STILL works out cheaper than buying a car in Canada. One Subaru dealership my dad talked to on the US side of Sault Ste. Marie said they get canadians over there all the time buying brand new because it's so much cheaper.

One other thing to consider - drive it home or trailer it? If you drive it it has to have plates and insurance - can be problematic, depending on your local dmv. For the private purchase, we trailered it, for the commercial we could use a dealer plate and the fleet insurance, so it was easier.

The best advice is to make sure you're completely 100% familiar with the process - call RIV, call US customs, call CBSA, Ministry of Transportation, because if you screw up at the border, you're in trouble. If you're lucky it'll mean a couple hours delay, but it could result in finding a storage lot and a hotel while paperwork gets worked out. I don't mean to scare you off, but like the boy scouts say, be prepared. And don't expect a lot of help from the border services agencies on either side. Read the fine print!

Chris