Shipping 19' toyhauler from AZ to border?

[fat tire]

I just bought a 19' toyhauler off CrankyApe.com from their Arizona City location. Any advice on good shipping companies to get it to the border?

C/A has several shipping references I'm looking into but would be nice to hear from someone with firsthand experience.

Another option is just drive down and pick it up seeing as I have the next few weeks off.

take the drive man.....

 

[OVERKILL 19]

Plan B... fly down buy a truck too and drive /pull the whole issuie back

 

[Stg2Suby]

Plan B... fly down buy a truck too and drive /pull the whole issuie back

Oh you're evil! I've got an 01 ram diesel with 190k and I love it but it needs a lot of work coming up

 

[DaveB]

When you buy a vehicle with a motor, the list of requirements at the border is a bit more painful....but still worth it $$$ wise. Trailers are much easier to import. Registrar of Imported Vehicles - Importer Checklist

 

[barefooter]

Problem solved, I will pay the $1000, and lend you a wife and 2 kids. Have a happy trip, we'll see you in a couple weeks!!

Can I get in on that deal too? $1,000 for 3 days peace and quiet - priceless! :d

 

[Showtime]

Plan B... fly down buy a truck too and drive /pull the whole issuie back

My buddy just did this, bought a travel trailer and SUV from Ohio, 3000K 1 way. He jumped on a plane their and drove the package home. He was going to buy a truck but according to him the deals aren't that great seeing as Alberta is the truck capital pretty good prices right here. You shouldn't need hotels as you're pulling a towhauler, just pack a sleeping bag. I'd drive, enjoy the scenery.

 

[Showtime]

My buddy just did this, bought a travel trailer and SUV from Ohio, 3000K 1 way. He jumped on a plane their and drove the package home. He was going to buy a truck but according to him the deals aren't that great seeing as Alberta is the truck capital pretty good prices right here. You shouldn't need hotels as you're pulling a towhauler, just pack a sleeping bag. I'd drive, enjoy the scenery.

Ohh not to mention that i just heard the temp in Arizona is in the +30's, not friggin +8ish.

 

[Stg2Suby]

He was going to buy a truck but according to him the deals aren't that great

That's what I'm seeing too from some quick checking. Plus this is already plenty complicated for me without throwing the vehicle import in too..

For info I found Uship.com is working well - I signed up this morning and already have quotes for $1580 and $1200 shipped from AZ to Sweetgrass Montana.

Right now though I'm leaning toward going to Moab for a couple extra days, either driving the extra 500mi to AZ first to pick the hauler, or having someone ship it from AZ to Moab (~$550 already got a quote on that too).

 

[007sevens]

I've heard that if you take your bill of sale to the registries and ask for a plate for your trailer not telling them it's in the states that they somtimes screw up and issue the plate. Then you can go to the border and say your just heading home after a vacation (no GST).

Not Legal,but if it works

 

[Bogger]

I've heard that if you take your bill of sale to the registries and ask for a plate for your trailer not telling them it's in the states that they somtimes screw up and issue the plate. Then you can go to the border and say your just heading home after a vacation (no GST).

Not Legal,but if it works

Fine and good until they decide to run the SN and find out your lying.... then they will confenscate it...
Registries needs a serial # to register it and when they run it it will come up as a US unit....or not come up at all...not sure the systems are linked.
Better off to just play the game and do it their way...

 

[Stg2Suby]

To update I'm doing the big drive starting Sunday. Got some truck maintenance and car parts to pick up along the way. Shipping bids (having it towed, not on a deck) were all pretty consistent around $1.15/mile so ~$1400-$1500 from Phoenix to Sweetgrass MT.

FYI here's the procedure for bringing it into Canada:

You can insure the trailer just based on the VIN ahead of time. CrankyApe supplies a 30day in-transit permit valid in the US, and you have to either pre-purchase the Canadian 7day in-transit permit or find a Registry branch ASAP when you enter Canada.

At the border you need the bill of sale and title and they will open an RIV file for around $200. You pay GST on the bill of sale value and fill out RIV Form 1 which they stamp. You then have some period of time (I think 45 days) to get it inspected (most Cdn Tire). Upon passing inspection they stamp the Form 1 and then you can go to local Registry and get it plated.

 

[Mikew5j]

In a couple of weeks I’m going to the border to pick up my new fifth wheel. The dealer is in Ohio and they are charging $2,823 to get it to the Sweet Grass border crossing south of Milk River. With shipping included I’m still saving $8500 off the US MSRP so I’m not to bothered my the shipping cost.

 

[Stg2Suby]

On a pure cost basis I think to travel in a reasonably relaxed manner 800-1000km a day your fuel, hotels, meals, etc are going to be close to the cost of shipping. If you're taking days off work too then probably a no-brainer to get it shipped.

 

[mcat1000]

just pick it up yourself then u can see the trailer for damage and if its worth hauling home :d

Good afternoon, I am a frequent buyer on Crankyape and other sites and I can tell you that you cant drive down for what I have paid for shipping. I just had a 20foot Glastron brought from Arizona City to Sweetgrass for 850.00. The driver even washed it and made sure the lights and brakes worked before he brought up. Had 4 quads hauled from Cannon Falls to Pembina for 415.00. Hard to beat those prices. I had a goosekneck dump trailer hauled from Kingman to Shelby for 700.00. If you want to make a holiday of it that is different, but it is tough to drive there and back for those prices. I have a couple of contacts if you wish.

 

[Stg2Suby]

Hey mcat I agree the cost benefit probably isn't there for driving down. I'm working a vacation (albeit high stress vacation thus far ) into this at the same time. The lowest quote I got (out of probably 5-6) was $1380 Arizona City -> Sweetgrass so quite a bit more than your cost. For future reference I wouldn't mind some shipping contacts you have used.

 

[mach123]

The way to do it is, find a few things that people need to bring back from that area and charge them a good price, but make anough to pay for your trip. (fuel,food,etc. That is what I did when I bought truck from florida and pick up rxp from new orleans for guy in edmonton, and also pick up sled in deluth mn for guy in calgary. It paid for my fuel...Let me know were you need to go and I might need to buy something that way.

 

[Stg2Suby]

Long Update:

If anyone was wondering what happened I can tell you this has been a Gong Show like no other.

I drove down and got here (Phoenix area) last Wednesday. The trailer looked OK but it was late so I didn't have a good look at it.

Thursday I went to grab it off Cranky Ape lot and had a closer inspection. All 4 tires were worn funny and someone had mounted the spare. The original tire had the tire completely worn smooth on the inside and delaminated a 4" section to the belts

Now I'm paranoid the axles are out of alignment, so found a place and scheduled it in for Friday to get axle alignment, bearings packed and brakes adjusted and checked.

The work ran late into Friday and only the parts dep't was open Saturday. The parts guys let me pick it up Saturday from the service yard, I hooked up and drove down a side street to set the brake level - No Brakes at all! Controller was showing Brake Overload so something was f'd up.

Waited till Monday for service to check the problem; brake wire shorted in the axle tube. I knew they did this when they set up the alignment hardware on the axle; they didn't admit it outright but ended up re-wiring the entire brake circuit, replaced the breakaway box and gave me a reasonable invoice (I guess, not really in a position to argue being behind schedule now...)

So now brakes, bearings, axles are good to go. Batteries flat dead and tires very poor was their warnings. At first I was going to chance the tires, but batteries are needed for breakaway brakes so I figured better replace those. Found a golf cart shop and a decent deal on 6V batteries so spend Mon afternoon converting over to 2 @ 6V series battery setup (need taller boxes and some rewiring of course).

The tires bothered me Mon night so yesterday went to a tire shop and swapped all 5 (incl spare) from "C" load range 205/75/15 to "E" load range 225 tires. Things were looking good until the service monkeys quickly jacked the whole trailer on 4 floor jacks, using the drop hangers for the leaf springs as jack points.

I was watching but didn't intervene in time; BANG the trailer shifts on the jacks and 3 of the 4 drop brackets from the frame to the spring mount plates are bent big time So much for the $360 axle alignment

So alerted the store manager, opened a claim file, towed the trailer screeching and groaning to SpecTrac service just down the road. Spectrac is probably the best trailer repair/alignment shop in the area and they reassured it could be fixed but needed plasma cutting the complete suspension off and complete rebuild. Ka-ching!

Took photos, wrote up a detailed account of what happened and eventually got tire shop to agree to foot the repair bill + cover additional hotel cost today.

So now Spectrac might have it ready by end of tomorrow but probably Friday. Problem is I need to be back in Edmonton for Sunday. Given my luck so far I just bought return plane tickets to fly back to Edmonton, work my shift and come back in 2 weeks to drive everything back.

So quite the adventure, been here a week but feels like a month. On a positive note I have a nice tan, know Mesa/Gilbert/Tempe areas pretty well, have learned to navigate multi-lane freeways while towing and reading maps, found some awesome mountain biking south of Phoenix (South Mtn Park) and understand a lot more about trailers than I did a week ago

 

[Stg2Suby]

some pictures

 

[Transporter]

I have been watching this site alot now.Mabye I wont be so quick to buy something now.

 

[fat tire]

some pictures

Well at least your having a good time on vacation........... and not in another desert being shot at by binladen...........sorry for your luck manno