Topic: Online Calculator for Taxes, Duty and Fees on Your US Import

[bluelines]

I haven't been able to find an online calculator that quickly and simply calculates all the taxes, duty and fees that apply when you bring a car across the border -- so I build a really basic one myself and posted it here:

http://importacartocanada.com

All you need to do is enter in the US purchase price (in USD) and it does most of the work for you, including using the current exchange rate.

It has a few quirks because of my technical ignorance and the limitations of the Zoho spreadsheet I used (primarily that it doesn't support drop-down menus in a cell). You need to enter 'Yes' or 'No' manually into the 'Made in NAFTA Country' field, and to change the Province you need to specify the cell you want it to use. For example, if you are in Ontario, enter:

=E6

into the Province field (that will ensure it calculates the sales tax correctly).

The 'Recall Clearance Letter' fee is something specific to BMW, so enter $0 or whatever amount your manufacturer of choice charges. And the 'Inspection' is an estimate of the BC vehicle inspection fees.

I'm going to make a proper JavaScript calculator that will do all of this work for you, but for now, enjoy!

[inco]

Good - let us know when it's done and if you would - post an actual example here for people to see. I think some might be surprised.

[bluelines]

Good - let us know when it's done and if you would - post an actual example here for people to see. I think some might be surprised.

Hi Inco,
The calculator is actually online at importacartocanada.com -- I just can't link to it in this thread because I don't have the mandatory 10 posts on the forum.

[bluelines]

Good - let us know when it's done and if you would - post an actual example here for people to see. I think some might be surprised.

PS: Very quick example... I went to Brian Jessel BMW in Vancouver yesterday. Best deal to be had on a 2008 X5 4.8i for a cash purchase was about $97k (GST and PST included, loaded with most options). I found a 2008 in the US with 31 miles on the clock for $69k

According to my calculator this works out to be $76k including all Canadian taxes and fees, even the $500 recall clearance letter, for a saving of $21k.

[bluelines]

FYI: I've updated the post to include the link to the calculator:

http://importacartocanada.com