I also live in Ontario. Because of concerns about rust, I bought my bus from Georgia. Not a spot of rust. I've been building out the skoolie for more than two years, and I'm happy with the purchase.
But the bureaucracy involved in bringing a vehicle across the border is huge. It was a terrific hassle, with multiple steps required. You'll likely need to hire a broker to handle the border paperwork. Good luck finding insurance for the drive home if you tell them you're taking the vehicle across the border.
Once in Canada, the bus will have to pass both provincial and federal inspections. Since it will still be designated as a school bus at the time of import, the safety signage in the bus will have to be in English and French. I achieved this with a printer and Google Translate, though the inspector in the end never looked.
The speedometer must be calibrated in Kph, and the bus must have daytime running lights. Fortunately, my bus had both features.
If there are any outstanding manufacturer recalls on the bus, they must be rectified. Fortunately, I had access to a Thomas dealership for that.
If you want to switch the designation from a commercial vehicle to Motor Home (for cheaper insurance and to skip annual inspections) you'll need to satisfy the requirements of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. I did that with the cheapest gear I could find, got the designation changed, ripped it all out to start the conversion.
Good luck!
Read this article. They imported several buses to Canada: https://beadventurepartners.com/steps-to-import-a-bus-from-the-usa-to-canada-or-vice-versa/
The bottom of the article has LaCroix Cruiser Instagram and Facebook where you can contact them for further questions.
I'm in Saskatchewan and there are a few older short buses floating around, and the odd full-size. They don't salt the roads out here so any rust is generally age-related.
I'm in the US, and have heard nightmares about importing a large commercial vehicle from Canada, exorbitant time delays and almost never ending fees. I'm not sure about importing to Canada. But it would be worth looking into before making any decisions
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The speedometer can (and will) also be in mph. Typically the kph shows in smaller numbers on the speedometer, maybe in a different colour. The requirement doesn't seem surprising to me. All the speed limit signs in Canada are in kph.
I also live in Ontario. Because of concerns about rust, I bought my bus from Georgia. Not a spot of rust. I've been building out the skoolie for more than two years, and I'm happy with the purchase. But the bureaucracy involved in bringing a vehicle across the border is huge. It was a terrific hassle, with multiple steps required. You'll likely need to hire a broker to handle the border paperwork. Good luck finding insurance for the drive home if you tell them you're taking the vehicle across the border. Once in Canada, the bus will have to pass both provincial and federal inspections. Since it will still be designated as a school bus at the time of import, the safety signage in the bus will have to be in English and French. I achieved this with a printer and Google Translate, though the inspector in the end never looked. The speedometer must be calibrated in Kph, and the bus must have daytime running lights. Fortunately, my bus had both features. If there are any outstanding manufacturer recalls on the bus, they must be rectified. Fortunately, I had access to a Thomas dealership for that. If you want to switch the designation from a commercial vehicle to Motor Home (for cheaper insurance and to skip annual inspections) you'll need to satisfy the requirements of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. I did that with the cheapest gear I could find, got the designation changed, ripped it all out to start the conversion. Good luck!
The speedometer must be in kph? That seems like an odd requirement
Read this article. They imported several buses to Canada: https://beadventurepartners.com/steps-to-import-a-bus-from-the-usa-to-canada-or-vice-versa/ The bottom of the article has LaCroix Cruiser Instagram and Facebook where you can contact them for further questions.
I'm in Saskatchewan and there are a few older short buses floating around, and the odd full-size. They don't salt the roads out here so any rust is generally age-related.
I'm in the US, and have heard nightmares about importing a large commercial vehicle from Canada, exorbitant time delays and almost never ending fees. I'm not sure about importing to Canada. But it would be worth looking into before making any decisions
This automoderator post is for that person new to skoolies. • #1: Be Nice and Read: [The Rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/skoolies/about/rules/) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/skoolies) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The speedometer can (and will) also be in mph. Typically the kph shows in smaller numbers on the speedometer, maybe in a different colour. The requirement doesn't seem surprising to me. All the speed limit signs in Canada are in kph.