Crossing borders as Not For Hire - what should I know?

No weapons and expect you rig to be turned inside out.

@ethos

 

Ethos will fill you in on that. They totally open and flipped everything they could in his truck more than once.

 

You will probably be crossing over as a Private citizen, that truck will be treated as a RV and private vehicle.

Due to the post 9-11 terrorism problem the customs I made friends with long ago at the Canada Line are now a wolf pack ready to shoot me if I passed gas or something.

Expect to be inspected. Everything on that vehicle is going to be sorted through. Maybe mirriors and such under the frame as well. Stand aside and let them do whatever they want to. It will also likely be attacked via drug sniffers and so on. So if you and your family pack has done any shooting guns or anything, wash those clothes and hands really good because that residue calls to a dog for a time after. (I run into this once or twice when smokey asked if I shoot guns when his dog alerted to explosives on me)

Carry the ordinary insurance required for your trip, make sure you measure or know to the INCH how high your vehicle is UNLOADED. add 4 more inches for safety, take THAT total... CONVERT TO A METRIC. Such as... 2.99 meters.

You will come up on a bridge in Canada overhead and the yellow sign says 2.99 meters. Quick, what is that in American 13.6?

Not enough because 13 feet is 3.9624 meters and another 6 inches is going to be around .1524 more meters, You want 4.113 meters at a minimum to clear 13 feet 6 inches.

If you carry weapons, leave. them. at home.

Booze, leave that at home buy it in Canada once you clear customs.

Keep an eye on your teenagers, Legal age of Consent in Canada is around 14 in my time. I don't know if Canada raised it's prices yet. People here in the USA used to go north to get married lawfully without being prosecuted. And one movie was filmed up there for that reason as well, to avoid automatic prosecution in the USA ("Children of a Lesser God" which was a sort of a Deaf Culture Anthem back when it was made in the 80's I will have to watch it again to get refreshed on it)

You will discover when you go into a grocery store, you can get foods in Canada NOT. AVAILIBLE anywhere in the USA.

I invite you to look at Orange Pekoe Tea as a example. You cannot get that here, we talked to Tetley Tea of Connecticut and they told us that particular tea is Canada only. Nuts.

Minstrone soup in a can, it really touched my Scot wife back then because it had fresh things inside not availible in the USA. We used to carry a few hundred dollars worth of grocery shopping back south under our bunk into the USA for use in our home.

You will find Canada pretty friendly Ive met some good people up there and the threat level is rather low in the woods and hills as they say. Keep an eye on your money, your American money can be paid in truckstops and that sort of thing near the border but if you go deeper you will be wise to change over or use a AMEX or credit card that will auto exchange rate for you.

In my time it was .65 US Cents to get One Canadian Dollar. Essentially a 35% payraise and a 25% reduction in our food costs in Canada making it extremely profitable and some months we made so much money in those years running Canada because staying up there a month on food was worth a few thousand dollars cold cash into savings not burned in American truck stops.

Like in all things life has changed and that exchange rate has stablized.

Winsdor is a nice town by day, and Buffalo not so much. Toronto you do not let yourself get obese and unfit you need to be able to run away from knifers at night downtown up there.

Also the closer you get to Quebecker the things begin to french on you. NORD, means North, Sud Means South and so on. Think fast.

Going west you run into a history where the Mounties told the Indians to behave and stop being a gong show eh? And trees and mountains to fill your mind. If you want to that far west, try the CDQ west (North) of Hope. DO. NOT. whatever you do RUN THAT GGOOODAAMN road in winter. It will kill you.

Good luck!

 

Avoid the women customs officers. They are the worst.

They will send ya straight to the impound for 4 hours to get inspected.

Dot will put your sheet back on the bed. Canadian customs will not.
Polite....myyyy....asssss.

 

Exchange some currency at your local bank or duty free at the border.. Most places treat it as par which costs you money .. Be straight up honest with questions at border and you shouldn't have any issues . Also if it's a commercial vehicle you may have to pay the 13 bucks to cross back into states I'd expect more questions coming home than leaving .. I'm not sure if a speed limiter set at 65 mph is required for you or not in Ontario or Quebec

 

Make sure little Bobby isn't carrying. They will seize the rig.

 

Not for hire means nothing.

You are driving a commercial vehicle and it is expected that it will be used for commercial purposes. The exception only applies to those vehicles that are registered as an RV.

They can stop you, ask for your log and proof of insurance. You better also have insurance that covers you in Canada, not all will.

Customs can inspect you, tearing into the truck and don't have to put anything back. OPP can pull you over and plug their ECM checker to see if you have your speed limited set.

Unlike those who don't see a problem with this, there is and it begs the question why would anyone even bother?