Buying internationally (financing across borders)

[Snoopy]

I'm sure we are not the only ones who have found our dream camper which happens to be in another country. Specifically, we are in the US and we are buying in Canada. The dealer has been awesome and will take care of all the border red tape. They apparently sell a lot to US buyers so they drive the equipment over the border all the time. It wouldn't be us trying to import it, and having to deal with all the checkpoints and inspections. So that part we're very comfortable with.

However, our issue is with the financing. We love our credit union here (USAA) but they don't do international RV financing. We'd have to open a personal loan, be issued a check directly from the credit union, turn that check over to the dealer, and then we'd pay the credit union back. When they finance a vehicle or RV, they keep the title until payoff, so they have the vehicle itself as collateral. With a personal loan, we get the title right away, but that also means there's no collateral for them to hold on to, so the interest rate is higher (difference of about 5% APR). We're prepared to do this, but I thought I'd ask, are there any financial institutions that do do (doo doo?) international financing?

Has anyone else travel crazy distances to go get their dream vehicle?

[Steve Sanders]

You will probably have to do two loans, a short term one for the purchase and then permanent financing after a title has been issued by your state.

I'm surprised that USAA doesn't have a procedure for this since they routinely work with people that are deployed all around the world.

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[Merlin]

First, yes, there are many folks on here that traveled long distances to get what they wanted. Multiple day round trips are very common! Unless you want a Jayco Jayfeather from your local kindling wood supplier, you almost have to expect to travel 

Our credit union would be fine with the 2 loan approach. A personal loan just to get the check to the dealer, and then a "regular" longer term lower interest RV loan paying off the personal loan. I suppose it depends on the flexibility of the credit union.

Have you checked on insurance? Be sure someone has insurance on it in transit to you and be sure you have insurance as soon as it's yours. That might be complicated with an International deal?

[Snoopy]

First, yes, there are many folks on here that traveled long distances to get what they wanted. Multiple day round trips are very common! Unless you want a Jayco Jayfeather from your local kindling wood supplier, you almost have to expect to travel 

^This made me laugh out loud.

We are extremely lucky in that there's a Livin Lite dealer less than an hour away from us, if any issues come up once we get it home. But we do plan to spend about a week camping close to the dealer of origin, just to try everything out while we're still up there. Which (unfortunately) means we'll just have to hang out near Niagara Falls for a day or two. What a horrible thing for a family to have to endure, but we're up to the task.

That was sarcasm.

Have you checked on insurance? Be sure someone has insurance on it in transit to you and be sure you have insurance as soon as it's yours. That might be complicated with an International deal?

Yes, we'll be able to get insurance on it through our regular USAA auto policy before we head out to go pick it up. The dealer has 100% coverage of it until it changes hands somewhere just south of the US/Canadian border.


Oh, and my husband was just able to tap into a line of credit he's had with his bank for years but has never used. 4% for 5 years--that's better than we could get for an rv loan! Plus, we'll get the title in hand so this actually worked out surprisingly well.

[Steve Sanders]

Great solution! Congrats!

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