So, I found my perfect spec GT3 and it happened to be in Canada, and I thought no big deal, I can simply buy it and bring it into the USA, WRONG!! I have spent 4 weeks trying to import my GT3 to no avail and I’m awaiting my refund from the porsche dealer. I would have assumed the Porsche dealers in Canada are familiar with this process, so I assumed, and you know what they say about assuming. Most P dealers in Canada are NOT, they are there to sell you the car, its up to you to figure out and take responsibility to get it into the USA.

Let me outline exactly what I learned during my adventure so you are fully aware of what you are getting into. In order to import a car legally into the USA, you need 1 of two things. 1) The car requires to have 2 labels, USA DOT and USA EPA. The Canadian Porsches do have the USA EPA labels, however, they only have the Canadian DOT, not the USA DOT, which is required. This means you are then required to import your car utilizing a “registered importer”. This entity will keep your car for testing/analysis, preparation, and guess what, it takes 30 days, yes, 30. During this time, they make modifications to your car, such as changing the speedometer with a decal, its placed over the analog speedometer thats normally in KMH, it will now show MPH instead. Once the car passes this 30-day inspection, you now have a USA DOT approved car and its now ready for pickup. 2) Simply call PCNA and obtain a "LOC", Letter of Certification. If Porsche provides this, you are clear to import the car. I have been told by multiple people this is easily obtained, but I had no such luck, I called PCNA about 10 times, sent 10 emails, and to make a very long story short, here is what they finally said:

On Tue, Oct 20, 2020 at 8:23 AM Customer Support <customersupport@porsche.com> wrote:
Dear Mr. xxx,

Thank you very much for your patience in working with this case.

As provided to you, we are unfortunately not able to provide a Letter of Compliance and you must work with a registered importer to import the vehicle properly to the United States. Porsche does not provide Letters of Compliance for vehicles that have been expressly purchased with the intent of bringing them to the United States. Registered importers are available to support with those vehicles that are purchased from the Canadian market with the express intent on bringing them into the USA. We are unable to refer you to a registered importer due to liability reasons. Border services may have a list of registered importers that they might be able to provide that would help. We would like to apologize in advance for not being able to provide you with further reasoning as to why the process is setup this way, but we do want to have you pointed in the right direction and not wait for additional documentation from Porsche Cars Canada Ltd. The registered importer should be able to accomplish the transfer without any documentation from Porsche Cars Canada Ltd. Hope that this provides you with clarity on the subject. https://www.nhtsa.gov/importing-vehicle

Ok, there is an option, I found a trucking company that said they can get the car into the USA via “friendly” border locations, so ya, great right? Well, not really, here is the issue you now have, your car has now been illegally imported car for one, second, its not been modified via USA DOT requirement, meaning your car is out of compliance. The question then becomes, who cares, no big deal about it not being compliant, that might be true, but if you ever get into an accident and there’s research done about it, they could discover your car was imported illegally, so yes, I could have done this, but I decided to skip this, its not worth the risk and of being potentially sued. And what happens later when you try to sell your car to say a Porsche dealer, they will discover its also not compliant, so what happens then? You see the dilemma you get into? Is it worth it? Again, there are many people who have imported it just fine, had no issues, but you should be fully aware of what you are getting into before you buy. If the Canadian Porsche dealer can obtain the LOC for you, then you are in luck.

My suggestion is, if you are planning to buy a car in Canada and import it into the USA, call PCNA first and ask about obtaining the LOC. During my first few encounters with PCNA, they told me on the phone, i can obtain the LOC, they even emailed me its coming, but as you can see, I never got it. And please note, PCNA is the same is PCC, Canadian and USA are no longer separated, they were some time ago, not anymore.

I have decided to stay far away from Canadian imported cars, so as my title above says, buyer beware and good luck.

 

PCNA are being dicks. Because you are buying from a dealer, they don't want the car exported. They are probably doing this because some US dealers probably complained to PCNA. I could understand this policy if it was a new car, but they should not do this for used cars. Maybe they need to be reminded that it is a used car, not new.

Not sure what the work around would be, but if you register the car in Canada, and then import it, Porsche would 'have' to give you the LOC. Risk would be that you might have to pay double taxes. Otherwise maybe the owner of the dealer can sell it to you as a private sale.

 

Oh, you also have to pay a 2.85% import tax, along with other fees, I think it turned out to about $6000 for me. I was also told that if you utilize a registered importer, its risky, they told me the car sits in some lot for 30 days, could get scratched, dented, etc, so ya, that didn't make me feel comfortable with the idea car is bouncing around some lot for a month.

You have to obtain your own smog check and register the car in your state, so lots of work for you to do.

Shipping into the USA is very limited, I was told the wait for a reputable company is 2 to 4 weeks. You can try TFX, I found them to be respected entity for shipping into the 🇺🇸.

 

doesnt sound like you want this car anymore but like porsche444 said, contact TFX. they just smoothly imported an audi RS2 for me. you can also reach out to CARSeurope.net. they are excellent importers (globally) as well and have helped me with a GT4CS from UK to USA in past.

 

TfX told me the same, need LOC or USA DOT & USA EPA labels, without that, they can't help, I know, we worked on this for weeks. As they said, they could try to bring into the USA, but if it gets held up at customs crossing, you are screwed, you now have car you can't bring into the USA, so do your research before buying and shipping.

 

yea most def! did you try contacting porsche CA? i got some paperwork i needed for the audi from canadian dealership that US dealers were clueless on and Audi NA couldnt give me either.

 

As I wrote above, PCNA & PCC are one in the same now. Canada and USA divisions used to be separate, but not anymore. Just call porsche and ask.

 

I imported a GT3 from Canada a couple months ago. PCNA will give you a letter of compliance once you have a bill of sale showing you own the car. TFX will handle everything else, its seamless.

 

You think I didn't have one? We showed them all the documents and as I wrote above, tfx couldn't do anything without the 2 USA labels, or the LOC. So, you got lucky, but based on what I went through, PCNA may no longer provide LOC's, so who knows.

But that's why I wrote this thread, for anyone looking to buy car and import that they know what they are getting into, buyer beware.

 

Don’t blame the Canadian car for not wanting to come here right now.

 

I must have missed this detail, it’s not a brand new Porsche, it’s used right.

 

Strange. I imported a CN 991.1 RS back in 2016. PCNA faxed me an LOC within a day without so much as a hiccup. Car had been driven for 5k miles in BC before I purchased it from a friend. A BC Porsche dealership handled the transaction too. Not sure why they are being difficult but if you really want the car, I'd try escalating with PCNA.

 

Yeah I think something went wrong in OP's case. I've imported Canadian cars to US and the letter of compliance was enough. The letters do state that the speedometer may have to be modified, but that has never been an issue. The border officer doesn't actually inspect the vehicle beyond the VIN number to ensure it matches the documents.

 

Just a guess but sounds like you are possibly trying to import a ROW car that was imported into Canada....not a Canadian car from the factory.....is the VIN starting WP0ZZZ ? Canadian model Porsches are same as USA model with very minor differences and just require paperwork.....some mistakes being made here somewhere along the way.

 

This is a brand new car?