centerpunch

Does anyone have any experience importing a car from Canada?

This is a car that was made for the US, was later imported into Canada, so it has Canadian paperwork, etc.

Any do's or don'ts?

NC TRACKRAT

Paul-
Stan (5S071) here. I don't think you'll have a problem getting the car titled in OH as long as the title is letter and numbers perfect. It should clear U.S. customs w/o incident if the paperwork is in order. A good idea would be to contact U.S. Customs in advance and ask what, specifically, is required, how much duty, etc. Ohio may want you to take the car to a DOT inspection station to ensure that it is, in fact a U.S. car and, depending on year, that appropriate smog stuff is still intact. I recall importing Euro M635CSi's from Germany back in the '80's that required federalization. NCDOT made my life a living hell!
See you at VIR in a few weeks.
Regards,
Stan

NC TRACKRAT

This site should help:
http://www.buyclassiccars.com/import.asp

matt777

My only concern would be duty. I would see what has to be done or what documentation is required to avoid paying it again. I don't know that this will be an issue but better safer than sorry. IIRC, when a car comes into Canada that is 15 years old or newer, duty is payable if it was made outside of the US. Going the other way, who knows.

AM993

If the car is a US car being re-imported into the US, there is no Duty applicable.

centerpunch

Thanks, guys. The car in question is a 2007 car made in Japan, to US specs, sold originally in the US, then bought by a guy in Canada, now for sale again.

Gene_GaTech

Old thread bump - Can someone give their experience with this process?

Thanks!

Gene

David A

I reimported a US 951 from France many years ago without any problem. I used a broker called Automobile Concept, ask for Silvia at +1 305.893.1950

solonng

I'm having this same issue, how does one proves that it was a US car before? Would an old title works or must it be a registration card?

jason89i

I just went through this process in January. Purchased a 993 that was originally sold in the US, had 3 US owners and then imported into Canada. I re-imported the 993 back to the US.

Verify the car has EPA and DOT stickers. This is proof that the car meets the US standards.

Make sure you have your paperwork in order. The border patrol is very thorough. Coming back across the border I was equipped with....

Car fax showing the car had registration history in the USA.
Bill of sale. (purchase price, vin, owners signature.)
For sale ad (they did want to see it.)
Current Canadian registration / title. (owners signature.)
epa form 3520
dot form hs-7
Canadian import documents from past owner. (not necessary, but helped my situation. see below. )

I am a very thorough person, the previous owner was a very thorough person. HOWEVER, it was not smooth sailing. The CBP found records of the car being registered in the US, but did NOT find the EXPORT papers. (Apparently, when a car leaves the US, it needs to be EXPORTED from the US and IMPORTED into the new country.) While it was imported into Canada, it was not exported from the US. They indicated that they would not allow me to re-import a car that had not been exported. They stated the car needed to stay with them until I could produce an export document and receipt of export duty. After 2 hours of discussion with multiple officers, I was allowed to re-import without paying the past export duty and fines. The whole situation was surreal.

It was 3am, I was 400 miles from home, it was -15f and windy. Needless to say, I was very relieved to get all of that behind me.

Oddly enough, I was never asked to export the car from Canada when I left. I have never seen any documentation on the requirement to export a car when it leaves the US. Was this an isolated incident? Who knows. Just my experience.

Gas guzzler tax was paid at the original import as a new car sale.
Duty was paid at the original import as a new car sale.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/bas...orting_car.xml
http://www.bordercenter.org/chem/vehicles.htm

cheers, Jason
Feel free to pm or email if you need any more info. I have all my paperwork at home.

mondogarage

I just went through this process not three weeks ago, and what Jason says is spot on. Make sure the owner has the title from when he purchased it and imported it from the U.S., back in the day. That may be important with regard to your attempts to get a current title in your state after importation, especially if you're buying it from a Canadian dealer who may not have actually registered the car in Canada. You'll need the bill of sale. Two of the three EPA/DOT forms you'll need to complete can be found online and pre-filled out. The other form is one they initiate at the border.

Good luck!

911F1

I'm looking at re-importing a US 993. What if I use a transport company. How will the transport co. be able to represent the car? I wouldn't want to give them all this original paperwork. They could say it fell off the truck and then go take the car. Sorry for not trusting them but it could happen. Does anyone know about importing it back to the US with a transport company? Thanks

smq42

I re-imported a US car that had been in Canada. The transport company dropped it off at my house in the US without any trouble--I made sure they had the appropriate paperwork for the border. However, the hardest part was registering it and getting a Title document for the state of Massachusetts.

The whole experience would have been funny if it were not so ridiculous. At one point, I had the Massachusetts RMV clerk telling me that I was missing a form and that I'd have to go back to the border (8 hour drive away) to get "the form." She didn't have a specific form number--she just didn't know how to do it. After two hours of arguing, I finally found someone competent who processed it in 5 minutes! I've wondered if the first clerk was being willfully difficult to angle for a bribe.

smq42

I'm afraid they need original documents. However, if you use a reputable transport company, they're bonded and insured.

matt777

Unless you bring the car across the border yourself you need a customs broker to prepare the docs and get clearance. Some transport companies will look after this for you but you will have to gather the docs for them. I've done it myself coming the other way and I have hired a broker to ship an engine into the US recently.