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I've been looking for a 2009-2012 911 (997.2) and, interestingly enough, found 2-3 911's in Canada that match most all of my requirements. Several years ago, apparently the USD was deflated by comparison and quite a few US cars drifted north. Now the USD is back on top and some of these cars are coming back.
My first question is about the whole Canada-->USA import process. I assume some of you have already done this and know what's involved (customs, duty, safety, emissions cert, etc). Any guidance appreciated.
Also, one of the cars I'm looking at was born in Canada and has the original (KM/hour) gauge cluster. I don't think the Feds require a swap but I'd like to know more about this replacement option before I buy ... so any guidance how-to do this (DIY preferred) without spending a fortune would be appreciated as well.
The only other concern/issue is re-sale. I don't have any intentions to re-sale now but wonder if the Canadian car will become a "gray market" car and somewhat difficult to sell someday in the distant future.
None of these conversion expenses, transportation and customs duty add any value to the car so all of this predicates getting a reasonably good deal in the first place.
The exchange is in your favour. You need to call the customs office at the location of where you want to arrive from Canada to US . Also in your favour is the import tax is a fair bit less than our 6.1 % . You will pay this due to the car being manufactured outside of Canada.
For Canadians importing a car manufactured outside of the US we are looking at approx 19.1 % over and above the cost of the car. But for you it will be cheaper
A while back when USD and CAD were even I bought mine from NorCal. Import was a bunch of paper but no real problem. I saved a bundle in the process (and the car was of a friend of a friend's so known to me). The cars are so much cheaper up here compared to US right now, I can totally see exporting them would make economic sense.
BTW, my gauge faces are still MPH and Fahrenheit, I never bothered to change them. I just switched the digital speedo to KMH, that's easy.
Get in touch with your Department of Transportation and ask them what you need to do.
You can get replacement gauge faces from FVD - I did this to convert my US market car to KMH when I got it, and they have them in MPH as well. I don't think it's an absolute necessity as the digital displays can be switched to whatever, but if you have OCD about such things, it's definitely doable.
i don't think its a necessity either, all the digital readouts can be programmed to mph and all other usa standards.
most importantly the large digital speedometer readout in the center of the dash under the tach can be changed to mph or km/h. i genuinely believe that almost all of us use primarily the center readout when checking speed; i never glance over to the actual speedometer cluster itself.
Originally Posted by Saaboteur
I don't think it's an absolute necessity as the digital displays can be switched to whatever, but if you have OCD about such things, it's definitely doable.
KPH to MPH is an easy switch back & forth in the menu.
Rarely if ever do I look at the analogue gauge.
Picked mine up from the US when our dollar was higher back in 2010.
Paper work to the boarder 3 days before import and when I picked up the car, it took about an hour to process the whole thing.
I doubt "gray market" will be an issue. Worse case, you sell it back to a Canadian or if the Canadian dollar ever gets back over the US greenback, you'll find us looking for good deals south of the border.
Importing a Canadian Porsche into the US is a relatively straight forward process. You require a recall letter from Porsche certifying that the car has no open recalls.
A Bill of Sale and the title.
Transport picks it up and delivers it to your nearest border point. You then can clear it through US customs yourself or get a broker to do it for you. The speedometer only requires the computer setting switched to miles from kilometres which you do yourself and takes 30 seconds.
Alternatively, there are transport companies that will do the entire process. Pick up the car, clear customs and deliver it to your door. Costs, depending on distance is $2500-$5000.
I nearly imported a RR Sport from Canada. I found a car with right combo and price I was looking for. I thought it would be about a $15K discount, but after all the little costs add up, it was only about a $7K savings. Also, its considered a grey market car and loses about 30% of its value when you try to sell it. Im the end it wasn't worth the hassle. Plus RR really did not like the idea, and would not honor the warranty
Thanks all, for the guidance. Much appreciated. I don't want or need to become an international import expert for one car. Since it's end-of-year, am hoping the dealer may be a bit anxious also.
I've been looking for a combination of features that are apparently rare and the last three cars I found were all in Canada. So finally I gave in and a started learning French. Fine people they are!
So far it's going well. Am planning to get the local Porsche dealer do the PPI and then find an international shipper and border consultant for the paperwork. I was tempted to kick-off a road trip and bring it back myself but just don't have the time right now.
I was concerned about the instrument cluster (KM) because a new unit (MI) isn't cheap (~3500$ US). Two of the Canadian cars were previously imported from the US but the one I picked is a native. Haven't decided to do this yet or not ... am already stretching a bit to buy this car at the top of my budget so upgrade ideas at this time are limited.
Against my better judgement, I may be buying this car sight unseen. It's low miles, got a Porsche CPO, it's coming from a dealer and I know most of the questions to ask so am hoping all that minimizes the risk.
Will post pictures when this is all over. This is a great forum ... thanks again.
Try to get one of the special edition Canadian cars. I heard they have denim upholstery with plaid flannel headliners and when you honk the horn it sounds like a moose.
>> Iceter, you had me going. I was somewhat OK with the denim upholstery and flannel headliner, but then I ran into the moose thingy ... well done.
Long story short, I bought the 911 this afternoon. It's a 2012 Targa with low miles. Now comes the adventure of getting the car from eastern Canada to central Texas.
If you're not into reflective notes, stop reading here ... I'll try not to bore you with my personal problems but I had a heart attack on June 13, 2016 and then a long list of complications. After a near-death, I finally understood life is truly short and started looking at my bucket list a bit more seriously. I know life's not all about fast cars but you do start to look at things like your bucket list differently. Make sense?
12-25-2016, 05:01 PM
Buy a Canadian 911?
