dub944

Hey everyone,

I'm in the process of getting all my information, documents, registration, titles, bricks of gold etc.etc.

Has anyone imported a 944 into canada? I am at a total loss as to how I insure it while driving it to the border. ICBC does not give out in transit permits until its in the country following inspection. I tried phoning the DMV who gave me multiple numbers to insurance companies that don't work.

Did anyone encounter this problem before?

Thanks,
Parker

Rich Sandor

Hi Parker. I've imported a couple cars:

What you need from ICBC is a BINDER insurance. Your autoplan agent SHOULD know how to do this, although from my experience, some don't. Find one that DOES know.

A binder is merely insurance (not registration) that covers your car for X days from point A to point B and expires either when the time runs out or whern you reach point B. If you American car has valid plates (valid reg) on it, then all you need is a binder insurance from ICBC which will let you drive the car both in USA and in CANADA.

Please be advised that you cannot just drive up to the border and drive across: US Customs must have a copy of thier worksheet, copy of the title, and a copy of the bill of sale, for THREE FULL BUSINESS DAYS before they will stamp "exported" on the title. You cannot import the car to canada until the title is stamped "exported"

There are multiple parking spots in blaine where you can store the car for any amount of time while you wait for those 3 business days to pass.

feel free to PM me if you need help with all this.

dub944

Thank you! Pm sent!

ientre9y11

Rich is correct.

I imported a US car. The one thing I am not sure of is whether you can drive the car from the US to Canada. I thought the binder allows you to drive the car in the US but not in Canada. The other thing you need to check is how the licensing works both in the state you are buying the car and the states you are driving through to get to the border.

The person at Customs said that they didn't care if the car was licensed or not. All they cared about was collecting the appropriate duty, tax and fees. Not sure if that is actually the case. I have read on Rennlist that others have a different experience.

imcarthur

This is another potential stumbling block. You could drive with the PO's plates, but . . . Technically, you should register the car in the state where you bought it & get a temporary registration. It's easy to do at a DMV office (supposedly). The problem is, some states will require retail sales tax be paid at registration - even a temp. CT & FL are like this, so check with the local DMV.

I came to the conclusion that it was easier (and cheaper) to ship it, in my case.

Ian

bdstott

I've imported 2 cars from the US in recent years. I drove both across the border after the manditory 3 day wait for US customs.

For the first one, an Isuzu Rodeo, I got an intransit sticker from the DMV of NY.

For the second one, a Porsche 928, I borrowed the PO's plates.

I had no problems with US or CDN customs with either one.

I was told I could drive on both cars through any states I wanted, and drive arround Quebec to get work done, inspections etc. They did not specifically tell me not to drive, but I restricted my driving untill they were registered in Quebec.

For insurance, I simply called my broker and gave them the VIN number, and they insured the cars in both cases. They were aware that I was buying from the US. Infact, for the Rodeo, I had to show the DMV in NY proof of insurance before they would issue the intransit tag.

Hope this helps,
Good luck!

imcarthur

Yeah . . . going from my feeble memory . . .

CT, FL definitely charged tax on temp permit. NY, TX, AL, NC, OH, IL did not. For Americans it's not a problem, because other states will recognize it as tax paid, but Canadian provinces do not, so you will double pay. Since mine was coming from FL & the owner lived in CT . . .

Ian

Rich Sandor

Ian, if the car has current plates, you can drive on those until you reach your destination, and register the car in your home state/province. You do not need to register the car in your name unless it is unregistered at the time of purchase, or the tags on the car have expired.

I don't know about outside of BC, but an ICBC Binder Insurance will cover you in Canada AND in the USA. That is it's whole purpose, to insure you while your travel from A to B. It is *not* a registration though.. it is only insurance. It expires either when the time limit runs out, or when you reach your destination, whichever comes first.

If you have valid US plates on your car, and you take out a 30 day binder insurance, you can technically drive the car legally as much as you want for 30 days or until you reach your destination.

I find that a lot of people are actually vary vague on the rules when it comes to this. Not the least of which are cops. Half of them don't know what to check for when pulling over a Canadian driver in a car with American Plates.

The bottom line is that in order to legally drive anywhere you need:
a: insurance ( a binder)
and
b: valid plates or temp tags

if you have those two things, you are GOLDEN.

imcarthur

I'm sure that you're right, Rich. It's nice to get some facts. I wanted to drive it but . . .

I was using a different insurer - Lant Silver Wheels - because my normal insurer was through my wife's job & they wouldn't insure an older Porsche. So insurance was a no go until it crossed the border & an appraisal was done - that's Lant's rules - they don't issue insurance with a binder until you've already held a previous policy with them. And the DMV in Florida insisted that I would need temp tags & that 8% tax would have to be paid. Then of course, the brake discs & rotors were toast & would have had to be done before the drive & the window washers & . . . At that point, $1500 CAD door to door was looking good.

But as you say, everybody had a different story. And it wasn't easy tracking it all down. I talked to multiple people in mutiple states because I was searching the whole east coast at that time.

Ian

Rich Sandor

I hear ya Ian. It can be very confusing when different people tell you different things, and different states and provinces have different laws, and different insurance agents have different policies too!

I've resolved to only buy american cars from private sellers that have valid plates. This is the easiest and cheapest way to get a car that you can drive home. You avoid having to register the car in state and you avoid having to pay any taxes.