could the car be stolen???? not like this has never happened before. I would not take the risk. the longer you wait the lower the us dollar is.

 

Hoffa:

The process of doing the import is complicated enough without having the additional complexity of no title. I don't know that the car could be cleared out of the U.S. without it. And the seller has control over the registration, so he should deal with it.

Good luck, though.

 

thanks guys.

Dont think its stolen. I ahve copies of the bill of sale, title, etc. I mean, yeah it could be forged, but carfax & autocheck are clean as well. Also i have all his posts from bimmerforums showing him waffling about the car. He bought it, decided not to keep it and its all documented in his posts. Actually remembered talking him back in the day when I was a BMW fan

Nevertheless, I agree with everyone - will not proceed unless clear title is in hand. Will call dealer about the PPI now though.

 

So no word on the PPI. I just can't beleive if he dropped it off Saturday and it was supposed to be picked up today it wouldnt be ready.

That and he wont register it. Too many red flags...

Sh**y thing is that im partially out the airfare (i have credit with airline i guess) and the PPI money + 100$ extra for the deposit is likely gone. Will try to get part of it back of course.

 

You will never get this car past US customs. They have up to 72 hours to check this car before you come through the point of exit. The seller does not have proper title to the car - hence they will not issue an export permit. Without the US permit your car will be impounded in Canada. I saw this happen to some fool who couldn't find his fax to US customs in the huge pile and then got pizzed off and then walked out to the truck he was driving with two cars on trailers and he drove over the bridge into Canada. My friend and I followed the proper procedures and as we cleared Canada customs we look over to the impound yard and there was the truck and trailer locked up. (And you don't get your truck back either until everything, fines included are paid and it can take weeks. So he had to take a bus home to North Bay I would guess!) You may also be ORDERED to remove the car back to the US after all the fines are paid. The custom ****'s don't fool around.

 

I brought a 2007 BMW over the border yesterday for myself (purchased from a US dealer), and it was a total non-event as there were no issues or stories - just followed the process. The guy in a Ferrari 355 next to me on the Canadian side wasn't having such a good time though, and when I drove off there were two CBSA agents pulling the thing apart. I overheard stories of missing compliance labels due to a repaint etc...and could only deduce that if there are ANY issues, the importation will be an unpleasant experience.

Bottom line is there's way too many cars to choose from in the US to justify dealing with any issues. You pay the duties (if applicable) and taxes anyway regardless if its from a dealer or private seller, so you may as well buy from someone reputable.

 

Did you get a recall clearance letter from the BMW dealer where you bought the car in the U.S.? I thought I heard that BMW Canada really put the screws to you in terms of the required modifications before issuing a recall clearance letter

 

I did and I'm sure it would work fine for the RIV, but if you get the recall letter from a Canadian BMW dealer they treat you like a real customer and there are no hassles with the remaining original factory warranty. If you circumvent the dealer recall letter either by using the US dealer supplied one, or one obtained through the side door here in Canada (there are ways!), the dealers won't honour the remaining factory warranty. They charge $500 for it, but in my case there is almost 2 years remaining so I can justify the expense knowing that there will not be any BS from them if I need warranty work. Besides, what I saved by cross border shopping makes this donation to the local dealer seem pretty meaningless.

Required mods depend on what vehicle model you have. For mine (X3) they just program the DRL (or confirm that is has been done) at a cost of $125 (which they charge even if the US dealer did the mod). 3 series cars are different and they will try and charge $3,000 to change the gauge cluster.

I found the BMW service people at Parkview to be very helpful and open in terms of what would be required and what it would cost - and the sevice advisor was privately agreeing that the recall letter charge is crazy, but its in their interest to do what they can to discourage people from doing what I've done! Since they've been good to me so far, and assuming they continue to be good, they'll get all my servicing business.

 

Final update, for those who are interested..

Got the PPI back. Car was flawless. Seller returned difference between deposit and PPI, which was good.

I just needed to have that title in his name to export!! Thanks again for the advice.

 

Did you run a carfax on this?

 

Everything matched what the seller described. He just was cheap and didnt want to pay tax on his car after he decided he didnt like it. Go figure.

The hunt continues... bloody hard finding cars with cocoa interiors!