thane

I purchased a used Porsche in Florida (yay!) and hope to drive it home next weekend. Lots of great info on this forum about how to import a car - thanks everyone for that. One specific question about Florida though:

In Florida even for temp tags you have to pay their 4% sales tax. The only way to avoid the tax (that I'm aware of) is to ship the car out of state. Does anyone know other alternatives? Can I get a temp tag from a different state? Can I use my Ontario plates from my existing Porsche?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Thane

JimV8

It's an insurance problem and no, you won't get Ont plates without a safety and E'test. It's a math question whether to trailer it or drive. Make sure you fax the ownership to the US border at least 72 hours ahead.

mjh1

Are you sure even if the car is exported out of country you have to pay the tax there? I purchased one in Michigan in Dec last year, when I went in for the temp tags the first girl told me I had to pay the tax, I aksed her to look further into as I did not think I needed to. She had a manager come over who looked in some reg book and as long as I was taking the car out of country (or maybe out of state) I did not have to pay the tax. Was touch and go for a bit the first girl was very sure that I was going to be paying the tax. I'd call and ask some questions and make sure you are talking to someone that been there for awhile and knows about exporting cars out of state.

Radcap

Call your insurance company, I bought mine in Denver, slapped on a plate fom an existing car in the fleet and Poof, I was back home 2 days later, no worries no hassle. I live in Alberta

Drive safe,

Rod,

imcarthur

I went through this in 2004 with my Porsche. For a normal out-of-state purchase - say a Georgia resident - they pay the tax & then can claim it back through their local DMV. For Canadians it is no dice. Ontario won't recognize that you paid a state tax. I think Connecticut is the same & several other states.

I shipped mine.

Ian

thane

Rod, I'm definitely considering doing that. Insurance company is fine with insuring the car provided I get them the Ontario registration within 20 days. My worry is if I will get a hard time at the border. Did you run into issues at the border when you were importing the car given that you had Alberta plates on a car that obviously wasn't yet registered in Alberta?

Radcap

Nope, none, not one question regarding the plates from either the US border or our Canadian side, i had a binder from my insurance provider and just paid my GST and Duty and I was on my way, I even showed up after only 18 hours of them having my paperwork....easyiest thing i have ever done. I even stopped to chat with a Sheriff from Wyoming...hahah got out of a pretty good ticket too.

Cheers,

Radcap

Just as an addition, Colorado charges for registration as well but having my own plates I was exempt from that.

Christien

Florida is one of "those" states. Try taking your bill of sale, copy of the title and insurance info down to a local MTO and applying for a trip permit. It's what you get when you buy a used car and need to drive it around for safety and e-test. It's only good for 10 days, and you'll still need to drive around for safety and e-test once you're back here, so make sure your timing is spot-on.

Failing that, I can get it back here for $500 + costs using a dealer plate. Usually works out to about $1000-1100 from Florida to Toronto.

Turbodan

you can not legally put an Ontario plate on any car unless it is registered to that car.
if it is a private sale, ask the owner to lend you his plates to drive it back and then mail him the plates.
good luck.
what did you buy? did you do ppi and have you seen the car yourself?

Tanner2305

Florida has different rules and that is why I shipped mine up from Destin instead of driving it myself.

pontifex4

Christien, for the record, I extended mine another 10 days just by asking on the day after it expired at the MTO office. The lady told me that they do that fairly often.

Turbodan

virginia the permits are only 3 days...I got 2.

samajam

I picked my 964 up from Miami in Nov last year. Spoke with the county tax deputy's office and was told that exporting Canadians were exempt but was running late on a Friday and went directly to a licencing office and was told no go, pay up!!! even had them call the state DMV to confirm. The seller gave me his tags and drove back with them (he said that tags run with a car and cannot be reassigned to another vehicle???) was a bit worried about not changing title on the spot but I did confirm that there were no leins and I imported on the Monday. The US export officer gave me some greif but did not slow down the processing. good luck

mjh1

I never change the title into my name, they wanted me to and thats why they told me I had to pay the tax. After I explained to the lady running the DMV office that I went to, that I was taking the car out of country and it would never be titled again in the U.S. They gave me the temp trip premit for 10 days and I was off, no taxes paid, no trouble at the border on either side.