Importing a Car from the US to Canada

santiago

New member
This guideline was excellent in helping me import a car. I have some specific information I would like to share regarding my situation:
- importing into Quebec through Champlain, NY
- 15-year old car
- car newer than 1989 Daytime Running Lights guideline
- bought in New Jersey


Insurance.
I was able to get liability insurance for the new car. Even though I was a week away from getting the car my insurance broker emailed me an insurance paper for the new car. All I needed was a VIN and given that I am a longtime customer this was very easy. I have a feeling that if you have an existing policy it's easy to add a car like this but if you're cold-calling it must be harder to do.

Temp Tags - US Side.
This was the biggest headache. The rules vary from state to state. From what I understand, the tags belong to the car in a state such as California. In other states the tag belongs to the individual and if the car is sold it must be turned into the DMV. Getting temp tags also varies from state to state. In Michigan I believe you can actually get them online. In New Jersey, where I bought my car, you MUST be present at the DMV with signed title, out-of-state license and out-of-state proof of insurance. In my case the original was sitting at the US Export Control Office for the 3 day wait so this meant I had to find an alternate solution.

Temp tags, from what I read, are also a headache in the sense that you apparently have to have one for EACH state you drive through on your way home.

I had originally arranged to borrow the previous owner's plates for the drive up and mail them back but in the end he chickened out.

My solution was to get the car transported to the US border. With a little googling I came across a service called UShip.com, which is sort of like Ebay including feedback. You list what it is you want to transport and various transporters bid on it. For the NJ to Chamlain, NY trip (approximately 600 miles) my bids ran from $600-800 but most could not offer specific days. The typical reply was "pickup within 3 days of acceptance" and "delivery within 4 days of pickup". I was anxious to get the car and needed to arrange a lift to the border so opted for one independent transporter who had a covered trailer who was able to provide very specific pickup/delivery days. His bid was on the high end but I thought it was worth it. It was more expensive than a flight down to NJ but it did save me a lot of time.

If you are looking to transport a car I highly recommend using the uShip.com service. For one thing, you can read up on the transporter's feedback much like ebay but with more details. Both the shipper and transporter provide full feedback. This is the feedback page of the transporter I used (1992 BMW 325iC listed is my car): http://www.uship.com/profile/TCB603/

Export Control Office at US Border.
The hours and specific regulations vary from one export control office to another. In many guides you'll read that you can fax in the signed title and the bill of sale. In the case of the Champlain, NY office they wanted original signed title, a photocopy of the signed title and a copy of the bill of sale. When I called them for information I mentioned that I'd have the title mailed to me so that I can sign it and mail it back down. They said not to bother with that. Have it mailed from the previous owner and said I could sign it when I came in.

The hours at the Champlain, NY office are great. It's 6am-9:30pm but only Monday to Friday. The process took all of 30 seconds. I walked in, showed them a copy of the title I had, which they used to look through their files. The took out the paperwork and stamped it and told me to go on my way.

Temp Tags - Canadian Side.
Originally I was going to simply drive the car through Quebec without plates. I had read somewhere that even if you get stopped by the police you can show your import papers dated that day and tell them you're on your way to get the registration. In my case I had my inspection appointments booked for the next morning. I got lucky in that my dad has a friend with a garage that has a dealer plate (Quebec "X" plate for those who know what that is) and he borrowed it. We threw it on and drove through. I had actually forgotten to put the plate on when I hit the Canadian border. The border guard asked where my license plate was. I explained my dad, in the car in front, had a temp plate we had to put on. He didn't seem to care.

Import Process.
My car was over 15 years old so no recall clearance letter was needed even though I had a copy from a US BMW dealership the vendor procured and I had a copy that my Canadian BMW dealership gave me.

I was asked for value of the car, where I bought it including if it was an Ebay listing. I told him it was actually bought through a forum classified ad. He asked me what the car was originally listed at. I knew and had heard that they would be vigilant about listed value and would double check particularly on Ebay listings which is why I opted to declare a more-or-less full value.

I had also read and heard of some border guards being jerks about tires. If the tires are too new they could accuse you of buying them and installing them over the border. In my case the vendor and I agreed to split the cost of brand new tires on the car so I made sure to include this in the Bill of Sale with wording to the effect of "price includes a new set of tires".

Daytime Running Lights
If the car is 1989 and over, it MUST have daytime running lights enabled even if it is over 15 years old. I thought the 15-year rule was an exemption to all things including DRL. This is not the case. When I called Canadian Tire I asked about having it enabled by them and then getting the federal inspection.

My dad was the one who took my car around for all the inspections so I don't know the exact details. For some reason Canadian Tire couldn't install their little DRL module on my new E30 or they could but wanted to charge $150. Somehow he got them to pass the federal inspection with a promise that we would get the DRL enabled. I don't know how he managed that but we didn't even need to go back to show them it was done.

By coincidence I was having an alarm/remote-lock kit installed 2 days later and the tech did this for me. He hooked it up so that the parking lights turned on with ignition. He mentioned that you don't need to have the headlights on, just any light even an amber one is sufficient. So far I haven't had any policeman hassle me. In any case I will be installing Euro "smilies" on my car and the city lights will end up being on with the parking lights so I will have a headlight also on.

Quebec Inspection and Registration Process
First thing is a federal inspection, which I mentioned above. This takes place at the Canadian tire as is mentioned in all the online guides including the OP's.

Next for Quebec is a provincial inspection. There are a few official inspection centers with typical government hours but here in Montreal there are some garages that are designated as official provincial inspection centers. I went to one of these and got the car inspected. These are mechanical inspections. In Quebec we do not have emission testing.

Final destination was the SAAQ office (Quebec DMV) with a copy of original title, a copy of import documents, the federal inspection and provincial inspection. With that the car was registered and is happily in my hands now.

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wow, awesome car!!!! Damn it looks good my girlfriend would love it (me too hehe).

If someone wants to import a newer BMW, let me know I went through the process. I was able to skip the recall letter too ;)

And you don't have to have temp tags, this is a waaay too big headache. I just drove the car back on the California plates, with the papers signed so i was responsible. Then in Canada I just mailed the old plates back to the guy in the US. No way i would mess with the temp tags, especially in crazy bureaucratic states like california
 
Donc quelqu'un peu répondre. Inspection fédérale s'applique t'elle au 15ans et plus lorsque proviens des EU?
 
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