Just curious who here has bought vehicles from canada, either private party or dealer, if you did the transaction on this side of the border or theirs, and what duties or taxes, if any, need to be paid.

Specifically, I'm looking at some vehicles in canuckistan that are significantly cheaper, and thinking it can't be as simple as having the Canadian guy drive the car with a buddy to bellingham, me get a ride to bellingham, pay cash, get title/bill of sale, and drive home.. I don't wanna get stuck with a car that requires 9 miles of paperwork...

I'm curious about this as well.

The vehicle needs to be labeled that it meets us safety and emissions standards. If not, you have to go through the process of proving that it does.

You also have to pay duty tax if it's not made in Canada, us, or Mexico.

For me, it's crown vic /grand marquis /Lincoln towncar, which were all made at Saint Thomas assembly plant in Ontario... Where all Panther platform vehicles are made, and all were North American variants with a few exceptions for models exported to middle east.. But those were a difference in turn signals (amber instead of red)...

I bought a motorcycle from a Canadian who imported to US in the early 90's, he had to pay a lot to have it meet emissions, cost him about what I paid for the bike just to have it converted.

In 2001 a local Chevy dealer offered me a new GMC Silverado from Canada for a lower price, but the speedo was in Km and who knows what other fuckery was going on.

Bought a '65 VW Bug my uncle bought new in Germany. 6V, but had some parts not available in the US until '68. Was a nightmare repairing and maintaining it, didn't take regular US parts for that year.

This and federal regulations require that the importer change the gauge cluster over to a US MPH cluster with a miles odometer. If you are buying a car that has already been imported make sure that you see the kilometers before they swap the cluster. They have to "certify" that they made an accurate conversion but who's to stop them from "accidentally" programming off 20,000-30,000 miles?

Also make sure any canadian car didn't come from central or northern Canada. They salt/brine the roads up there. Rust buckets.

It has been a few years, and I cannot tell you the exact %, but there are fees involved. I had the dealership handle the transport and importations for me. I want to say it was 2000-2100 for transport across the border and customs fees on a vehicle that was $18kCAD Then WA state got to sink their teeth into it when I titled it here.

I will tell you make 100% sure upfront that there are NO open recalls on the vehicle. US customs will not let it enter the country until they are fixed or you get documentation from the MFG that there is no fix and you the new owner are on their records and will be notified when there is a fix. Don't ask me how I know, my car was in jail for over a month fighting with the importer and begging the mfg for documentation.

Great points by Sinus. Some cars these days have a switch on dash or in settings to switch over the KM/MI electronically since the instrumentation is all elect these days.. mine was one of those so just press a button on dash to go back and forth. I then had a cool 260mph speedo the other owners in message boards were jealous of. heh

I can see you in a police auction Caprice with the flood light and front crash guard still on it.

LMAO..... If you only knew..... but never chebbys, only Ferd...

I used to outfit them, got them dirt cheap... I've had 14 by last count...








etc etc

Let google help you

http://www.dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/customs.html

Did you actually read that link? I has pretty much zero helpful info

did you? no! the bottom link has all the info he needs. and I agree you has no helpful info

I did, because i was interested. Those are state regs. Copy of VIN signed by customs.

The thing is, you're not importing a car into WA state you're importing a car into the USA. Meaning you have to follow federal regulations which are strict on emissions and safety equipment standards. It's a lot more complicated than just getting a customs agent to verify the VIN.

Next time before you Google one thing then pat yourself on the back proclaiming your mental superiority for using a Google search, maybe you actually research the topic? Or maybe just leave the topic to people who have researched it recently, and thoroughly. Like say someone who bought a Canadian truck last week and still has the kilometers odo in it? A.k.a. me.

Here is the link he needs https://icsw.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/import/