importing from Canada

[mercman]

Hello there.

Wondering if anyone here has imported an original to the U.S. car from Canada?

Any information or insight would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,

[blucille]

yes....in my case a '69 911, had the owner drive it down from toronto, as the owner, it was easy to get across the border.....ran down to customs in Newark, signed some papers, wrote a check and left as the official owner of the car, ready to go to the DMV.....might have taken 30 minutes, no big deal

Lewis

[JJ 911SC]

You guys must be in a very small select club as I would estimate the cross border importing is about 99.5% going North.

Since you now have some Canadian fibers... enjoy a cold one

[grizzfan]

Mercman,

Yes I won an eBay auction in late April for a '73 911T and flew to Canada to pick up the car a month later.

I researched all the EPA, DOT and relative regulations. One of them says that you can re-import a car without duty; i.e. the auto was purchased new in the US with US specification. However that wasn't the US Entry Point's opinion and I ended up paying 2.5% import duty based on the sale price of the car. I probably could fight it but I have more important fish to fry.

You need to check with your state and county to insure you have their required documents. In Montana they require a Notarized Bill of Sale, a signed registration paper by the seller, US Boarder Documents and a Law Enforcement Inspection. That could vary wildly by State; for instance no EPA Emissions test is required in Montana. Notarized Bills of Sale are not normal in Canada, but can be arranged. Canadian cars do not have titles and the Law Enforcement inspection consisted of an over-weight policewoman looking at my car and signing a paper.

I would not really recommend the New Jersey solution mentioned by Sonette43 as cash-strapped localities will eventually catch up with you.

Hope this helps.

Tom

[blucille]

just to be clear, I still paid the import duty, just paid it in Newark, rather than at the border.

Lewis

[mercman]

Thanks Gents, much appreciated. Time to browse the internet and obsess about something Porsche related....

[johnsjmc]

I have sold several cars to US buyers. The only problem I ran into was on one car going to Richmond Virginia. I trailered it there through Detroit. The rookie US border guard looked at it and then waved me through. It seems there is a document required at port of entry. The car should have been looked at to confirm the VIN matched the ownership documents at the Detroit crossing. The new owner had to take the car to a Port of Entry. (luckily his nearest international airport) and have the car VIN viewed there. There was no mention of duty.

[red 2.7]

Buying a Canadian Porsche is a good idea as many of them are stored for 6 months of the year and have low milage ie: garage queens. I bought a 77 with only 80 thousand miles on it with no rust.