Quote:
Originally Posted by Otter74
Thanks. Doing it in BC seems pretty straightforward - the plates belong to the seller and as long as the car is on them he is technically liable for it, but when a sale is done there he keeps the plates and turns them in, the province gives me temporary insurance and plates and off I go.
I spoke to someone with ICBC and the province doesn't care whether a car is sold in BC or in the US. If he sells it to me in WA I will have to mail him the plates back eventually as he cannot un-insure the car in BC until he returns them or puts them on another car. I would of course have my own insurance and could claim against that if needed on the journey home, though he would be *technically* liable.
He could mail me the title after I pay him, which would allow me to get an IL title and plates and show up in WA and put my own plates on the car, but when he crossed the border he would be driving a car he technically didn't own any more and could possibly be questioned. That's about all I've learned so far.
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For both parties' sanity, please check the regulations carefully about taking a Canadian car into the US for the purpose of selling. I just remember a bad episode with one of the local Pelicans a few years back. Here's his post:
"Trust me when I say that a private party foreign national CANNOT import a vehicle into the US for sale.
I have received a 5-figure fine/penalty (the exact amount that I sold the car for) from the US Border Agency for trying to do just that, after doing my due diligence and investigation, and got "caught" declaring the cash from the sale while leaving the US.
We spent 3 hours in detention while writing statements and doing paperwork for "doing it wrong". When I asked them how I should have done it, they said that a private party foreign national cannot do it. Period, end of subject. Not sure how accurate that is, but he was wearing a gun, and I have the follow-up paperwork/invoice to prove how serious he was.
Either have the US citizen fly up here, pay for it, and then import it to the US for sale themselves, or spend the $400 and have a commercial broker do it.
The end result was that I basically gave away my car.
So yeah, the process is not at all the same as bringing a car INTO Canada."