Importing a Porsche from the US into Canada

[Railton]

I am also considering purchasing a used US 997 model from the states. If I undertand the RIV it states that you can either obtain the vehicle recall letter in US. It would seem to me that this letter should be a condition of sale regardless in much the same manner as a clean carfax, etc. I certainly don't want to be in the situation of asking a Canadian Dealer to furnish this for me for a $1250 charge.
Regarding warranty work; if one is purchasing a vehicle with warranty still left on it then I would assume that if the Canadian dealer would not honor the US warranty that PNA would need to set them straight. That, and that one could also just drive the vehicle down to Buffalo for the day to have a service/repairs made.
Comments most welcome, I'm getting itchy to purchase.
R

[GWN7]

The $1250 fee dosen't go to a dealer, it is payed to Porsche Canada and it's for the recall letter only.

If your worried about the warranty read the Porsche North America web site:

"The warranty periods begin on the day of delivery to the customer. The following periods apply:

■4 year / 50,000 mls (80,000 km) warranty for all new vehicles whichever occurs first*;
■2-year warranty for genuine Porsche parts, exchange parts and accessories, which are used or sold outside of warranty work. The warranty period for Porsche parts which are used in connection with warranty work ends contemporaneously with the warranty period for the purchased item which has become defective;
■10-year long-life warranty against rust holes in the bodyshell. (please refer to the conditions in the Warranty and Maintenance handbook)
Certified Pre-Owned Warranty is 2 years / 100,000 mls (160,000 km), once the vehicle is outside the original vehicle warranty period.

Warranty can be claimed from any Porsche partner across the world.

*Applies for vehicles purchased and registered in the USA and Canada (outside the USA and Canada 2 years / unlimited miles)."

[Railton]

Originally Posted by GWN7

The $1250 fee dosen't go to a dealer, it is payed to Porsche Canada and it's for the recall letter only.

If your worried about the warranty read the Porsche North America web site:

"The warranty periods begin on the day of delivery to the customer. The following periods apply:

■4 year / 50,000 mls (80,000 km) warranty for all new vehicles whichever occurs first*;
■2-year warranty for genuine Porsche parts, exchange parts and accessories, which are used or sold outside of warranty work. The warranty period for Porsche parts which are used in connection with warranty work ends contemporaneously with the warranty period for the purchased item which has become defective;
■10-year long-life warranty against rust holes in the bodyshell. (please refer to the conditions in the Warranty and Maintenance handbook)
Certified Pre-Owned Warranty is 2 years / 100,000 mls (160,000 km), once the vehicle is outside the original vehicle warranty period.

Warranty can be claimed from any Porsche partner across the world.

*Applies for vehicles purchased and registered in the USA and Canada (outside the USA and Canada 2 years / unlimited miles)."

Thanks for your note.
The vehicle recall notice can be secured in the States prior to bringing the vehicle across the border. Hence, no $1250 fee to Porsche Canada required.
Are we seeing eyeball to eyeball here?
Are there any other Porsche parts that fll outside the two conditions stated above?
Railton

[GWN7]

That's what the RIV site states.....get the letter (as described on the RIV site, from the US dealer) and no need to pay Porsche Canada.

So make your best deal with the dealer and make them provide the letter as part of the deal.

None that I know of.

[Tanner2305]

Hi all,

What a great site! I just bought my mint 99 911 Carrera 4 on ebay from Florida. It get's loaded on the truck tomorrow morning (DAS shipping) and unloaded at their depot in Elma NY which is about 30 miles outside of Niagara Falls.
In regards to the recall letter I've been on the phone with Porsche North America, Porsche Canada and Downtown Fine Cars and they all had the same answer. Bring it in for the inspection $1100.00 and we'll then deal with this letter.
what a load of crap. I just happen to call a Porsche dealership in Florida who happened to service my car and the Service Manager said he would provide the seller one to send to me. Will this surfice I don't know but I'll do anything to not pay Porsche their ransom.

Can't wait to get my car.

Thanks for all the great information this site offers.

dan

[Tanner2305]

Originally Posted by NPHK

Lorne,

Do you still have that image of the French label airbag stickers? It would be very much appreciated if you could send it through to me so I can get my new boxter s through the Canadian Tire inspection (yes, they denied me without the stickers).

Cheers,
NPHK

===============================

Lorne,

I'd really appreciate your sticker as well.

thanks,

d_greene@rogers.com

[GWN7]

You can make your own stickers. Go to a office supply place and by a pkg of stick on labels. Take a digital picture of any French seatbelt/airbag from any car or truck and in your windows program there is usually a publisher program. Add the picture of the sticker from the car/truck digital and tell your printer how big the labels are, then print your labels.

Or go to a auto wreckers and pull some off the visors of car going to the shreader.

I don't know for sure, but you probably could get away with hand printing them too.

Print one with this on it "Portez votre ceinture de sécurité ou vous mourrez" and stick it on your visor. If the guy doing the inspection speaks French you should pass.

[billybek]

"I just happen to call a Porsche dealership in Florida who happened to service my car and the Service Manager said he would provide the seller one to send to me. Will this surfice I don't know but I'll do anything to not pay Porsche their ransom."
That should work! It will have a Porsche letterhead on it, you should be fine.

[Tanner2305]

I actually ordered 2 bilingual airbag stickers from Chrysler. They are the only dealer that sells them seperately. If anyone is interested the part # is 04787437-AA.

[felix1900]

Hi guys,

I am exporting a boxster t0 CA .
I am the owner of ths car I have droven 4 mounthes in LA .I am working in LA，so I bought the car .I will go back to Toronto, I will drive back .
I saw about the doucoments requested by US board , I just have the title .I bought the car from a pravite . I don't have the sales receipt . what is the registration?

Thank you very much!!

[GWN7]

Originally Posted by felix1900

Hi guys,

I am exporting a boxster t0 CA .
I am the owner of ths car I have droven 4 mounthes in LA .I am working in LA，so I bought the car .I will go back to Toronto, I will drive back .
I saw about the doucoments requested by US board , I just have the title .I bought the car from a pravite . I don't have the sales receipt . what is the registration?

Thank you very much!!

The registration is the title.


"If you are a resident of Canada who is returning to resume residence after an absence of at least one year, or a former resident of Canada who has been a resident of another country for at least one year, consult the publication Moving Back to Canada. "

Then you should have no problems importing the car. You will be exempt from duty but will be required to meet Transport Canada guide lines reguarding importation.

Read: bsf5087 Moving Back to Canada

I would suggest you get the car serviced at a local Porsche dealer and get them to supply a letter stating all the recalls have been done on the car. You will need this for the RIV requirement.

[felix1900]

GWN7,

Thank you so much !!!

[plk]

Originally Posted by GWN7

You can make your own stickers. Go to a office supply place and by a pkg of stick on labels. Take a digital picture of any French seatbelt/airbag from any car or truck and in your windows program there is usually a publisher program. Add the picture of the sticker from the car/truck digital and tell your printer how big the labels are, then print your labels.

Or go to a auto wreckers and pull some off the visors of car going to the shreader.

I don't know for sure, but you probably could get away with hand printing them too.

Print one with this on it "Portez votre ceinture de sécurité ou vous mourrez" and stick it on your visor. If the guy doing the inspection speaks French you should pass.

First of all, I want to commend all those who have contributed to this discussion forum. It has been most educational. I brought across an '07 Boxster yesterday. Becauase of this forum, I knew enough to negotiate with dealer the inclusion of a recall letter, and all necessary compliance work (DRL & KM's). They couldn't help with the sticker so I will attempt the "digital picture" methodology noted above and will report on how it goes. This will hopefully save me a visit to my local Porsche dealership (South Centre Fine Cars - Calgary) and more importantly, the $500 they want to "Canadianize" my car together with their recall letter.

[Jerome74911S]

I'm not going to identify any particulars, but I spoke recently to someone (no, it's not me) who has imported over 100 old cars from the States, and a lot of them were vintage Porsches. Concerning the three-day wait at the U.S. Customs, he said, "What for? I just bring them over and Canada Customs doesn't care. Register it in Canada and that's it."

Obviously this does not follow the rules, but does he have a point? What would happen?

[GWN7]

He may have done that in the past but Canada Customs looks for the US Customs stamp on the titles now.

I had imported 3 cars from the USA and someone said "You have to stop at US Customs to have them cleared". I had never heard of this before, so I called Canada Customs at the entry point where I cross and asked. They had never heard of this before. So they called US Customs and asked while I was on the phone. US Customs wanted to talk to me and I called them and had to give them the serial numbers of all 3 cars. Never heard back from them so I guess none were on the hot sheets for stolen cars. I didn't want any problems crossing the border in the future.

Now Canada Customs looks for the US Customs stamp on the title or the car can only be imported as a parts car and can never be registered for street use.

[GWN7]

And it's not a 3 day wait at the border. It is they have to have a copy of the title 72 hrs before the car is exported.

So you fax a copy of the title to the US port of Export (where your leaving the USA from with the car) before you go get the car. When you get to the border you stop at US Customs, go in with the original title. They check the title against the one you faxed them and then compare the title to the serial number on the car and off you go to Canada Customs.

Most times they don't seem to check the hot sheets till you actually get to the border.

[Brian 162]

I'm bringing back a vehicle from North Carolina tomorrow. The dealer (GM) provided me with the recall letter, and faxed the title to US Customs.
A friend suggested to keep the fax confirmation from Customs to prove the title was received.
I'll let you guys know how it went next week.

Update April 26

All went well at the U.S. side. Just make sure you have all your paperwork. Get copies just in case, and get there early.
The Canadian side was painless as well.
Now I'm working on the RIV portion.

[Tanner2305]

So I got my 911 over the border but am a little worried about the recall letter. I did manage to get a recall notice from the dealership who serviced the car in the US however it's printed out of their databand and doesn't have the letterhead or a signature. Any thoughts on this?

[Brian 162]

Go in person. The worst they can say is no.

[Christien]

Usually they will ask that a recall printout from a service computer have a business card photocopied onto it - something that has the Porsche crest. But yeah, go to your local Canadian Tire automotive desk, ask for the RIV inspector, show it to him and ask if it'll do - he'll tell you right there yes or no. No need to book an appt and bring the car in. The guy at my local CDN Tire is awesome - a real car guy who, while not breaking the rules, understands that child seat tethers in a boxster are ridiculous. That, and french airbag labels, never came up. Just DRLs and recall letter. And I had that same thing you do, just with the card copied on. He originally faxed me just the letter - I called him back and said "look, I realize this is dumb and I'm being a pain, but could you please refax it with your business card there?" He didn't mind at all - had it 5 min. later.