Importing a Porsche from the US into Canada

[ianlochbihler]

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Looking at buying in California. To have the title changed to my name they want the state tax; 6.25% on purchase price of the car. I think as an out of state resident I shouldn't have to pay this. Is it enough at the Canadian border to present the California title and/or ownership with the sellers name on it and signed on the back for transfer purposes? Or do I have to show up at the border with a title and/or ownership that has my name on it? The California DMV also says it can take up to 6 weeks to get me a copy of the ownership.

Thanks!

[GWN7]

You don't have to transfer the title into your name. That's California's rule and their way to collect taxes.

The title signed over to you and the bill of sale is all that is required for Canada Customs. A new title will be issued to you by the province you register the car in when you do so.

[harold_callahan]

ianlochbihler, I am in the same boat. I want to purchase a California Car, but they want %9.75 tax. Dealer is quite firm and suggesting I ship it. I would prefer to drive it back.

Has anyone gotten around this?

-Callahan-

[ArcticOne]

Problem that you are having is that you want to drive the car home. In order for the dealer to allow that they have to transfer the tags, etc. to you. This then kicks in the California tax on used cars.

Go through the California DOT and check in to temporary tags / permit. When I was checking in to this in 2008 there was some tax to pay, but not the rate you are quoted. Buying from a dealer may complicate the issue as dealers in California transfer the tags, title, etc. to the new owner.

I don't think California and Canada have a reciprocity agreement that would allow you to get the state tax refunded. Then again, am not sure, so check with the California Revenue / Tax department.

jb

[GWN7]

All the dealer has to do is sign a Affidavit of Non-Use. This takes the car out of the California system. You then don't have to pay any title transfer or any of the other taxes that California wants when you buy a car there (and there is a bunch of them).

You get your own insurance from your own insurance provider and a temp registration from the province you live in. Pay the dealer, get your bill of sale and the signed title from them and take the California licence plates off the car. Stick your temp registration (issued from the province where you live) in the window and drive off home.

California Department of Motor Vehicles

[duncan1437]

i live in ontario and bought an old porsche privately last year which was located in pennsylvania, and drove it back to ontario.

i bought temporary 'in transit' car insurance from my own insurance provider in ontario. when i picked up the car, the vendor and i drove to a local vehicle permit office in the same town in pennsylvania to register the transfer of title, and get a temporary cardboard license plate for the drive back to ontario. IIRC the temporary license plate was valid for one month.

[dimf]

I just bought a 2009 Cayenne GTS from a seller in Dallas, Texas.

The vehicle was transported by HRCat as arranged by the seller. I used Carson international for the brokerage stuff. The transaction was rather smooth, it cost me $3,295 for transport (only vehicle on enclosed van) and around $900 brokerage fee ($500 base fee plus 4% of disbursement) plus the misc charges.

The vehicle was delivered yesterday while me and my family were vacationing in Hawaii and it is parked inside my garage now. We arrived today, I had reprogrammed the digital odometer to kms, and turned on the daytime running light. The procedure is very easy.

The seller also provided me with the no recall letter from a Porsche dealership in the US

I was told that here in Edmonton, Freedom Ford can also do the Federal inspection. I was told to wait for the response from the RIV office prior to booking the provincial inspection.

I was checking at RIV website and cannot track my file yet, so I will prone them tomorrow. I have the form and it is not clear if the RIV fee was paid or not.. I will find out and make sure things are moving along.

I learned a lot from the folks who posted at this thread.

[Fozzybear]

Hi Guys,

Just finished getting my C2 cab across the border - many thanks to all who answered my previous questions.

Now on to phase II.....

Can anyone tell me if the cab has child tether anchors? (I don't have an owners manual)
If yes, *where* are they??
If no, where do most people install them?

Thanks!

[Fozzybear]

Originally Posted by GWN7

Stick your temp registration (issued from the province where you live) in the window and drive off home.

California Department of Motor Vehicles

Ontario will not issue a temp permit without the RIV form (at least they wouldn't for me) - i.e. until you have it in the country, however, they will honour any temp permit acquired by the state in question for 45 days.

[GWN7]

Originally Posted by Fozzybear

Ontario will not issue a temp permit without the RIV form (at least they wouldn't for me) - i.e. until you have it in the country, however, they will honour any temp permit acquired by the state in question for 45 days.

Move to Manitoba

Here you show the agent a copy of the title and a bill of sale and they issue you the temp insurance/registration. Paper sticker goes in the front windshield. You can buy one for up to 35 days. Saves a huge amount of hassel. Get off the plane, slap the sticker on and start driving home.

[Dottore]

Can anyone here recommend a car shipping company (other than TFX Int'l) to ship a car from Oregon to Vancouver??

Any leads much appreciated.

Cheers

[Fozzybear]

Originally Posted by billroth

A question for those who have driven a car home. Did you need to get an Ontario trip permit? And how did you get it? I understand you need the titile.

Did you see car, buy it, come home, trip permit, go to car, drive home, wait at border, get home? Seems like a lot of work to me. Shipping might be easier, but you still have to fly somewhere to look at a car that you may not buy in the end.

Any advice or ideas appreciaited.

Lawrence

I drove my 996 from Salt Lake City to Ottawa.

You can't get a Ontario temporary permit until you have the RIV2 form (unless you're more successful at sweet talking the girl at MTO than I apparently am), which means its of no use to you for transport. You need to get a temp permit from the state where the car is currently registered. *Most* states (a couple of exceptions) have a trip permit specifically for people who will be registering out of state (far out of state in our case).

I did not see my car until until I picked it up. I did ante up for a *full* PPI (including leakdown, compression tests etc) by a Porsche dealership (not where I bought the car) - this is more comprehensive than the testing they do for Porsche Certified and spent about an hour on the phone with the mechanic going over everything afterwords. **Best 350USD I've ever spent - and this was my 3rd PPI (walked away from 2 others - that's why I know it's the best money spent).

The process for me was:
- find the car through online sources
- do a carfax check
- interview the dealer
- checkout the dealer (BBB, dealer groups etc)
- negotiate an offer conditional on a successful PPI
- PPI
- Execute a contract of sale
- Wire transfer funds
- Get a fax of the signed title
- Faxed signed title and Bill of Sale to Detroit Border and Customs
- Flew to SLC
- Picked up car, original title, Bill of sale
- Drove to Detroit (this part took a couple of wonderful days)
- Went to customs inspection office
- Had titled stamped 'approved for export'
- Crossed bridge
- Went into RIV office
- Paperwork and cash (6.1% duty, $100 A/C, GST - weren't setup for HST yet)
- Dealt with Canada Customs (it is a different group). Do yourself a favour, if there's an autotrader or cars.com ad - print it off and take it with you. Eventually got approved
- Drove home
- Paid the RIV fee online and faxed in my recall clearance (save yourself $500 and get it from the dealership that does your PPI - it's called a 'job management report')
- Downloaded my RIV2 form
- Did the DRL hack, installed tether bolts (if there were any on my cab, I couldn't find them), printed up some bilingual airbag stickers
- Canadian tire did the RIV2 inspection.

It sounds complicated, but it's a lot of little steps - not difficult **if you're organised.

Not all border crossings allow you to fax documentation in. Detroit does, and they're a 24/7/365 operation. I was a little hesitant to cross there (is there a busier port?) but they were *extremely* efficient - on both sides of the border.

I still have to do the provincial stuff (safety, clean air and registration), but that's where I am to date.

[Dottore]

A quick and perhaps stupid question.

I'm bringing a US 997 to the Blaine (Vancouver) border crossing this coming Tuesday. It has a temporary Oregon tag, and I have a binder insurance policy from ICBC to bring it home.

What I don't have are BC plates. How do I drive the car to the various inspections in BC etc. without BC plates.

I have read and tried to digest all the posts above—but may have missed this point.

[GWN7]

Originally Posted by Dottore

A quick and perhaps stupid question.

I'm bringing a US 997 to the Blaine (Vancouver) border crossing this coming Tuesday. It has a temporary Oregon tag, and I have a binder insurance policy from ICBC to bring it home.

What I don't have are BC plates. How do I drive the car to the various inspections in BC etc. without BC plates.

I have read and tried to digest all the posts above—but may have missed this point.

You can get a temp registration from any ICBC agent. I got one for a car I bought on the island a few years ago.

[Brian 162]

Originally Posted by Dottore

A quick and perhaps stupid question.

I'm bringing a US 997 to the Blaine (Vancouver) border crossing this coming Tuesday. It has a temporary Oregon tag, and I have a binder insurance policy from ICBC to bring it home.

What I don't have are BC plates. How do I drive the car to the various inspections in BC etc. without BC plates.

I have read and tried to digest all the posts above—but may have missed this point.

In Ontario they don't issue temp. tags anymore. As I drove from North Carolina I had no choice but to use the temp. tag to drive home and get the various inspections until I could get Ontario plates.
Like you I had a binder from my insurance company.
The temp. tag was no issue to the border service or the police.

[ArcticOne]

Can't say for sure about BC as we are all different, but in Alberta the temporary tag from the states would be good to let you drive around for a few days in order to get all the paper work straightened out.

Best to get it all BC registered as quick as possible as the police may let you off a couple of times, but not many - especially after the temporary tag has expired.

jb

[Dottore]

Thanks for the replies.

And thanks to Christien and others for this brilliant thread, which has saved me a lot of grief.

I'll report back when I get my car home.

[Christien]

Here's the way I look at it: until you've registered it in BC and transferred the title to your name, the car technically is still registered to its originating state and is still owned by the seller. So long as that temporary plate is legal and still valid (unexpired) in that state, there's no reason it should be a problem in BC. Think of it this way: what if the seller had a temp OR plate on there (i.e. vehicle still registered in his name, but for whatever reason a temp plate, not a real one - maybe someone swiped his real one), and decided to spend the weekend in BC. Surely that's legal, is it not? The only jump from that scenario to yours is who's driving the car.

[Dottore]

Well the car's home.

Can't believe how easy it was. Like farting through silk.

1 minute tops to get the US export stamp.

10 minutes tops at Canada Customs

4 minutes tops at RIV.

So altogether 15 minutes. Everyone helpful and polite.

Sort of makes me think you guys were pulling my leg with all the stories on this thread.

[1990C4S]

I guess the custom's guys were afraid you'd start another thread.

'Here he comes, open the gates!!!!'.