Importing a <25 year old car to the USA

[Tishabet]

Hi All,

A question for the Pelican Brain Trust:

I am living in Malaysia currently, and am interested in purchasing a Land Rover Defender while I am here and would like to import the car to the USA when I return. I have read up on the importing process and from what I understand a car that is less than 25 years old has to be on the government “good list” and fortunately the one I am currently looking at (a 93 Defender 110) is one of two models of Defender which are (see http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/import/elig092210.pdf).

So obviously I need to be aware of the shipping charges (already researching that one but let me know of any recommendations) but my real question here is around the actual import process. I know that any cars on the “good list” must be brought in through a registered importer and brought up to snuff for DOT and EPA requirements, and I am having a hard time assessing just how much money/hassle/time that will likely take… I assume this could vary quite a bit depending on the amount of work done for the EPA/DOT stuff but I’m having a hard time even finding a baseline. Since there are a bunch of Porsches on the “good list” as well as many other cars which would appeal to car buffs I was hoping someone here might have some first-hand knowledge.

For what it’s worth, the 93 Defender 110s I have been looking at are going for 8-12k USD so there is some runway before I am “upside down” on the vehicle value in the USA.

Thanks!

[Normy]

VERY bad idea. Sell that car in Malaysia and buy the same car here. Find it on eBay, it will usually be cheaper than the car you sold.

"Federalizing" a car in order to make it legal in the United States is a RIDICULOUS stupid expense. Typically $10k, it sometimes goes to $20k! The US government has purposely made DIFFERENT rules for automotive certification that the ROW or Rest Of World, as Porsche knows it. The US Government is controlled by big business. That means that Ford, GM, and Chrysler have the money to change automotive certification rules so that companies outside the United States have difficulty meeting crash rules. Peugeot, Citroen, Renault, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Seat, Skoda, and a few others [not to mention small cottage producers like Morgan] CANNOT sell their cars here; This is something that needs to be changed, but as long as Ford is a multi-billion dollar company, you can bet that this will not happen.

[Tishabet]

Hmm, 10k to import would still have me ahead of the game, 20k would probably put me underwater or close to it.

[Hugh R]

No expert, but gotta go with Normy on this one.