[V8] Bringging Canadian cars to the US

[Gunter Lorberg]

I never expected this much interest in my V8's!

This thread has jogged my memory.  I moved down to Cleveland for a year in '03.  First moved down with a Jetta TD--Canadian-spec.  My Ontario-based Insurance company offered to provide coverage until I was able to secure insurance through a US firm--I was told I needed to register the car and get Ohio plates.  To get Ohio plates, I had to go to a US customs inspection site (there was one in Cleveland) where some guy physically inspected the car--for about one minute.  He checked it over and couldn't find the US DOT decals he was looking for....I got the sense that the process was going to come to a complete hault.  I showed him whatever decals there were on the car (Canadian) and pointed to another one on the front of the car indicating that the car met California emissions......he kind of nodded and signed off on the form.  He was sympathetic and thankfully not a stickler.  That was a close call.

I brought the red V8 down to Cleveland a few months later but only after negotiating a deal with the insurance company that had insured the Jetta....they were agreeable to insurancing the V8 even though it had Canadian plates on it..on condition that I wouldn't be living in the US for more than one year.

I'm sorry that I may have mislead you earlier as I noted that I had gotten Ohio plates....just forget the details....the car was a Canadian spec Jetta.  

I bought the black V8 for my ex-GF (German) who was at Cornell for a couple of years.  She rented a duplex in Ithaca for a couple of years, and drove the V8 around locally (she was an excellent driver--German driver training programs are impressive).....it kept Ontario plates and Ontario-based insurance under my name.  In hindsight I probably stretched things a little there but in the end no harm came of it.

At the end of the day, I am beginning to realize that registering these V8's in the US will pose a challenge.  They are not DOT-spec---let me correct myself---they only lack the DOT decal--makes me wonder whether someone could lift a DOT decal from another US-spec parted-out V8

If the DOT matter can't be sorted out, these V8's might just be a collection of parts for someone in the US.

Could also be a challenge to just get them across the border.  I would probably have to drive them across myself with the plates that are currently on the cars.......at Niagara Falls or Watertown (NY).




________________________________
From: Scott DeWitt <sdewitt at stx.rr.com>
To: ron_01056 at yahoo.com; v8 at audifans.com; Karl D. Middlebrooks <benzeenprophet at hotmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 9:53:46 PM
Subject: Re: [V8] Bringging Canadian cars to the US

You can only bring cars over as parts if the drivetrain is incomplete, namely the engine is removed.
Any and all vehciles privately imported must meet US saftey and emissions standards. It either must be 25 years old or older, or federalized to meet US emissions and saftey standards for the year of manufacture. 

It is a myth that you can import vehicles from other countries into the United States by first bringing the car into Canada. 

To import a Candian vehicle into the US without having it federalized you must have documetation from the manufacturer that the vehicle meets US satftey and emission standards. Just because it meets Canadian standards does not mean the vehicle will meet US standards.



---- "Karl D. Middlebrooks" <benzeenprophet at hotmail.com> wrote: 
> They do not need to be sold as parts cars. While I'm not sure of the 
> procedure, I do know that my 93 began its life as a Canadian car before it 
> was registered in California by the previous owner (it's got some sticker in 
> the door indicating that it's a Canadian car). The California title I 
> received was not branded in any way, nor is my Oregon title.
> 
> Of course, the gubmint could have made things more difficult in the 
> meantime, but I did a little research a while back trying to get a Lotus 
> Esprit into the country from the UK, and if I could have gotten the thing to 
> Canada, then it was no problem to bring into the US. I couldn't get it to 
> Canada, because Canada (if I recall correctly) was even more restrictive 
> than the US on bringing entire cars into the country from overseas.
> 
> Anywho, check this out: It has lots of good links to it. It was what I dug 
> through when I was doing my research:
> 
> http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_import_a_used_car_from_canada_to_the_US
> 
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Ron Wainwright" <ron_01056 at yahoo.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 3:10 PM
> To: <v8 at audifans.com>
> Subject: [V8] Bringging Canadian cars to the US
> 
> > So........ looks like I need to know what it's going to take to get these 
> > two V8's to the States.
> > Do they need to be sold as parts cars? Or could I drive the good one over 
> > the boarder & haul the other one? haul both?
> >
> > Ron
> >
> >
> >
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