Hey guys, wanted some more info/tips for buying a car from the states, myself rather than a broker. Looking into a used 370Z or an FX35, want to save a few beans.

I need to know the process. Aman (atoor..) gave me some info but it was a long night and much has been forgotten.

The scenario: I would buy from a reputable dealer, rather than private and would go drive down to pick it up myself.

1. How do I pay for it? Do I make a US account and make a certified cheque when I'm down there? Any better ideas?

2. How would I drive it back to Canada in terms of licensing and insurance? Do I ask my insurance here to insure it first before going down? Do I get an Ontario temp permit to drive it or some other type of permit from the US?

3. Once at the border, what am I expected to do and pay?

4. Once I'm in Canada, where do I go for daylight running lights install/cert. inspection. Who do I show this paperwork to when I'm done?


Thank you guys for any inputs, I need to learn this process once and for all.

 

ill try to find you a link i found once while searching this stuff on google, it was very helpful and detailed.

 

its in the sticky section already

 

Go to RIV for importing info. and specific answers to your questions. It's all there. Very easy process.

http://www.riv.ca/

As far as paying just get a certified cheque or money order made out in US funds. Too easy.

Insure it for the day you pick it up. The dealer can give you a state temp permit to drive home with - usually good for 30 days.

At the border you'll pay HST, importing fee and any applicable duty which I think is 6% for an Infiniti. Tax part might be different in Ontario though.

CTC does the RIV certification and after that you can register provincially.

 

When i bought mine i had it insured and then drove it back with a plate i had from another car, in Alberta you have 30 days to transfer registration. Even if you didnt they wouldn't know that in the US I also carried the bill of sale in case we got pulled over. Of course we did get pulled over in Montana so we gave the cop the Bill of sale the insurance and the registration for my other car that the plate was from he was cool with it all he was also very impressed in how fast we made it from southern Georgia to Montana...we drove straight through and hauled butt the whole way . He did however give us a nice speeding ticket that we had to pay cash on the spot .

At the boarder you pay Duty and other taxes for alberta it works out to a total of 10%. DO NOT lie about the price of the car, I have heard of guys getting a fake bill of sale with a lower price to get out of some duty and taxes, I have heard of more than one person getting caught and the penalties are huge. Any way when your back you can do DRL yourself or get Crappy Tire to do them they can also do your OOP inspection and maybe even the RIV inspection. The above link is very helpful dont forget to fax all of the info to the boarder prior to your arrival, I have heard if it is not the full 36hrs or what ever they require they make you sit and wait the appropriate amount of time. I did fax them the recall clearance letter and had it with me at the boarder but it was not required until I sent the paper work into RIV, for me this was a nightmare RIV did not accept my recall clearance letter and i spent hours on the phone trying to sort it out I even had Infiniti USA send them the same letter 3 times until finally they accepted it however this was back in 2006 before the importing craze happened and it was fairly new by now i am sure everyone has it figured out.

 

Thanks for the great info guys, seems pretty straightforward. To clarify:

RBull: Can I get a certified cheque made at one of their bank locations in the US using my Canadian account?- sorry, no experience in banking with US.

Sylvan Lake: About the recall clearance letter... Does the dealer in the US obtain this for me?


Question for all... I took the following quote from the RIV site:
Does this mean I can't just go down to the States, buy a car, and deal with the paperwork at the border all in one day? The quote states that they need minimum 3 days to process my sales receipt and documents before I can bring it over. Is this true? How did you guys get through this?

Thanks guys!

 

Johnny Send me a PM ill help you out with everything . Just bought once again another vehicle picking it up friday .... This is probably the 10th vehicle weve brought over in about 2 1/2 years so i got no problem helping you through the whole process.

There is no need for a broker it is unbelievable easy. You just have to do it step by step.

 

Thanks Aman, much appreciated, pm sent!

 

Hope i was able to help anyone who pm'd me . If there is anyone else who would require some help i have no problem just pm me and ill reply soon as i get a chance.

 

^ you tha man!

 

Just curious, do you concentrate on any one vehicle?

 

^^ hey bud .. No car in particular . Only avoid bmw and porsche lol. Mainly go for vehicles manufactured in North America so you save the 6.1% duty . Other then that mainly comparing to local ones for sale and seeing if its worth it. Most vehicles are worth it and save big $$ will others it doesint make sense to even bother.

When I'm home and get a chance for future references so it can help any1 else in the future ill take the info shared with johhny and post it here just a little more organized lol. As johnny knows it was a lot of info Lmao

 

Just curious why you suggest to avoid Porsche?

 

Porsche and BWM usually gives us a hard time with the recall letters... I believe thats the main reason people avoid them.

 

It sure was!
You should become a broker yourself.