Hi all:
Does anyone know how complicated it is to buy a car in the United States and export it to Canada? I am a Canadian trying to buy a G35 sedan in Nova Scotia and there is only 1 dealer in this part of Canada. Their offer for my car sucks and they won't move off MSRP. Lack of competion sucks. I guess they figure if you want an Infifiti, you have to pay their price. Is it worth it to buy in the U.S. to bring back here??

 

I am a Canadian that, nine years ago, lived in Kansas for four years during which I bought a car. Here is what I had to do to drive it in Ontario.

1) Obtain an information package from the RIV (Registry of/for Imported/ing Vehicules) that will tell you if you car is legal in Canada (it will be, off course). They will need the VIN. Cost: $0, I think. Maybe $20.

2) Send a notice of export to the US Custom location were you intend to re-enter Canada. This notice has to be sent/fax 72hours prior to your arrival. They will do a background check to verify leans and such. Cost: $0

3) Enter Canada and visit with a joyous custom officer that will arrive for your vehicule to be inspected by an on-site RIV inspector that will look your car, during that time, the custom officer will request taxes. GST of course but also Provincial sales tax, I believe, but that might be taken care of when you go to your local licensing office. Now, here the fun one. Since the G is not a NAFTA car (North American Free Trade Agreement) and Auto-Pack (or whatever it's called), you will have to pay duty (import tax) which I believe to be around 5% to 7% and might be country specific. A friend on mine had to pay 7% on a Saab. Another note, if you read about a 10,000$ base exemption, it does not apply to you since you haven't lived in the states for 6 months or more (sorry). Cost: 22% of Red book value plus $80 for the RIV inspection.

4) Import inspection (it's not a safety). I believe the Canadian Tire chain is now mandated for that but it basically is a mechanic that will go over specific issues highlighted by the RIV which includes things like verify that the speedometer has the km/h, that the airbaigs labels are to Canadian standards, that the door sticker is untampered and to Canadian standards. Small stuff, no sweat but it will cost you for the mechanic's time (say $50). But your gets an import sticker.

5) Safety inspection is applicable. Cost: same as it would be for a canadian G.

6) Tags and registration. Cost: same as it would be for a canadian G.

Tags and insurance during travel. In my case, I had the Kansan tags/registration for 6 weeks after entering Canada while I got everything sorted out. Same for insurance, I requested from my american insurer to cover me for that duration. They agreed to 3 months.

Flatbedding an american G and letting it sit for 4-6 weeks is just not right so check into a couple of things: first, in Kansas, when you buy a vehicule, it comes with a 30 day tag which serves both of a driver's license (if you don't have one) and tag. With this, you could make it to the border (aside from being un-insured). I don't know if this is valid in Canada, but I doubt it. Now, in Ontario, you can get a temporary license for some cases (not too sure exactly). Anyway, I check this out and call my insurer (that should be the easiest to get them to cover your for your US portion of the travel and the 4-6 week period to full compliance.

For the trade-in, importing your current car in the US to trade it to an american dealer is just not realistic, especially if your car is a bit older (air bags, daytime head lights, set belts, etc had new regulation done in both countries which don't line up for the mid-90s to early 00s model years). My canadian car became a parts car because of the cost-prohibitive changes required for US compliance. But re-reading your post, I don't get that you'd want to do that.

Discouraged yet? Maybe easier and more pleasant (not that a couple of hours with a US and/or canadian custom agent to kick-off a long series of intercations with different level of regulatory agents isn't pleasant) to visit Montreal or Toronto and bring back a car.

Also, my friend bought his Saab 9-5 by requesting quotes by fax to dealers all of the place. He ended up driving 8hours to pick it up for thousands less then locally.

Here another person's view on the topic. I haven't read/check all the info. It may differ from my experience and since I'm on the subject, thihgs might have changed since 1999 and I may recall improperly so please post any new/update information as required for future ressource.
http://www.mr2.com/TEXT/Import.html

Good luck and keep us posted.