Buying a car in Canada and getting licensed in USA
 

Does anyone have any experience that they can share?
Do's and Don'ts and any pitfalls.

Thanks

Re: Buying a car in Canada and getting licensed in USA
 

Shouldn't be a big deal.

Word of advice from experience though. A good broker is worth whatever they charge.....they can make the entire process seamless and easy.

I've brought race cars, trailers, motorhomes the other way across the border. Imported some myself. I had a broker do the paperwork on a trailer I bought and the process was easy. I since got them to do all the purchases.

Feel free to pm me

Good luck

Re: Buying a car in Canada and getting licensed in USA
 

The documentation required is pretty straightforward but would add that your port of entry can make a huge difference in your experience. The border agents at Havre MT were great, even downloaded an additional form for me. Some other crossings have been less spectacular. I’ve crossed the border dozens of times for business and pleasure but basically if paperwork is in order and you display absolutely no sense of humor you’re good. And absolutely no weapons or ammunition. If you have a carrier doing the transport I’d solicit input here on which one(s) to use.

Re: Buying a car in Canada and getting licensed in USA
 

Mark's advice is gold... follow it and you will have a much easier time of things.

Re: Buying a car in Canada and getting licensed in USA
 

larry, marks replies are correct, but if you are going to get the car in canada, and plan on reg. in your name in the states, is not a problem i did one last fall. sorry for no cap,s new computor and cannot find the caps button. and question get ahold of me. brian

Re: Buying a car in Canada and getting licensed in USA
 

Be careful if buying a new car from a Dealership in Canada
and bring it back to US to use.
I used to buy a few Corvettes that way BUT now GM voids the
warranty in many areas automatically when you bring them back
to US.
This is a new development this year.

Re: Buying a car in Canada and getting licensed in USA
 

That is my understanding also, but also a bit ironic since the Corvettes are made here. It applies to other vehicles I believe, but this one stuck out to me.

Re: Buying a car in Canada and getting licensed in USA
 

Having lived through people buying New Cars in Canada and importing
them to the USA most of my life, I can offer the following: GM and other
manufactures have long threatened no warranty on exported cars. It has
never really happened. We were threatened with fines, charge backs, etc.
for all cars we "Allowed" to be exported. Their reasoning is they don't need
us to send, as an example, a Corvette they built in Bowling Green, and sent
to a Vancouver Chevrolet dealer, who's responsibility is to obtain a certain
market share in his area of responsibility, and have them sell it to John in
Nevada. They reason that because of the money difference between Canada and the USA, the dealer will sell to John in US dollars, and receive
more than they usually would, and the sale can be handled by the dealer or
a manager, so no sales commission(aprox 20%), and John is buying in Canadian dollars, so he gets it for less than usual. They feel that it is their job to send their cars where they want, and that they should prosper, not the dealer. J.R.

Re: Buying a car in Canada and getting licensed in USA
 

In the late 70's and earlier 80's = I would buy a truck
load of new Corvettes in Canada where I could get
L82 4 Speeds rather than the L48 auto which were all
that I could get in Calif in late 70's. In 80 all I could get was a 305
auto in Calif.. To sell them in Cal they had to be showing 3,000+
Miles and sold on a Used Vehicle Report of Sale.
I got real proficient on working on Corvette Speedometers
for a Mopar Guy!
I always ended up with money ahead and a free new Corvette every year!

Yes I am OLD!

Re: Buying a car in Canada and getting licensed in USA
 

Haha, yes, for sure. Most of these people are completely devoid of funnybones. If they smile it's because a cavity search is imminent.

Re: Buying a car in Canada and getting licensed in USA
 

Thanks everyone for sharing your experience and information!

Re: Buying a car in Canada and getting licensed in USA
 

To title the car you will want to contact the manufacturer and they will provide a letter of conformity which states safety and emissions regulation standards. If the car was manufactured in Canada, US or Mexico then no duties. If built elsewhere then you have to pay US import duties. This is for crossing the border. In Ohio we have to have a VIN inspection before they issue a title, I suspect most states are the same. If car will never be registered for the road (race car) the border won't ask for anything. I went thru all these when we moved to the US.

Re: Buying a car in Canada and getting licensed in USA
 

I did not purchase the car the reserve was not met
Thanks again for all the help and information.

Re: Buying a car in Canada and getting licensed in USA
 

littlelarry, (notsomuch)
I'm sorry you didn't get that sweet Barracuda!
"Frankzilla"

Re: Buying a car in Canada and getting licensed in USA
 

When I decided to move to the U.S. and start my life here, it took me some time to gather all the information about what I needed to do to get my driver's license, register my car, and obtain a Social Security number. The first thing that came to my mind was that I'll have to find a trustworthy seller for the car I used to drive in Canada. Then I found on https://www.jdmbuysell.com/ that you can register the car with DMV. And other things were pretty easy, too, thank God, so there is no need to stress about it.