Importing Car into Canada
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Choosing Your Car
Once you have decided upon the make and model vehicle you are interested in as well as as its state. NEW, USED, SALVAGE or REPAIRABLE DAMAGE, you need to get one. There is no one best place to find the car of your dreams. eBay is an excellent place to start for vehicles in any condition. However, if you find your perfect car in the USA, do NOT buy it unless you call the owner or a dealer to find out more about your dream car. REMEMBER: Cars without Title Certificate cannot leave the USA so make sure you will obtain the Vehicle Title.
Import Procedure
Often, people find their cars in the USA and Americans will usually have no problems selling their cars to Canadians. However, getting the car into Canada is not as simple as buying a case of beer and a gallon of milk. The US Customs & Border Protection (USCBP) requires all vehicles exported from the USA to be inspected. The procedure requires the Canadian vehicle importer to fax to them the vehicle's title (ownership certificate) 72 hours prior to the vehicle crossing the border. This implies that vehicles without proper titles cannot leave the USA. Don't think that you can cut your untitled parts car in half and bypass this requirement. A parts car has to really be in unreassemblable (is this a word?) parts to get through without a title.
If you have faxed your title in to the USCBP as required, they will not acknowledge your fax and your fax machine's confirmation sheet is your only proof that you sent them the title. If there is a problem with your title, USCBP will not call you. In fact, if you call them prior to departing with your vehicle to make sure that there will not be a problem, they won't look up your file so that you could know either way. Upon your arrival at a border crossing they will inspect your vehicle. If everything is in order, they will stamp your title with multi-colored ink indicating that it was inspected by the Vehicle Export Office.
Canada Customs will only allow you to import a vehicle if the title has been stamped by the Vehicle Export Office. Without this stamp, you will be turned back to the USA so make sure that you visit US Customs first. There are two ways of importing a vehicle. You can either import it as one that will be licensed or one that is not. Even if you only want the parts, consider importing it as one for licensing, which would allow you more flexibility in selling the shell of the car to someone who might want to turn it into a hot-rod. Don't forget, vehicles with air conditioning are still liable for the $100 federal air conditioning excise tax.
Vehicles Purchased in the U.S.A.
As a general rule, used cars that are at least 15 years old can be imported from the U.S.A. and are not subject to safety and emission equipment requirements. Age is not determined by model year; the month of importation must be at least 15 years after the month of manufacture of the vehicle.
If your vehicle is less than 15 years old and was manufactured for sale in the U.S., you must first determine whether it qualifies for importation. Transport Canada's Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV) program ensures that qualifying vehicles are modified, inspected and certified to meet Canadian safety standards.
Upon arrival at Customs, a qualifying vehicle will be entered into the RIV program. The registration fee is $197 in Quebec and $206 in other provinces. Within 45 days, the vehicle must be altered at your expense to meet Transport Canada requirements (it may need daytime running lights and metric labels for instruments, for example). You won't be able to register and license the car in Canada until it is modified and inspected. The RIV Web site contains a list of eligible vehicles and detailed information about typical modification and inspection requirements.
Vehicles Purchased Overseas
Residents of Canada cannot normally import a car from overseas countries unless it is at least 15 years old. The relatively few exceptions to this rule can be found in CCRA publications.
Vehicles imported from overseas must be thoroughly cleaned before shipment to Canada in order to remove soil and plant material. The CFIA will inspect your vehicle, at your expense, to ensure that this requirement has been met. If your car fails the inspection, you will be responsible for the cost of a thorough cleaning and a second inspection.
Import Fees
Vehicles that are eligible for importation will be subject to import levies including customs duty and GST. Customs duty is generally based on the price paid for the vehicle and the percentage rate of duty varies depending on the vehicle's country of origin. For example, a vehicle imported from the U.S. that was manufactured in the U.S. is duty-free. However, a British-built car imported from the U.S. is subject to a duty of 6.1 per cent, the same rate applied to British vehicles imported directly from Britain.
If your collector car has air conditioning, working or not, you will pay an excise tax of $100. There are additional levies if your vehicle weighs more than 2,007 kilograms (4,425 pounds).
Finally, GST will be charged at the rate of seven per cent of the total of the purchase price plus the customs levies.
Provincial Requirements
When you have satisfied all the import requirements, a critical document called a Vehicle Import Form will be given to you by customs, your broker or the RIV program, depending on the circumstances of your importation. Without this piece of paper, you will get only a blank stare from your provincial licensing authorities.
Before heading off to your licensing bureau, you'll need to satisfy the provincial requirements. In Ontario, for example, your car must pass a safety-standards inspection. You will also need a Drive Clean inspection certificate if the vehicle is more than three model years old and less than 20 years old.
In addition to the fees for registering your newly imported car, provincial authorities may collect sales tax on the price you paid for the vehicle. Don't bother asking why provincial sales tax applies to a sales transaction that occurred outside Canada.
I Goofed!
If your prized collector car does not meet the eligibility requirements of the CCRA and Transport Canada, you will never see it sitting in your driveway. You will be required to export the car or destroy it under Customs supervision, at your expense. To make matters worse, you won't get a refund of the import levies you paid. Could there be a better incentive for consulting the authorities before trying to import a vehicle?
What Next?
If you live in southern Ontario, you have two options for importing a vehicle. You can only either cross at Detroit, MI or at Lewiston, NY. Even though Detroit may be a bit farther for some than Lewiston, you may want to consider it because only Detroit is open 24/7. Lewiston is only open Monday-Friday, 8am to 4pm.
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