Vehicle importation into Canada

[losinit at usa.net (Cathy Boyko)]

Just for the few Canucks who are looking for a nice southern car, and don't
know the deal at the border. I don't have plates yet, so may be a bit early in
posting this, but I think I'm just a safety and a plate away. I'm hoping the
"rebult salvage" won't be an issue, but I have hookups if it is. That's
something you may want to check before you go into it. And I think they will
likely check the equipment matches what was available here.

Here's what I did and it worked so far, so you can add this to your archives.
Locate your car, and talk to every concievable authority involved if you can
manage it, for your own piece of mind. I was really lucky and the PO was very
relaxed about the timelines, and this helps enormously. I also had the
"softening of the husband" issue to deal with. 

Then go check out the car, and buy it. This will be your first trip, and you
need to take the title back with you, in the case of Ohio, it needed to be
notarized, an extra step I hadn't anticipated, but then I didn't really need a
bill of sale. Finding a notary on a Sunday could be an issue, I'd have the
seller get that arranged before you head down. The US customs guys will need
the title 72 hours before you actually export the car, they'll copy and stamp
it, and give it back to you. Only specific border crossings can do this BTW.
Where you leave the car would be another issue, I had a friend store it in his
hangar...

Then you plan out trip number two, complete with any repair stuff and a second
driver. Keep the bills for any parts you buy, and get them in Canada, since
Canadian Customs will add it to the value of the car otherwise. They also
tried to nick me for labour, so keep your nails really dirty to prove you did
it yourself, and tell them the car really didn't improve.
SO off you go to get your new baby, having insured the new car before you go,
my insurance screwed up the VIN on the slip, (used the 16V VIN) so it'd likely
be good to double check that too. And do whatever you need to to get the car
roadworthy, and you will likely want a temp tag. In Ohio, it's like $5.25US,
and good for 30 days. This was actually the toughest thing, since the computer
is set up for US citizens, so I had to wait for the clerks to call through.
One of the guys at the border did ask to see my plate documents, so it's a
good thing I had them.

I didn't realize the US customs car guys only work during hours that are
impossible for working folks, Mon-Fri 8-4, so when I got to the border, I
thought I was screwed. Nope, they let me go through, and then to CDN customs,
they'll likely pull you over anyway if your plates and citizenship don't mesh.
I had the used car package from my 80 with me to verify the worthlessness of
the car (old watercoolers are officially worth $0 here, BTW), and the
notarized title as proof of "what I paid for it" ($333 on paper). Since I was
over for more than 48 hours, I could use my $200 tax exemption, and ended up
paying $32.50 or something in taxes and duties. Not exactly expensive. And you
have to make sure you point out that the car is over 15 years old, once they
have a box on the form to check off, it's gravy. I had to go back to US
customs today to have the car cleared for export, even though technically I
had already imported it. They made me pull the car up, but never even looked
at it, one stamp, and it's Canadian now.

Odd things? Well, it was like VW day at Canadian Customs, an air cooler pulled
in right after me, and a MkIII Golf beside me. And on the second trip, I had
to get gas, and another 79 was at the pumps, this one a Trans Am. Ah,
memories.
But the wierdest thing was they never once even looked at the car, no
verification of VIN, no strip search, nothing. I was kinda worried since we
had a shitload of tools and part in it. Wierd eh?
 
So sorry to be long, but I thought it may be useful to someone sometime. It
was really easy enough if you do your homework. So hopefully the remaining
paperwork goes as well. But that's normal Ontario used car crap anyway.

Well, that's it from me. cathy