Importing Delorean into Canada from US

[Josh]

Hi, as some of you know I have extensively began my search for a Delorean. More than likely, I will be purchasing a car from the states.

The car will not be in running condition so it will be trailered.

So my question is, how much will it cost me roughly to get across the boarder? Hopefully someone can speak from experience. And is there any other considerations I need to take? I have heard of the 72 hour rule but due to the fact that the car is being trailered (not self propelled) I believe it does not apply.

So far I have found:

GST - 5% of purchase price
PST - 5% of purchase price; payed when registering car
RIV - $0, as car is greater than 15 years old
Excise Tax - $100, car has a/c
Duty - $200-$500, duty seems to be highly variable.

PS - I hope I put this in the correct forum, mods feel free to move the thread if needed!

[John U]

From experience in 2009...

72 hour rule applies, trailer or not. You are exporting a car from the US. The title MUST be stamped by US Customs BEFORE you get on the bridge!!! ($500fine!!!) Fax your docs to US customs where you will cross 72hrs in advance. You must have a printout copy of the fax transmission. They will not have a copy of your docs when you get there...they just get too many of them, so they rely on your printed copy. Go into the US customs building before leaving the US, present them with the fax copy, and have them stamp your title. Be prepared for BTTF jokes.

There is NO duty since the car is over 25 yrs old. I used to have a link to this info on CBSA website but can't find it now...you need proof of this, or they won't believe you....they don't know their own rules!

You do not need an appraisal when registering the car (in Ontario anyway) because the car is from outside the province. You only pay tax on what you paid for the car.

If you have more than $10,000 in cash OR cheque (bank draft, money order, etc....) you MUST declare this to US customs when entering the States....if not, the can legally seize it if they find it.

Hope that helps, feel free to PM me

John

[Jonathan]

Hey Josh,

I agree with what John said, and most of the numbers in your post.

Are you going to be the one driving into the States and trailering it home?

I did mine slightly different in that I had a company transport it on a car carrier and paid a customs broker to handle the details. The payment to the broker was the GST (like you said), the A/C tax, and a fee (perhaps $200 or so?). They did all this faxing of paperwork to the border business.

If you are doing the trailering, of course you would have different costs than paying for a car transport. Car transport would be in the $1,000 to $2,000 range.

You are right, you pay the PST at the DMV when you get it registered. Now I don't remember al the details, and yours is known to be a project versus one you could make road worthy righgt away, but this part for me I remember being a somewhat unexpected hassle. It had to do with getting it registered in a certain time frame while it still had a US state license sticker on the windshield (temporary). I think it was my insurance company that said you couldn't insure it with a US registration, it had to be in Canada. To get it registered, it needed to pass the safety check. My car took 9 months to pass the check and yours wouldn't on day one either it sounds.

Ask some more questions here and find out what you do in terms of insurance on the way to Canada, while it is in Canada and being restored, and how to get it registered when you are ready. I remember one challenge I had was legally driving to the shop at this in between phase, but if you have your own trailer, it wouldn't really matter.

There are definitely solutions for all of this, just find out what they are in advance... like in this thread :)

Only other money related comments would be a couple bucks for a carfax account if you need one, and to factor in the exchange rate on the dollar, which is pretty good at the moment.

[micmak]

Hi Josh, Here is an article from the ODOC website that talks about importing a car to Canada. It is a little dated now, but there is still some relevant information in it.

http://odoc.ca/archive/canada__us_customs.htm

......Mike......

[John U]

Josh, I don't see a location under your name, but judging by your 5% PST comment, I assume you are not in Ontario.
As far as Ontario law goes, you need to register the car in your name within 7 days of purchase (they want their tax money you know). If you don't have a safety certificate yet, you can register it as "unfit" and they will not give you plates for it....they just register it in your name. Once that is done you can get insurance. (Hagarty is cheap and now available in Canada)
The problem with registering it unfit, is that now they will never give you a temporary plate to drive it to the shop for a safety. You will need to trailer it (legally speaking).
You can get a temporary plate only when you initially register it for the first time. The plate is good for 10 days and allows you to drive to your shop for the safety. It can be renewed after the 10 days for the cost of $15.

Clear as mud??

[Jonathan]

Nice one John. This "unfit" part was what I was thinking of but couldn't remember. Thanks for pointing it out.

Josh is in Saskachewan.

[Jimmyvonviggle]

The few points I would add to the comments above is that each border crossing is different in respects to the paperwork. Some do not accept a copy or a fax, and in my case I had to send them the original title. They wanted it for 48 hrs prior to the car showing up at the export control. Once you arrive they stamp it, and then you can go to the Canadian customs. And yes bttf jokes and cracks aplenty. So call your border that your crossing and speak to the us export control for their requirements.

The Canadian customs don't know the laws so unless you track down and show them paperwork they will charge you for everything. Of course what they charge is based on the cars sale price. Make sure to show documentation of what you paid, or emails, because they will search online for the value of the car.


Good luck.

[Josh]

Wow, I am amazed by the wealth of information in this thread. Thank you guys!

I do live in SK. I will most likely be entering the states through Portal,ND (very creative name for a town on the boarder)

I will make sure to give them a call in terms of time for exportation as suggested. Im hoping for 48 hrs. Also to see if I can fax them the information. So just so i am correct on this, the information would be the Bill of sale and the title (registration)?

I have a car hauler that I will be towing with my truck. I figure it would be a nice to take a bit of an adventure through the states, as transport will roughly cost the same as gas costs.

John thanks for the heads up, that is great there is no duty! saves another expense. I will do some hunting; hopefully I can find the documentation.

I am mostly concerned with crossing the border. As for registering the car in SK I am not as worried. I know I will need to get it safetied and pay PST. I bought my truck out of province and went through this whole scenario before. In SK car registration and insurance is bundled and handled by the provincial government. So when the car is running, I need to get a temp registration to drive it to have an inspection, then I take the form from the shop to a motor license issuer, pay them registration and PST and they give me a license plate.

[sdg3205]

Wow, I am amazed by the wealth of information in this thread. Thank you guys!

I do live in SK. I will most likely be entering the states through Portal,ND (very creative name for a town on the boarder)

I will make sure to give them a call in terms of time for exportation as suggested. Im hoping for 48 hrs. Also to see if I can fax them the information. So just so i am correct on this, the information would be the Bill of sale and the title (registration)?

I have a car hauler that I will be towing with my truck. I figure it would be a nice to take a bit of an adventure through the states, as transport will roughly cost the same as gas costs.

John thanks for the heads up, that is great there is no duty! saves another expense. I will do some hunting; hopefully I can find the documentation.

I am mostly concerned with crossing the border. As for registering the car in SK I am not as worried. I know I will need to get it safetied and pay PST. I bought my truck out of province and went through this whole scenario before. In SK car registration and insurance is bundled and handled by the provincial government. So when the car is running, I need to get a temp registration to drive it to have an inspection, then I take the form from the shop to a motor license issuer, pay them registration and PST and they give me a license plate.


If they are knobs at the border (and often are) and charge you duty, you can appeal it and get your money back. Ask me how I know. Yes, they literally have TOO MANY rules to keep track of them all. Cut off dates and exemptions are some of them.

[Jonathan]

I drove through the Portal, ND crossing in both directions last summer on my failed move to Calgary attempt. Really nice people on the Canadian and US side. Small towns help with that. I have had experience with a lot less friendly individuals sitting in the Toronto airport customs chair. Do your homework, have the right paperwork and be honest and it will not be a problem.

[Cory W]

John thanks for the heads up, that is great there is no duty! saves another expense. I will do some hunting; hopefully I can find the documentation.


http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d10/d10-15-20-eng.html :D

Make some prints of this page. Hand them out if necessary. As always with customs, be polite, but stand your ground.


While not necessary, it doesn't hurt to get familiar with this form, either. Your responsibilities are the second and third sections, if you consider each black header to denote a section. Hint: For section 3, check off box "d", date and sign.

The relevant sheet is on page 18.

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d19/d19-12-1-eng.pdf

[Josh]

I have heard many horror stories about crossing the border back into canada! I hope the small town folks will take it easy on me as Jonathan mentioned.

Thank you very much Cory! You guys are making this way to easy for me haha!

[Kukem]

Ah, you beat me to it, Cory. I was just about to post my links for that stuff. Still have all the info in the binder for whenever I do have to make the crossing. Good luck to the OP when he finds his dream car! We're rooting for you!

[Josh]

Thank you very much kukem! Crossing the border is the main concern of the whole trip (when it happens).

Just about forgot one crucial thing, updating my passport. now the waiting game...

[Josh]

Just to update the thread, I called the border (Portal, ND) and they require the title and bill of sale be faxed to them 72 hours before exportation. I must also have the original copy of the title and bill of sale with me. Sounds pretty straight forward. Will report back in a week about my experiences with the Canadian side... I will be armed with the forms and information provided in this thread, I really hope I will not be conned into paying duty and RIV fees.

[Cory W]

Be sure you have a "FAX report" when you arrive at the border. It's essentially a copy of what you sent with the number you sent it to, date, and time in the FAX header. Without it, they can claim you never sent it to them, or just blank pages. Most machines can provide these for you while you send the border your info.

[Josh]

Be sure you have a "FAX report" when you arrive at the border. It's essentially a copy of what you sent with the number you sent it to, date, and time in the FAX header. Without it, they can claim you never sent it to them, or just blank pages. Most machines can provide these for you while you send the border your info.

Shoot, I saw this just after I sent the fax. Im sure I can make something up. I was also planning on phoning tomorrow to confirm the fax went through. I am not familiar with this old-tech means of transferring documents haha!

[John U]

Shoot, I saw this just after I sent the fax. Im sure I can make something up. I was also planning on phoning tomorrow to confirm the fax went through. I am not familiar with this old-tech means of transferring documents haha!

I tried phoning when I did mine. Jackass said "do you expect me to look through all the faxes we got yesterday? That's why you bring a confirmation copy"

[Dangermouse]

I would just create a cover sheet, as suggested and just resend the whole thing. Then print out the proof for the second send and bring that.

Don't even mention the first one to them or they will get confused.

[David T]

I see you are making all of these arrangements for the Canadian side. You should make sure you will have no problems entering or leaving the US side too. You may need proof of insurance in the US for the car and trailer. Do as much preparation in advance as you can think of and maybe it will go smoothly? AT the border they may also do an inspection just to make sure you are only bringing in what you are claiming to be bringing. If you have the car full of spare and extra parts that might cause you problems.
David Teitelbaum

[Josh]

Well I phoned in this morning to confirm the fax. Fortunately the lady was very polite and quickly found the faxed documents. She ensured me I will be able to export thought the US side easily so long as I bring the original Title and a copy of the bill of sale. I retrospect I should have included a title page (I dont fax a whole lot) but the bill of sale was the first page and it has all my information and date on it.

There is another door included with the car, but thats it for parts. Im hoping this wont cause too much of a fuss.

Thanks for all the input guys! I will also be filling out the previous forums in this thread to have as much documentation as possible!

[Josh]

Well I picked up the car last night and successfully imported/exported it.

Drove up to the US border and explained we were picking up the are and they promptly let us through. There were four of us including myself (I have some very helpful friends) and even though two if them did not have a current passport they let us through. I beleive this is due to the fact we were only picking up a car and nothing else. We had the vehicle registration so everything went smoothly.

Met with the shipper and loaded up the car. The shippers were very friendly, they are a father and son who ship privately. While loading up the car the shipper was unaware the e-brake was not functional and the car came extremely close to rolling off the trailer. We all sprinted to stop the car I ended up jumping in front of it lol.

Once the car was loaded up we exported the car. Gave the officials the title and bill of sale and they came back with the stamped title. Car exported.

Then we moved onto the Canadian side to import the vehicle. The official was very knowledgeable and experienced and charged me for GST and Excise (due to the A/C). No Duty or RIV. Once again I presented the title and bill of sale and filled out the form Cory had linked to earlier in the thread.

So the car is now safely in its new home waiting to get some much needed mechanical attention. I was very stressed so I am glad the whole process is over!

Sidenote: I didnt go into the details as I am still very upset with myself about this but do not undervalue items being imported. If they catch you it is a 55% tax on the unclaimed amount. Lets just say I learned this the hard way :frown: