Hello All,

Be careful!!

I got this info from John Scotti Auto yesterday. It appears that Canada RIV will no longer accept JDM RHD imports or allow them to be plated for regular road use if the vehicle is less than 25 years of age form the date of manufacturer. This means no more RHD FD's allowed since none have reached the age maturity of 25 years old.

From What I was told they changed the law as of April 1st, 2008 and is in effect as of that date.

USA LHD cars are still admissible with no required mods if more than 15 years old (1993 FD) while under 15 years old they still require the Daytime running lights, KM's added. and bumper mods (94/95 FD's).

This means your car had to have been landed in Canada before April 1st. Anyone who has plans to or a car currently in transit look into it before going further.

Regards

Max

 

No skin off my teeth if that happens, but it sure will hurt all those people looking for their 'Mint, $10 000 FD'...

 

Might end up sucking for me but my hunt didn't include an FD.

 

Maybe I should have been more clear. There will no longer be any import of any car that is RHD if less than 25 years old accepted into Canada for regular road use. They can't be plated after April 1st 2008.

Max

 

Just brings up the value of our LHD's

thewird

 

Hello

Much agreed. This will make the FD more scare in any form here in Canada and US and more scarce means more value to existing units. I think it will even bring up the value of the RHD units that were allowed in prior to April 1st. I'm sort of happy by this but hope no one here gets burnt with one already in transit as they wont be able to register them.

Max

 

Hello

I cut and pasted this off of the RIV site

""Grey Market Vehicles

Grey market vehicles are foreign-specification vehicles that are re-certified by a U.S. company. The RIV program only applies to vehicles that were ORIGINALLY manufactured to comply with US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards on the date of manufacture. Therefore, a grey market vehicle is a re-certified vehicle and can NOT be imported into Canada.""

Max

 

is there a credible source on this? not that it affects me in anyway way, but it does suck for some (my friend has been working the past year and a half saving his *** off for a R32, hes gonna b mad)

 

Yes, source please?

I just checked RIV and www.15years.ca and there is no mention of a change in the rules.

Thx

 

Sounds like hearsay..

There are nothing on Riv or Transport Canada regarding this.

 

lol they've been saying this for years take this from a guy that's had an army of RHD JDM cars i haven't heard anything about this. i could be wrong though. some proof would be nice.

 

They were talking about increasing it to 25yrs but I am 99.9% sure it is not even close to being in place yet. I am pretty sure you have been fed wrong info.

 

Hello
I m not sure anymore. Maybe it is for JDM vehicles coming into Canada from the US that had been re-certified that are not accepted. The person I got the info from imports most cars and many RHD from the US and not usually from Japan.
in reading more

"The Registrar of Imported Vehicles program regulates only vehicles originally manufactured for the U.S. market." Thus it seems they do not govern vehicle coming from abroad. I have only imported vehicles from the US in the past and never a JDM so I have no personal experience with anything other than the RIV.
Here is the link mid page that mentions "Grey Market Vehicles"
http://www.riv.ca/english/html/faq_s.html

I seen some in info at the below site that mentions non US vehicles

http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/importation/impxus_e.htm

I do not that changes have been made as the Import PDF document is now dated April 18,2008. As well the immobilizer section has been added to allow the Canadian Gov't the official excuse to prevent many vehicles like the 200 Corvette etc...

I guess time will tell and if I received the incorrect information then sorry for putting everyone in a panic. All I know is that my 1993 US LHD FD is ready for import and I better get that car in here as quick as possible!

Max

 

US rule is 25 years. So the chance of being in a position to import a JDM from down south is slim to none, because who wants to bring over a 25 year old car?

 

Noted, thanks!!!

 

I'd be stoked if this happens! All us RHD FD guys will own more rare and valuble cars! haha

 

I kind of hope they do implement such a change. You should check and then recheck these types of things before you announce them.


I am still glad I purchased a US RX7 (granted they were made in Japan, but for the US market). LHD is the way to go.

real1st

 

Read below and decide for your self.

I got the info from a credible source that regularly imports cars, he was upset that he wont be able to bringing RHD's to Canada anymore. My source tells me its only a matter of time that that Canadian 15 year old rule gets switched to 25 as well to have one american standard. Then I checked the RIV site as I got worried since I just in the middle of importing a LHD from the USA. I got more worried when the was red plastered all over the RIV site stating "Note Important Changes to the Import....." Its still there. After downloading the new RIV import guideline doc it had printed at the bottom the date 18/04/2008 hence a new doc with changes.
The Grey market section clearly states that none are allowed into Canada.
After looking some more in the FAQ's section when others stated that there have been no changes I learned the the RIV only refers to USA cars being imported into Canada, I thought it was for all imports world wide.
Here is the odd part. As mentioned in looking at the FAQ's there is a Q about importing from outside the USA. In the other section for these imports there is a mention of the 15 year rule exemption. There is however a mention of RHD cars and for this type of vehicle see the RIV import DOC (mentioning none to be allowed), so where does that leave the RHD?

See: on the Transport Canada Web Site "importing vehicle into Canada from other than the USA" below:

http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/importation/impxus_e.htm

Middle of page

"Vehicles acquired in foreign countries other than the U.S. and designed, built, tested and certified to meet either all applicable Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standards or all applicable United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and bearing a statement of compliance label affixed by the original manufacturer, as required by the Regulations, may be eligible for importation into Canada provided the vehicle has not been altered and the certification from the original manufacturer is maintained, which may be subject to verification at the time of importation. A vehicle imported under these conditions will be subject to the Registrar of Imported Vehicles program which may be accessed at the following web site: http://www.riv.ca. Please contact Transport Canada, Road Safety and Motor Vehicle Regulation Directorate, at 1-613-998-8616 for further information."

It states that non USA or Canada Spec sourced cars WILL be subject to the rules of the RIV doc. To me its clear that Transport Canada will be using the RIV as its guidelines for what's allowed.


Thus in my reading I did my homework. I am still not convinced and there have been many changes made in April. It seems to be a mess and for those in the process get it done fast until the dust settles.


Max

 

I think the confusion stems from the term "grey market" vehicle. There are many cars in the US that were not entitled to be there. For example there are various euro spec BMWs that were imported many years ago that were never actually intended for the US market. These were characterized as "grey market" vehicles, which are not the same as legitimate made for US cars. I think these are the vehicles captured by the quotes you refer to.

In essence you can't import a car that has been imported into the US previously. You must go directly to the source country and do it yourself. But hey that is just my reading of it all.

 

I thought if your car was older than 15 years old you no longer have to deal with RIV.

 

Correct, that is why JDM's and others become eligible at that point. I believe Lawyer is correct, in that "grey market" vehicles are all that are being referred to. Grey market vehicles are those manufactured and sold outside the North American market, and imported to the US (and Canada, for that matter) outside of the manufacturer's American sales arm. While the US has a 25 year rule on imports, enforcement has been spotty, and I believe exemptions have been granted for armed forces personel, for example, to import cars purchased while serving overseas in Europe, Japan, and so on. The May GRM features an article on a Evo III - which doesn't qualify for import to the States, but the owner managed to figure out the right combination of state and municipal loopholes to get it registered - thanks to the fact the US has no over-arching federal legislation. It is such vehicles that are getting the blanket prohibition on imports.

Possibly changing our rule to 25 from 15 is something that has been pushed for by dealers and manufacturers, along with BC's department of transportation, but I haven't heard which way the wind might be blowing on that yet.

 

wait.. so If you already have a imported car that is over 15 years old you can still drive it? like lets say I had an fd before this rule was in place. I can still drive that rx7 when the rule is in place?

 

No you can't. You must part it out to all of us LHD RX-7's at a huge loss to yourself.

 

there has been, and will be, no changes to the laws to prohibit JDM cars coming into canada.

I have no idea why there is so much confusion and FUD on this issue.

 

stop hating on jdmmmmmmmmm