Wrathritic

Just wondering if anybody has ever shipped a car from the US here, what company, impressed or not, also how about you dealed with customs or how they did? Share your experiences please.
Thanks Ryan

banzaitoyota

I shipped a car to canada, I let the canadian owner handle the paperwork. The truck driver was very annoyed when they almost impounded his truck at the border, since the title was not with his paperwork (an oversight on the owners side)

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iTrader: (1)

i used searail they had the best price and took care of everything.
matt

salamander

To import a vehicle from the US into Canada you need to follow the guidelines laid out by the Registar of Imported Vehicles (RIV). They have a website which explains which cars are allowed into Canada. Not all vehicles can be legally imported (although all RX7's can but not the Evo). Some cars can only be imported if they are modified to meet Canada federal standards. Any passenger car 15 years or older does not need modification. Some modifications can be expensive. The registration process costs money as well. You need a couple of inspections which I think cost a couple of hundred dollars each. Then there is Canada Customs. They require duties and taxes (like GST, Excise) which must be paid at the border. The amount depends on the age of the car, its blue book value and the length of time you have owned it. You can find some information about that at their website or by calling the border stations. However, I found the regulators a pain. They were always vague and uncooperative.

Good luck.

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iTrader: (1)

you dont have to deal with customs at the border the shipper can take it to a bonded
yard then deal with the customs people at the closest office.
matt

salamander

Matts right. Your shipper can take it to a bonded yard. I forgot about that.

Required paperwork includes the legal US title and a letter from the manufacturer stating the car meets US Federal safety standards. Interestingly, MazdaUSA stated that my car had a Mazdaspeed carbonfiber hood (which it doesn't) and that the hood did not meet US safety standards. I got quizzed thoroughly about the hood at the border and it took me about an hour to convince Canadian officials that the hood was, in fact, aluminum and not carbonfiber (even though the hood was right in front them). Not sure what would have happened if hood had of been carbonfiber. I am sure I would had to get a new stock hood installed.

So any factory mods by the manufacturer's sppedshops (eg. Mazdaspeed, Nismo, TRD etc) should be investigated for compliance with US safety standards before hitting the border, because they might not meet the required spec and the manufacturer letter might not give you a clean bill of health.

Wrathritic

Allright sounds good. I was looking into searail too, they seem to be the cheapest. Was there any concerns regarding clearences, going up the ramp.
Thanks Ryan

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iTrader: (1)

phone and talk to them, they are very helpful and will follow directions you give.
I had a rx2 shipped with them and they did follow the directions i gave on how to
start it and a few other things that were needed to run the old car.
I was really lucky when i had it shipped it turned out that it only needed to be loaded
once and it ended up on a truck and the driver was on his way home
which happened to be in edmonton so he trucked it from the pickup city
and dropped it off at the destination city.
most shipments have a couple transfers, they try to use the train where ever they
can but will truck from A to B if possible.
matt

Wrathritic

http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread/t-35810.html
I will not be shipping with searail.

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iTrader: (1)

wow things have gone down hill by the looks of it!