The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk import vehicle into canada

Hi, Im buying a vehicle (1937 1/2 ton) from the OR. I have imported vehicles before but not sure about this one. It is not drivable right now and I know if you import it into canada you have like 90 days to get it inspected or you must drive it back across the border. Would it be possible to trailer it across the boarder and not import it then and then once its ready to pass an inspection then go to the border and import it?

a non running antique vehicle doesn't have a time limit on it, you'll just hafta get it inspected b4 you can register it, and you will not get it across the border without "importing it" .... you might also import it as "parts" .... note also that now you have to make an appointment [72 hours ahead I believe] with US customs to take a titled vehicle out of the US, and you have to send the title ahead so they can check it - miss yer appointment and yer outta luck, reschedule and find someplace to store it till the appointment

Bill

You have to do the title thing, with the 72 hours to export it out of USA. On the Canadian side when you import it,if it is over 25 years(I believe), it doesn't have to have the same Transport Canada inspection.Mine was licenced a year latter, first with a vintage plate, for shows and parades only, then when it was ready to pass a safety, a regular plate.

Hy guys, In B.C. before any vehicle imported from outside B.C. can be registered, it must PASS a safety inspection. If you import it as parts and later try to register it without a serial once registered in B.C., it will have to PASS a safety inspection, and it will be assigned a serial number by the government, hope that helps.

One of the local guys who is on the Forum imported a 42 Chevy from the States and it was trailered across the border. His only problem was they sent the paperwork to the wrong border crossing and he was delayed. You might try to contact him as he has the most recent info. His Forum name is 'workinonit'. Keith Bevan is his name.

great! that helps. I have imported a 97 into canada without problems.

I was just wondering about the time limit to get it inspected. I guess I can bring it across and get it exported from the us with 72 hours, the import it and just not register it until i get a safety inspection.

I haven't imported yet a truck yet, but will be within the next month. It seem pretty straight forward (hopefully), as long as you make sure all the paperwork is in order before you arrive at the border.

Take a look a the "Tech Tip" at http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/tocanada.html

I think you are getting mixed up on the safety/import inspection thing.When you import a vehicle, Canada customs files this with transport Canada, who then send you papers to get it inspected to see if it meets all of the safety criteria for a modern vehicle like your 97.Things like daytime running lights,or even outstanding recall repairs.It still has to have a normal valid safety to licence it.I imported a 50's classic car on a trailer that was only a little better than the truck you describe.Cause it is older than the 25 year number, it is exempt from this transport Canada inspection, but you will have to do the normal safety to licence when ready.

My '37 was purchased off of eBay from near San Diego and came here to B.C. by Searail who handled all the paperwork and stuff...

The seller was told the original bill of sale and title must be in the vehicle 36-72 hours before the truck arrived and you guessed it... they didn't bother sending it so they had to courier it... :hammering:

Once they had papers in hand the vehicle came through the border and was brought to a bond warehouse by Searail, where I went, payed the duties and taxes and was finally able to bring it home...

Now comes the task of getting it ready to pass safety inspection which you must do before you can even transfer the vehicle into your name or register it... as far as I know though, once the vehicle is in Canada it is considered imported...

Don't count on the government to give you 90 days once it gets here without taking their pound of flesh at the earliest opportunity...

Just follow the steps as they exist, make sure your paperwork arrives in plenty of time and you should find it smooth sailing... Good luck!

~Trev

This is the thing that I ran into,everyone has a different idea or opinion what you need or to do when bringing a vehicle into Canada.

So I did my own research and phoned both Canada and US customs. It was simple.

I have to agree with jcarter unless BC has a different process then us here in Ontario. Importing a vintage vehicle into Canada you need

. a clear title/ ownership
. copy of the ownership to be at the customs 24hrs ahead of coming into Canada. ( I had faxed my title to customs, then after 48 hrs I phoned customs to see if the truck had cleared. They told me all the paper work had cleared and that the truck could come across at anytime with the original title)
. original title with the vehicle when it crosses into Canada
. Bill of sale

Be sure to get your B1 form from customs. You'll need this when you go to change ownership at the license office. Here they require an appraisal on the vehicle to determine the amount of PST you have to pay. You pay the tax on the higher of the two (Bill of sale or the appraisal value)
You pay the GST at Canada Customs on the bill of sale amount.

Tip....Don't do this(get the ownership changed) after you done the restoration....$$$$$$$ for the tax man

Importing newer vehicles is another story!

Rob

Not sure is BC has this or not, but some jurisdictions have an un-plated registration, which transfers ownership of the vehicle without registering it for use on the road. I did this with a vehicle I bought and registered in PEI, and there was no inspection or anything else required. It was just paperwork and paying the sales tax on the bill of sale amount. This may also save you money in the long run, since some places require you to pay taxes at the time of registration based on appraised value. Having the title transferred before you complete any work on the vehicle would be cheaper in this case.

hmm. I guess I will have to talk to icbc here in bc and figure out when i can register it in my name.

On another note. The owner I'm looking to buy from does not have the title. Its in Oregon. He can give me a bill of sale, lisence plates, serial number ect. Does he need to appy for the title? or can I? Whats the deal?

I can't speak to the title issue but know many here can...

As for when you can register it into your own name, as I said, I tried and was told by ICBC that the vehicle must first pass the mandatory safety test, and only at that point can it be registered into my name... not a moment before.

If you wish to insure it while you're working on it in case it is stolen or damaged, get storage insurance... you can get this without being the registered owner and it usually costs under $30 per year...

~Trev

~Trev

Does anyone know if I purchasing it if I can apply for the title? Could I drive it across the boarder before I receive the title?

Hy playboy, I don't know much about American titles, but I do know that you cannot get insurance on a vehicle in B.C. that you do not own. When I have purchased a vehicle from the states in the past I had to take the vehicle, title, and bill of sale to the American customs to have it cleared so it could be "exported" to Canada. Once here the vehicle had to be sighted by an I.C.B.C. rep to verify that all the numbers matched with the paper work, hope that helps.

playboy - the only way you could drive it into the country is if it was titled/plated/insured in the US in your name, then customs would give you some amount of time to get a BC title, for which you'd have to have it inspected, as said above .... trailer it

Bill

how about if I say its a parts truck when i cross the line and then when i get the title, go down to the us customs and do the process of exporting it from the us and importing it to canada.

Hy playboy, Why don't you call U.S. customs and see if it can be exported without the title, just a bill of sale.

I'll try to get a hold of them. In the past you I have found it difficult. I am 95% sure they will not let you export a US vehicle if you don't have the title.

Has anyone brought over a vehicle for parts? Whats the process there?

Hi PLayboy, I purchased a 1942 Chev 3/4 ton in Bellevue last year and trailered it to Victoria, BC. If you do the research, you'll find that everyone, including customs on both sides of the border has a different idea as to what you need to do.
First sent a copy of your title and bill of sale to the USA customs at the Pacific truck crossing 72 hours before you plan to be there, it's the only place you can import a car through in our area. If they haven't lost them, you get a stamp for export (they are only open weekdays 830-330) and proceed to Canada customs. They will look at your truck and the original title and bill of sale and collect the duty. We missed getting to USA customs on time and could not wait another day (you have to leave the truck on the USA side) so we went to Canada customs and imported the truck with out exporting.
The only problem with this is if you decide to sell your truck to someone in the USA, you may face a penalty. After clearing customs and paying duty we got stamped and off we went.
You can not get any insurance or transfer title into your name until the truck passes the provincial inspection, (you don't need fedral)again this is subject to grey areas to be interpreted by the shops inspector. I even contacted the head provincial guy, Ron Beck here in Victoria and he admitted there were lots of grey area. What we found in Victoria was to get through inspection we had to have the truck done. It took us a year to get there. You need to have a mechanically sound truck, no major rust and preferred if it's at least primed one colour. You only have to have what the truck originally came equiped with. However I would recomend 2 tail lights and if you have a signal switch in the truck, be sure the siganls work or remove it. If you have any questions feel free to contact me. Keith

i have personally bought and exported from the U.S.,imported into Canada serveral times with no hassles. like workinonit says the title and bill of sale are absolutely key, without exception. we flew into san Diego last year and drove a 1963 suburban all the way up the Californian coast hwy 101,through Oregon then Washington. all you need to do is take a photo copy of the title to any autoplan insurance broker and ask for an insurance "binder" that way you are insured for the sole purpose of transporting the vehicle by driving it yourself through the states and into Canada. the binder is good in Canada until the date expires, hopefully it'll pass the provinical mechanical inspection before it expires. if it expires you can get a manually issued one day permit from any autoplan broker/agent. it's very simple. the border is a breeze, at the Candian side alll they do is hold their hand out to collect the 6% gst as it will be duty exept if old enough. they base the gst on what you paid in American that is first converted into Canadian funds.
cheers

Playboy, Check the tech tips on this web site. There's a tutorial on importing Stovebolts.

Not every US State has a title requirement, but ALL have registration requirements. So, for example, if a Canadian were to bring in a car/truck from Georgia or Alabama (both non-title states on cars older than (I think) 10 years), I would think the registration would be enough to satisfy Transport Canada, wouldn't it?

Thats what I want to know. Because I could get a title service to give me registration in though states that do not require titles for older vehicles.

I found a 36 in pieces from oregon. So I should be able to bring it back to canada as a part truck then eventually get the title ect. and import it when the truck is done. anyone have any problems bringing back a truck in peices and saying its a parts truck?

if you say it's any kind of truck, it needs a title, could still be stolen, which is supposedly what the US is looking for when you export it - you might get by saying it's a collection of parts for a vehicle you already have, and just have a bill of sale for "parts"

you can't "import it" after it's in the country, that's done at the border, but in order to register it and get a BC title you'll need a story about where it came from, and it will have to be inspected if it's never been registered in BC - there's a guy in the lower mainland who can get titles for anything for a couple hundred [MAZsomething?]

Bill

MAZ something eh. is he on this board?

Maybe I will just bring back everything but the cab, then go back over and bring back the cab separatly.

Once I get it into Canada, I know i can get a title for it through the international title service company but i just don't want to store the whole vehicle in the states until then. If I get it across and then get the title once it is in Canada, can't i go back to the boarder and properly export/import it?

nope, once it's in ya can't go go back and say "I changed my mind", importing means exactly that, it can't be brought into the country until all the paperwork is done .... easier to say you found it abandoned on a friends farm and want to rebuild it, worked for me

I found the card - M-AZing Enterprises, Mark in Coquitlam, usually at most swap meets - the numbers [old card] are 937-7128 and 328-9365 ... he needs proof of the vin number and your legal purchase, but what he does is above board, he works for ICBC, or did, much easier than trying to transfer an out of country/province title

Bill

Here's my two bits worth. I agree that you have to give 72 hours notice (working days that is). Make sure your registration is 100% correct, even to the point that 1's are 1's and not I's. A's are A's and not 4's ... etc. There is a form you can down load that must accompany your "request" to bring a vehicle across the border. Don't even think of removing the VIN plate ... it won't pass. I got caught up in a situatation where the Registration didn't match the VIN (there was an A instead of a 4) took months to clear it up while the vehicle was in storage at 7 bucks a day. And be prepared to be treated like crap at the border ... seems that taking a vehicle from the US to Canada is akin to some sort of terrorist act or that you're removing National Treasures. The border "Guards" are not interested in helping at all. To be honest the couldn't care less about your situation. Oh and bye the way mine was parts and that doesn't make a lick of difference ...

There's a web site that is very helpful http://www.riv.ca/.
Oh and "Good Luck" you'll need it ...