Importing to Canada, don't worry, not another GT4 topic Options

[946thGenGT]

Hey, this is mostly directed towards the Canadians but I'm grateful for any help anyone can offer. Any of you Canadian owners import your Celicas from the US? I've been looking into bringing one up for a friend of mine since they're so much cheaper down there. I've read a bunch of articles on it like this one and this one (which is actually regarding an MR2 specifically) but I'd like someone to actually talk to about it to ask questions and whatever else.

The articles talk about having to convert the speedo from MPH to KPH, but I was wondering since the speedo displays both MPH and KPH if you have to change it so KPH is the primary?

I can think of an easy way to change it to KPH, just scan my current bezel and print off inserts to put in the new Celi but then you're left with an odometer that still reads miles... anyone know how, if at all possible, to make the car start recording in kms instead of miles? That's not really a big issue but it would be cool if possible.

So if there's anyone out there who has tried importing a car (not necessarily a Celica even) from the US I'd love to hear about your experiences and get your advice. Thanks.

[946thGenGT]

I've looked into the import costs and they aren't that bad. You pay $190 import fee, $100 excise tax if it has A/C, then you pay about 13.1% in taxes (duty + gst)...

So on a $3500USD Celica... that's roughly $4250CAD.

$4250 * 1.13 = $4802
+ $290 in other fees
$5100 roughly

I'd fly down to drive it back so I'll say maybe $900 in other costs (plane ticket, gas, hotels, insurance etc).

So $6000CAD. That's about half of what they go for here.

And I checked to make sure it's eligible for import... it's on the RIV's list.

This post has been edited by 946thGenGT: Jan 20, 2005 - 7:37 PM