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.

[95gtschick]

my car has been imported from cali, personally i like the speedometer in mph.. so i left it. i'm not the one who imported the car though, i bought it from the guy who imported it ^_^

[946thGenGT]

my car has been imported from cali, personally i like the speedometer in mph.. so i left it.  i'm not the one who imported the car though, i bought it from the guy who imported it ^_^
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Hmm well then it can't be a GT-S... unless it went from Canada to Cali and back again, or whoever you bought it from put a GT-S badge on. And since you say the speedo is in MPH, I'd guess that he just threw a GT-S badge on.

This post has been edited by 946thGenGT: Jan 20, 2005 - 3:54 PM

[red_94gts]

im pretty sure you dont need to change the speedo over. just have to make sure before buying it, that it is eligible to bring into Canada. ive heard that you can expect to pay double what you bought it for in the end due to all the taxes and resigstration fees involved. it might not be worth it, but if you cant find a good celica around here, which i know is hard to do, it would be worth it

[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

[95gtschick]

mine doesn't even have a gt-s badge, it just says that on my insurance, lol

[Coomer]

Wow, cars must be really expensive up there. I need to sell my car to someone in Canada.

[red_94gts]

oh yeah i paid 13,000 canadian a year ago. since ive bought mine ive seen a few in the auto trader for 15-16k.

[946thGenGT]

Wow, cars must be really expensive up there. I need to sell my car to someone in Canada.
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Lol I've told you that many times (even check your thread in Buying/Selling). I'd even consider buying your car for myself and just selling my own and still being ahead several thousand dollars.

mine doesn't even have a gt-s badge, it just says that on my insurance, lol
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Opposite for me... GT-S didn't exist in their database even.

But the GT doesn't really exist in Canada so there's no use arguing over the differences between a GT and GT-S. Some people say the GT-S was a GT with most of the options... as far as I've seen, not true at all. There's no such thing as a GT.

This post has been edited by 946thGenGT: Jan 20, 2005 - 8:22 PM

[95gtschick]

i have.. a lot of options, only thing i don't have is heated seats, but there's a fuse for heated seats in my fuse box...

[exxtractor]

My celica St was imported by myself just over 2 years ago, after I moved back to Canada. The big thing is to make sure all the paper work is in order. In regards to the speedo, you do not need to change it since it has both Kmh and mph. You also don't need to change the odometer, though you might read it says you need to put a sticker on it (Canadian Tire who does the federal inspections for the government isn't too particlar on this). Just do the following as it says below and your good to go, you can even call them or Canada customs to confirm what the tax rate is. I drove mine accross, so not sure if you have different paper work, if its not done that way. Best thing is to call RIV.

RIV

[946thGenGT]

My celica St was imported by myself just over 2 years ago, after I moved back to Canada.  The big thing is to make sure all the paper work is in order.  In regards to the speedo, you do not need to change it since it has both Kmh and mph.  You also don't need to change the odometer, though you might read it says you need to put a sticker on it (Canadian Tire who does the federal inspections for the government isn't too particlar on this).  Just do the following as it says below and your good to go, you can even call them or Canada customs to confirm what the tax rate is.  I drove mine accross, so not sure if you have different paper work, if its not done that way. Best thing is to call RIV.

RIV
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Thanks a lot for the tips. Another thing I was wondering about is do I have to worry about doing some rewiring to setup daytime running lights? Cars newer than 1990 require it here but I know in the US it wasn't required until a few years ago so I'm not sure if the 6gc's down there have DRL's or not.