How-To: Import a car from the U.S., For all the Canadian members Options

[Valo666]

Since the Canadian dollar is doing soo freaking well these days and the cost of 6th gen celicas in Canada is so high due to the small number of them, heres a guide on how-to import a celica from the US. I imported into Ontario, so the importation might b a slight bit different depending on the province. Things you should do b4 you buy...figure out what is the closest boarding crossing to you, figure out what your looking for, and figure out your price range including importation and registration fees. Also, be ready to take 2 trips to the car, and be ready to be making some phone calls and faxes.

We started off with just wanting to import a 6th gen, had to be 5spd, perferably hatchback, but we seteled on a coupe due to the price and a budget of $4000CND including all the costs.

We first looked in the 6GC's buying and selling forums for any thing for sale that would match what we were looking for in our price range. We didnt have any luck there, so we then figured out how far we would be willing to travel into the states to pickup a car. We figured that maybe 3-4hours from the boarder would be the max for us. So that gave us our search area. We then looked up Zip Codes for areas within that search feild. We checked on Autotrader.com and didnt find any thing we liked. We then went onto Craigslist.com and started looking. We managed to find 2 cars that were in our price range and that looked good. One was our coupe listed at $2200 USD and another was a White hatchback for $2400 USD. We then e-mailed both the owners and asked some basic questions: Where exactly are you located, when could we come down and take a look at the car, could you send us some more pictures, are there any problems with the car, whats the overall condition of the car, etc. We recived an e-mail back from the owner of the coupe within 24 hours, which is a good sign. We decided we would take the 4 hour drive down to their house in Ohio to take a look at it. We took a good look at it, took it for a nice long test drive at all speeds *make sure you take it on a test drive not only on side roads, but at highway speeds too*, and told them that we would take it. We left them with a deposit of 10%, $220, a bill of sale/recipet saying we left a deposit of $220 and the remaining amount on the purchase price, VIN, milage, etc. Also we got them to sign it making it a legal document. This is a good idea because without them signing it, they could say that you just printed it up on your computer and didnt give them any $. We then headed back to canada. That was our first mistake.

This is where the first step of the actuall importation came into place. What we should have done was gotten a copy of the title. The reason for this is that before you can bring the car across the boarder, you need a copy of the title to be sent to the US customs at what ever boarder crossing your planning on coming across. Usually if you go to the customs office on the canadian side, they will give you the phone number of the US side, and by calling them you should get a fax # to send the title over. All that requires is just sending a photocopy of the title aswell as your Name, and phone number. Once thats sent, you now play the waiting game. You have to wait 72 hours or 3 days b4 you can bring the car across the boarder. Now, onto the purchase, boardercrossings and every thing else

Next is the actuall purchase of the car. Before you head over, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE IT INSURED!! This is a must!!! You will also need a letter of recall from the dealer making sure that there were no recalls on the car and if there were they were fixed. But since the only year to worry about recalls being fixed is 96, you should just be able to get that from any dealer in the US. Also in the US, some states require the title to be noterized. This means that the title cannot be transfer from the original owners name to yours unless its done at a DMV, lisecencing office, or at a bank. So make sure when you go to pick the car up, you have time to go visit one of these places. This is a majour part of the purchase. Its not like in canada where u sign the title over, and leave it upto the person who buys your car to get it transfered. Once the title is noterized *if needed in that state*, you will have to head to a lisencing office. At this point they will transfer the title into your name. You will NOT need to pay anything for this. Since you are not a US citizen, you do NOT have to pay taxes at this point because you will not be registering the car in that perticular state. You will, on the other hand, have to pay for some sort of temporary plate. In ohio it was $11 for 30days, this will also very upon each state. Once you purchase the temp plate, head back to the car, pay what ever is due on the car, get the title, keys, and a bill of sale and your off. Now depending on who you buy this car from, try and get them to write down a smaller amount for the purchase price then what you actually paid. We paid $2350 for our car, aswell as a body kit, rims and a muffler, but on our bill of sale it said we only paid $1000 for every thing. This will cut down the costs at the boarder aswell as when you register your car. Now, for the boarder and the paper work.

Now, once you have made your drive to the boarder, and you get back onto the canadian side, at customs, declare the car. Just tell them where you went, that you bought your car for X amount of dollars, and that your gonna be registering it in canada. They will then send you over to the customs office and give u a peice of paper. Now, once you go inside, go to an officer and hand them the peice of paper, but make sure you have all the documentation with you. Your insurance documentation for the car, the title, your drivers lisence, passport, bill of sale and any other documentation needed for the purchase. They will fill out and get you to fill out part of a form called the RIV Form 1. This form just states that you have purchased a car from the US and are bringin it onto canadian soil. After this form is filled out, you will have to go pay duty and taxes. This is the part where most people think it costs alot. It really doesnt. All you will pay is $100 for an A/C tax, then GST on the cars purchase price. So, since our coupe cost us $1000 and our GST is 7%...it was $170 with the A/C tax. Now once you pay this, your free to go.

Once you have cleared customs you need to do some work. You will need to either send or drop off your RIV Form 1 to the RIV office here in Toronto, pay a charge of $195 + PST or in quebec $195 + PST & QST, and they will send you back RIV Form 2. Form 2 is a form that needs to be filled out after you have a Federal inspection done on your car. The federal inspection just makes sure that the car is upto Canadian safety standards and has both english and french stickers. To pass this, all you will need is a Daytime running light kit from canadian tire, aswell as a child safety seat restraint, also from canadian tire. The daytime running light kits are simple and i will post a picture of the wiring when i get to Sarahs car next. Once thouse modifications are done, you have to make sure the car will pass safety and e-testing. So this will just be like any other car, needs to pass e-test and not have any thing wrong with the car that would impair the safety of the driver. Once you are sure about this stuff, take it to your local canadian tire, get it safetied and e-tested and your done. The info will be sent from Canadian tire to the RIV office and they will send you a sticker that needs to be placed on your drivers side door jam.

Now once all the testing is done, the car is ready to go, bring ALL!! the paper work you have gotten to the lisencing office, pay your PST, get your plates *or transfer them over* and congradulations, your car is now an offical canadian citizen.

The entire time it took from the day we bought the car, to the time we registered it was about a month and a bit. The only reason for that was the car needed work to pass safety and we didnt have time or $ to fix the problems. All in all, it should maybe take a minimum of 2 days after crossing the boarder to get the car registered.

Also, i checked and all Celicas are clear to come into canada. The only Toyota's/Lexus' that are not allowed in are 1992 Corolla's
1992-1994 Trecel's/Paseo's
2000 SC400/300
2000-2005 MR2/MRS
and 2005-2006 Scion TC's.

If you have any more questions, want more info, or want any informations regaurding this, please take a look at the RIV's website. Registar of Imported Vehicles