Car Import Journey

[KnJ 0]

My Car Import Journey.. so far.

I did not import the car at my POE. I did this mainly because I didn't have the compliance letter from American Honda in time. Peace Bridge let me through without it, they didn't ask. The way CBP puts it, though, I "failed" to register my car, and should have when I crossed.

Drawback: there's a chance I won't be able to import at the Boston POE, and would have to travel back to a land border. Yikes.

Anyway, process so far, as researched by me:

1. Obtain Recall Clearance Letter (with seal) from Canadian manufacturer

2. Obtain Compliance Letter from American manufacturer (in some cases I'm reading that people got from Cdn manuf.)

3. Vehicle bill of sale/receipt, provincial registration

4. Forms for POE (find a POE)

This is the argh part, where my brain is asploding.

Useful post by trailmix

DOT form HS-7 Declaration

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/hs799short.pdf

Pretty Straightforward - check box 2B in case of a Canadian car and supply compliance document.

EPA form 3520-1 Declaration

http://www.epa.gov/otaq/imports/forms/3520-1.pdf

interesting point on this form -- could use code M for EPA exempted vehicles?

Code M -

miscellaneous exemption

, either 1) Canadian vehicle as described above (proof required) and the importer is either permanently emigrating to the U.S. or will reside in the U.S. for greater than one year under a worker or student visa, or 2) Canadian vehicle received by U.S. resident through inheritance, or 3) EPA hardship letter based on unforseen and extraordinary circumstances is attached to this form.

also see

list of exempted vehicles

(I have a 2000 model listed here)

CPB form

http://forms.cbp.gov/pdf/CBP_Form_7501.pdf

not sure if I need this form?? It is so confusing.

Registering in State

Some of this may be specific to Massachusetts (MA) or certain other states. See CBP for more general registration with DMV info

• Obtain Social Security Number
• Obtain insurance
• fill out/have insurance agent fill out RMV-1 (registration form) http://www.mass.gov/rmv/forms/RMV1_fillable.pdf (from dmv/rmv)

  not sure if I need to obtain a *title* as well as registration.. in Ontario there is only registration not title.

• sales tax exemption form for motor vehicle registration http://www.mass.gov/Ador/docs/dor/Forms/MVU/PDFs/mvu_29.pdf (from dept of revenue)

I guess there's more. I haven't included obtaining a US license as part of this list.

I'll add to this topic if there's more stuff I come across.

Oh, and if you find pieces of my brain anywhere, please return to me asap.

Edited November 20, 2009 by KnJ

[trailmix 77]

Hi KnJ,

That form 7501 - Steve Treible mentioned in his post here that he had to fill it out.

It looks only vaguely familiar to me - but it was probably the one we had to fill out. I don't know that you can prefill it though - the one we did was in triplicate - their actual form.

I could never find that form online, if it is the same one - so cool that you found it

[Rustbelt 0]

You'll have to explain that Ontario only does the registration, not the title. You might want to get a letter or something from MTO explaining that the registration is equivalent to a title.

For timing on the car imports, I was told at the Peace Bridge (by a supervisor) that importing the car after I did the immigration entry was okay, providing it was within a few weeks. And they were fine with me importing the car, but not getting the registration/license/inspection done for a couple of weeks too; as was the NY DMV.

My situation was unique because I originally bought the car when I was living in Pennsylvania a few years back, so I got a copy of the original PA title and because of that the 7501 (which was filled out by the CBP guy) was the only form that had to be completed. However, he did say that if I hadn't had the PA title, I would have needed the EPA and DOT forms too. They actually fill those out for you at the Peace Bridge - I don't know if that's the case for all POE's though.

Otherwise your list looks pretty similar to my own experience; except I was able to do a couple of shortcuts here & there because I used to live in the US. (I had a SSN already, for example).

- Steve's wife

[trailmix 77]

Interesting. All we had was the compliance letter from Ford - I don't think our car had stickers - they didn't ask, they didn't look at the car (Canadian made car btw).

We didn't fill out EPA or DOT forms - just 1 form.

Edited November 20, 2009 by trailmix

[KnJ 0]

When I had called the POE (Peace Bridge) in advance, I was told I need all of those forms, and that I need to cross during business hours so an inspector was there, and that I have to fax the documentation (compliance letter, etc) 72 hours in advance.

I just got the compliance letter in the mail today. That's a frickin' eyeful to interpret. But from reading other people's posts here I think it's all good, just things saying I don't have the stickers, but it does say 'eligible for import' or something. Meh, I've been here a week, looks like next week is gonna be fuuuun.

Thanks for the tip Steve re getting some kind of verification that Ontario doesn't use title docs. Hmm. Will have to think that one out.

[trailmix 77]

When I had called the POE (Peace Bridge) in advance, I was told I need all of those forms, and that I need to cross during business hours so an inspector was there, and that I have to fax the documentation (compliance letter, etc) 72 hours in advance.

You know what's weird KnJ - the whole fax 72 hours in advance thing - those are the instructions for importing a vehicle in to Canada from the U.S. - it almost makes me wonder if the person didn't understand what you were doing - or they looked up the wrong thing in error.

Edited November 20, 2009 by trailmix

[Rustbelt 0]

Yeah, I agree. I've done it both ways (into Canada AND into the US) and it's importing into Canada that requires the 72 hour advance notice. Crossing during business hours I can see, but the advance faxing thing is nonsense IMHO.

Honestly I didn't fill out anything because I wasn't sure what they'd want given the history of the car. The guy happily filled out everything I needed and would have completed the other forms too (EPA/DOT forms) if I'd needed them. Alternatively I would have been fine if they'd told me to go away and fill them out myself; but I'm near the border anyway so it was no big deal for me.

Edited to add: KnJ - Are you sure you called the US side of the Peace Bridge? There are different numbers for each side and the US side number starts with 716. Don't mean to doubt you, but it's an easy mistake to make. If you do call, you'll end up in phone menu hell, but eventually you'll get the choice of speaking to someone. Be sure you select the customs and supervisor option because the regular "customs" line just rings and rings and rings. But if you select the customs supervisor option a real live person actually picks it up pretty fast. I forget the actual menu choices now . . . sorry.

- Steve's wife

Edited November 20, 2009 by Steve Treible

[KnJ 0]

Trailmix, I was thinking that too, perhaps I was misunderstood. I did say I was immigrating to the US and want to take my personal car.

Edited to add: KnJ - Are you sure you called the US side of the Peace Bridge? There are different numbers for each side and the US side number starts with 716. Don't mean to doubt you, but it's an easy mistake to make. If you do call, you'll end up in phone menu hell, but eventually you'll get the choice of speaking to someone. Be sure you select the customs and supervisor option because the regular "customs" line just rings and rings and rings. But if you select the customs supervisor option a real live person actually picks it up pretty fast. I forget the actual menu choices now . . . sorry.

- Steve's wife

Oh I totally could see making that kind of mistake, I am pretty sure I checked that I was calling the US side, it was a 716 number. He was citing the US forms, so it made sense there too. I think that he was giving some sort of answer not taking account of the fact that I'm a K-1. He had that stereotypical "official officer man" voice, the kind specifically designed to intimidate and establish supreme authority. I think he even called me ma'am

[Peachey 10]

Oh I finally found out what I need to do to my daytime runnning lights to get my letter of compliance... change the colour.... seriously.

[trailmix 77]

You have to change the lights BEFORE you get the letter of compliance? That's very strange.

Do you mean that's what they said you had to do, or you think that's what you have to do?

[Peachey 10]

That's what I have to do to my car in order to get a letter of compliance from Nissan... The girl told me on the phone.

Edited November 22, 2009 by Peachey

[trailmix 77]

That's somewhat pathetic! A letter of compliance should just state what complies and what doesn't. Chances are they would let you import it without changing the lights. On the flipside it's probably a nice cash grab for Nissan!

[Krikit 1,164]

Oh I finally found out what I need to do to my daytime runnning lights to get my letter of compliance... change the colour.... seriously.

Call someone else. They don't even HAVE daytime running lights here.

[zenaxe 22]

This is of interest. I have a Canadian Nissa Maxima and I'll have to get their letter; it has daytime running lights. I also have a Nissan 350z which came to Canada from the USA and they had to convert the car to Canadian standards including having the daytime running lights etc.

It'll be interesting to see how it may play out when I import the US car.....hoping all will be done without any issues. I'm still a long way off but what the hey...

[trailmix 77]

My Canadian car had daytime running lights - it was a Ford, Ford just noted it on the compliance letter - I imported it (running lights and all) to the U.S.

It's nothing like importing from the U.S. to Canada - thankfully