Automobile question

[sethmichael22 0]

Hey everyone! Not sure if this is best spot for post, but my (now wife) is Canadian and so is her vehicle, so thought it would be best to get some info from all of you!

We were married officially last summer, but we officially imported her vehicle into New York state where we were initially living. I got a letter of emissions from Mazda and that was all ok, we did the import and car was all registered fine in NY....fast forward one year....we are now living in Florida (moved here not too long ago) and the car still has NY plates and registration on it. We are looking to sell the car.

Do any of you know what all is involved and what kind of a process that would be since it is a Canadian car?

Again, we have the emissions letter, the record of importation when we did that, the NY auto registration, and of course the legal license plates for the car.....

What else, if anything would we need??

The car is collecting dust sitting in our driveway and we would like the cash from selling it

Thanks in advance!

[KnJ 0]

Selling the car may be tricky without getting the speedometer replaced. However, when you replace a speedometer, the mileage resets to 0 and legally as far as I know, nowhere can you get the mileage put back on.

My Canadian car when I was still back in Canada had a broken speedometer, and I needed it replaced. They wrote the original miles on a sticker in my door. Technically this means the car has "mileage unverified" -- you can add up the KM in the door and the KM on the odometer, but the sticker is an unofficial statement of mileage. My speedometer sucks because MPH isn't even lit up at night. I have had to do the conversion in my head.. If I replaced speedometer to MPH, I would then have *two* stickers in the door stating KM of the various speedometers I had. But in order to sell my car to anyone in the US, even if not legally, I think I would have to change the speedometer.

If you tried to sell the car after changing the speedometer to MPH, you would be asking any buyer to take on faith that the vehicle has the number of miles you say it does.

I would recommend selling the car without changing the speedometer out, but tell prospective buyers that you would pay to change it out if they wanted.

That way they can see the original mileage and trust it before they buy it.

That said, a mileage unverified car is worth less, IMO. I'm not sure whether some states would make you change the speedometer. You also would have to check laws around that.

Also, some states have lemon laws, or requirements to document the car has never been totaled, etc. This may also be a consideration.

Myself, I have no plans to sell my Canadian car. I will run it into the ground, or donate it once maintenance costs exceed value. That said, it's a Honda Civic, and they are great cars that can last for a really long time. J just changed jobs and isn't using his car, which means we have two cars -- I'm basically juggling cars. His is newer, and it'd make sense to keep it (and cruise control, power everything, etc) instead of the old Civic, but I seriously doubt I could sell the car.

Hopefully you will have no problems selling it, but make sure it's legal.. otherwise it could be a negative cash benefit.

Cheers

-- K

[Flames9_RN 358]

Should be no problem at all, as you imported it legally! Most Cdn cars show both km/miles on the speedometer

[sethmichael22 0]

There is a place here in FL that specializes in buying and selling used cars of all types so I will see if they have issue of the speedometer.

I am more concerned about ownership issues....I can't remember if New York gave me a title for vehicle or not....but they wouldn't have allowed me to register without proof of ownership, right??

[Rob & Monika 87]

The only federal restriction is that if it was imported duty free, and you sell it within one year of importing it, you have to pay duty on it. As far as specific issues related to your state, I would call a local Mazda dealership and see what they say.

[Krikit 1,164]

The good news is that you are in FL and there are lots of Canadians there who would purchase and keep a 2nd car down there. The other good news is that dealerships will purchase these vehicles whether you trade them in or are just looking to sell. As Flames says, you shouldn't have a problem. My Canadian car was purchased by a dealership as a trade-in.