Importing a Canadian car to the US

[JillA 2]

Hi Jill, glad to hear you had such great service from Mazda! I'm about to request my compliance letter from them too. Is there a central number that you called? Or do you just go to your local Mazda dealer?

thanks!

Here's their contact info from this link.

Mazda North American Operations

Attn: International Imports/Exports

7755 Irvine Center Drive

Irvine, CA 92618-2922

USA: (949) 727-1990 extension 1114

FAX: (949) 727-6703

E-MAIL: intl.imports.exports@mazdausa.com

CANADA: (949) 727‑1990

Awesome, thanks Krikit!!

I e-mailed them, and they replied within a few hours! They just e-mailed me back a form to fill out and e-mail back to them... It says it can take up to 3 weeks, but they sent me the compliance letter in a matter of days! Simple.

[MrsCat 6]

Went to the Ford dealership today. Sat down with the Service Manager and went through my request. He was much nicer than the last 3 people on the phone. We finished everything up in about 30 minutes and I should have a faxed copy of the letter in 2-3 days, and formal copy in one month. Slowly checking things off my to-do list.

[Flames9_RN 358]

hope he didnt charge u for it, the last few I have read from ford did charge a fee

[MrsCat 6]

hope he didnt charge u for it, the last few I have read from ford did charge a fee

$75.00 - less than the $100 Ford Canada said it would cost. Sadly, I felt like I was ahead $25, when really I'm still behind $75.00.

[wishiwasthere23 0]

I imported my car. No duty at the border but I had to pay Florida sales tax to register the title and get my plates.

What if you have a leased car?? Same rules apply?

[MrsCat 6]

Just in case anyone is wondering - here is what my compliance letter looks like. Got mine today. One last thing on the to do list.

[Krikit 1,163]

I imported my car. No duty at the border but I had to pay Florida sales tax to register the title and get my plates.

What if you have a leased car?? Same rules apply?

If you have a leased car you would need to speak with the company. I don't think you can import something that doesn't actually belong to you.

Just in case anyone is wondering - here is what my compliance letter looks like. Got mine today. One last thing on the to do list.

There's that stupid "running lights must be disabled" sentence. Just ignore it, Catt. Honestly. What a moronic thing to make note of.

[snapcracklepop 0]

Here's another question about Vehicle Compliance

Today I received my Vehicle Compliance letter from Mazda (very efficient - 1 day turn-around time and received by email). The bummer is that my vehicle (2001 Miata) does NOT comply with the Theft Prevention Standard (Labeling Requirement - US CFR Part 541). Apparently it has to do with labeling various vehicle body parts with the VIN number.

Has anyone had to do this before and if so, where on earth did you go to get your car tatooed

I live in Vancouver.

Thanks guys!

I imported my car. No duty at the border but I had to pay Florida sales tax to register the title and get my plates.

What if you have a leased car?? Same rules apply?

If you have a leased car you would need to speak with the company. I don't think you can import something that doesn't actually belong to you.

Just in case anyone is wondering - here is what my compliance letter looks like. Got mine today. One last thing on the to do list.

There's that stupid "running lights must be disabled" sentence. Just ignore it, Catt. Honestly. What a moronic thing to make note of.

[MrsCat 6]

Here's another question about Vehicle Compliance

Today I received my Vehicle Compliance letter from Mazda (very efficient - 1 day turn-around time and received by email). The bummer is that my vehicle (2001 Miata) does NOT comply with the Theft Prevention Standard (Labeling Requirement - US CFR Part 541). Apparently it has to do with labeling various vehicle body parts with the VIN number.

Has anyone had to do this before and if so, where on earth did you go to get your car tatooed

I live in Vancouver.

Thanks guys!

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/CARS/RULES/IMPORT...ada01192007.htm

Not sure if this is what they are taking about:

If the manufacturer’s letter states that the vehicle complies with all applicable FMVSS but does not comply with the parts marking requirements of the Theft Prevention Standard at 49 CFR Part 541, the vehicle can only be imported as a conforming motor vehicle under Box 2B if the importer furnishes Customs with an invoice from a franchised dealer or other commercial entity showing that the required theft prevention markings have been applied to the vehicle.

I would call the POE perhaps and see what they typically require. Maybe its a simple fix - maybe you could ask for a quote from your garage.

Edited September 12, 2008 by cattattude

[trailmix 77]

Not sure if this is what they are taking about:

If the manufacturer’s letter states that the vehicle complies with all applicable FMVSS but does not comply with the parts marking requirements of the Theft Prevention Standard at 49 CFR Part 541, the vehicle can only be imported as a conforming motor vehicle under Box 2B if the importer furnishes Customs with an invoice from a franchised dealer or other commercial entity showing that the required theft prevention markings have been applied to the vehicle.

I would call the POE perhaps and see what they typically require. Maybe its a simple fix - maybe you could ask for a quote from your garage.

Or it could be the same silly thing like the Running Lights thing Ford puts on some of its letters, which the Border guy saw and said 'Ford should know better'.

That said, when I called the POE about the lights, the guy told me that I absolutely had to have them disabled or I could not import the car - well I didn't and it was no problem.

I hope it's as cheap fix - otherwise you are just going to have to take your best guess at getting it fixed or not....good luck

[snapcracklepop 0]

Not sure if this is what they are taking about:

If the manufacturer's letter states that the vehicle complies with all applicable FMVSS but does not comply with the parts marking requirements of the Theft Prevention Standard at 49 CFR Part 541, the vehicle can only be imported as a conforming motor vehicle under Box 2B if the importer furnishes Customs with an invoice from a franchised dealer or other commercial entity showing that the required theft prevention markings have been applied to the vehicle.

I would call the POE perhaps and see what they typically require. Maybe its a simple fix - maybe you could ask for a quote from your garage.

Or it could be the same silly thing like the Running Lights thing Ford puts on some of its letters, which the Border guy saw and said 'Ford should know better'.

That said, when I called the POE about the lights, the guy told me that I absolutely had to have them disabled or I could not import the car - well I didn't and it was no problem.

I hope it's as cheap fix - otherwise you are just going to have to take your best guess at getting it fixed or not....good luck

Hey guys,

cattattitude, you're right on the money!

I emailed the US Dept. of Transportation and they sent this standard reply (which is verbatim from what you pulled off their website). Interestingly, I phoned the local Mazda dealership who were quite confused by the whole thing. They said that they get this request sometimes from insurance companies, but have never had people request it for import reasons. It'll cost $200 so at least I know it's do-able. I'm just so surprised that no other pre 2002 Mazda people have had to do this. Ah well! At least it's way less complicated than selling my car and buying another one. Here's the DOT reply:

---DOT reply---

Dear Ms. Grove,

If the manufacturer’s letter states that the vehicle complies with all applicable FMVSS but does not comply with the parts marking requirements of the Theft Prevention Standard at 49 CFR Part 541, the vehicle can only be imported as a conforming motor vehicle under Box 2B on the HS-7 Declaration form if the importer furnishes Customs with an invoice from a franchised dealer or other commercial entity showing that the required theft prevention markings have been applied to the vehicle. A copy of the HS-7 Declaration form is available on our website at www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import.

I hope this information is helpful.

Kristi Bragdon

NHTSA

----------------end DOT reply-----------

Happy monday guys, and thank you for your support

Ingrid

[jedinite 0]

Does anyone else have a lien with Toyota Canada? They will not provide me with a compliance letter or authorize me to import my car unless I pay off my loan...apparently that is a condition of the loan that I wasn't aware of.

Sooo I am kind of stuck. I can't get a loan to cover the remaining balance in the US because I have no credit here yet. I can't get a loan in Canada because I don't live there anymore and I don't have a job!!!! And I can't afford to pay off the balance (2 years worth). The Toyota lady was a bit mean and said I would just have to sell my car, which I absolutely do NOT want to do.

Plus we are moving to Cali where I am already going to have to pay quite a bit in taxes and things to register it I think - they have some strange rules there, and the car was manufactured in Japan.

I know I CAN actually import it without the compliance letter, since it has the EPA compliance sticker and I spoke to the inland port people who said that is sufficient. But I also know that when I go to register my car they will want the lien info to create a title. Do they then send the title to the lienholder? Or do I get it?

I think I might just drive it back to Canada and park it till I work this one out!!

I drove my car in the US while I was still paying my loan. I didn't have it registered in California for several years and I was still able to get insurance through my wife's insurance policy. As long as you don't get pulled over and you get someone in your family to help renew your registration in your province I am sure you can get away with it for a little while longer, at least until you get your credit situation sorted out. You will have to go to a POE to import your car, if you're in SoCal, the POE is in Long Beach.

I registered my car about a year ago and it was pretty easy to get a letter through Honda. The letter will have your VIN on there so you can't just get someone else's compliance letter.

Once you get your import letter from the POE you have to get you car smog inspected at a special facility. Thing is you'll have to go to the DMV or call them to get them to send you information about getting your Smog done at one of these special locations. Once you have your Car Import letter and your smog check letter you can register your car. You probably won't pay that much for it, anywhere from $100 to $150, it only gets expensive if you have a brand new car luxury car worth over $38K (even more if you have a brand new luxury SUV).

Don't forget you'll also have to do your drivers written and driving test so don't forget to give yourself a refresher and learn the specific numbers as you'll have to know the imperial equivalence for distances on the written exam. i.e. signaling before a turn is 50 feet instead of 15 meters.

Oh yeah, if you have a car loan through the car financial company (i.e. Mazda Finance Canada) see if you can talk to Mazda Finance USA to get them to transfer or offer you a loan for your lien. Private financing companies are usually much easier to get loans from than banks and since you're just trying to keep your car maybe they can help you move it to a sister company. If not, get a Canadian loan on your car so that the car company does not have your lien anymore and therefore they will give you a compliance letter.

Good luck.