Recent successful import of a Subaru Crosstrek Touring 2020 from Montreal to Vermont through the Highgate border. No pricey importer was needed, did it myself. Here is what I did:
I prepared everything beforehand. They really appreciated this and it calmed everyone down.
I gave them:
--Subaru Compliance Letter [Noting the lack of TPMS and the FMVSS units issue. I easily changed km to miles in the Subaru Control panel. I bought The Amazon Jansite TPMS kit at $30 US. Got a mechanic friend to write a receipt showing it was professionally installed, even though I did it (took 10 min). No charge. Showed the receipt. The agent didn't really care about the TPMS, shrugged his shoulders.]
--vehicle registration [He took it and checked that it matched the one on the car.]
--HS-7 DOT, checking the 2b box.
--EPA from 3520-1
--Form Entry Summary 7501 [I could not fully fill out all the boxes beforehand and just filled out what I could and asked for help. They helped me.]
--List of comps from Canada's Carfax [I took the lowest figure (Trade In Price) and calculated the US exchange amount for the day and wrote it on the print out. He said, fine, but he will look up Carfax in the US and see what totals he gets. He took the lowest trade-in figure. He found my car was worth $18K and I found $14K so he said: "Split the difference?" I said sure! He then only charged a flat 2.5% because the car was made in Japan, and the bill for the duty was only $345 USD.]
--Didn't wash car, or remove snow tires. [It is March so the roads are crummy anyways, and snow tires are mandatory in QC. They said they couldn't care less.]
--They did not ask about loans/debts on the car [I own it].
I now live in the USA, and recently moved to VT last year. I bought the car used in QC last year to help with the move. The car was in the US with me, so I had to drive it out of the US and turn right around, get in line and then drive it back into the US, declaring that I wanted to import a car. They called over an agent right away, and he walked me to a covered car park area, took my keys and walked me into the CBP Welcome Center which had 8 counter places and a set of chairs, and lots of agents hanging around. It was not busy. He took me right away. He said he was new to this and his supervisor helped him. In all it took 45 minutes.
NOTE: I am a 60 year old white guy who is fluent in English. I dressed professionally and was calm and not rushed. Your experience might be different depending on gender and race. The agents were all White at the QC/VT highgate border, with 2 women among the dozen there. That said, the border guards have their last names printed on their vests and they were all French. This is the Northeast Kingdom of VT so many French-Abenaki people live here and likely work at the border.
Hope this helps.
I post this here in gratitude to all those who shared their experience here--I could not have done this without you all!!