StellarZZ said:
I called the leasing company and they gave me the same 30 day rule. BUT I also talked to a Canadian auto broker who gave me the following advice:
- "As long as you have the vehicle insured in the US, and maintain some kind of address there, you're OK"
-- I do have an address I can use in the US - BUT - what US insurance company will insure me if I am in Canada?
-- what Canadian/provincial rules are there to having a US vehicle (plates/reg/insurance) for 3 plus years?
- "If you relocate to Canada, you can temporarily import the vehicle to Canada as a visitor.
--- I am not a visitor - but will be a permanent resident of Canada not the US - I have rented a small apartment and am looking for work here
- "When the lease term ends, the vehicle goes back". "If contract says the vehicle can only leave for 30 days max, then you'll have to re-enter the US -eg go shopping - monthly."
Anyone have suggestions??
Personally, I would be reluctant to do what the Canadian auto broker suggested as that
could be deemed insurance fraud if you ever had a claim.
Most insurance companies expect the vehicle to be parked at the residence that you list on your Insurance policy (and ideally garaged there as well). If you ever had a claim in Canada and they found out that your vehicle had not been `sleeping' at the address on file...that could be a real problem.
Maybe you should consider finding someone in the US to assume your lease. There are many companies that offer assistance with this and you might even get a few bucks in your pocket, provided you can coax a fee from the new lessee.
Good luck!
*edit*
I actually had my US leased vehicle in Canada (I was living in the US near the border) and was involved in in accident in Canada. Someone ran a red light and hit the side of my car, doing about $9k damage. I had no problems with the leasing company (BMW of North America) because, thankfully, Canada is part of North America. I had to find a specialty repair facility, but other than that it was pretty smooth.
However, when I had to turn in the car at the end of the lease, I had to drive to the nearest dealer in the US and find my own way back to the border. The part that still makes me shake my head, is the fact that the dealer said that the new buyer would never even know about the accident in Canada because the VIN would never be shown to have been in Canada. Huh?!?!?! Now, the car was repaired properly but I couldn't believe that they were going to willingly keep this information from the new owner of the car. Shocking.
