CAR IMPORT - urgent request!

[ecclesiast]

Hello friends,

My wife (a recent PR) and I are visiting my in-laws in Maryland, and we have just visited the credit union to pay off our loan for our American car. We now own it 100%, and would like to drive it to Vancouver this week (in time to be back at work a week from today). However, we won't have the title in time to cross the border and import it -- it has to be transferred from the state to us by mail, which will take more time than we have.

Can we bring the car across the border and not import it? We would then re-cross as soon as we have the title and import it then. If not, should we leave our car in Washington state with a friend and bring it across as soon as we have the title?

We have to leave Tuesday or Wednesday given the length of the drive. Please advise!

 

[antony_kao]

Can't you just drive across the border like you're visiting then when you have all the paperwork ready, just drive across again and do the paperworks?

 

[ecclesiast]

This is the question -- but we currently live and work in BC. It is simply not true that we'd be visiting when we are demonstrably living already in BC. I would love to do it this way though!

Can't you just drive across the border like you're visiting then when you have all the paperwork ready, just drive across again and do the paperworks?

 

[Rob_TO]

This is the question -- but we currently live and work in BC. It is simply not true that we'd be visiting when we are demonstrably living already in BC. I would love to do it this way though!

CBSA should not care if you drive the car in as a US registered car. The difficulty you face is mainly that it can only be insured through a US insurer, and I don't think you can get US insurance for a car that will be permanently in Canada. So just be careful on how long you can keep the car here before you may lose insurance coverage.

Once you get the title and paperwork, you can then get the necessary modifications done to the car to get it to Canadian safety standards, and officially import the car.

 

[antony_kao]

This is the question -- but we currently live and work in BC. It is simply not true that we'd be visiting when we are demonstrably living already in BC. I would love to do it this way though!

i know if you bring in a car from another province you usually get a few month's time before they'd like you to convert your insurance to BC's but some people don't do it anyways

i think you should be fine for a short while