Exporting car from Canada to US......any one done this?

[justinline]

Please post your experience of exporting car from Canada to US.

Thanks,
Justin

 

[APPNOV2014NY]

Where did you buy your car from? USA or Canada?

 

[justinline]

Canada....presently registered in Ontario.

 

[justinline]

In case someone requires this in future.....I am sure lot of H1b will move back to US. They would want to import their cars back.

If you bought the car in Canada

1.Contact your manufacturer and get two letters with your VIN number mentioned in it.
-That your car meets the EPA and Federal Safety Standards.
-There are no pending recalls.

2.Now the tricky part .....TPMS. TPMS is mandatory of cars sold in US (not sure when this became mandatory). If your car is equipped with TPMS then nothing more to do. If not......then if you go according to book, you need to bring your car up to the Federal Standards installing the TPMS through dealership. Get the invoice and present it during the importation. Not to mention this is very expensive....my estimate was 3500 CAD.

Cheaper option is buy external TPMS and install it yourself. Now I heard mixed success with this option......depends upon the officer you encounter. He may not like it...he may not care......anything is possible.

3. Fill up two forms one DOT HS7 and EPA 3520. Take along or they will give you at the border. There are few options where you need to fill up the form properly. I had so many questions, the officer looked irritated. Finally said no need to fill those, just fill the custom entry form 7501. This is main form, get at least 2 original copies of this with original stamp. Need to submit this form to DMV along with Canadian registration to get the title.
Also make sure entry form 7501 states that the car meets all the necessary EPA and Federal Safety regulations.

4. Nothing needs to be done on the Canadian CBSA side. Directly drive to US CBP side tell the officer at the booth you need to import the car.

5. No tax was charged as the car manufactured in Canada and I owned it for while.

 

[harirajmohan]

In case someone requires this in future.....I am sure lot of H1b will move back to US. They would want to import their cars back.

If you bought the car in Canada

1.Contact your manufacturer and get two letters with your VIN number mentioned in it.
-That your car meets the EPA and Federal Safety Standards.
-There are no pending recalls.

2.Now the tricky part .....TPMS. TPMS is mandatory of cars sold in US (not sure when this became mandatory). If your car is equipped with TPMS then nothing more to do. If not......then if you go according to book, you need to bring your car up to the Federal Standards installing the TPMS through dealership. Get the invoice and present it during the importation. Not to mention this is very expensive....my estimate was 3500 CAD.

Cheaper option is buy external TPMS and install it yourself. Now I heard mixed success with this option......depends upon the officer you encounter. He may not like it...he may not care......anything is possible.

3. Fill up two forms one DOT HS7 and EPA 3520. Take along or they will give you at the border. There are few options where you need to fill up the form properly. I had so many questions, the officer looked irritated. Finally said no need to fill those, just fill the custom entry form 7501. This is main form, get at least 2 original copies of this with original stamp. Need to submit this form to DMV along with Canadian registration to get the title.
Also make sure entry form 7501 states that the car meets all the necessary EPA and Federal Safety regulations.

4. Nothing needs to be done on the Canadian CBSA side. Directly drive to US CBP side tell the officer at the booth you need to import the car.

5. No tax was charged as the car manufactured in Canada and I owned it for while.

Interesting note on tpms. thanks.
My 2005 corolla might not be eligible then....

 

[justinline]

Naah ....you should be fine.....I think the car manufacturing dates have to be more recent for that rule to apply.

 

[harirajmohan]

Naah ....you should be fine.....I think the car manufacturing dates have to be more recent for that rule to apply.

ok. then let me find out more so that it will be helpful to plan anyway and update here for others.

 

[justinline]

Forgot.....about this

6. Dont forget to take your registrations and bill of sale. I was not asked, but they may check.

 

[vinayreddy]

Forgot.....about this

6. Dont forget to take your registrations and bill of sale. I was not asked, but they may check.

Hi,

My car is made in USA and i bought in 2013 when i was in USA. Imported to Canada in 2017 when we moved to Canada. Now we are moving to USA and planning export to USA. Can you please help identifying the process?

Thanks,
Vinay

 

[justinline]

Hi,

My car is made in USA and i bought in 2013 when i was in USA. Imported to Canada in 2017 when we moved to Canada. Now we are moving to USA and planning export to USA. Can you please help identifying the process?

Thanks,
Vinay

Process probably will be same, Just give call to the CBP and you can ask them, I am thinking since you imported the car from US to Canada, the letters from the manufacturers wont be necessary. I would call the CBP and ask them still.

Carry the original bill of sale to prove you bought the car in US. Fill up the form DOT HS7 and EPA 3520 and carry, I am guessing since you bought the car in US, those will be wived as well, but still carry them. Is you car manufactured in US or Canada then those two forms are more of formality.

Will advice go to border at some odd hours, when the workload is low and agents inside are in good mood, that makes lot of difference.

 

[vinayreddy]

Process probably will be same, Just give call to the CBP and you can ask them, I am thinking since you imported the car from US to Canada, the letters from the manufacturers wont be necessary. I would call the CBP and ask them still.

Carry the original bill of sale to prove you bought the car in US. Fill up the form DOT HS7 and EPA 3520 and carry, I am guessing since you bought the car in US, those will be wived as well, but still carry them. Is you car manufactured in US or Canada then those two forms are more of formality.

Will advice go to border at some odd hours, when the workload is low and agents inside are in good mood, that makes lot of difference.

Thank you.

 

[harirajmohan]

Hi,

My car is made in USA and i bought in 2013 when i was in USA. Imported to Canada in 2017 when we moved to Canada. Now we are moving to USA and planning export to USA. Can you please help identifying the process?

Thanks,
Vinay

Hi, Did you import back to US? Was there any need for additional documents from EPA and on recalls for US cars while importing from Canada?

 

[harirajmohan]

Hi,

My car is made in USA and i bought in 2013 when i was in USA. Imported to Canada in 2017 when we moved to Canada. Now we are moving to USA and planning export to USA. Can you please help identifying the process?

Thanks,
Vinay

Did you find out if we need "no recall" letter for the car that was originally from US?

 

[harirajmohan]

Reimporting same vehicle back to US:
Initially called CBP, DOT and EPA. DOT was confusing me saying i may need to revert back the daytime running lights even though we know that some states actually require it and most new cars are manufactured default with DRL. So i didnt want to remove it which was enabled after importing to Canada since this is not against law in any state and unnecessary expense and time waste.

Went to detroit tunnel. Inside the office, i showed the sale detail copy of the car to avoid tax and gave the documents which i collected during my import to Canada (along with the current ontario title). Officer gave back sale receipts and took the title and previous import docs for her to enter the forms.

She(officer) came back and asked me for the address and phone number.

In between cbp vehicle inspector came and asked who else was moving with me. He was saying that he could see somebody else's clothes/things . I told that my family will be coming with me this weekend. Then he left.

She came back with all the forms printed and took my signature. Then she gave me my copy of DOT HS7, EPA 3520 and CBP 7501 (2 copies - one for dmv and one to keep it vehicle till it gets sold).

When i came back to car, the boxes and bags were rearranged, mostly in the trunk. I had to set few bags and boxes to fit/close the trunk. So have your things minimal while importing the car as they are supposed to check fully while importing the car. Overall it took 35-50 mins.

 

[peacefulpal]

Reimporting same vehicle back to US:
Initially called CBP, DOT and EPA. DOT was confusing me saying i may need to revert back the daytime running lights even though we know that some states actually require it and most new cars are manufactured default with DRL. So i didnt want to remove it which was enabled after importing to Canada since this is not against law in any state and unnecessary expense and time waste.

Went to detroit tunnel. Inside the office, i showed the sale detail copy of the car to avoid tax and gave the documents which i collected during my import to Canada (along with the current ontario title). Officer gave back sale receipts and took the title and previous import docs for her to enter the forms.

She(officer) came back and asked me for the address and phone number.

In between cbp vehicle inspector came and asked who else was moving with me. He was saying that he could see somebody else's clothes/things . I told that my family will be coming with me this weekend. Then he left.

She came back with all the forms printed and took my signature. Then she gave me my copy of DOT HS7, EPA 3520 and CBP 7501 (2 copies - one for dmv and one to keep it vehicle till it gets sold).

When i came back to car, the boxes and bags were rearranged, mostly in the trunk. I had to set few bags and boxes to fit/close the trunk. So have your things minimal while importing the car as they are supposed to check fully while importing the car. Overall it took 35-50 mins.

Hi @harirajmohan,

Are you moving permanently back to the US?