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Insurance Issues in Canada. I desperately need help.

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Kboss1991

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Nov 9, 2020
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I don't know what to do anymore. I got to Canada last year in November, I have been driving my U.S. car here and intended to export it from the US and import it to Canada and then the pandemic happened. Now I find out that I cannot get car insurance in Canada unless my car is registered here, and I cannot register it here without it being exported from the US and imported here. My insurance will not cover me in Canada for more than 30 days, so I am essentially stuck without insurance for right now. This is my only way to get around right now, my job is not on a bus route. I don't know what to do. Does anyone know if you can still export/import with border closures? I doubt that I will be able to, and another issue is that my car needs to be left in the US for 3 days prior to it being exported from there. But if I even step foot there don't I have to quarantine?

I am SO stressed out.
 
You were supposed to do this within 60 days so before the pandemic happened. Call CBSA as they have lifted the 60 day requirement but you should have done this way before March. So Covid isn’t your excuse.
 
Naturgrl said:
You were supposed to do this within 60 days so before the pandemic happened. Call CBSA as they have lifted the 60 day requirement but you should have done this way before March. So Covid isn’t your excuse.
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I don't know what CBSA is, and i also didn't know I even had to do it before coming here or I wouldn't have bought a brand new car before moving to Canada. But thanks for the snarky reply. :)
 
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Kboss1991 said:
Thank you for your help. I will definitely give them a call ASAP. I see some other posts where people have imported their car to Canada without exporting it from the United States and I am hoping that is an option for me.
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Do you own your car? No financing?
 
Do you have any valid visa to enter US or not? If you have , then you can simply drive your car to US, spend 3 days and complete the export process. If you don’t have valid visa, it is still fine because it is possible to import the car without exporting. Many who missed exporting like you have managed to import it without much issues. CBSA don’t seem to bother about export stamp anyways and it’s more of compliance from US side. There might be challenges importing back the car to US in future if you relocate there, so just don’t attempt it and sell if you ever move out of Canada.

If you stay in GTA, you can take your car to Lewiston cbsa office and tell them you need to complete the import formality for your car and show your goods to follow. If you had listed this car in goods to follow, then you don’t have pay any import duty. If not , you need to pay 6.5% for anything above 10,000.

Your insurance should still be on as far as I know. Insurance companies won’t cancel it by themselves. The rule from geico is that they will cover as long as you are a visitor to Canada (not a resident) . Unless you go and tell them that you permanently moved, they won’t know about it. Just try to avoid getting in to claim situation. Until you return your US plates to dmv, don’t attempt to cancel your US insurance as it would trigger non compliance from your dmv and can get you even more headaches.
 
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DEEPCUR said:
Do you have any valid visa to enter US or not? If you have , then you can simply drive your car to US, spend 3 days and complete the export process. If you don’t have valid visa, it is still fine because it is possible to import the car without exporting. Many who missed exporting like you have managed to import it without much issues. CBSA don’t seem to bother about export stamp anyways and it’s more of compliance from US side. There might be challenges importing back the car to US in future if you relocate there, so just don’t attempt it and sell if you ever move out of Canada.

If you stay in GTA, you can take your car to Lewiston cbsa office and tell them you need to complete the import formality for your car and show your goods to follow. If you had listed this car in goods to follow, then you don’t have pay any import duty. If not , you need to pay 6.5% for anything above 10,000.

Your insurance should still be on as far as I know. Insurance companies won’t cancel it by themselves. The rule from geico is that they will cover as long as you are a visitor to Canada (not a resident) . Unless you go and tell them that you permanently moved, they won’t know about it. Just try to avoid getting in to claim situation. Until you return your US plates to dmv, don’t attempt to cancel your US insurance as it would trigger non compliance from your dmv and can get you even more headaches.
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I can't spend 3 days in the US without qurantining afterwards and I can't miss that much work unfortunately. I am a united states citizen though and on a study permit here in Canada. What do you mean goods to follow? I'm not sure what that is. Sorry, I'm still new to all of this and it's been quite overwhelming.
 
Kboss1991 said:
I can't spend 3 days in the US without qurantining afterwards and I can't miss that much work unfortunately. I am a united states citizen though and on a study permit here in Canada. What do you mean goods to follow? I'm not sure what that is. Sorry, I'm still new to all of this and it's been quite overwhelming.
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If you go to the US you'll need to quarantine for 14 days.
 
Naturgrl said:
You were supposed to do this within 60 days so before the pandemic happened. Call CBSA as they have lifted the 60 day requirement but you should have done this way before March. So Covid isn’t your excuse.
Click to expand...
Not necessarily true depending on what type of permit they have.
 
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