Question on exporting a car from US

[OntarioBound]

I just mailed the US border my VIN and TIN numbers and I got a response back from them saying I can export the car after 72 hours, but it says at the beginning of the email in bold red letters saying below..

"The vehicle(s) must be in the U.S. when you submit your VIN and must remain in the U.S. until you export it with U.S. Customs." "Vehicles for export may not be brought to Canada or be in Canada prior to being formally exported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Failure to comply with the requirements set forth in 19 CFR 192.2 may result in a penalty action."

What do I do?? I submitted the request from Canada and my car is with me here in Canada when I submitted. (Why is it telling me this AFTER I submit the request?? If I had known, I would have submitted the request once I was in the US... My move is next Wednesday so I am planning to go back to the US this Sunday, but in the meantime, I am not sure what I am supposed to do about this red bold statements above... Did anybody have the same issue?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Aquakitty]

I just mailed the US border my VIN and TIN numbers and I got a response back from them saying I can export the car after 72 hours, but it says at the beginning of the email in bold red letters saying below..

"The vehicle(s) must be in the U.S. when you submit your VIN and must remain in the U.S. until you export it with U.S. Customs." "Vehicles for export may not be brought to Canada or be in Canada prior to being formally exported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Failure to comply with the requirements set forth in 19 CFR 192.2 may result in a penalty action."

What do I do?? I submitted the request from Canada and my car is with me here in Canada when I submitted. (Why is it telling me this AFTER I submit the request?? If I had known, I would have submitted the request once I was in the US... My move is next Wednesday so I am planning to go back to the US this Sunday, but in the meantime, I am not sure what I am supposed to do about this red bold statements above... Did anybody have the same issue?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Well you made a boo-boo, just take it back over the border and wait for the 72 hours. If they say anything about it just explain that it is an honest mistake. The law is there to catch scammers not people who just made an error. I can say my experience exporting was pretty lax (but I had all my ducks in a row). I think what it really means is you can't take the car into Canada then bring the paper work over to the US side and try to export it. It needs to be there for inspection. My memory is not the greatest about the whole process but once I had every bit of paperwork it was pretty easy.

FTR exported on our way back to Canada and waited out the 72 hours camping on the beach in Washington.

 

[map76]

Well you made a boo-boo, just take it back over the border and wait for the 72 hours. If they say anything about it just explain that it is an honest mistake. The law is there to catch scammers not people who just made an error. I can say my experience exporting was pretty lax (but I had all my ducks in a row). I think what it really means is you can't take the car into Canada then bring the paper work over to the US side and try to export it. It needs to be there for inspection. My memory is not the greatest about the whole process but once I had every bit of paperwork it was pretty easy.

FTR exported on our way back to Canada and waited out the 72 hours camping on the beach in Washington.

I must agree with Aquakitty, honesty is usually the best policy and they should be pretty understanding of an honest mistake that you're trying to correct.

 

[OntarioBound]

Thank you for your posts.

Well, it's not like the border documents explain this point before you submit the request! I am going to drive over to the US side tomorrow and wait until Tuesday to export.

Once exported, can I still drive the car for a couple of days on the US side before I import it to the Canada side? My mover won't be coming for another two days in NY after I plan to export it, so I will have to stay in NY for two days after the export is done.

 

[Aquakitty]

Thank you for your posts.

Well, it's not like the border documents explain this point before you submit the request! I am going to drive over to the US side tomorrow and wait until Tuesday to export.

Once exported, can I still drive the car for a couple of days on the US side before I import it to the Canada side? My mover won't be coming for another two days in NY after I plan to export it, so I will have to stay in NY for two days after the export is done.

You only export it when you are actually leaving Canada, I don't think you can export it then go anywhere but into the Canadian line, there is no real reason to anyways, just drive it around till you are ready to go back to Canada. Make sure you go when the export office is actually open, some of the border crossings aren't open on weekends for export.

 

[deweysmith]

My buddy that imported his car last year said he stopped at Export Control when he drove here from Arizona and asked them for the paperwork, and got the process started, and continued into Canada right then. He came back 3 days later and finished the process.

I don't think you'll have any problems.

 

[OntarioBound]

Thank you for the posts. Since I didn't do this intentionally, I hope they are OK with it (if they ever find out.) I will just export it on the same day I am importing it.

 

[OntarioBound]

Just reporting back - I got to the US border so I stopped by at the export office and explained that I submitted the export request and I just came out of Canada. The officer said I needed to export my car right then if that was the case, and asked for my car title, but as soon as he checked my car title out on their computer, he said to just stay on the US side and come back to export it on Monday. I told them that I want to not import it into Canada until Wednesday (since Wednesday is my move day and I wanted to keep my car on the US side until then) and they said it was OK that I keep my car in the US for 2 days after I export it (although before I explained about me already having submitted the export request, he said I needed to import it right after I export it.) I think he felt OK about my car once he checked it out on their system to make sure it wasn't stolen or anything, is my guess....

 

[blue2002]

An old thread, but perhaps worth resurrecting.

A returning Canadian, I just got caught in this silly dragnet. As before, the information about the need for the vehicle to be present in US for 72 hour prior was only communicated to me in the return email from Buffalo Vinny Office of CBP... and meanwhile the car was already in Canada. At the Lewiston Bridge export office the CBP folks refused to process my exit, time stamped the title and told me to leave the car in US for 72 hours. A pain in the butt, but nothing a car rental, another day of driving and a dose of patience won’t fix. That said, I checked the actual regulation quoted by Buffalo Vinny, 19 CFR 192.2. Guess what... the requirement to present the vehicle along with documentation to CBP 72 hours prior applies to air and sea crossings only. For land crossings only documentation needs to be provided 72 hours before. The vehicle can be presented at the time of export.

In other words, either there is yet another regulation and the email simply quotes the wrong one... OR worse, they are misreading the law or making it up as they go along. A link to the CFR, if anybody cares to read it:
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/pagedetails.action?packageId=CFR-2012-title19-vol2&granuleId=CFR-2012-title19-vol2-sec192-2&collectionCode=CFR&browsePath=Title+19/Chapter+I/Part+192/Subpart+A/Section+192.2&collapse=true&fromBrowse=true

Has anybody tried to challenge this before?