Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Importing a vehicle?

Have any of you ever bought a car in a "foreign" land and had it imported?

I'm just wondering, for the right car, if its worth the hassle? I don't know whats involved , yet....

It's a huge hassle. I looked into a little bit when I lived in Italy. First things first, you have to get the car to U.S. specs, emissions, tires, even the type of glass used in the windows is different. Then once you've spent the money on getting the car to U.S. sepcs you have to transfer the title from what ever country you're getting the car from to a U.S. title which is another huge hassle. So in my opinion, the car better be something very special to make it worth the investment.

The car was originally a US spec car from texas exported to Canada a few years ago. From the customs website, I shouldn't have to pay duty on it. And EPA and DOT shouldn't be a problem. But from my searches, it still looks like it may cost more money and time than the car is worth....

I've had a friend buy a bike in Chicago and bring it back here so I only know the reverse. As far as I know used vehicles over a certain mileage, can't remember what, are duty free.

The bike had to go through a safety check which made sure certain things were standard on the bike. For example, the speedometer had to read in kilometres and his headlight had to be daylight running. I don't think it cost him that much since he drove there to pick it up. Most important thing is to get all of your information first and have the proper paperwork when re-entering your country. They are the ones that will give you the hard time.

I was thinking of importing a Trident from the US, but we pay import duty, tax and other nice things to the government. But with the bike originating in this country and if it is before a certain year (Classed as a Classic returning to the UK) most of the import tax/duty is waived.

You still have to fill in a shed load of paper work though..

Yeah, but aren't the Triumphs exported from the UK designed to work on the right-hand side of the road? Importing one back to the UK might require some hardware changes...

Siggy

I don't know about a car but I had no problems buying and bringing back an ATV from Canada.

Had to pay the GST but received a refund at the border. I registered the ATV in my state with no problems.

My Ford pickup was made in Canada and purchased from a US dealer.

Come to think of it... I had a Sportster once that was originally sold in Canada and bought used by the person I bought it from who brought it back to the US.