Importing Vehicles to United States and Canada
Importing Vehicles to United States
Importing a vehicle to the United States requires a bit of work. However, if the vehicles is over 25 years old, then it doesn't need to adhere to any regulations and the following will not apply. However if the vehicle is newer than 25 years, it must adhere to Department Of Transportation or DOT regulations with regars to safety and the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA with regards to emmissions. In order to conform to DOT regulations the vehicle must have US spec bumpers, lights and so on. It will require that the vehicle be crash tested or having documentation that the vehicle is "Substantially Similar" to a vehicle already being imported to the United States. The manufacturer of the vehicle must write this letter for it to be valid and accepted by DOT. Next, from the emissions perspective the vehicle must be fitted with US spec catalytic converters and other smog equipment. A test in an EPA certified lab is required to confirm that the vehicle conforms to current EPA regulations according to the year it was built, including the On-Board Diagnostic or OBD requirement of all vehicles produced after model year 1996. After all has been done and the vehicle was sucessfully imported, the specific model of vehicle will be placed on a list within the DOT and EPA database where more vehicles of exactly the same model can be imported without testing, as long as the modifications made to the first vehicle were made to the subsequent vehicles that were imported.
There are other methods to import a vehicle besides the one mentioned above. There are many loopholes in the regulations that allow for vehicles newer than 25 years be imported to the United States without going though the lengthy process. One of the ways is to disconect the drivetrain from the chassis and make two separate shipments. One shipment containing the chassis and another containing the drivetrain. The two parts will be reassembled once they are inside the United States and once again become a complete car. This utilizes the loophole that "Auto Parts" are not subject to the strict regulations that are in place for complete cars. Thus importing a vehicle as "Auto Parts" will grant it entry without the need to conform. There are other exemptions such as "Show and Display" and Track-only Racing exemptions that also may apply.
Importing Vehicles to Canada
Importing a vehicle to Canada is much the same as importing to the United States except for the the age of the vehicle that would grant exemption from the regulations is 15 years instead of 25. However, other than the vehicle age statute, most of the regulations in Canada mirror the United States.
