Importing a Canadian Car

[Clare Bear 0]

Hello All,

I have read through all the discussion topics relating to importing a car but yet I'm still a little confused on what I could be doing.

When I crossed the border at Blaine Washington I stated that I would like to import my vehicle that I had my letter of compliance but border agent was of no help and told me that I could not do it there that I had up to a year to do so and would need to import my vehicle at my new residence with is in Boston, MA.

From what I've read this leaves me to having to go to a CBP office most likely because of the convenience means that I will need to go to Logan Airport, and therefore I hope not to receive similar abuse or be as reluctant as others.

I have a 2004 Honda Civic and have received my letter of compliance it states that my vehicle complies with EPA emission standards applicable for this year and model vehicle, at time of manufacture; however, it does not have U.S. EPA emissions labels. Will I need more documentation for importing qualifications or will the letter be suffice? The other question I have is with regards to the instrument panel? Do I need to convert my instrument panel to Miles per Hour even though the panel has smaller conversion displaying the Miles per Hour?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Clare

[MrsCat 6]

Hi Clare,

You might want to check out this thread and contact Lynamon (2nd poster), they seemed to have imported a 2004 Honda Civic. Sorry not much more help than that.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=81449

I'm planning on doing the same, however I need to get around to getting a letter of compliance from Ford.

[Leafgal 3]

No you don't need to convert your instrument panel, at least I didn't have to. I had no compliance letter(have a ford) and went to my local CBP and no problem was done in like 15 minutes with the paperwork.

[Brian_bellingham 0]

We also went through Blaine (K1 Visa) in my wife's (fiance at the time) Canadian car, we had the letter and had no problem. We did not have to convert the panel.

[Texanadian 10]

The MPH/KMH is a non issue. As long as you have something that says mph in the US or something that says kmh in Canada, you're good to go.

I find it odd that you had trouble at the Blaine crossing. This is The Peach Arch you're talking about? I crossed there with my car. Didn't bring a manufacturer letter. My car is an American car and has the EPA sticker under the hood. But they didn't check anything on the car other than the VIN number and my insurance paper (to prove ownership)

Sticker or not, I have a hard time believing that a Honda Civic could possibly not pass emissions.

[Krikit 1,163]

What a moron. (The CBP officer, that is.)

The only thing you need to keep an eye on is making sure they have KM's noted on the registration document you sign off on. Here's a couple more helpful threads:

Importing a Car

Why Making Sure Km's Are Noted in the Registration is Important <------ And a little addendum to this..... I STILL don't have a registration with the proper mileage on it.

[trailmix 77]

I can only say what our experience was importing our Ford a few weeks ago. They never even asked or checked for stickers - the guy just wanted to see the letter of compliance from Ford.

Our vehicle does switch from km to mph - however it was never mentioned at the border - and it is an older car.

All that said, it would seem that different ports of entry apply different procedures for importing, good luck

[shawna7 4]

I imported my honda in January.they never even asked about the car!(kinda wierd but I wasn't going to complain) Once I was in South carolina..I went to the DMV and they registered me there and all has been fine..I even got to keep my Ontario plates..lol(I'm a bit nastalgic over those plates!)

Shawna