Importing Chrysler (Dodge, Jeep) from Canada to US

[Peot 128]

I saw there was another recent post here about bringing a car down, but I wanted to make this post here to be accurate and specific to cars manufactured by the FCA... basically all Chrysler brands. I had a massive run-around and wanted to give people a heads up, step-by-step for those who are currently here on VJ and those who may be finding this through search results online. Note that this was done on a newer car - older cars and imports are completely different and may require further EPA compliance such as having it brought up to standards.

 

I called the border. What CBP said:

 

Yes, I called the border. I found a number for the specific border crossing online and asked straight from the horses mouth what they look for.

When I told the CBP officer I owned a Dodge, he groaned into the phone and said "For some reason they've been giving people a hard time for the past year". In fact, I found posts on this very forum going as far back as 2008 where people were having issues. Nearly a decade of problems.

 

They look for the following:

• EPA standards sticker under the hood + DOT import tag on the door jamb OR
• EPA sticker + A letter of compliance from the manufacturer for safety standards.
• Compliance letter alone with both EPA and DOT safety standards.

 

The only way you're getting a DOT import tag is if you go through a registered importer ($1000+), or if you purchased the car specifically for sale in the US (which isn't the case if you're driving down).

 

To get a letter of compliance for all Chrysler vehicles, you need to call the FCA USA branch, NOT the Canadian branch! The Canadian branch is for importing vehicles INTO Canada, not OUT of Canada.

 

The call(s) to FCA Customer Care

 

I called the FCA (US branch) and told them I was importing a vehicle. At first she had no clue what I was talking about but I convinced her that it was definitely the right department (why did I need to do this??). I was eventually told I would need to show the following:

 

1. Current vehicle odometer reading. Note that most modern cars can readily switch between miles and kilometers, but you do not need to switch this. This is optional. They accept both. 
2. Copy of your visa (NOA2 letter does not work. I tried). Basically they need proof that you're moving to the US. A job offer also would do.
3. Current registration showing license plate number and current owner name.
4. An address where they will send the info. TIP: Also include an email address!

 

I tried faxing it to the number they gave me the very next day and it rings forever. The fax does not work because of some long distance issue I assume.

After calling back I got a toll free fax number for sending this above info to the FCA:

I will not include this number here as it is subject to change! As well, you MUST reference a ticket number or they will not reply! ASK FOR THE TICKET NUMBER AND TOLL-FREE FAX NUMBER WHEN YOU CALL!

 

After waiting 5 business days I called back and (as stated above), learned that the NOA2 was not good enough. I was able to speak to the agent and transfer a copy of my visa over the internet, which frankly they should have done from the very beginning!! I also told her to add a note that I wanted it emailed to me rather than snail mailed! Do this too! She told me to call back in 2 days if I had not heard back. I waited 3. Sure enough the email came! I still to this day have not received the snail mail copy. If you can convince them to do all of the above via the internet before waiting 20 days, do so! They have the ability! If they say they don't, talk to a supervisor.

 

In all total 20+ days of waiting. 5 calls to the FCA. One one person of the 5 knew what the procedure was. I can see why the CBP officer groaned.

[NikLR 13,220]

Thank you so much for this info! It makes my heart glad when we all help each other like this.

[Peter needs help 0]

Hi, This is very informative because I called FCA Canada, one of their staff called me back, offered me how to do it and promised to email me the details but nothing happened. I know this is an old posting. However, do you still have the phone number for the FCA USA branch? Or how can I find it?

Do you happen to know if California has a different emission standard compared to the rest of the States?

Thanks for commenting.

[Devllin 0]

We are re-locating to the US on a work VISA and I am going through this compliance letter process with Ford and Dodge at the same time and thought I would share the drastic differences:

 

Ford

Contacted my local dealership, someone gets back to me next day and says its $100. I pay the $100 the next day and the day after that I have my compliance letter. Total time from request to delivery - 3 days

 

Dodge

Contacted my local dealership, multiple phone transfers, finally just told that someone will get back to me. Someone gets back to me a couple days later. Says they can't help and I will need to go through FCA Canada for it, here we go...

 

Contact FCA Canada and after a bunch of transfers talk to someone who informs me that I will have to fax or physically mail this into Dodge US... FAX OR MAIL!! Its 2022! **I cant wait for Dodge to re-introduce tape players in their vehicles while they are at it** Anyhow, she also give me the FCA US number to see if they can help. 

I call FCA US and immediately when they discover that my truck is a Canadian VIN, he tried to send me back to FCA Canada. I slow him down and explain the situation that I was just transferred from there. He says he cant help and he will get a "document specialist" on the line. The "specialist" comes on the line and he gives a quick "bye", then I realize this lady is from FCA Canada, again. Little awkward, I explain the situation to her that I was just talking to FCA Canada and she tries to help. She again notes the fax option, so I decide to pursue this. How the hell do you fax something now days... bought an app. Go to fax, but I don't have a Dodge fax number, cant find one. Call back FCA Canada back and get 586-497-2112 as the number to fax this package to. I also try to get a 800 number as mentioned in the post above, but they won't budge. So I try the 586 fax number twice and it doesn't go through. I try calling the fax number and it just rings and rings. I call FCA Canada back and this lady tells me that they no longer accept faxes (explains the ringing and ringing, out $14 for the app...) and I will have to PHYSICALLY MAIL this package in. Fine. I go to the post office and when I get there I am informed that express mail can only be delivered with a contact name and phone number. I don't have contact info and snail mail is up to 10 business days with no confirmation that they received it. With no other option I mail it, old school style. 

 

These delays start putting the timing of this into question and it is becoming apparent that I will not have the Dodge letter in time for our departure to the US. The next day I call the CBP to ask how it plays out if I show up without the compliance letter. Can I still enter the US and finish the paper work when I am in the US and have received this from Dodge? Nope. Don't have all the paperwork at the time of entry, no entry.

 

So now I need to figure out if I can express mail this package, which again I need a name and contact number for. I call FCA Canada back to see if I can get a contact name and phone number so I can overnight this paper work. They are no help and give the generic, Googled 800 number for FCA US. I call the FCA US and they refuse to be of any help and will only give me the generic Auburn Hill address, but no contacts. So there is literally no way for me (or anyone, apparently) to express mail anything to Dodge. Total time from request to delivery - 9 days and ongoing (will probably be a month, if ever).

 

I am absolutely blown away this is still terrible process after years and years. This process really tarnishes the company as a whole. If this process is this inefficient and paper heavy, the company will most likely be riddled with the same inefficiencies in other groups. I am actually just going to sell my truck now and be done with Dodge/Chrysler.

[mam521 1,742]

On 1/26/2022 at 1:47 PM, Devllin said:

We are re-locating to the US on a work VISA and I am going through this compliance letter process with Ford and Dodge at the same time and thought I would share the drastic differences:

 

Ford

Contacted my local dealership, someone gets back to me next day and says its $100. I pay the $100 the next day and the day after that I have my compliance letter. Total time from request to delivery - 3 days

 

Dodge

Contacted my local dealership, multiple phone transfers, finally just told that someone will get back to me. Someone gets back to me a couple days later. Says they can't help and I will need to go through FCA Canada for it, here we go...

 

Contact FCA Canada and after a bunch of transfers talk to someone who informs me that I will have to fax or physically mail this into Dodge US... FAX OR MAIL!! Its 2022! **I cant wait for Dodge to re-introduce tape players in their vehicles while they are at it** Anyhow, she also give me the FCA US number to see if they can help. 

I call FCA US and immediately when they discover that my truck is a Canadian VIN, he tried to send me back to FCA Canada. I slow him down and explain the situation that I was just transferred from there. He says he cant help and he will get a "document specialist" on the line. The "specialist" comes on the line and he gives a quick "bye", then I realize this lady is from FCA Canada, again. Little awkward, I explain the situation to her that I was just talking to FCA Canada and she tries to help. She again notes the fax option, so I decide to pursue this. How the hell do you fax something now days... bought an app. Go to fax, but I don't have a Dodge fax number, cant find one. Call back FCA Canada back and get 586-497-2112 as the number to fax this package to. I also try to get a 800 number as mentioned in the post above, but they won't budge. So I try the 586 fax number twice and it doesn't go through. I try calling the fax number and it just rings and rings. I call FCA Canada back and this lady tells me that they no longer accept faxes (explains the ringing and ringing, out $14 for the app...) and I will have to PHYSICALLY MAIL this package in. Fine. I go to the post office and when I get there I am informed that express mail can only be delivered with a contact name and phone number. I don't have contact info and snail mail is up to 10 business days with no confirmation that they received it. With no other option I mail it, old school style. 

 

These delays start putting the timing of this into question and it is becoming apparent that I will not have the Dodge letter in time for our departure to the US. The next day I call the CBP to ask how it plays out if I show up without the compliance letter. Can I still enter the US and finish the paper work when I am in the US and have received this from Dodge? Nope. Don't have all the paperwork at the time of entry, no entry.

 

So now I need to figure out if I can express mail this package, which again I need a name and contact number for. I call FCA Canada back to see if I can get a contact name and phone number so I can overnight this paper work. They are no help and give the generic, Googled 800 number for FCA US. I call the FCA US and they refuse to be of any help and will only give me the generic Auburn Hill address, but no contacts. So there is literally no way for me (or anyone, apparently) to express mail anything to Dodge. Total time from request to delivery - 9 days and ongoing (will probably be a month, if ever).

 

I am absolutely blown away this is still terrible process after years and years. This process really tarnishes the company as a whole. If this process is this inefficient and paper heavy, the company will most likely be riddled with the same inefficiencies in other groups. I am actually just going to sell my truck now and be done with Dodge/Chrysler.

Our experience with FCA Canada was more in line with your experience with Ford.  We called, told them we needed the compliance letter and they mailed it.  This was in 2013, so apparently the bar for minimum understanding at FCA has been lowered...

 

I had Passport Canada request a document to be faxed recently and thought the same thing...isn't faxing a thing of like the 90's?!  Encryption and encrypted portals, people!  It's 2022!  Luckily, I have a connection who has faxing capability through their business email app and were able to send so I could get my kid's passport back!

[Devllin 0]

COMPLIANCE LETTER UPDATE, CONCLUSION + LEARNINGS FROM HIRING A TRANSPOTATION COMPANY TO IMPORT (bonus!)

We left off with trying to get the compliance letter from FCA, with the package in regular, non-registered email (FCA wouldn't give any contacts to send registered). Canada Post noted it could take up to 10 business days to get to Michigan, so I waited 13 business days to ensure it was past that time and called FCA US to confirm if they had received it. When I called, the lady was quite confused as to why I was trying to fax and mail this in as this was definitely NOT the process. "It can all be done electronically, by email" 😡. She escalates this and within a day or two I get a call back from a gentleman who informs me that the office I was told to mail this to is not even open due to the pandemic and no one would have received the package I mailed, ever. However, he asks me to send him the documentation electronically and within a few hours of him getting all the requested documents, I received the compliance letter a few hours later by email. 

 

Total time from request to delivery - ~5 weeks total (~2 days after talking to the people who knew what they were doing)

 

WAIT! THERE'S MORE!!

TRANSPORTATION COMPANY LEARNINGS

In total we are bringing down three vehicles to the USA for "permanent" entry since we will be here longer than a year: An MDX which we bought to drove down in since we couldn't get the FCA compliance letter in time (Honda was good about the letter, FYI), the Dodge truck which is getting transported on an open trailer and a sports car getting transported in a closed trailer. I received a quote from Fidelity for the truck and car. The quote they gave was for $6,800 USD for both. Truck was $2,500, car was $3,500 + the remaining $ for the paperwork for the permanent entry. I agreed to this and at the end of our conversation they noted that "there COULD be additional duty charges that I would be responsible for". To which I didn't think much of due to NAFTA and at worse pay a few thousand in duties. Oh boy was I wrong....

 

A few days ago, I received an invoice from Fidelity for EIGHT THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS USD. Yes, that is right. This in ONTOP of the $6.8k I originally paid. I pretty much puked in my mouth as I really was not expecting anything else, just delivery of my vehicles. This was very confusing since we were not charged anything when we crossed with the MDX ourselves. I talked to Fidelity and it worked out like this:

 

Duty

I was charged duty on both vehicles ~$2.6k. Apparently customs is getting more strict and will no longer just use the VIN to identify origin of manufacturing (VIN starting with "1" is made in the USA). We need... you guessed it, a letter from the manufacture to confirm it meets the NAFTA requirements. Here we go again. So now I need to reach out to Ford and FCA to get this letter. Fidelity is going to help me to try and get back the duty charged. Some relief.

 

Single Entry Bonds

This is huge. Fidelity charged me $4,000 between the two vehicles for this bond. This is a non-refundable addition that Fidelity charges in the event there is some problem with the entry that, in the future, customs comes back at them with. Kind of like "insurance". It is $15/$1,000 on 3x the value of the vehicle. I asked why this wasn't on the quote if they knew it was coming, the response was something to do with fluctuating currency. Which would be miniscule relative to $8.3k and would have changed my plans. But they got me.

 

Transportation Summary

Some of this might not be Fidelity's issues, you might get charged this regardless of the company, but it was straight out of no where. Severe lack of transparency from Fidelity. When someone is told there could be "more charges at the border", it is not going to be anyone's assumption that it will be eight grand. Had I know this, I would have flown back and drove everything down. Lessons learned:

 

- If you are importing for "permanent status" you can get hit with a 120% invoice on top of the transportation costs, after the vehicle is in transport. They do not release the paperwork required to register the vehicle until this is paid. It looks like you may be able to avoid this if you drive them across yourself. But if you hire a company, you will get this applied even as a personal vehicle.

- To try and avoid duty you need the letter from manufacturer confirming location of manufacturing, VIN is not sufficient. Also, this might be avoided if you drive it down yourself.

- Ask questions about they grey charges.

 

Hopefully others can avoid this from my pain.

Good luck

Edited March 26, 2022 by Devllin

[Devllin 0]

Attaining Certificate of Origin from FCA

I sent an email to FCA explaining the duty charged without having a certificate of origin from the manufacturer and that I can get a refund with it. This was the entire response:

"unfortunately we do not provide the Certificate of Origin thanks"

 

Looks like we may be on our own, folks. Good luck. 

 

I sent this FCA response to Fidelity and they are still going to try and help me out. Fidelity has been really good with working within the boundaries they can. I also have the same certificate request into Ford... stay tuned.

 

[mam521 1,742]

@Devllin wow...just wow.  I hear circus music playing in my head as I read that!  

[louisrdev 0]

I know this is an old post, but I've recently gone through this process, and this was one of the only sources of information I could find, and wanted to give feedback on my experience for anyone needing to do this in future.

 

It looks like success here will pretty much be determined by the customer care agent that handles your call. I initially reached out to FCA US customer care, after explaining the situation they wanted to refer me back to FCA Canada. I explained that FCA Canada does not do this, and it needs to be done by FCA US, and the call ended with the support person just saying they cannot help me. 

 

I tried again the next day, pretty much the same experience, with the customer care agent wanting to refer me to the DOT.

 

On the 3rd attempt I reached a customer care agent that was familiar with the process, they got the required details from me, and created a case with the documentation team for me. Within a couple of hours I got a response from the documentation team indicating they can't help me since my vehicle has open recalls.

 

I promptly had the open recalls takes care of, contacted customer care again, and they referred the open case back to the documentation team. Within a couple of hours I received an email requesting required documents:

• Copy of current Canadian vehicle registration 
• Proof of insurance showing name and license plate number of individual importing vehicle 
• Proof of immigration (copy of work or student visa, employment offer) 
• Proof of U.S. address/current address 
• Current odometer reading 

Once I sent the documents, I got the approved letter in a couple of hours.

 

I think the important points are:

• Continue trying customer care until you reach someone that has knowledge of the process.
• Ensure you have the required documents available.
• Ensure there are no open recalls on your vehicle.

[Dakota1 0]

I'm going though this process for a 2014 Ram 1500..... literally the same thing @louisrdev described.  Had a couple recalls taken care of in Ontario.  I have been denied a compliance letter, hung up on, and called back again and non of the customer care people have ever dealt with this.  So all they can do is check to see if a manager is available and they never are.  They ask for the same list of documents which I send.  then nothing.   I spoke with the regional Chrysler dealer/manager in Canada and it he said it should be really simple for them.  but... apparently its not....  What does the mysterious compliance letter look like? 

I can look up my VIN and see the original window sticker, the port of entry from the US to Canada. It has a US EPA sticker but not the US DOT sticker. I copy and pasted the NHTSA.gov importing vehicle instructions to them now.... what a headache...