Ok....long story in forum-short mode.

CDN dollar great compared to USA.

My Parents buy a Lexus from Orland (Chicago). The dealer is great, and helps process the paperwork for an absolutely great experience, and about $10K is saved overall.

I buy a car in Florida, and drive it back to the border of Alberta-Montana, but the title is still in Tennessee. :shakehead Without this at the border 72 hours ahead of me, I can't cross, so I get a lift back to Calgary and leave the car.

Fast forward 2 WEEKS. The sales guy has lied to us (misled us?) every time we have called. The excuses he has used for the delay of getting one piece of paper from Tennessee to Pompano Beach Florida are too numerous to mention.

On weds, we finally find out the border has a fax copy of the title, so we can go pick it up tonight. NOT SO! Sales guy said he couriered the title to us last nite, and gave us a tracking code. We tried it, it didn't work, so called back. IT WAS COURIERED THIS MORNING! This time his lie included a fake tracking number.

Moral: It is easy to import from the US into Canada, but if the dealer is a putz, it is difficult.

 

Is it so hard to find honest, good service and help? Unbelievable...and all this after you purchased the car? Unbelievable...

 

Wow the nerve... but why did you go all the way down to florida... you could've found the same deal a little further north

 

I was in Florida at the time, and the drive up was epic. And it had all the stuff I wanted.

Of course, if I woulda known......

 

oh ok I understand that now, but it kinda sucks that they wouldn't let you cross the border without a title...

 

Yeah

 

Oh that must suck man, sorry about all the trouble.I wanted to import a car from US too, well I still do but I guess I have to find the right ca and the right owne who wont F*** me like that. Hey do you know whats the procedure if the guy crosses the border and you buy the car on the Canadian soil? Cuz I could do that, go to US, buy a car with my money and write it under my cousins name, then drive over the border and he can sell me the car for $1? would that work and would i have problems registering and stuff like that?And what about taxes? haha too many questions but if you know I would apprisiate the answer lol

 

Sorry about that. Car dealer is not synonym for crook for nothing.

You didn’t say what car was that and was it new. I am asking because I am interested to import something from US. I believe that all Canadians would be interested.

 

Care to shed some lights on what u got in FL? I assume it's a TL or type-s?

 

If you're from Calgary you should come out to our TL meets. What car did you buy from Florida?

If you look in the Meet's section on the forum you'll find my thread asking for everyones email so I can organize meets more effectively.

Good luck with the car.

 

Were both cars used (the one you bought and your parents)? The reason I ask is because I'm in the fleet leasing business. We have a lot of clients that want to purchase vehicles just over the boarder at times and bring them back. It's such an incredible hassle with taxes, License & Title, etc. that we won't even do it...it's just not worth it in the end.

I guess it could be different for retail sales & customers, but that's why I'm curious if the cars were used? It's easier to transfer cars when they're used. For example, in California a new car must be purchased with "California Emissions", if the vehicle doesn't have it, you must wait until the vehicle hits 7,500 miles before you can L&T in California. We run into this problem when people find cars in states next to California (same with some NE states).

 

Love weekend breaks...here are the answers...

myron Hey do you know whats the procedure if the guy crosses the border and you buy the car on the Canadian soil?

No idea. I couldn't find that answer either.

shooter Care to shed some lights on what u got in FL? I assume it's a TL or type-s?

It is a used 2007 Carbon Bronze Pearl TL

steve9207 Were both cars used (the one you bought and your parents)?

They were both used. Honestly, the process to bring the car over is very easy, as long as you have a dealer that has some experience. The paperwork process is step by step, and is a checklist of items. If you have copies 72 hrs in advance at the border, and the originals when you get there, you drive through. The Lexus dealers my parents had was very professional and knowledgeable about the process. Florida guy - notsomuch.

The full, official, Canadian Gov't website for the process is here

A link to the PDF of all the cars you can and can't bring over is here

This process did not turn me off the import game (my friends want to do it now) I just have to make sure the dealer has his head on straight.

Ky

 

shit if its easy like you say it is I wanna do it in the summer next year, but I heard that the laws may change due to Canadian Dollar going up so much lately. I know a guy he imported a car 2 days ago, a brand new Subaru STI for 33g, comapre that to 50+ in canada, thats quiet a save. have you heard about the law change or making it more difficult to import next year?

 

I can forsee the changes happening soon... the killer is I have to find someone to buy my Mini Cooper S, and the used car market in Calgary is kinda slow due to this phenomenon.

Keep in mind the borders are even slower than usual lately....talked to the border guard on Sunday evening and he was processing his 215th car

Ky