I just posted a question down in the Canadian section, but given limited action in this portion of the site,I hope you don't mind me posting here as well. It appears to me that the following is needed to import my new Crossfire from Michigan into Ontario, Canada:

Title Document- owner has this and will provide to me
Registration-how is this different than the Title,where would I get the registration?
Sales Receipts- private deal, does the owner just write out a hand written receipt?
Compliance Label- not sure what this is?
Recall Letter- i understand what this is, just not sure where and how fast I can get it?

Any help appreciated,
Thanks Tommy

 

You need to pay the RIV fee also. Crappy Tire is the agent in Ontario. Google RIV, go to the site and all the info will be there.
http://www.riv.ca/english/html/how_to_import.html

 

Yes, I have been to the RIV website and it is very clear what I need. What I do not understand is exactly the following as I originally posted. Can someone explain:

Title Document- owner has this and will provide to me
Registration-how is this different than the Title,where would I get the registration?
Sales Receipts- private deal, does the owner just write out a hand written receipt?
Compliance Label- not sure what this is?
Recall Letter- i understand what this is, just not sure where and how fast I can get it?

 

I imported mine last year from the US and it was no problem.

Title is the actual document for the vehicle and it does not change, the registration is where the previous owner had it registered ( plate etc.. )

I would say a hand receipt is O.K as long as the other info. is provided transferring the car to you. The receipt I believe is used only for tax purposes and seeing as it is a private sale I believe they will asses the car based on the red book value and charged the tax accordingly ( you cannot say you only paid $10 for the car ).

Compliance label ?? could be what they give you after the RIV is completed.

Recall letter is available on line with Chrysler, all you do is fill in the VIN and print it off.

Do remember that all this info. has to be faxed to the border crossing you are using at least 48 hrs. before you cross.

I also had a problem at the border with the import tax. The officer went out and looked at the car seen it was made in Germany and charged me the tax. I had to file a appeal when I got home and received my money back. Pain in the A??.

 

At one time the bumpers were deemed not to be up to the Canadian standard, this was BS and now they accept the US standard as being OK, I think it had to do with converting kph to mph, 8 and 5 spring to mind.
Some people paid big bucks to convert to DTRL's, I read somewhere that this was done at Canadian Tire for $30 or so. Others had to buy new switches and they cost $$$$$$
If you knew this already, I am sorry to waste your time but in case you did not ...
There are more threads on importing cars you just have to search.

 

See this thread.
https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...io-canada.html

 

Be forewarned that the seller's correct information is very important. US Border officials need to know if the car has been involved in a crime and that is the main reason for the delay at the border. Car has to have a clear past before it can be exported. Get those bullet holes in the glass fixed now! We once had to leave a 1980 Spitfire at the border for a week.

 

I was getting concerned that this whole process was going to be a real exercise in frustration, so given that I live 2 minutes from the Windsor Detroit Border, I took some time yesterday and simply went to both the US and Canadian customs , in person. Purpose was to make sure that what I was going to bring them on the day I was coming over with the car was exactly what they wanted. Walked into the Canadian Customs first and a very nice young lady office was available right away. I explained my plan and she was an nice as you could imagine, told me that all she needed was the Title and some sort of a sales receipt so they could properly charge me taxes. I said what about the registration,what about the recall letter, what about the compliance label? She very calmly said, " I sit here and do this all day and I can tell you all you need to bring me is the Title and the Sales Receipt. Since I was buying it privately I asked her what she would accept as a receipt? She said, if you paid the seller with a certified cheque, one of the carbon copies of the bank draft would be fine. If you withdrew cash to pay him, a copy of the bank withdrawal amount would be fine, if you bought it on ebay, a copy of the ebay auction showing the ending bid would be fine. Than she said, just relax, this is very easy and you will be in and out of this office in 5 minutes. She said, just drive up to the Canadian Customs booth and tell the officer you just bought the car you are driving, we will take care of everything from there and I will even log onto the RIV website for you and pay your RIV fee right here so you are totally done. Just bring a credit card and we will take care of you, this is not a big deal.

Ok, now I am feeling better, so I venture over to the US side. I spoke to an officer on the US side who was much more militant in his behavior but he was helpful. I told him my plan, he said , "all you need to do is fax the US customs the Title to the car 72 hours in advance" and he gave me the fax number. I said ,well that is pretty easy, what about the registration, what about the recall letter, what about the compliance label"? He said, sir I just told you I need the title to the car and it must be here 72 hours in advance, that is it.

I said, WOW, that is all I need to do? He replied, "Sir, I told you all I need is the title to the car,what do you not understand" ? Ok, I get the picture, see you later.

So, looks like this will be pretty basic. I will let you know how it all ends up mid week when I have this little beauty back into canada.

For future reference for anyone bringing a vehicle back through the Detroit/Windsor border, the US customs phone number to actually talk to an officer is 313-226-3139 and you fax the title to 313-226-5347 (72 hours in advance).

Thanks to all for your help to this point, I am days away from owing a Sapphire Silver Blue Metallic 2005 Crossfire Roadster !!!
Tommy

 

Now that is good news, do not go 50 kph over the limit leaving the Canadian customs in your excitement, I would hate you to have it impounded for a week.

 

It's really easy to import a car from the US to Canada. I did it in 2007 with a PT Cruiser when the dollar was about at par. I didn't do it with my Xfire this year, though, as with the exchange rate and taxes at the border, I would've wound up paying more to import than I would have paid here in Ontario. I hope you've really checked your total costs. Once you add in the exchange and paying the taxes here, you're adding a ton of cash to your deal.

The only problem I had with the PT was in the US. Bought it right across the border from me in NY state at a Chrysler dealership, and had to jump through hoops to provide enough valid information to process the purchase with the NY DMV. They ask for something like six points of ID per buyer, which is easy enough if you have an NY license as it's worth six points on its own. But when you've got all-Canadian ID that either counts for 0 points or 1 point, it's nearly impossible to get to the 6 needed.

In the end, we needed the dealer to pull some strings at the DMV to get the title changed. Took four days. If we hadn't been saving over $4,000, we would have walked over the annoyance of it all. So I'm glad you're dealing in Michigan!

BTW, I almost bought an Xfire out of Michigan last winter. Gave up when the dealership wanted to charge me state tax even though I was exporting the car. I guess Michigan is one of those states that charges tax on all buyers. For that reason alone, I wouldn't deal there from Ontario. It's enough of a scam to pay PST and GST here!

 

OK, my 2005 Sapphire Silver Blue is home. I just went through the whole process and it is so much easier than you will read on any website. Recall letters, compliance letters and registration were not required in my case. The important item was the TITLE and the sales receipt. The TITLE is needed on both sides of the border and the sales receipt is needed on the Canadian side so they can properly charge you GST. PST is not due until you get the form#2 back from the RIV and you go to Canadian Tire to have running lights added. You take the stamped form #2 from Canadian Tire to the license office and they give you plates and charge you the PST. You are done

If anyone has any questions, just PM me. I hate to generalize but US customs is like the Military, very serious, large men with crew cuts, just answer what they ask you, no more no less. Feels like they are just waiting for one wrong answer or slip up and you will spend 3 weeks in jail. Canadian customs was like Tim Horton's, how can we help you, how can we make this easy for you, will have you out of here in 5 minutes etc.

Thanks to all
Tommy

 

Great news, enjoy.

 

did u have to get two original titles? Cuz I had one photocopy and one original.....US side took the original. Lucky you did not have to do the bumper!

 

No, I showed them the title, they stamped the original with "Port of Detroit" date stamp and I was gone. I can't stress enough how all I needed was the Title and the Sales Receipt.
That is it, no recall letter, no compliance label, no registration etc. No one ever looked at the car during the entire process.I pulled up at US customs,parked 1/2 mile deep in a parking lot full of trucks trying to clear customs, walked the 1/2 mile up to the building, gave them the title and he stamped it and I left. I could have had any car out there, they never even looked at it. I drove it to the Canadian side, told the customs official I wanted to "import" the vehicle I was driving, and he pulled me in. I walked in and as luck would have it, I got the same girl I had visited the Saturday prior when I went in to check that I had everything. She never even spoke about the car the entire time we were processing it, we just went through the paperwork, I showed her the title and the sales receipt of what I paid for it. I did not try to cheat anyone on the taxes, I showed them exactly what I paid, the ebay confirmation notice and the bank draft receipt.I paid my taxes, she filled out the form for me, she paid my RIV fee so the Form #2 would be automatically sent and she told me to enjoy the car. I took the roof off and welcomed the car into Canada.

Again, from my experience, all you need is the Title and the Sales receipt and make sure you fax the border the title with your intention to "export" the vehicle 72 hours in advance. If you do that,it is a breeze.

Tommy

 

Can you clarify why you were charged duty and won on appeal. The car was made in
Germany which doesnt fall under NAFTA.

 

That is a 13-year-old post, good luck.

 

It’s all about the VIN. When coming across the border the buyer probably said it was made in Germany so the customs officer would have assumed not NAFTA so duty “to be applied”.

But that can be appealed because first digit in the Vin is a 1. That denoted manufactured in USA so it’s a duty free cross border transaction.

I assume that Chrysler applied some finishing touches here to make it “made in North America” or they’re big enough to just make it so.

At least that’s my understanding but I could be wrong. If you’re importing to Canada go to the Canadian Government RIV site. It lists the details for duty free and the years, makes and models you can bring over.

 

By some trickery the cars were imported to North America and where recognized as being made in NA thus avoiding the import duty. Maybe that was why the duty was repaid. Otherwise it would have been the only Crossfire that had import duty imposed on it.
I cannot see that as being likely though, it was probably an error on the part of the customs officer.
I imported my Crossfire from Florida and had to jump through all the hoops.
You have to precisely follow all the rules at the border, have all the paperwork they ask you to have. On the American side they really just wanted to see the title, I asked about the other paperwork the rules said I should have and an officer said they were just fluff. The woman who cleared the car never said a word to me except ‘title’. The officer who told me ‘fluff’ I had met first in the parking lot. I had parked my car and could not see the office, this officer in full SWAT team gear and a dog came toward me, it made me a bit nervous but as he neared me he pulled down his balaclava which made him less intimidating and told me where to go without me asking. I asked him how he knew what I wanted and he said he saw lots of people like me wondering where to go. He said I should walk forward a few paces and look at the building again and there was the sign for the office on the side of the building. I do not know how he had got that job as he was the friendliest official I had ever met at the border on either side. He had all the gear, machine pistol on a strap across his chest, dog, helmet and all the tactical gear to take on terrorists. He must have felt sorry for an old man looking lost and wandering around in the parking lot.
While I was doing the paper work they X-rayed (?) the car, l never saw it done but a truck pulled up and they did whatever they do. I think it actually does some kind of thermal imaging.
I was in and out of the office in 5 minutes, it was longer on the Canadian side because of a lineup. This is where I paid the federal tax, I paid the Provincial tax when I got the licence at the Service Ontario office. It may be done differently now. Before that I had to get the RIV sticker and drive around with a temporary plate.
I forget a lot of it except it was October and I left Florida in the warmth of 70 plus degrees and it got colder as we drove North in one long haul, it was below 40 degrees in Buffalo and about the same when I got home. I woke up the next day to find the car covered in freezing rain. As that melted I found there was a leak in the trunk lid spoiler mount to be fixed.