Here is what happens if you ask to buy / import a Canadian vehicle
 

“Thanks for your purchase inquiry, my name is Athena and I wanted to touch base with you regarding your vehicle inquiry. To answer directly your question; a licensed Customs broker that specializes in these types of goods must do a classification of the equipment to do the necessary research within all the involved agencies (ex. EPA, DOT, etc.). This classification will determine if they are allowed and if so, what is needed. Sometimes permits, certificates and/or licenses are needed. Should you want to have one of our specialized licensed Customs broker research this for you here please find our Regulated Products Consult Link. Classification consult fee is $249.00 for 30 minutes.”


So based on that you didn’t not get the car and loose $249 to get told no.

Nice how this works

Any kind of wiggle room in any of the major crossing states? I would think there has to be some sort exchange Windsor to Detroit every so often but I'm probably under informed.

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Last Activity: 06-07-2019 10:15 PM

Maybe a PM would get to his email.

Canada seems to follow US regulations for brand-new vehicles more strictly than Mexico, yet its grey-import regulations allow 15 years-old vehicles instead of the 25 years-old rule.

What are you trying to import? Canada follows US crash and emission standards today (although they are starting to move to EU standards for some sectors) so it should be possible. Yes, it requires paperwork - you cant just buy a car and drive it across the boarder.

Canadian vehicles were pretty common when I lived in Michigan. I see some for sale here on the West Coast as well.

Need a compliance sticker if it’s under 25 years old.

Now days only dealers get stickers, you the individual do not

Car enthusiasts buy and sell cars across the border in both directions every day. Do some research to be sure the vehicle complies with crash and environmental codes, find a broker, done.

Individuals can import cars - you just have to do the paperwork or pay someone to do it for you.

The so-called "harmonized" standards enforced by the UN? That actually doesn't sound so bad at all, as it might become useful for Canada to retain some of its automobile manufacturing activities while making it easier to meet the requirements of some export markets.

Literally the DMV:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C6BrnQ...ature=youtu.be

The above is mostly false for cars under 20 years old.

Out of hundreds of examples
I’ve only ever seen “old” cars imported by individuals, never anything remotely new.

Dealers on the border however have no issue with Canadian pickups

Ain't most trucks in Canada nowadays built in the very same factories, and under the very same specifications as the ones in the USDM? Including those which were eventually made only in Mexico for export.

NO - it is not false. Individuals absolutely can import a car into the USA that is newer than 20 years old IF they are willing to do the paperwork and certify that it meets US regulations or prove that they have modified it to meet US regulations.

Cars older than 25 years old can be imported without meeting US regulations for off-highway use only. (At least as far as the federal government is concerned - some states allow vehicles imported for off-highway use to be registered for road use)

My F250 was born a canuck according to the sticker that was on the window. I was happy because the American assembly plant had low quality.

Some states bordering Canada have loosey goosey registration and titling as opposed to Cali. Having said that, Cali also requires compliance inspection from some of those states. I suppose you could change title a couple of times, but that might be more effort than it's worth.

That's what I have experienced

When I filled out the paperwork, submitted to the government, I was told I needed a letter of compliance from the manufacturer.

I did validate that the entire emissions package, engine, bags, bumper, lights etc were the same 50 state compliant parts used here but that is irrelevant to the government without a letter from the manufacturer.

So while what you say is true in writing, it is not true in practice, the government really won’t accept anything unless it’s from a bonded entity or the original manufacturer. (Neither of which will provide at the moment)
True I could spend a 1/4 of a million to push the issue but that’s plain stupid and why I say it’s not possible.

Historically you could just ask GM and they would send you a sticker, they haven’t done that on cars in At least 10 years.
In the 90’s one of my relatives drove back a Canadian car, dealer gave them the sticker and they didn’t even have the paperwork yet and it went right through, border folks had everything on hand and it was very simple..
Even though the laws are the same now as then because manufacturers don’t cooperate it is a completely different situation now,

First world problems.

Yes, If you want to import a car into the USA that is less than 25 years old you need to provide proof that the vehicle meets US regulations. That will either come from the manufacturer (Who has zero incentive to spend money to provide you with documentation to import a grey market car) or from a independent 3rd party that will certify compliance. Yes, that costs money.

It is entirely possible to do - if you are willing to follow the process.

Didn't the 25-year rule allow registration for street-legal usage too? As a waiver to enable collectors to drive some overseas-spec classic, somewhat just like the 30-year rule which applies in Brazil or in Australia for instance, or the 15-year rule in Canada.

In the USA vehicle imports are handled by the Federal government. A vehicle that is 25 years or older can be imported into the USA without proof that it complies with US regulations. However, if you don't prove it complies you get an off-highway use importation. So you can get a non-compliant vehicle into the USA if it is more than 25 years old. That doesn't mean you can register it for the road.

Vehicle registration is handled by the states in the United States so there are 50 different sets of rules. Some states allow off-highway vehicles to be registered and used on the road. (Even brand new UTVs) Others do not.

In the last few years several states have stopped issuing or renewing registrations for vehicles that were imported under the 25 year rule unless they have proper documentation that shows they were imported as road legal vehicles. Those include Maine, Rhonde Island, New York, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.

Does Brazil allow the import of junk, salvage or automotive parts?

https://priuschat.com/threads/change.../#post-3359160

This guy wants to convert to EV but I think it’s most likely a boondoggle

Unless it's deemed a "collectible" car 30-years or older, it's not easy. Not even in the Manaus Free Port Zone.


Either he tries to make a cabrito with the help of a Paraguayan, or it definitely won't be possible.

So wrecks and automotive parts are also illegal that’s worse in some ways than here but At least he can buy brand new at an immensely exaggerated price unlike here where new is impossible at any price.

Sounds like he should buy a “new” $2500 Chinese EV to get his feet wet

Jeez there was a lot of misinformed crap on that forum, like every caveat I heard 10 years ago when I converted the ranger. Still awaiting the imminent nuclear holocaust from the battery.

Nah that’s just the Sam Spade guy.

If your tire is worn he goes into a rage that you will crash into his house and light on fire.

If your car burns a lot of oil and isn’t worth fixing likewise it’s going to start a fire and crash into his house and you should be thrown in prison.

Literally anything non-OEM is going to crash into his house and light on fire

Guys been temporarily banned a few times.

Maybe he has had cars crash into his house and light on fire but it’s a common theme with him.

Perhaps we invite him here could be a fun experience.


My take on converting a car that is still good running and valuable is also somewhat negative as the financials are hard to work out.

I gave some helpful links as doing an OEM Prius conversion is much more possible today but unless you are extremely bright there are trolls camping on certain aspects of the “openinverter” that can drive up the cost a lot.

In his situation and region with limited funds I would tend to fall in the it’s not really worth it.

It’s a thing you do for fun and learning with a backup plan to your only car and obviously enough money to spend that such an endeavor isn’t going to cause life issues

The forum has done the invitation thing, AFAIK doesn't really work out.

I was taking the project as adding more battery to a hybrid and forgetting about fuel operations. Except for having BMS problems, couldn't see where that was going to be hard other than periodically hanging the OBD & computer.

That was my take as well. Adding an additional battery pack. There are commercial kits that do just that and add a piggy back Li-Ion pack that charges the stock Prius Ni-MH pack with an inverter. The Li-Ion pack only charges on residential power so power flow is one way and BMS is much simpler.

https://www.enginer.us/products/conversion_kit.php

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fSvarQSvbd...l-kit5-big.jpg

Wasn't thinking about re using it to RECHARGE, but more along the lines of parallel pack. Recharge is much easier, but could it be done while in use without setting a obd flag?

It has been about 10 years since I seriously investigated this kind of system but my understanding of how it works is this:

The Li-Ion pack feeds power to the stock Ni-MH battery through a DC-DC converter with the voltage set to about 80% or so of the NI-MH battery's SOC. Because the voltage being fed into the battery is within the normal range the OBD doesn't notice anything. The OBD just thinks the Ni-MH magically is staying in the correct range for EV mode mile after mile. When the Li-Ion battery gets to 20% the DC-DC inverter turns off, stops feeding power through the stock battery, and then the Prius runs like stock but with some extra weight under the hatch. The Li-ion battery is then recharged at home with AC power.

So it works kinda like a PHEV but without the ability to recharge the piggy-back Li-Ion battery from the engine.

Is the oversteer gradual or does it come on all at once?

Adding 150 - 250 lbs to the hatch area of a Prius isn't going to get it even to neutral handling let alone snap oversteer. The Prius has REALLY bad understeer - even the suspension is tuned to reduce it.

Not seeing how the boost battery set to 80% is going to do anything until the main battery drops below that value. Not having one of these prius things, I have no history of data gathering, but in the volt pack I have, you don't drop to 80% system voltage till you're gone a fair distance even accelerating up a hill in the winter.

Just did the math, 80% remaining is lower than my recharge point.

The stock NiMH battery in a 2nd gen Prius will run the car about 1 mile in EV mode. (EV mode was not available as a stock feature in the USA). A 2nd Prius only uses the SOC range between 40% - 80% of the Ni-MH battery. So targeting 80% SOC means the car will be switching to the piggy-back battery about the time it leaves the driveway (assuming the car returned home with the stock hybrid battery fully charged).

The basic premise is to supply power through the stock battery and keep it in the range that EV mode is enabled by the ECU. It isn't a great system and doesn't provide nearly the capability of a factory PHEV like the Volt. It was a way 15 years ago to create a PHEV before any were commercially available.

If you're expecting it to be anything closer to the VW Beetle, maybe trying an overloaded FWD Brazilian coupé-utility while on vacations in Mexico might give you a better baseline for comparison :D

I've got an XFi parked right alongside the SUPERBeetle. The understeer on long, sweeping off-camber curves freaks me out.

That battery pack is lighter than it looked.

I got an interesting email today on this topic. Our Canadian dealers just got another reminder that they cannot import a certain combination of vehicle and engine that is compliant in the USA but not in Canada and if they do they are responsible for making it compliant with Canadian emission regulations.

(Canadian regulations uses different GVWs for vehicle classifications which puts this vehicle configuration in a different class in Canada vs the USA and different classes of vehicles have different emission regulations)

Problems whichever way you look at it?

There are zero problems if you buy the vehicles certified for use in your country. It only becomes a problem if you start looking for "forbidden fruit".

My first Chevrolet came from Canada. :)

https://ecomodder.com/forum/member-f...-metro-xfi.jpg

And yet the same vehicle is for sale in the USA so what was the point of going through the hassle of importing it?

If I could import a 2023 Prius Prime from Canada after exchange and other yeah buts I end up saving $8000, assuming there were inventory which there isn’t

How does that work? Toyota Canada shows the base 2023 Prius Prime SE at $41,364 ($31,356 USD) and Toyota USA shows the Prius Prime SE at $32,350.

Then there is the car that Freebeard was talking about - a used Geo Metro. Why bother to import it?