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07-11-2007, 11:24 AM | #1 |
Friendly Neighbourhood
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Buying a used car from the US - any tips/hints?
I found this post on legacygt.com that has tonnes of info on purchasing a new car from the states however I'm thinking of buying a used car from the states.
http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24153 Has anyone here imported a used car from the US? How was your experience? Which border did you cross? LaterZ! Darren!!
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07-11-2007, 11:41 AM | #2 |
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What are you looking at buying Darren?
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07-11-2007, 11:45 AM | #3 |
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There are a few threads on this already! SO a search might be in order...
Just make sure you buy from a dealer and not private! Make sure you get the title or else you're ****'ed at the boarder... There are a lot of little details that you need to do but all are pretty simple once you get the hang of it... I imported 2 STI's last summer and both were a totally different experience! Jay |
07-11-2007, 11:49 AM | #4 |
Friendly Neighbourhood
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Sorry - should have stated that it's private sale, not from a dealer.
tora - I'm thinking of buying a Legacy wagon, similar to your old one, but it'll be blue and go the fastar. LaterZ! Darren!! Last edited by Penphoe; 07-11-2007 at 12:19 PM. Reason: wrong colour |
07-11-2007, 11:52 AM | #5 |
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Penphoe - Member since Sept 1999
Jaydow - member for just over a half year... Jaydow, looks to me like he searched already and is looking for personal experiences (including what border was crossed). I know there are a number of guys on the board who have imported from both private sales and dealer sales. Buying from a dealer does not result well always. I've seen a number of cars brought over with blown motors (or weak compression) from dealers (including Subaru dealers). |
07-11-2007, 11:53 AM | #6 |
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Mine was White....and mine was the Fastarest!!
Same year as mine or are you looking at the Turbot? |
07-11-2007, 12:21 PM | #7 |
Friendly Neighbourhood
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No, I'm looking at a MY05 LGT Ltd., wagon of course, however I put the wrong colour down - it'll be blue. Wouldn't be a pimpin' family car without the wagon at the back.
I should post more specific questions. 1) How much is temporary insurance? Where did you grap it from? 2) In my research, it says that you should fax the title and invoice of the vehicle to be purchased to the US border of your crossing 3 days before you intend to arrive. What about if it is a private sale? What do you do about the "invoice" in that case? How did you get the invoice and vehicle title to the border if you're up here, and the documents are down in the states? Did the seller send it in for you? 3) Are there specific office hours that you have to cross the border at? The border may be open 24-7 @ Peace Arch, but is the office open too? I'm assuming it is. LaterZ! Darren!! |
07-11-2007, 12:39 PM | #8 | |
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Quote:
I have commented on a few threads relating to importing from the US so I KNOW there are threads out there with specific recommendations and step by step "how to".... Here are a few: AND THIS IS ALL JUST IN VIC! http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...ghlight=buying http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...ghlight=buying http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...ghlight=buying http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...ghlight=buying God knows how many more threads there are in other parts of NASIOC! And the title of the thead reads: Buying a used car from the US - any tips/hints I purchased an 05 private, and an 06 from a dealer in the span of about 3 months so I have a bit of experience in this department. I also get asked probaby 3 times a day on the details of buying a car in the US. Does it really matter how long I've been in this forum for Tora? Jay |
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07-11-2007, 12:40 PM | #9 |
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I've imported a few now. It's pretty easy.
1) Fill out the export worksheet that you get from US Customs and fax it to their office along with a copy of the title and bill of sale. The bill of sale can just be a hand written letter signed by the seller. You can just have the seller fax you a copy of the title and bill of sale. 2) The next day, send an Email to US Customs to verify that they received your paper work. They will shoot you an email back telling you when your car will be ready for export(72 hours after submitting paper work) 3) Go pick up your car and drive it to the border crossing at the US Customs side and bring your original title in to be stamped. There's a little kiosk between the Canadian and US side of the border where they want you to park your car if you're going through the truck crossing. They are only open from Monday to Friday 8:00am-3:30pm 4) Go through on the canadian side. They'll have you come in and pay your duty and taxes and fill out the import form. There's a two hundred and something dollar charge to pay to the RIV but you don't have to pay it at the border unless you want to. You can pay online later or send them a cheque. 5) As soon as the RIV reveives your money they will mail you all your inspection forms and paper work. 6) You need two inspections. One is a provincial inspection that can be done at any Government certified inspection facility. The second is a Federal inspection that can only be done at Canadian Tire. 7) Once you've passed all the inspections the paper work gets sent back to RIV and they will process everything and send you back the required documents to go get your car registered. All in all it takes 4-6 weeks depending on how fast you move. Just remember that you only have 45 days to get the inspections done. Also, there are a few locations near the Blaine border crossing where you can store your car for the 72 hours if you want to pick it up before the paper has gone through. There's a gas station called Porkys and a few storage lots that charge around $2-4/day. I think that's about it. If you want any more detailed info on any of the steps just let me know. Last edited by L_Box; 07-11-2007 at 01:31 PM. |
07-11-2007, 12:55 PM | #10 |
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^
well put L_Box. Be sure to remember, and customs will stress this to you, that the US office needs to see the paperwork 72 hours before you bring the car to them. They get really upset if you don't, and the last thing you need is an upset border guard..... in GW's America.So make sure you have a place to store the car for that time period. Trust me, all of the storage units in Blaine are full. |
07-11-2007, 01:08 PM | #11 |
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Jaydow, my point is that you are telling a moderator and member since the conception of Nasioc (member 269) to search. I think the tone of your first two sentences put me off. Anyways, the point of the thread was to ask some specific questions which are getting answered.
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07-11-2007, 01:13 PM | #12 | ||||
Friendly Neighbourhood
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Quote:
http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/linkh...export_wks.doc The title of the car doesn't have to be in your name yet, does it? It could contain the previous owners' name? Maybe the info is found in here - got some homework for me to read over: http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/...ngavehicle.doc Quote:
Quote:
I'd like to get the US export paperwork faxed and dealt with before I head down to Portland. Quote:
Thanks for the tip on the storage lots, might be worth looking in to. If possible, I'd like to drive the car home and park it there. jaydow11 - since you bought a car down in Portland, what type of insurance did you get? How long was the term of the insurance? About how much did it cost? Was this car purchased through a dealer or was it the private sale? LaterZ! Darren!! |
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07-11-2007, 01:17 PM | #13 | |
Friendly Neighbourhood
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Quote:
I definetly do not want to piss off any border/customs officer. I've done lots of traveling around the world and the last thing I want to do is piss someone off who could keep me in/out of the country. LaterZ! Darren!! |
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07-11-2007, 01:39 PM | #14 | ||
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They said the next time I should have a copy of the actual wire/draft to Prove what I paid because that is the price that the GST is based on! Don't try to get a Bill of Sale signed by the guy for a few thousand less than what you paid for to try and save a few bucks on taxes! That's grounds for them puting on the rubber gloves and saying open wide! Quote:
When I imported both my cars I had everything done, inspected, and insured within 3 days of getting back into Canada! Jay |
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07-11-2007, 01:46 PM | #15 | |
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All you need is a Binder of Insurance from any Autoplan dealer/ICBC. Its $100 and is good for 10 Days. In the US the plates stay with the car (not like here in Canada). So as long as the plates are still Vaid (which means the plates have not expired) then the Binder of Insurance is good! However, if the car does NOT come with plates/or the plates are not valid, then you will have to get Temp plates at an office down in Portland. The guy said it had brand new tires on it and they were basically bald when I arived! I think he was drifting the car like a mad man! It was a young kid who raced and beat the crap out of the car.... but of course he said it was never raced! I should have brought cash and negotiated him down another $1000 for new tires that I had to buy once I got home... That's why I would recommend buying from a dealer rather than private. I know it's no guarantee that a car will be in better shape, but the disclosure laws that dealers have to obey are (i think?) a bit more than someone private! Jay |
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07-11-2007, 01:50 PM | #16 | ||
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LaterZ! Darren!! |
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07-11-2007, 01:59 PM | #17 | ||
Friendly Neighbourhood
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LaterZ! Darren!! |
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07-11-2007, 02:03 PM | #18 | |
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Quote:
If I was to buy privately again, I would send the guy 3/4 by wire and then bring the rest cash. Then if the car isn't in the same condition as he said it was, start grinding him down with the cash you have in your pocket! I probably could have gotten the car at least $1,500 cheaper if I had done that... But since I had already paid for the car it was a little hard to negotiate a lower price... Jay |
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07-11-2007, 02:34 PM | #19 | |||
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Jaydow's right, the US Custom guards have absolutly ZERO patience. Make sure you fax the paper work and then email them the next day so they can give you a date for when your car will be ready to bring across. Don't just count 72 hours from the time you submit the paperwork. |
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07-11-2007, 02:44 PM | #20 | |
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Just a couple more answers to your specific questions: Both times I got the owner of the car to scan and email me both sides of the title. That way I had them electonically and could print them when ever I needed to. One other issue with Private sales is that if the guy has a lean or a loan on the car, he will not have the title in his hands. The title will be with the bank or finance company he deals with. When I purchased my 05 privately, I remember now that I actually paid the bank off directly. Then once the loan was paid for, they mailed him the title. Only when he received the title did I fly down and pick up the car. Which was about a week later... Each boarder has different hours of opperation with specific times they allow exported vehicles. When I faxed down my title to boarder crossing at Sumas I specifically said "I am planning on coming through the boarder at this date and time. Please let me know if this will be a problem." Of course I did not hear anything back so I figured it was all good... We'll I get to the boarder on a Saturday at around 12:00 only to find out that they don't export cars on the weekends Like WTF? (When I bought my first STI, I came up through Oroville/Osoyoos and they export cars 24/7. So I figured a boarder crossing that is 10x bigger than Oroville would be the same... NOT) So it just so happend that ONE of the two people who export cars was there finishing up some work before she went on vacation and did it for me! The thing that really pissed me off was that all they do is check the VIN and stamp your title... Like no one else in the entire office can't do that But that goverment for ya I guess... That's why if you don't have the original title you don't own the car and can't export it! The title is above all else the most important piece of paper you have to have! OH, and don't forget that you need to contact Subaru of America and get a Recall Clearance letter. Just call SoA with the VIN number of the car and they will email it to you! You can't pass inspections without this letter! I'm not sure if you need it at the boarder (so I would ask)... Jay Last edited by jaydow11; 07-11-2007 at 02:50 PM. |
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07-11-2007, 02:52 PM | #21 |
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Oh ya, i forgot to mention the recall clearance letter too. You don't need it for the border, just for your inspections.
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07-11-2007, 03:07 PM | #22 |
Friendly Neighbourhood
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07-11-2007, 06:26 PM | #23 |
I'm sorry for apologizing
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Lots of good info here...putting it in the vault for future reference
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07-11-2007, 06:29 PM | #24 | |
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07-11-2007, 06:30 PM | #25 |
I'm sorry for apologizing
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