Cars -Import to Canada or export from America?

[annegirl]

Hi all, I'm an american grad student in Canada at the moment. I'm finishing my degree work here before heading back to the states at the end of August. The thing is i've been doing great with public transport for the past year but I don't have a car to get back home and I'm not sure family or friends will be able to help me. I have a tiny bit of money saved up to buy an 15-20 year old car. I'm wondering though whether I should be trying to buy it from the states and using it when I move or do I buy a canadian car and try to export it? 

 

I'm finding all the information on various websites confusing on the rules about importing and exporting. I know older cars (25+ years) have some sort of exemption on something. I know I would be doing it backwards since I didn't get a car from the get-go when I moved here but oh well. 

 

I'm not from any of the border states so it makes it harder to think about importing to canada. 

 

I don't know, should I be looking at renting a canadian car from the airport maybe to travel to the border states and then go on from there? 

[TakeruK]

This can vary a lot based on the specific province/states you are going from/to. Under NAFTA, as a Canadian moving to the US, all personal items were duty free as long as I owned them for one year prior to the move. I don't know if the car will count under this (but maybe others with experience know). Also, you probably read this: http://www.cbp.gov/trade/basic-import-export/importing-car -- it sounds like if you buy a Canadian made car, then you should not have to worry about any duties/taxes.

 

My Canadian friend had a non-Canadian made car and when he moved to California, he had to do a lot of work to get it certified to meet US standards. The car was pretty old and the cost of the work was in the several thousand dollar range. So, I would be very worried about getting an older car in Canada that might have conformed to a different set of standards 15-20 years ago and will not meet US standards today.

 

All of my other Canadian friends who moved to US for grad school drove their (relatively newer) cars into the US and imported it without any major issues and no expensive duties. So, it's definitely a thing many students do. However, if you are moving back to the US for good, wouldn't it make much more sense to buy a US car and not have to worry about importing? In my opinion, the hassle of importing a car does not sound like it's worth it just for the move back, unless you can save a lot of money on a flight/moving costs this way**. Also, I personally would be worried about taking a 15-20 year old car on a long moving trip only a few month after getting it. 

 

**Note: keep in mind that owning a car from now until August would probably cost money too so that should be considered against any potential flight savings

 

As for driving a rental car, there's often a big surcharge for renting in one place and dropping it off in another. I'm not even sure it's always possible to pick up the car in Canada and drop it off in the US. 

[annegirl]

Thank you, this helps. I come from a hot state but even so my families cars are over 10 years old at least.   Maybe I'll be able to sell of my most of things and then ship a few large boxes and fly back to the states. 

[TakeruK]

Oh yeah, if you are living in a cold part of Canada, I'd be wary of cars older than 10 years too--the winters can be harsh and the salt from the roads can cause rust on the undercarriage if it was not sprayed and taken care of. Also, the large temperature variations from summer to winters don't help either.