to buy or not buy a car?

M

mapleleaf15

Registered Users (C)
I know this issue has been mentioned in previous posts but I am currently at a loss of what to do. I have a 99 Honda Civic with approx 120,000 km on it and am not sure if I should have it shipped to OC or buy a car in OC. I will be using my car for work as well and I hope to be in OC on May 9.

Has anyone had their car shipped rather than driving it themselves? How long did it take? My car would need to be shipped from near Vancouver to the Anaheim area.

Are Honda's likely to pass the smog check?

Thanks in advance!
 
I just sent you a long rant but don't know where it went. So let's try it again.

You have this dilemma as I see it of trying to bring a high mileage vehicle in kM to the US. If it's just transportation you need and you don't care about salvage value of the vehicle then bring it. When you're done with it it probably won't be worth anything but if that's okay then good.
The issue you may have is getting the vehicle to pass a smog check. If it doesn't pass, then you will need a mechanic to help make it pass. If it doesn't pass then you've got a vehicle that you can't register. If it does pass then you should be good to go.

Now let's say you don't want to bring it and you want to get a car from here. If you try to finance it then you may have a problem unless you already have a Social Security Number and a credit history - I assume you have neither yet. You can go to the Canadian credit reporting Agency which is Equifax and get a copy of your credit report. Equifax is a credit reporting agency out of the US but not used as widely as Experian or Trans Union. Experian is the most used one here. You could always try getting a loan from teh bank of Mom and Dad if you have to. Just an FYI....Your credit report rules your life here. You may need it to rent a place, get a credit card, buy a cell phone etc.

Once you establish a residence here you have 20 days to register your vehicle here. If you don't then you will get nailed with penalties. And they will find out because when you go to get a license they will ask for a lease, cable bill or some other proof of residency. And believe me they look at dates very carefully.

Don't forget to get a letter from your insurance company to show that you have a good driving record as insurance can be brutally expensive.
 
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Thanks simsd...you have been very helpful! I was researching the credit reporting companies and am not sure if I just need the credit report and the credit score? Is the credit report sufficient enough?

Thanks!
 
Okay,

Well here is the good news. I just went to the Canadian Equifax website and looked at it and see that it is now using the Fair, Isaacs & Co (FICO) scoring method. This is verrrrry important. So here's what you want to do. Figure out how to contact Equifax Canada and see if they can link your Canadian report to your new SSN when you get it.

You also want to get a copy of that report sent to you. No matter what you say to the car dealer here, they will want to pull a report from here. MAKE SURE YOU TELL THEM YOU ONLY HAVE EQUIFAX. Here's how it works. They sell cars here like Tim Horton's sells donuts. When the cars dealer goes to get you financing they pull a credit report. Because they see so many cars here, the car dealer basically shops for your loan through different lenders. If you go the bank to get a car loan, because you are doing one loan the bank might charge you 10%. But because the car dealer may do ten loans in a week through the same bank they might give them the loan and 7% and then have you assume it at 8%. Based on your score they can tell you what they can get approved for. Hopefully they will deal with a lender who will only need the Equifax report.

As an example, my wife and I went in on a Saturday at 4:30 and test drove a car. We drove off with it at 5:30. They generally don't look at pay stubs or anything like that. It's like nothing I've ever seen. We bought another vehicle three days later from the same people and basically just ordered it over the phone.

Here's and article that I found online. Even though it's Canadian it's still the same. And Yes 700 is the magic number.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/money/credit/score.html

So what are you thinking? Ferrari? Lamborghini? Bentley? Rolls?
 
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I am a fan of the Beamers!!! But I think I'm gonna look into shipping my lil Civic over.

You mentioned that I should get my Canadian credit report with my new SSN, so I am wondering if I should bother with getting my credit report before I head down...so without my SSN.

I dont know how long it will take to get an SSN so maybe it would better to have some sort of credit report beforehand?

Thanks!
 
I agree with you a hundred percent on both fronts.

First, I don't think you'll have any problem with a Civic passing a smog. It's really only 72,000 miles which by California standards is not much.

Second your first thoughts should be finding a place to live and focusing on work. The last thing you need is to be worrying about transportation. Like I told you, they sell cars here like donuts. Once you're settled in you can decide if you want a new car. Don't go into debt over a car when you need to think about your living standard. Like they say here "the Porsche in front of the run down shack".

Transporting a vehicle down? I haven't done it, but it seems to me that you're going to have federal EPA issues (a pain in the butt) and perhaps some other issues getting it across the border (we drove ours here so nothing was ever said). Someone else might know more about this on the forum. You might want to think about driving (I think it's about three days from where you are).

And definitely bring a copy of your credit report.

If you want more info I can be reached at davidasims@hotmail.com
 
Don't forget that your Canadian car must be formally imported via US Customs. To do that, you'll need a letter of compliance from the manufacturer, stating that the car meets U.S. safety and emissions standards. If you want to move early next month, you'd better contact Honda right away to get that letter.
 
I called America Honda today and they want my driver's license, bill of sale and Canadian Vehicle Registration and then someone would contact me in 3-5 business days. I thought that I just needed my VIN and I was all set to go...I guess not. But my car does have sticker under the hood saying that it meets US EPA emissions standards...is that not sufficient enough?
 
You need the letter to import it. That is what customs will look at. There is also a form for customs that must be filled out, but I don't have it off the top of my head.
 
mapleleaf15 said:
But my car does have sticker under the hood saying that it meets US EPA emissions standards...is that not sufficient enough?
Click to expand...

No, it is not. You DO NEED that letter. Once you give the required details to the American Honda, they will send you the compliance letter. They are prompt - I got the letter from them within 2 weeks.
 
Has anyone ever gotten a recall clearance letter from the dealership as well? Has customs ever asked you for this?

I called my dealership to ask for this and turns out there was a part that was recalled so they cant issue the letter to me until that is fixed...grrr....
 
Me at the border and at the custom office in Portland,OR they told me for the first year I have to keep my license plate from Canada (canada/us agreement)...Do after a year the DMV will charge me penality same if I was unable to have the form from the US custom office? I have all the other letters.

It took a month to my honda civic (255 000km) to arrive from Montreal to Vancouver,WA.
 
The border officer was incorrect. An aggreement between US and canada allows a driver to drive in US without formally importing the car.

The agrreement does NOT guarantee that the Provincial plates remain valid (in fact, if you moved from your province, they cease having validity within a few weeks/moths), nor does it force the state DMVs to accept your foreign plates as valid, if living in that state.


So, the customs officers (which are feds) are not doing you any favours by not allowing you to formally import your car -- they should. As a result, you very likely will soon be driving illegally, and your insurance will also be invalid.

Import the car formally, and be done with it.
 
The province send my bill at my parents's house...I needed to keep the address for that. The insurance, I had to find some here and it was not easy but it's done.

I will like to import my car formally but right now I have to make sure I will pass the emission test at first...if not I will send it back in Canada...
 
having a mailing address in the province does not make you a resident.

Driving with ineligible plates will likely result in your coverage being denied should you have an accident.

Besides, there is no cost in importing. If it fails emission, just drive it back. If it passes emmission, then you have to find a POE and import it.
 
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This is California. If the car is covered by collision insurance, they will ask to take a picture of the vehicle first. Also, as I said at the beginning of this, California law states that you must register your vehicle no later than 20 days after establishing residency here.

Anyone not paying attention to this stuff is playing with fire.
 
Should I bring this car to USA

Hi all,

I am planning to go to work in Atlanta in next few months.
I have a Toyota Matrix 1995 model with 50000km on it.
I still owe 15000 to toyota canada. I was thinking to take it there.
I was told by someone that I should not do this because car with Canadian
plates is not safe in some states of US.
Any advice?
I also have another question about tax ?
If i work in USA as a consultant, I know my taxes will be deducted and I have to
file taxes in Canada as well. So can I claim my expenses while filing taxes?
expenses like rental, travel, etc.
Thanks in advance.

Azar
 
I got my Letter of Compliance and everything is a-ok...but the company that is shipping my car said that because it is a temporary import, then I dont even need the compliance letter! Oh well...I guess it will be good to have for the future...
 
Good to have it anyway. You might need it when you register it. Oddly enough we didn't do any of this importing stuff when we brought our car from Ontario. All they will do is probably make you go get smog check and then verify that you are the owner with all of your paperwork.

Oh ya, BTW....call the DMV office ahead of time (like about a week) and get an appointment. It will be a lot easier. Also check the following link.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/ffvr29.htm
 
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