importing a vehicle into Canada during covid19

Is it possible to import a vehicle into Canada from the USA right now during Covid 19,
Thanks for any info, Dave

It depends on how much you're willing to pay. The only way you can do it yourself is to fly down and drive it home.

Other than that, you could have it shipped and pay a Customs broker to set up the commercial entry.

Kevin

Last I heard this sort of thing didn't justify being allowed to drive across the border and you had to get it shipped or imported for you the commercial way.

It's considered non essential. You have to have a commerical shipper take it across for you.

Yes but he's allowed to fly in and they can't refuse him entry into his own country if he drives it to the border, grey area I guess.

It's still non essential travel so while he might be allowed back in it might create a pile of headaches trying to get the vehicle in. Plus you'd need to be in quarantine for 14 days after you return. Probably a lot easier to pay up to get it done commercially or thru a broker service who's familiar with doing it now.

Importing a car into Canada must be done through a broker now irreguardless.
Even a parts car cannot enter Canada now without a broker being involved.
Plus,unless its changed, the paperwork must be received by US Customs 72 hours prior to the cars arrival for exportation into Canada.
And as stated it has to be transported through by a commercial carrier.

Show me the proof !!

I think that by the time you paid for a flight, overnight stay and the trip home, a broker's fees wouldn't be a whole lot more. And I'm wondering if brokers can cross these days ??

Read through this, particularly step 4:

https://driving.ca/auto-news/news/how-to-import-a-car-from-the-u-s-into-canada

Terry is correct. To get the Internal Transit Number, you need to be a professional, licensed importer, i.e. a broker.

I've imported a car from the US in 2018 and the process explained in the article is exactly what I did.

Mike.

All the broker does is process the paperwork. They don't go anywhere.

You would still need a trucking company to bring the car across for you.

Kevin

Ok, I've read all that and basically it just says that now you need an ITN which will cost you $150. (big deal). You "personally" can still go down, pick up the car and drive or haul it across the border yourself.

He also leads you to believe finding which border crossing to use is a problem. Well you can only cross certain ones so presumably you'd find the closest and then have the "importer" send the paperwork there. And a smart guy would probably drop in on his way down to make sure it all arrived and is intact.

In a nutshell what this process has done is increased your cost by $150. as well as the delay while you find an importer.

NOTE:
"Now that you’ve exported, the actual import is a cinch in comparison. Upon driving through the Canadian customs gate, inform them that you are importing a car and they’ll direct you to an easy-to-find spot where you can park and then head inside to pay taxes."

I wouldn't say that because of the situation now. With the restrictions in place because of COVID, I'd expect a commercial transporter would need to be involved to go get the car in the US and bring it into Canada.

Best advice I could give to the person who started this thread, call the US Border office and Canadian Border office where the car would be crossed and find out what they want you to do.

Mike.

Well I supposed I should have spelled it out for some of you that i was generalizing and didn't mean "now" !!!

Maybe you should just relax.

Have a nice day.

Mike.

Well the original question was about importing a vehicle now. But I looked too yesterday and didn't see anything specifically for doing it with the oandemic going on. I still wouldn't count on being able to do it too easily at the moment because they don't expect people to be treating buying vehicles and bringing them across borders as essential travel.

first thing to do is to stop asking questions here and go to the source so you know your car is not going to be turned away at the border for whatever reason.

https://www.riv.ca/importingavehicle.aspx

Cross border trade is deemed essential and shipping is essential travel. Technically he should be able to take a truck and trailer and go get the car himself and have a broker look after the paperwork and commercial entry.

Kevin

Yes trade and shipping is essential but buying a car and travelling thru the US to get it isn't. It's one thing if you're a commercial shipper or importer but completely different if you're a private individual. The same problem comes to play with shipping. Anyone using border shipping addresses can have the items imported across the border for them but they can't drive down themselves to do their own pickups.

The best thing to is to call both the US and Canadian sides of the nearest border crossing and ask them about the situation and how to handle it and if they say it's OK to cross yourself ask for backup information.

Trust me you wont be allowed driving entry to the US to pick up a car or anything else ..no matter what story you use.
This what you will run into while attempting to cross at ANY US border entry port before you even get to the kiosks.
Ask me how I know.
Even when you drive up to this US border crossing point which is 10 miles from me, you'll be told in no uncertain terms to "turn around and head home, what you are asking is considered NON ESSENTIAL...period, no exceptions."

LOL !! Yeah, good luck with that !! Your "interpretation" and "real life" are two different things. But hey, what have you got to lose, you're not the one trying to bring in the car !