Importing an old Mopar from the USA to Canada

[Imperial One]

I recently bought a 1967 Coronet from Havasu Dave on this forum.

See this thread:

FINALLY!

After over 10 years since last owning a B body (long story short - I only owned it for a few weeks and never drove it) and after over 40 years since last owning and driving my own B Body I am again joining the ranks of B body owners! Thanks to Havasu Dave for selling me his 1967 Coronet RT! I...

www.forbbodiesonly.com

and this one:

It's arrived.

More photos to follow. Just got it off the truck. In my driveway!!!

www.forbbodiesonly.com

I was asked by @slepr1 to outline the costs I bore in regard to importing the car to Canada. NOW PAY ATTENTION. This is for older cars, over 15 years old that were made in North America. If it's less than 15 years old it's a different procedure. If it's over 15 years old but not made in North America then there is an additional tax (duty) of 6.1% (moral of the story: only import old Mopars).

Here is an excerpt from my brokerage invoice:

I will outline all the line items.

1. Excise tax - $100.00 if the car is equipped with air conditioning. Doesn't matter whether the a/c works. This is a flat fee.
2. GST/HST/PST - this is the gst only at the rate of 5%. In Ontario the provincial sales tax (pst) of 8% is collected at Service Ontario. Note that the excise tax of $100 is added to the purchase price to determine the base for taxation
3. U.S. AES Vehicle reporting. This is a flat fee of $75.00 that my broker charged to pay their USA based brokerage counterpart.
4. Entry fee. This is the actual brokerage fee. I think it is a flat fee of $215.00 (but I am not sure)
5. Payment of charges. This is a flat fee of $8.00 that the broker charges
6. Misc fees - This is for the use of the broker's business number
7. Transport Canada Form 1 fee of $75.00. This is a flat fee that the broker paid on my behalf to the Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV)
8. Disbursement fee - This is the fee the credit card company charges - It was 3.5%. You can avoid this by wiring the money. I figured that it was not worth the hassle to do the bank wire. And, FWIW, I expect that the broker would charge a wire reception fee (although I don't know this but most financial institutions charge a fee to receive a bank wire). So I see little reason to mess with this.
9. Less prepayment - I gave them a $2,800 retainer
10. GST/HST on the fees. 13% (in Ontario) on $446 in fees

So I have a credit of $242.47 being returned to me after all the dust settled. Total for all this was $2,557.53.

I would highly recommend the broker I used:



Rainer Ferrenbach, CCS
Head Office Customs Supervisor
William L. Rutherford Ltd.
3350 Airway Drive
Mississauga, Ontario
L4V 1T3
Phone 905 673 2222 x 246
Fax 905 673 2656
Visit our Website www.rutherfordglobal.com


I ask "Rain" (Rainer) if it was o.k. to give out his contact info and he said to go ahead. Note that if you have a credit like I did you will HAVE TO ASK FOR THE DOUGH BACK. Most of their customers have accounts so credits just get carried forward to the next deal. It's just a vaguery of the deal.

I had Thorsons E.V.T. transport my car. I was very pleased with their service. The cost to transport the car from Arizona to London Ontario was $3,225 Canadian. This was for covered transport. Here is the contact at Thorsons:

Chris McMillan
Operations Manager
Dispatch
Thorsons E.V.T.
Dispatch: [email protected]
www.thorsonsevt.com
318 Rexdale Boulevard
Toronto Ontario
M9W1R6
Tel: 416-742-0854
Fax: 416-742-9131



I registered the car today at Service Ontario. I paid $59.00 for the plates and ownership and $3,005.67 in provincial sales tax.

So all tolled I paid $8,847.20 for that stuff. I also paid $70 at my bank for two wire fees (why two? ask Havasu Dave the seller ). I also paid to have the car "safetied" (in Ontario you must get a Safety Standards Certificate to transfer a vehicle to be able to drive it on the road).

So by the time I bought the car, paid the wire fees, paid the exchange for $US currency, paid for shipping, the broker, taxes, and safety the grand total was about $47,250 Canadian on my purchase of a $29,500 $US car.

Conclusion:

If you take the $US price and add roughly 60% (at least in Ontario where the hst tax rate is 13%) this will be good enough to calculate roughly what your all-in landed cost will be in Canadian dollars. Obviously the current US/Canada exchange rate (the rate I paid was $1.2875 CDN for every $US), shipping distance and your provincial tax rate will add considerable variability to the price. So if you are in Alberta you will have an 8% leg up on us Ontarians.

p.s. nearly forgot: need to do a shout out to the seller @Havasu Dave who kindly kept the car garaged and met the car transporter. He took away a huge pile of the worry associated with buying a car sight unseen.

p.p.s. Insurance cost me $485 for the year with Hagerty with $50k in agreed value insurance (roughly what I paid for the car)

 

[dadsbee]

Thanks Dave!!!

 

[71dodgechargerrt]

Thanks, this answers a lot of questions people in Canada may have wondered about
importing.

 

[Don Frelier]

And I though NY had a lot of fees.
Yikes.

 

[YY1]

I love that you are charged a fee for paying fees.

 

[qkcuda]

My costs were very similar, except I only had to transport from PA, via open carrier, so that was a lot cheaper.

 

[cosgig]

And I recall, all the paperwork had to be sent in and ok’d 30 days in advance, and you can still be held up. My brother delivered a car we sold to Canada, it took over 2 1/2 hours at the border because the girl customs agent refused to believe that the 13 digit VIN was real, she only knew of the new 17 digit system.

 

[440 4 speed]

And I recall, all the paperwork had to be sent in and ok’d 30 days in advance, and you can still be held up. My brother delivered a car we sold to Canada, it took over 2 1/2 hours at the border because the girl customs agent refused to believe that the 13 digit VIN was real, she only knew of the new 17 digit system.

A few years ago, I found a 68 Barracuda for a friend. It was in Oklahoma. He bought the the car. Another friend trailered the car to Williston N.D. We had received the bill of sale etc and supplied the information to US customs, quite some time before pick up.
Unloaded the car, drove it to the border. Passed through US customs. Presented the paperwork to Canadian Customs. He paid the federal tax, and we carried on. Back in Saskatchewan he paid Provincial tax and registered the car. Quite easy.

 

[Imperial One]

A few years ago, I found a 68 Barracuda for a friend. It was in Oklahoma. He bought the the car. Another friend trailered the car to Williston N.D. We had received the bill of sale etc and supplied the information to US customs, quite some time before pick up.
Unloaded the car, drove it to the border. Passed through US customs. Presented the paperwork to Canadian Customs. He paid the federal tax, and we carried on. Back in Saskatchewan he paid Provincial tax and registered the car. Quite easy.

Yes I have done that as well - 6 times - three Imperials, a '64 Dodge, a '73 Chrysler and a Miata. Not sure if anything has changed on the US side so before doing an importation like you did a few years ago I would make sure I know what the rules are TODAY in the USA.

 

[cosgig]

A few years ago, I found a 68 Barracuda for a friend. It was in Oklahoma. He bought the the car. Another friend trailered the car to Williston N.D. We had received the bill of sale etc and supplied the information to US customs, quite some time before pick up.
Unloaded the car, drove it to the border. Passed through US customs. Presented the paperwork to Canadian Customs. He paid the federal tax, and we carried on. Back in Saskatchewan he paid Provincial tax and registered the car. Quite easy.

My brother is a semi driver, who crosses the border often delivering goods. He was none too happy about the delay, after having out paperwork filed in plenty of time. All for a 66 Coronet project car that we sold for less than $2k

 

[440 4 speed]

My brother is a semi driver, who crosses the border often delivering goods. He was none too happy about the delay, after having out paperwork filed in plenty of time. All for a 66 Coronet project car that we sold for less than $2k

Possibly there is more paperwork for a professional business. Appears it was coming to Canada. Was it prior to 2019? Yes things can be held up by Canadian Customs. Bought a 1st gen drag car body in 2013 in Austin Tx. Had sent money to have the guy get the title, told me he had it. My fault didn’t ask to see it.
Drove down, no title Tx DMV said title would be out in a week. Paid for the car, got a bill of sale. Got to the border, explained the US customs it was a drag car, would never be registered for street use. Agent came out took pictures . Gave us the approval documents and then got to Canadian Customs . Spent more time explaining why I didn’t need the so called title because it would never be licensed. About 11/2 hours.