Help me keep my car (Importing from Canada)

Atari Soul

I've been going to school in America for six years now and currently live in southern California. My car, however, is from Ontario, Canada. Until now, I'd been able to use my car in the States while keeping it registered in Ontario because I returned every summer. With graduate school, I don't get summers off and home is too far to drive to (40 hours).

My Ontario registration is expiring at the end of June. I'd like to keep the car in California but I know that the car has to be imported into the States at the Canadian border before I can go forward though.

I'm driving up to British Columbia at the end of June for a wedding and I was really hoping I could get the importation done than. I don't know if I can do it myself though or how long it needs to remain at the border (is it a simple process, provided I have all the paperwork?).

Basically, should I even try to get my car imported or should I just leave it in Canada when I go up? Then I'd just fly down to California and buy a car without any of the hassle.

TLDR: want to import my Canadian car into the States. How do I do it?

Robman

Importing a car isn't that difficult.

Here's a pretty good looking guide that googling "Importing a car into America" brought

http://www.foreignborn.com/visas_imm/entering_us/7importingyourcar.htm

Metalbourne

Is it a car that can easily pass California's emissions test? That might be a factor, too.

I don't mean a factor in being able to import it, so much as a factor in whether or not you'd want to.

Atari Soul

Hey, thanks for the article. I'd actually come across it before but I read it more thoroughly this time. I even have all the forms they need filled out.

I guess I'm just worrying too much. I had tried about eight months ago to get all this done at the Mexican border (Tijuana) and that was a huge mistake. Customs people thought I was an idiot and had no idea what to do with the forms I gave them.

Anyways, looks like my best bet is to contact US Customs service and have them tell me exactly what they want.

I'll keep the thread open for a day or two to see if anyone has any personal experience with the process and can offer any insights.

Thanks again for the help so far.

Geth

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Geth

Robman has been kidnapped by Deebaser and is being held for ransom! Solve the riddle to set em' free, or I'll hand em' over to Clamps!

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