Live in Oregon, buy in Canada?

I see some interesting little diesels up in Canada, anyone familiar with the process of buying something over the border and just driving it back? I'm only like 7 hours away from some neat deals.

Eek.

Be very careful and do the research first. There is a reason why those diesels aren't here... its because the EPA won't certify them for import.

It has been done, but on top of all the normal red tape of getting a car across the border (inspections, taxes, delays), you have the additional worries of trying to get it registered here in the states.

I desperately wanted an E30 wagon. I found a company that imported them to Canada and sold them to the states. On top of the $8000 purchase price, I was looking at up to $1800 in taxes, fees, and that didn't include EPA certification... and that was on a car that had the same gas engine as the states got. Bringing in a diesel that wasn't EPA certified to be here in the first place might be literally impossible.

Its not even a matter of smog inspection or not... if you go to the DMV and give them your VIN, the computer won't even accept it. Its not a matter of sneaking by, its a matter of federal regulation. It might be tough to circumvent the higher powers.

Duende wrote: I see some interesting little diesels up in Canada, anyone familiar with the process of buying something over the border and just driving it back? I'm only like 7 hours away from some neat deals.

There should be no problems with just driving it back. The problem is in registering it here in the states. Curtis summed it up well.

jack

Here's my crazy, off the wall idea - can you find a dirt cheap, tiny piece of land somewhere in Canada and call it your summer cottage (who cares if it doesn't actually have a cottage on it)? Use that address to buy the diesel, register and insure it in Canada, but bring it back to the states with you? Have the post office forward all the mail for that address to a UPS store mailbox in the nearest city, and have that store forward it to you in the US, that way you'll get your insurance bills, etc? If a cop stops you while you're driving it in the US, explain that it needed some repair work that you couldn't do at your cottage so you brought it home with you to fix it and were just on your way to bring it back to Canada. A cop would believe that story right? Yeah, I didn't think so.

I was actually thinking about doing something like this in order to avoid 'out of country student fees' at the state-funded university I'm going to right now (I live in Canada, go to school in Detroit, MI). I found a house for less than $1000 in Detroit (who says a house needs a roof?) and I just had to buy it and 'live' in it for 6 months prior to school beginning in order to be considered a Michigan resident and not pay the extra fees. Even with the cost of the house and property taxes I'd have saved about $15000 over the course of the two year program I'm taking. It turned out that the school actually lets residents of Ontario, Canada pay the in-state tuition fees to attend the school, most likely to attract Canadian students since the school is just 10 minutes from Canada, so I didn't have to use my scheme to avoid the 'out of country' fees..

Anyways, that my crazy, 'screw-the-government' idea for the day.

Bob

Or if you have relatives that live in Canada. Now you got me thinking.

Skip the diesel, find a VW Passat Syncro. Heck yes.

What kind of diesel? Is it one of the neat ones imported from Japan under the 15 years or older rules? If so then its a no go in the US for the most part.

I DO have relatives up there! There are some options here I can see... Hmmm...

Arthur, I don't quite remember what diesels I was looking at that prompted this thread... I just know when I occasionally check just north of me in Vancouver BC I see some really odd cars.

And heck, if I'm going to get into land up there, I want to just live up there...