Friends,
I imported my car Nissan Sentra into Canada from the US and wanted to share my experience with you.

1) I got recall clearance letter from the Nissan Customer Support Office in the US.

2) I made sure my title, insurance and registration were in order.

3) At the border paid the customs (CAD$182).

4) Took the car to Canadian Tires and got the neccessary modifications done. Cost me ~CAD $400.00

5) Purchased insurance for the Car

6) Took all the papers to the vehicle registration office and completed the process.

Hope this helps.

Good Info, rshastry.

Question. Why did you have to pay the customs at the border? Wasn't it 0 duty?

Also since you're new here, be extra cautious when you approach big shops like Canadian Tire for auto-repairs. Not all locations are the same but I've heard of (and personally experienced) rip-offs.

Its not that different from the U.S., you have to question every fault they mention and quote they give you. My experience is if they tell you 200 things need to be replaced, you really only need about 15. Also, if you're still not sure, approach another shop for a confirmation quote.

Better yet, try to shop around for smaller shops that you get recommendations for from by someone you know and trust.

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Are you there?

BL,

Thanks for the warning. Yes, I took a motor 'savvy' friend with me to make sure I did;nt get screwed.

The $182 is actually the nonrefundable Registrar of Imported Vehicles' fee that should be paid to the Canadian Revenue Agency.

more information may be obtained at http://www.riv.ca.

I know this is an old post, but I wondered if you could tell me if you arranged for Canadian car insurance before you brought the car into Canada? We're bringing a Subaru into Canada and I wondered if we should arrange for insurance in Canada before getting there. Our US insurance won't expire until a week after we enter Canada.

Hi Melv,
Any update on this as we are also going to import car from USA to Toron to.

Thanks ..

Most US Insurance Companies will, typically, give insurance coverage (at no cost) for Canada. We were with State Farm in the US and they gave us a certificate of Canadian coverage. We took that in the US and kept in the car when we arrived in Canada and drove in Canada on US plates. Once we had the car imported, we got the Canadian insurance and we called State Farm to cancel our US insurance.

On another note: Be sure to collect your driving records - in some states they are known as driving abstracts - from your US states. If you have been licensed in multiple states in the US it is better to get your records from all states. In addition to this, get your Certificate of Experience from all Insurance companies you have ever been insured with. This will help you accumulate credits and discounts towards your insurance here.

Finally, in regards to the OP, where somebody paid $400 for inspection, we paid just about $180 for inspection and modification - we called up several dealers from the list RIV sent and used the cheapest one. The other dealers said they also inspect this that and the other, but you really dont need that - you just need what RIV says you need.

rshastry
Did you got recall clearance certificates in mail or fax.
I got Honda Accord & after calling them they told they will be faxing me the certificates.
Will this work or we need to get original letter (instead of fax).

Kindly advice.

Thanks.