Hi,
I am planning to export my car from US to Canada. May I know what are the charges involved in it and what is the tax that I am supposed to pay when I bring my car from US to Canada.
Moving a car from the US to Canada involves 4 main steps.
Export / Import: This is a pretty cumbersome process. But if you are using a moving company, they will take care of the paperwork.
Declaring your car when you land in Canada: As a new immigrant to Canada, your import duty is waived for the items that are declared in BSF186 under personal effects. Make sure that your car along with its value is included here
Collecting the car: The shipping company will bring your car to a bonded warehouse in Canada. This is where you need to take your BSF186, your CoPR, and Passport. There will be customs officers on duty in the warehouse who would check your documents and release the car to you.
Since the import duty is waived, you just need to pay the inspection fee of around CAD $ 150
They will give you an import form called FORM 1. It is VERY important to keep this safe.
Registering the car in Canada: This involves a few steps and needs to be done within 40 days of importing the car.
Get Insurance: Most insurance companies need you to have a local driver’s license to get an insurance. Take your driving records, your passport and your U.S driver’s license to any “Drive Test Center” and they will issue you driver’s license without having to give any test.
You can even try to get an insurance for your car with U.S driver’s license. I know that Desjardins insurance does that for you. But it’s better if you can first get the driver’s license since it gives you more options to buy insurance.
RIV (Registrar of Imported Vehicles) inspection: https://www.riv.ca/RIVInspection.aspx has all the information. You basically need to email to RIV with your Form1 and pay the fees. They will email you another form called Form 2. Take the original Form 1 and the print of Form 2 to any Canadian Tire location. RIV inspection is free and it takes less than 15 minutes if it is a newer car.
Provincial Inspection: Most provinces might need this. I know that Ontario requires this. It takes about an hour and costs $30 CAD. Again, Canadian Tire does it.
Emissions Inspection: Same as above. Costs $30 CAD and Canadian Tire does it. You can get all of the above inspections done at Canadian Tire in one go if you can leave the car with them for about half a day.
Register the car: Go to any Service Ontario centers with all the necessary paperwork that include Form 1, Form 2, all inspection reports, insurance, CoPR (or PR card), passport etc. and they will register the car for you and issue a local license plate and stickers.
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