Has anyone done this recently? Curious about what steps are required to bring a teener northwards across the world's longest undefended border.

Did it last summer; are you driving it over yourself or having it trucked up? I had mine delivered; the transport company will refer you to a couple of customs brokers. It's worth the extra hundred or two to have a broker handle the border. It's not getting in into Canada that causes many issues - it's getting it out of the US. Homeland Security handles the border these days and if the papers aren't spot on I have heard horror stories.

they will email you the forms, figure out what you'll owe (you pay the GST when it crosses - PST at the MTO when you register and get the plates)

find a transport company (I'll dig out the guys I used and post it tomorrow if you need it). They'll walk you through it. Really was quite easy. Once it's here you'll need a safety done and get it appraised - the guys who do the safety can probably do it. You have to have both in hand when you go to the MTO; the safety for obvious reasons; the appraisal so our charming government can make sure you are not ripping them off for sales tax - nice, huh? It's not an insurance appraisal - just a basic valuation of the car

good luck - let me know if you need any more info.

m.

yes i have brought a few cars across....
forgive me if i have forgotten some details
First off
you get a bill of sale, copy from the owner
and the title (copy) from the owner
get it to the the American crossing you will be bringing the car across( you will need to fill out a form as well)
be sure it is there 72(it could be less) hours in advance of importing to Can
not including weekends and holidays
then you bring the car to the American side for clearence and a stamp of release
and then it is of to the Canuck side
Where you pays your taxes, it will took me about an hour at American and an hour at the Canadian ....if you did your papers right the first time
and then you are free...except for provincial inspections
it is not really to bad.

yup - what pete-stevers said. pay close attention to the 72 hour rule. You can't just show up at export control.

http://www.riv.ca/english/html/how_to_import.html

Thanks for the helpful info guys -- doesn't sound too bad. I am considering both the shipping and the personally driving over the border options, depending on where I locate a car. My first choice is to avoid the hassel altogether and to buy a 914 in Ontario, but I am having trouble locating one that is in reasonably good shape (I am not looking for a project), so if you hear of any please let me know!

Have you had a chat with Mike? Premium prices but he usually has one or two good ones. The LE is super premium price but a really nice car.

http://mikes914s.com/index.php?mode=cars&section=home

i have brought a few porsche over from the US to Canada. just a word of advice when at the canadian side, if they ask where car was manufactured say it was in the US as far as you know, the last time and only time they asked me this and i responded Germany, they charged me 100% duty, the car was only $500 and i had a $400 exemption, so i got charged 100% on the $100, you wouldnt want this happening with a $10000 car

another link that is useful:
http://cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/pub/bsf5048-eng.html

Note that our cars, because they are older than 15 years are exempt from the RIV program.

to give you an idea, having it shipped from Georgia to Toronto was $800.00 + $150.00 for the custom's broker. All I did was take phone calls and emails. The trucking company works with your broker and together they handle everything with regards to Can/Am customs. All you need to do is email a copy of the title, bill of sale etc., etc. They'll tell you what you need, tell you how much the tax you owe is based on the bill of sale; you wire them the money and they look after paying . . . and yes, any car over 25 years has no duty charge. Here in Ontario there is no emmission test needed and so on.

driving it over (depending on where you find one) is no doubt cheaper but very time consuming and as previously mentioned, if you get the paperwork wrong it can be a nightmare. Either way it's sounds like more of a PITA than it really is.

Good luck, m.

Thanks, I definitely see the merits in that approach, and I have Georgia on my mind so your example is really useful to me.

I have spoken with Mike and have given some thought to that LE, which does look like it could be quite the car once reassembled, but the price is more than I am targeting. Great car for somebody though.