Getting a parts car across US-Canada border into US

[Pontiac59]

Had a guy offer me a car I could use to patch up one I have here for a good price. Only trouble is he's just over the Canada-Vermont border and neither of us has passports.

Meeting him at the border would work, assuming we can meet, the thing rolls so it should be pretty easy to back up to each other and transfer it from trailer to trailer.

But can that be done? What paperwork will they want? In VT and NY this is a non-title car, and it's not going to be built anyways. I've heard of guys going into Canada with no problems, but not as far as coming back.

And it's a $400 car that's going to cost another $300 to get, so I don't want to dump $150 into a passport to boot when odds are I'll never use it again.

[Bleach]

You can just get a passport card instead of an actual passport to travel to Canada. It's less expensive.

U.S. Passport Card

[Guest bkazmer]

One of you needs to be able to cross the border in posession of the car. You can't "throw it over the line"

[Restorer32]

Must be a way to do it. Do all commercial truckers who cross the border have passports? There is no duty on a car built in the US coming back to the US.

[Buchans Bread]

In Washington State, we can get what is called an 'Enhanced License' which costs an extra $15 from the DMV; I thought (and still do) it was nationwide. It has a 'chip' in it that holds all the information for international travel by land. The US border crossings have a machine that reads the information as we approach the entry. A passport is only required if you enter a country by air (referring to Canada/US/Mexico and from). Prior to that, we were allowed to travel between Canada/US/Mexico with a current drivers' license and a birth certificate. NAFTA made all products (except food) duty free between the three countries, as long as they were produced in one of the three.

Edited May 18, 2013 by Buchans Bread (see edit history)

[Matt Harwood]

You DO need a passport to get over the Canadian border these days, and if you can get one, moving the car won't be a problem. If it was built in the US and isn't a Canadian-made car, then you can simply bring it in without import duties, although there might be sales taxes to be paid. This is not the case for trucks for some reason, but automobiles can come "back" to the US without a financial penalty.

But you will need a passport to go get it and you will need to send the title ahead to the border 72 hours ahead of the crossing, along with a bill of sale. They are merely checking for stolen vehicles, but the numbers need to match up. I think Vermont is a bill of sale only state, correct? You may not need a title if that's the case, but the border guys can be prickly if you don't do things exactly right.

Having moved several cars (plus my wife and her two sons) across the Canadian border into the US, it's mostly just a paperwork thing, but it takes time to process everything. Depending on how much "unobtainium" is on this particular Pontiac, you will probably have a lot more time and probably money tied up in the import than it will be worth.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

[Pontiac59]

Yeah, I finally got some photos of the car. This is a PARTS CAR in the strictest sense. No motor, no trans, no hood, no deck lid, no glass, fenders off, grille off, rear fenders off/gone and you can see daylight through where the inner fenders should be because they're gone too. No steering, dash gutted. No paperwork. If the frame in mine wasn't weak I'd just take the parts I need and leave the rest.

It's also not a Pontiac, not sure where that came from.

New York and Vermont are both non-title states for antique cars.

Edited May 18, 2013 by Pontiac59 (see edit history)

[Harold]

Would it be cheaper and less hassle to strip what you need and leave the rest in Canada (assuming you can overcome the Passport situation)?

[Buchans Bread]

You DO need a passport to get over the Canadian border these days, and if you can get one, moving the car won't be a problem. If it was built in the US and isn't a Canadian-made car, then you can simply bring it in without import duties, although there might be sales taxes to be paid. This is not the case for trucks for some reason, but automobiles can come "back" to the US without a financial penalty.

But you will need a passport to go get it and you will need to send the title ahead to the border 72 hours ahead of the crossing, along with a bill of sale. They are merely checking for stolen vehicles, but the numbers need to match up. I think Vermont is a bill of sale only state, correct? You may not need a title if that's the case, but the border guys can be prickly if you don't do things exactly right.

Having moved several cars (plus my wife and her two sons) across the Canadian border into the US, it's mostly just a paperwork thing, but it takes time to process everything. Depending on how much "unobtainium" is on this particular Pontiac, you will probably have a lot more time and probably money tied up in the import than it will be worth.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Maybe you do need a passport in Ohio, but not in Washington State, Vermont, New York, or Michigan. Enhanced Drivers Licenses: What Are They? | Homeland Security

Good luck to you.