An In-depth Guide To Importing An Mr2 From The US
This might make a good sticky for the forum!
After a lot of headache, inspections and recalls I am now the proud owner of a 92 black NA mr2.
There are a lot of tricks and rules I found out along the way.
Here’s what I’ve learned from the process:
STEP 1.
Find the car.
STEP 2.
Purchase the car. And get it back to Canada. Sounds simple doesn’t it?
Sure it does, but how are you going to insure it? ICBC wouldn’t give me any kind of insurance since the car wasn’t yet registered in BC.
ICBC says: “get a temporary permit from the US”.
Well, this is also not so simple,. I called over 12 insurance companies in the US, and none of them would sell insurance for less than 6 months!
In the US, insurance and licensing are separate, you can buy a temporary day permit from the department of licensing but not insurance. In the state of Washington you are legally required to have insurance on your vehicle or you could have your car towed (I was told this when I arrived at the US border with a day license permit but no insurance).
I ended up driving the car from Seattle to the border with no insurance (Illegaly).
My advice is to try get the owner to drive it there for you under their insurance or maybe once you have the car in your name, bring your certificate of ownership to icbc for a day permit.
COST: $20 USD plus insurance if you can find it.
STEP 3.
Now that the car is in your name, you can go to the US customs border services with your certificate of ownership. From this point you must find a place to store the car for 72 hours in the US. (Much to my surprise, customs does not store your vehicle for you!!) If you’re going through the Sumas Huntington border, there’s a small place called jacks towing that is two blocks from the border. They stored my car in a garage for about 10$ US per day.
NOTE: at this point you should probably get a head start on your recalls by calling Toyota USA and booking an appointment, (see step6).
COST: $30 USD for storage
STEP 4.
After your 72 hours is up, you can take your car back to the US customs border services and they will verify the VIN numbers, let their dogs sniff the car. They will also take a photocopy of your registration paper, stamp it and send you on your way.
STEP 5.
From this point, you can proceed to Canada customs and tell them that you are importing your car (Don’t try to be sneaky and just drive the car across, because you WILL NOT BE ABLE TO INSURE IT).
Canada customs will fill out an RIV form for you and charge you $184. This is the cost of the RIV program which all cars 15 years old or newer must go through, and since mine is a 92 I HAVE TO go through with it). If your car has air conditioning (working or not working) you must pay an additional $100.
You are then charged 6.1% duty, and 7% GST. (My previous car was stolen so I was able to use my ICBC GST rebate to get back the GST money I paid at the border from ICBC later on). As of this point you now have 45 days to complete the RIV and submit the RIV papers to ICBC.
You will need to buy a day of insurance to bring your car home from the border so plan ahead by going to ICBC and buying a day permit for the day you plan on bringing your car across the border, back to your home. You will need your certificate of ownership for this and anything on paper from the previous owner saying they sold it to you.
COST: $184 + $100 for a/c, + 6.1% duty. + 7% GST + 32$ insurance
Now for the fun part: RIV and the Federal inspection. As of the moment you filled out your RIV papers at the Canadian border, you are given 45 days to pass the federal inspection. Sounds easy right?
The federal inspection can ONLY be done at Canadian tire.
The federal inspection checks the following:
-recalls
-daytime running lights
-air bags
-child restraint
STEP 6:
Now for your recalls, if they have not already been done, you will probably have:
A steering wheel recall and an a/c recall.
The Canadian Toyotas told me some story about how the recall required the A/C to be “retrofitted” to the new style of R34 Freon or something and wanted $500 or more to do this. The Toyota dealers in the USA however informed me that it was simply a valve that needed to be replaced and offered to do this for FREE!.
So I booked an appointment with a dealership in the US, (Bellingham is probably closest but I went to Everett because they didn’t put me on hold forever).
The recalls should only take a day about 5 hours to complete but you should book your appointment as soon as possible because parts could be backordered for as long as 4 weeks which could potentially put you past your 45 day RIV deadline.
(My steering wheel was backordered 4 weeks and put me almost past the deadline!!!)
You will then have to call Toyota USA ( not Toyota Canada) and ask for them to fax you proof that your recalls have been taken care of. It may take up to 4 days for the recalls to show up in their database.
COST: $32 insurance
STEP 7:
Daytime Running Lights
For MR2s, the daytime running lights (DRL) just turn the marker lights on whenever the key is in the ignition and are simple to install. They can be purchased from Canadian tire for about 30$. To connect them quickly (in a way that is easily reversible after you pass the inspection):
- Connect the DRL module’s green wire to your power steering positive terminal so that it can sense when the car is on. The power steering terminal is under the hood just to the left of the spare tire and has a big black wire going into it and a big white wire. Attach the DRL modules green wire to the power steering black wire terminal. That was easy enough!
- Connect the DRL modules white wire to the parking lights wire. One way to do this is by attaching the white DRL module wire to the dark green wire with grey stripes/rings on it. It can be found on the right side under the hood in the bundle of wires going towards the right headlight.
- The black DRL module wire goes to the negative battery terminal.
- The red DRL module wire goes to the positive battery terminal.
- Don’t worry about the rest of the wires, you have pop up headlights so you cant use them.
Your marker lights should now turn on when the key is in the ignition.
COST: $30
STEP 8:
AIR BAGS
One of the things in the federal inspection that must be checked is your air bags.
They check to see that the air bag light turns on for a few seconds when you start the car and then turns off. It can not stay on, and it can not stay off.
If there is something wrong with your airbag then you have three options:
1. Remove anything that would indicate you have an airbag. Replace the steering wheel with an aftermarket one or one that does not say airbag on it. Remove the air bag light. Remove the sticker on the sun visor that says air bag.
All 2nd gen MR2s did not come with air bags so they can’t tell if you ever had one or not.
2. This is a sneakier and easier approach: take out your air bag bulb and your seatbelt bulb from the cluster, and use a wire to connect the two so that the air bag bulb is powered by the seatbelt bulb. If you break a bulb get one from a wrecker because Toyota wants 5$ each. TADAA!!!
3. Pay god knows how much at Toyota for them to fix them properly.
STEP 9:
Going through the federal inspection at Canadian tire, they will sell you a child safety restraint for about 14$ and put it in your glove box. They will check your recall documentation, then turn on your car to see that the air bag light does what it’s supposed to (if you have air bags) and check that your running lights are on with the ignition.
Canadian tire will stamp your RIV paper and give you your receipt. There is no fee for the inspection itself as it is included with the price of the RIV.
COST: 14$
STEP 10:
From this point you can now register your vehicle at any ICBC agent by submitting your papers. HOWEVER! You will not be able to drive your car until you pass a provincial vehicle inspection. This should be about $75 and can be done at a provincially authorized inspection place of your choice, (personally I wouldn’t trust Canadian tire with that one,.. actually I wouldn’t even trust Canadian tire to change my oil.)
COST: 75$ for PIV, + PST + 28$ licensing
That’s it!!!
It’s a lot of work but if you plan ahead it should be no problem at all!
This process took me about 48 days because I didn’t quite know all the finer details of it.
If you cant make it by the 45 day deadline,. You have 10 days of grace. However, if you know your not going to make it, I would just call the RIV 1-800 number when you have about 4 days left and ask for an extension. If your parts are backordered etc they should be okay with giving you another few weeks extension.
http://www.riv.ca/
I hope this was informative to anyone seriously considering importing an MR2. I know it would have made a world of difference in the last 2 months of my life if I had known ALL of this ahead of time.
It was a lot of work but it was worth it, I love my MR2 and can’t think of a better or more fun car for the money.
By James
(
ImportFanatik@hotmail.com)