Why Can't I Import a Foreign Car?

[Passport1]

Hopefully this won't be taken as a polemic about topics not allowed on this site.

I'd like to import a car from say France, Germany or Italy which is not sold in the US,
unless the vehicle is >25 years old or at least not w/o some huge expenses to bring the car to US specs.

I am aware of all the rules and customs regulations regarding this topic but they all seem incandescently absurd and punitive. I've talked to my congress critter about this several times and written about it but there seems to be little interest in addressing this issue.

Next year I can import a 1995 model vehicle with little fuss but not now. What the difference would a few months make?

I guess my saaaaaaaaafty trumps (no pun intended) my right to determine what's best for me?

While this matters little to most people it galls many car enthusiasts. BTW there is law that skirts this a bit called, Show and Display law. Bill Gates is able to drive his 959 Porsche because lots of wealthy car buffs got an exemption. Most of us don't have the money to buy the type of cars that got on that list.

I don't think this is fair, change my mind.

 

[02SE]

 

[Olas]

Is there a specific law to prohibit you from buying parts and building a kit car? Freight and shipping might cost more but if you buy a shell, and engine, a diff and some wheels at seperate times and build a car in your driveway from the parts that you bought, then you may be able to register a kit car or some other specialty vehicle.
Or label it a 'race car' and register it later?
Pay the seller to leave the date on the invoice blank, stick it in a shipping container and do the paperwork later?
Buy it whilst overseas and swap the vin/fudge the paperwork before you bring it over
Ship to Mexico and drive it over
There are many ways to get the car home, you can worry about the minutiae later

 

[sloinker]

I think any car should be importable as long as it has deluxe Lucas electrics onboard.

 

[bdcardinal]

In California it is an emissions thing. Vehicles 1976 and newer have to be smogged every other year.

 

[pitzel]

Originally Posted by sloinker
I think any car should be importable as long as it has deluxe Lucas electrics onboard.


Which usually means it spends far more time undergoing maintenance than its actually available for use...

 

[JLTD]

I thought that importing a vehicle was simple, IF it adheres to US standards - safety and emissions. For example, you can import a new Volvo...pick it up at the factory, drive it to the port and the ship brings it over to you. MB has the same IIRC.

Your vehicle probably doesn't meet the standards, so has to be imported as a classic, 25-year-old vehicle. It's not 25 until 2020. So wait 3 months.

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by Passport1
Hopefully this won't be taken as a polemic about topics not allowed on this site.

I'd like to import a car from say France, Germany or Italy which is not sold in the US,
unless the vehicle is >25 years old or at least not w/o some huge expenses to bring the car to US specs.

I am aware of all the rules and customs regulations regarding this topic but they all seem incandescently absurd and punitive. I've talked to my congress critter about this several times and written about it but there seems to be little interest in addressing this issue.

Next year I can import a 1995 model vehicle with little fuss but not now. What the difference would a few months make?

I guess my saaaaaaaaafty trumps (no pun intended) my right to determine what's best for me?

While this matters little to most people it galls many car enthusiasts. BTW there is law that skirts this a bit called, Show and Display law. Bill Gates is able to drive his 959 Porsche because lots of wealthy car buffs got an exemption. Most of us don't have the money to buy the type of cars that got on that list.

I don't think this is fair, change my mind.

Actually you CAN import any car you want age regardless but you will not be able to use it on public roads. Just import and say on papers for use on private property only.

 

[SZR48207]

Protectionism for domestic makers is part of it.

But the other aspect is crash safety.


For the longest time I wanted to import a Nissan Tsuru from Mexico since you could get a "2015" model of a car that hadn't changed since the 80s. Dead simple car.

But I looked into it and CBP has rules for which cars can be imported into the US and the inevitable conclusion is it's just easier to buy here.

https://www.cbp.gov/trade/basic-import-export/importing-car

 

[Passport1]

Mancunians have a wry sense of humor. In a sensible world your suggestions would work however on this side of the pond we are hobbled by hyper dense bureaucracies that would gleefully crush my newly acquired, illegally imported vehicle into a mass the size of a refrigerator.

There is this case of a citizen that brought in a grey market Land Rover Discovery.

WARNING, video contains disturbing content;

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/...er-defender-gets-crushed-by-u-s-customs/

 

[Onetor]

Purchase vehicle for off road use. Or have it shipped north or south and drive over border.

 

[Fawteen]

Originally Posted by Passport1
Next year I can import a 1995 model vehicle with little fuss but not now. What the difference would a few months make?


There has to be a cutoff point somewhere, and it's not open to changing by a few months. If they skirt the import laws by 2 or 3 months for you, then they have to skirt them by 5 or 6 months for someone else who moans and complains loudly, and then by a year for someone else who moans and complains even louder. Pretty simple-if you want to play with toys like that you have to follow the rules. If you can't follow the rules then you don't get to play.

Originally Posted by Passport1
WARNING, video contains disturbing content;
https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/...er-defender-gets-crushed-by-u-s-customs/


Disturbing? Not really. It's a grey market vehicle that has no business being in the United States. Good riddance, and at least we benefit from the scrap value.

 

[KenshinHimura]

Originally Posted by Reddy45
Protectionism for domestic makers is part of it.

But the other aspect is crash safety.


Mercedes was actually one of the ones who pushed the hardest for the 25 year rule.

 

[97prizm]

Actually importing a car as a "KIT" is highly illegal. This is what got MOTOREX into hot water. They were importing R33 and R34's as kits and assembling them here, bypassing the testing rules. Yeah it sucks but thankfully people like bill gates can use their ability to get a Show and display law enacted. I think there are 250-300 on the list. As long as the car passes emissions I think you should be able to Import any vehicle. You can partially blame Ferrari of all things for this happening. In the late 70's there wasn't really any rules on importing a vehicle. IN fact the Ferrari 512 BBI wasn't officially sold in the USA but you could order one if you really wanted one. I wrote a paper about this a few years back. Essentially what caused this is when the dollar was very strong against the Lira and Deutschemark in the late 80's people wanted Ferrari's and Mercedes-Benz's and started importing "Grey Market" cars. The NHSTA or what it was in the early 80's caught wind of this. Many importers complied by "installing" a metal bar across the door and occasionally a catalytic converter without hooking it up getting "passed" in inspection. In 1982 there were less than 5,000 Grey Market vehicles imported, by 1988 over 50,000 were imported with very few actually passing USA regulation.

 

[NormanBuntz]

Originally Posted by JLTD
I thought that importing a vehicle was simple, IF it adheres to US standards - safety and emissions. For example, you can import a new Volvo...pick it up at the factory, drive it to the port and the ship brings it over to you. MB has the same IIRC.

The difference is that new Volvo is built for you with U.S. safety and emissions specs. Not so with that 26 year old Porsche you may like in France. AND you can't just go to Europe as Joe US Citizen and do the deal on a 25+ year old car. I'm pretty sure you have to use a U.S. agent or licensed importer. Then the car has to be government inspected at the port before you can take it away.

The process is a PITA.

 

[MrHorspwer]

H.R.2628 - Imported Vehicle Safety Compliance Act of 1988 is the regulation that makes grey market imports illegal.

While the act itself specifically points to safety as the reason, as noted by 97prizm, economic conditions and a strong dollar made grey-market importing incredibly lucrative in the '80s. Significantly affected was Mercedes Benz of North America, which was competing against with 20,000+ grey-market imports of Mercedes Benz vehicles each year. They poured millions into the lobbying effort to construct and pass the bill.

As a sign of the times, Rain Main used grey-market imports as a plot device: Charlie Babbitt was a grey-market importer who was upside down on a couple of Lamborghinis.

Funnily enough, Rain Man was released about a month after Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law. Charlie's Lamborghinis would have been totally illegal in the real world at the time.

 

[skyactiv]

Originally Posted by Reddy45
Protectionism for domestic makers is part of it.

But the other aspect is crash safety.


For the longest time I wanted to import a Nissan Tsuru from Mexico since you could get a "2015" model of a car that hadn't changed since the 80s. Dead simple car.

But I looked into it and CBP has rules for which cars can be imported into the US and the inevitable conclusion is it's just easier to buy here.

https://www.cbp.gov/trade/basic-import-export/importing-car

 

[ArrestMeRedZ]

I do know a fellow (no longer with us) that did it successfully. Bought a new German spec Porsche in Germany. When he came back, took the paperwork (sans car) to the Florida DMV and got his plates. Went to Canada where he had the car shipped, and installed his plates. Drove back across the border in his Florida titled and registered car looking like every other American tourist. Could not have done it without the plates. Florida apparently didn't check the car meets U.S. specs, and with Florida plates, customs just assumed the car had previously been imported.

 

[MrHorspwer]

Originally Posted by Onetor
Purchase vehicle for off road use. Or have it shipped north or south and drive over border.


There are no provisions for "off road use". There are provisions for competition and the aforementioned show and display rules, but the burden is placed on the importer to show why it should be allowed and, ultimately, the Department of Transportation is the one who says it should be allowed or not.

Originally Posted by ArrestMeRedZ
I do know a fellow (no longer with us) that did it successfully. Bought a new German spec Porsche in Germany. When he came back, took the paperwork (sans car) to the Florida DMV and got his plates. Went to Canada where he had the car shipped, and installed his plates. Drove back across the border in his Florida titled and registered car looking like every other American tourist. Could not have done it without the plates. Florida apparently didn't check the car meets U.S. specs, and with Florida plates, customs just assumed the car had previously been imported.


Getting the vehicle onto American soil isn't successfully importing it. It's still illegal and the feds will still crush your car when they catch up.

This Skyline was brought in to Florida by playing tricks at the border. It was then sold to a gentleman in Ohio, where it passed inspection, was plated, and insured. Eventually, it was the insurance company who flagged it. When the feds caught up, the result was the same:

I'm pretty sure the government sent him a bill for crushing it as well.

 

[fdcg27]

There have been some dodgy importers who brought in non-complying cars and titled them as something legal in a state with user-friendly titling procedures.
There was a guy some years back importing Honda Beats and titling them as ancient Civics in such a state.
A Beat would be a hoot, but I doubt that many of these mid-motor beauties survived long in use on US roads.
Too obviously non-complying, as are most really desirable models never available here.
Of course, a Beat would be old enough now to import legally, as would many other entertaining cars never offered here.