brookel

Hi Steve, OH planning on putting some camping stuff in car, which will be in container. Did stuff of yours get stolen from car on RORO? thanks, brookel

Dave n Ailsa

I thought the containers were sealed here, and only opened if customs wanted to inspect?

How could anything get stolen without having an obvious culprit?

Dave n Ailsa

Please explain how this helps prevent fires.

I've been thinking about it since you posted but just can't imagine a scenario where burning a filament in a little glass capsule in an unattended vehicle could be seen as a good way of preventing fires, lol.

Oakvillian

In my case, the car was driven up to stops on the floor for the front wheels, and chocks were nailed in right behind the back wheels. It was also strapped down to D-rings in the floor. None of the tie-down straps were undone until I received the car at this end, and it was completely undamaged (apart from being a little damp - there's an old thread somewhere about the ridiculous saga of its $600 car wash in Montreal...)
Quite. My car was shipped in a container. It was driven in, under my old man's supervision, in Southampton. It was sealed there and then. The container was opened in Montreal for CFIA's inspection and cleaning (I suppose somebody could have half-inched stuff then, but I'd know exactly who it was, because I have a name, signature and "bonded facility" info). It was then re-sealed, and opened under my supervision after customs clearance (CBSA didn't want to inspect) at the container terminal in Toronto from where I drove the car home. It's extremely unlikely that a sealed, sole-use container would be opened en route. Groupage is a different matter, because there are other interested parties and less control and oversight of where and when the container gets its customs seal.

jeridoo

Hi Guys,
I've shipped cars from Canada to Europe and from Europe to Canada. 15+ year old cars are really simple as some other people explained. I suggest container and just have them fixate the vehicle with 2x4's (around the tire). This costs you about 250 bucks but the car cannot move. Just putting it in and pulling the handbrake is not a good way to go. Those ocean liners make jumps as high as 40 feet and it tosses the stuff around. Ro/Ro is good too, usually not a big problem on NEW cars as they are shipped on the same floor with manufacturer vehicles. A Maersk Ro/Ro holds about 4000 cars. But the used ones are treated with much less respect because the folks at the port have 4 days to load 4000 cars onto one boat.

I even imported some brand new, non Canadian spec, vehicles into Canada. What you need to do is leave the foreign plate on it and bring it under a tourist visa (friend or other family member not living there). I suggest a family member. This way I got my hands onto brand new Alfa Romeo's or Mercedes Vans (Viano) which are not sold in Canada. Downside, you might get pulled over once in a while and asked stupid questions, but the law is simple. Tourist cars can stay for up to one year (international driving law) and people with a non-permanent work permit can keep their foreign car as long as their work permit is valid (3-4 years). There is also a way to bring it as a student and even put a Canadian plate on it. However, the temporary title will be noted with "cannot not be sold or transferred within Canada". I was lucky a few times and they just let the car in, however one time I had to pay 13% taxes (a deposit or bond) on the value of the car. Which wasn't bad as they saw the invoice, plus I showed them on the computer how much this car would be worth overseas with the 10'000 km it had on it. So, it was like $1300. When I shipped the car out after a year, I got the money back within 10 days.

I also shipped a car from the US to Australia once and even though DOTARS confirmed it to be tax free as a tourist vehicle, I had to put a label on the back "left hand car" (which I removed the moment I drove off the lot) and I had to pay a steep $44'000 TAX bond (like in Canada) on the value of the car, which they take the PRICE it would cost in Australia and the cars there are stupid expensive. Plus a left hand car would cost about $40'000 to convert if you want to keep it.

Ro/Ro and the light on. That is not true. They don't leave the lights on. They just said that to make up a story. They have to turn off all lights, Radio's and stuff....but what can I say, those guys loading the cars are sometimes abusing the vehicles.

Matter of fact, I just bought a 15 year old Alfa Romeo Spyder in prime condition with only 80'000 km on it, will bring that into Canada, drive it for a month or two and then sell it.

Feel free to ask me any questions before you ship your car. My buddy from Southhampten shipped his Vauxhall VSX (Monaro) little did he know they sold this vehicle as a Pontiac GTO with the 6.0 lt V8 and 450 hp in the USA/Canada and he should have sold his VSX in England and bought a used on in Canada, he would have saved about 12'000 and end up with a left hand drive. His VSX is pretty much unsaleable and conversion is too expensive. Keep that in mind, nobody wants a right-hand drive in Canada. Just a tip.
Cheers
Guido

MikeUK

I woudl say it all depends... being right-hand drive for my mini adds value,
I believe the same goes for other cars that might be lumped together as british classics

fletcher m

What about LR Defenders, are they sought after in Canada in RHD or is it best in LHD? Cheers. fletch

mooska

Hi Guidi,

Question. I am bringing a sprinter to Canada, around fall of 2013. It was made in 1999 so it will not be 15 years old just yet. But I also learnt that if you planning to settle in Canada, you can bring your own vehicle from your country?
Have you heard about it?

cheers

vadim

Former Lancastrian

Importing vehicles from countries other than the United States

You cannot import a vehicle that was manufactured to meet the safety standards of a country other than the United States or Canada unless the vehicle is the following:
• 15 years old or older (excluding buses);
• a bus manufactured before January 1, 1971; or
• entering Canada temporarily.

If the vehicle you are planning to import into Canada is less than 15 years old or is a bus manufactured on or after January 1, 1971, you must prove that your vehicle qualifies for one of the above exemptions. You can find details on determining the age of a vehicle, types of temporary imports and conditions under which a vehicle may be imported temporarily by referring to the previous section called "Importing vehicles acquired in the United States."

In your case I would be very careful of the age as you will run into headaches if it is not 15 years or older. See these links
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publicati...48-eng.html#s4
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publicati...2-2-1-eng.html

Steve_

Oh they were pretty sure they knew where it happened, but how do you prove it? In my case the container was shipped up the coast and then out across the Atlantic, they reckoned it happened at the port where the container was transferred. "Sealed" doesn't mean you can't get into the container, it's only sealed with a lock. They have to have the car keys to allow customs inspection, etc. I drove the car into the container myself.

Basically someone got in the car, pulled out the boxes, went through them, nicked anything of value and put them back in the car so it looked as though they hadn't been tampered with. And here was me thinking I was being clever by locking the boxes in the car.

Do not use your car as a shipping container - this is good advice. If you DON'T give them the keys, then customs will simply break into the car to inspect the boxes.

Steve_

You could put it in a bonded warehouse and pay storage costs until it hits 15 years, but honestly for any ordinary car I think shipping it over is a waste of time and money. If you've got something collectable it might be.

haggis88

more info on this please!

i was going to bring my Civic Type-R with me, but decided to sell it because all i could find was that imports had to be >15yo and vehicles in the province for more than 90 days had to be registered in that province (or something like that)

i'd thought about getting the first model Civic Type-R (15 years old this year) over next summer, but if i could get one of the newer ones in with this tourist visa thing then i'd probably prefer to do that! My TWP is for 2 years just now, and may get extended to 3 years if i don't go for PR

R I C H

Why subject yourself to sitting on the wrong side of the road, possibly higher insurance premiums (as if they're not high enough already) for the sake of something like a Civic?

haggis88

because race car