I wonder if this car could be brought to the US from Canada? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

lietuviai · #1 07-04-2007, 05:11 PM

Saw this interesting MB on ebay just now. Since it's registered in Canada now, I wonder if it could then be registered in the US.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mercedes-Benz-300-Series-W124-MERCEDES-300-TE-WAGON-CERT-E-TEST-WARRANTY-5-SPEED_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6330QQihZ014QQitemZ330142432057QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

lino · #2 07-04-2007, 05:46 PM

I don't know the rules for the US, but for Canada the rules are easy.
If the car does not have a Canadian or US compliance label, then you can import any car you want as long as it is 15 years old to the month and older (not newer!)

Importing from the US - follow this link:
www.riv.ca

Importing anywhere else - follow this link:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/importation/menu.htm

Last but not least, here is a sie with some very informative people that may be able to help you:
http://www.ivoac.ca/pn/

Good Luck!

lietuviai · #3 07-04-2007, 05:54 PM

I wish I lived in Canada!

POS · #4 07-04-2007, 08:11 PM

It would be a pain in the butt - but it could be done. One primary issue - Canadians are used to rust.

lietuviai · #5 07-04-2007, 08:35 PM

According to the listing the car has yet to see the salt used on their roads. It only arrived on this continent last month.

Jim B. · #6 07-04-2007, 11:19 PM

It is a tasty wagon, all right. (Manual and a dog screen!!) Fairly rare color, too. Apparently the guy knows his knowledge; he's successfully imported this and a BMW wagon into Canada.

It could certainly be brought in from Canada, but would take about 6 months of waiting for everything and cost probably $6,000 - $10,000 to get one into the USA legally, which would probably wipe out a lot of the incentive.

It might be a German TUV inspection failure, though, and was pulled off the road. Those inspections are really strict, and the cars that don't make it are very often sold really cheap (400-500 euros for a car like this) to the
immigrants that bring them back to West Africa, Lebanon, Turkey, Albania and places like that.

lietuviai · #7 07-04-2007, 11:30 PM

Tempting if it could cross the US border but not for another 6K to 10K.

dukegrad98 · #8 07-04-2007, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim B.

...the cars that don't make it are very often sold really cheap (400-500 euros for a car like this) to the
immigrants that bring them back to West Africa, Lebanon, Turkey, Albania and places like that...

There's a similar phenomenon here in Texas. Mexicans (real ones that live in Mexico -- not to be confused with our ever-burgeoning population of illegal aliens) will come over and buy total-loss cars from insurance auctions. Then they tow 'em back over the border and use them over there, presumably with a few repairs.

The "Mexican Caravan" is an interesting phenomenon of one marginally functional minivan towing several crashed cars using chains. The longest one I've seen was a total of five cars. I'm not making this up -- one tow van, going half the speed limit down an interstate, with four junkers sequentially chained behind it...each junker with its own "driver" to make sure they don't create their own "Mexican Caravan Pile-Up." I'd bet a tank of high-octane gas that not one of them is insured, but that's OK, because everyone in Texas has an uninsured/underinsured motorist policy.

And to think our state legislature and troopers let this kind of junk go on every day!!!

//END POINTLESS RANT//

About the only useful thing that I can add here is that the U.S. does have a time-based allowance for cars that were never imported. I believe once they are 20 years old, they can be brought over and registered, but only for limited road use. This is how a lot of folks finally got the famous 1980s Porsche 959 over to the U.S. legally. I've seen a couple out and about, and you see them pop up in the Dupont Registry now and then, generally already titled in the U.S.

Cheers, John

lietuviai · #9 07-05-2007, 12:18 AM

A few years ago I was looking for a diesel powered SUV and searching around I came upon a few Diesel Land Cruisers. These were JDM spec vehicles that were also RHD. They some how had found their way into the US, registered and licensed, via Canada. I liked the novelty alone of the RHD configuration. I couldn't justify paying nearly double the price of a gasser for one these so I quit pursuing owning one.

Zeus · #10 07-05-2007, 09:35 AM

Should be doable. Before I bought my E430, I looked into bringing a US vehicle into Canada. No way. There are far too many restrictions, and Canadian standards are higher - new bumper, instrument cluster, etc.

So I think going the other way, you should be fine. It'll take some homework and a lot of paperwork. I'm curious as to why you can't find a decent one stateside? Esp. since our currencies are almost at par - i.e. no big savings to you in that regard.

lietuviai · #11 07-05-2007, 09:28 PM

The fact that this one is a 5 speed manual and Euro spec 6 cylinder makes it nearly impossible to find in the US. Plus in Euro trim it looks nicer than the US model.

anziani · #12 07-06-2007, 11:16 AM

My E420 was sold originally in Canada to a major league hockey player. He ultimately ended up in Anaheim playing for the Ducks. I have all of the paperwork since the car was new. There was only a passing reference to changing the speedometer from metric to English. There were no expensive invoices to be found. Hope this helps.
Anziani

'95 E420 106K
'87 300E 190K