The last vehicle I imported was in 2000 and I believe some of the customs procedure may have changed since 9/11.
As some have already said vehicles 25 years or older are exempt from US emissions and some of the DOT Safety Standards. Less than 25 years and the vehicle has to be Federalized before it enters the country or US Customs will only release the vehicle to a DOT approved federalizing shop here in this country at your expense before you can touch it. You can choose from a list of DOT Federalizing shops that US Customs has. The car will not be released to you until the work is done.
Call US Customs.....they are there to help you and provide you with updated information on the Import Tax rate/Duty (a % of vehicle value), Custom Fees ( for paper work) and can provide you with a list of DOT SHOPs that may be able to give you an estimate of federalizing based on make and model before you bring the car over here.
I would recommend using an export agent at the point of origin to make sure paperwork and the shipping bill of lading and ships Port of Entry is correct. Once it leaves the port you do not have much control over it but you own it. You will need shipping insurance to cover any shipping damage (that was $300 to $500 in 2000).....The ship will get it across the water but they do not guarantee condition!
If you are not near the US Port of Entry into this country you can have a private import agent near the port do all the leg work and turn over your checks for the Import Tax and Customs fees and secure the release of the vehicle before you arrive (provided it does not need federalizing) The release process with US Customs can take an hour or 2 days depending on how busy they are.
You can ship two ways: RR which is Roll on Roll Off....it is the cheapest....the vehicles are just rolled down into the cargo hold (not all ships and Port of Entries handle this) (under $1000 per vehicle)
Then you have Container shipments which can be upwards of $4K to 5K per vehicle depending on how many per container. The more in the container the cheaper it is per unit. They say there is less chance of damage by salt water intrusion and impact....but still buy insurance!
It is an interesting process but do your homework. A mistake could have your vehicle sitting in a secured Customs or DOT lot with compounding daily storage fees that you are responsible for.
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FRED
Daily Driver: 98 E300TD 199K
Hobby Car: 69 Austin Mini
Past Diesels: 84 300SD, 312K
87 300SDL, 251K
94 Chev. K-1500 6.5Ltr.TD, 373K
Last edited by F18; 01-01-2008 at 01:05 PM.
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