Hi

I was wondering if anyone has experience with purchasing a Nissan 350z/370z from the United States and importing it back to Canada.

I am looking for a broker that will complete all the necessary paperwork and a transport company that will physically ship the car back to Toronto.

I have googled the process but I'm not sure which company/brokers are reputable. Any help would be great.

Thank you.

 

Why not do it yourself? Where is the car you want located?

 

I am actually looking into 350s that are currently on sale on this forum, I have seen a few that I like. For the same price, I can get a car with lower mileages in the US.

To be honest, I would rather pay a fee to have the paperwork done properly and with less hassles. The physically importing depends on the location of the car, I don't want to drive any more than 6 hours.

 

Livingston is cheap to clear the car.. But you need to babysit them.
Second if your hiring a transport company to bring it... Your going to be paying a lot. If its for example coming from the south roughly run the miles and count around 2.50$a mile. Unless you can time it right and catch a truck thats almost full already in that area and has room for one car left. If its closer to ontario it will be more a mile, if its east coast usa it will be way more.
Your best off to catch a flight and drive it up yourself. Just dont cross detroit.. Do sarnia if your crossing on that side.

 

Ow ya also expect a couple days wait before you can cross the border. Both sides will run a background check on the car. Make sure its not stolen and what not.
All the info is on the customs website and its pretty basic.

 

Honestly, it was pretty easy to do all the paperwork if that's your major concern.

Will you be looking at it first before purchasing, or buying first?

I drove down one weekend (erie, PA) looked at a car, test drove etc. I put a deposit down and got all the paper work. That week I sent all the paperwork to the border (they need min. 3 days before you bring it across to process docs) then the next weekend I drove down and picked the car up.

The only negative is that the border needs 3days to process the documents, so I wasn't able to take the car home with me when I went to check it out.

This makes it seem more complicated than it is, but outlines all the steps http://www.importcartocanada.info/gu...a-from-the-us/

 

Check these guys out, their local (in Mississauga).

http://www.vehicle-direct.ca/

 

I did the same thing as shift_Pvo. Doing the paperwork is really not that difficult. The drive is the only unknown depending on where you buy it from. I used autotrader.com to find mine and looked for cars for sale close to Buffalo.

 

Really appreciate everyone's feedback and help on this.

I am looking at cars that are "further from the USA/Canada" border because they seem to be in better condition, most likely because of the weather conditions that they have in the more southern states.

 

Also suggest AutoCheck and Carfax for background, both get vehicle history from different sources, Autocheck is more indepth.
Also have it inspected by mobile inspection companies if you can't physically test drive the car (http://www.aimmobileinspections.com/), another option with private buyers is to take it to nissan dealerships at their locations.
You would need recall letter and maybe temporary plates/tags from the State you're purchasing. Ask the seller for his help to obtain these without paying state taxes. If you're buying it from a dealer, they will get it for you (and recall letter as well). Otherwise easily obtainable from the local DMV (except MA, I think Virginia you would've to pay taxes there), NY/NJ/CT/MD/MI all close to Toronto are good places to purchase.

Even if you ship it to a location close to the border, you would need proper plates to drive it back.

 

I used a company called Mackie Auto Transport to import mine. They did all the paper work paid all fees and dropped it at my front door. I bought the car in San Diego California. This is their website http://www.mackiegroup.com/.

 

Thanks everyone for the information!!

I actually ended up finding a 350Z locally, I'm loving the car!