So here's the way-too-long story of my Canadian car-buying search and purchase:
- I live in Seattle and was looking at manual hatchbacks, specifically the upper-end trims of the Toyota Matrix / Vibe, Scion xB, and Mazda3 Hatchback.
- The Canadian market has several advantages (exchange rate, lower miles/kms on most cars, more manual transmission cars in general, seemingly cheaper used car market) so I decided to look up there as well as locally.
- There was a beautiful 2010 Mazda3 6-speed in Vancouver, but after going down the path of getting a letter from Mazda to confirm the safety and emissions conformed to US standards, we discovered that while identical in nearly every aspect, the Canadian models in that year (and possibly through the 2012 model) don't have tire pressure monitoring systems. It's $2-3K to add that, so that option was scuttled.
- I had been in touch with a guy for his 2003 Toyota Matrix XRS for a couple weeks. It was originally from California but had been exported to Canada. I had requested the manufacturer's certificate/statement online from Toyota but they came back asking for proof of ownership, so the seller had to take over from there. As an aside, ownership wasn't an issue for the Mazda request and I was able to get that directly in ~3 days. Anyway, the Matrix seller was able to go to his local Toyota dealership and get it within a day.
- With that in place, we went up, saw and drove the car, negotiated a price (down from the tentatively agreed-upon price due to more work I felt the car needed), and then went to the ICBC (Canadian licensing/insurance/registration office). That part actually took the longest. As a heads up to Americans, Canadian license plates are tied to their insurance, so they keep their plates and you are obligated to buy a temporary operating permit (~$35) with temporary paper plates and insurance to get it to the border. We also had to pay some unexpected taxes but more on that later.
- We then drove both our cars back to the border and went through U.S. Customs. Getting through Customs only took about 15 minutes. It was Saturday evening at that point and traffic was fairly light. All the paperwork was in order, so it was just procedural. Additionally, we didn't have to pay any import tax (since the car was made in North America; and since it was originally a U.S. car). They give you a stamped Entry Summary form to be used later when registering the vehicle. Unfortunately it was too late to head to the registration office at that point, but since it needed emissions, we couldn't have officially registered it then anyway.
- On Monday I stopped by one registration office who informed me that it needed emissions before registration could move forward. They gave me an estimate of all the fees and I bought a $5 two-day temporary operating permit.
- The car passed emissions on Tuesday and I was able to get it registered. The official registration office wasn't convenient at that point so I went to another, which ended up being greatly beneficial. The original office was oblivious, but the new office informed me that the PST tax paid on the Canadian Transfer/Tax Form (~$388) was deductible from the U.S. tax. So while the Canadian tax was unexpected, it netted out to be a non-issue.
- I anticipate another ~$1500-1800 for new tires and suspension (which is badly needed) but all told, I should have a great car for less than $5500.
- I've also debated turning around and selling it. Aspects of the car are fantastic (the engine, efficiency, and utility of the vehicle), but it's loud on the road and the handling isn't great. Both those should get much better with the tires and suspension, but whether or not they get to the point where I'm happy with them is a toss-up.
- We thought the purchase would be faster and Customs would be much slower. The opposite was true, but the end result was about what we expected. It took four hours from the time we first met the seller, to getting it past Customs.
- All in all, it wasn't too tough to make it all happen. But if you go in knowing it's going to be a somewhat glacial process, and you're willing to walk away from the deal if it's not the right car or other issues come up, it's a decent option. And we planned a weekend getaway into the trip as well, so outside of the car-buying process, we ate some great food, enjoyed the area, and brought back some Canadian craft beer to share with friends.