Buying a car in USA and moving to another country

I'm a Canadian citizen who will be graduating college (in the U.S.) in May. I've been looking at financing/leasing a car, which will, in large part, be a graduation present from my dad.

In between the current exchange rate, US vs. Cdn taxes, and the difference in price between the same car in Canada and the U.S. (an S4 in this case -- $45k in US vs. $53k in Canada), purchasing it in the U.S. seems like a no-brainer.

Given that I'm on a student visa, I'm classified as a US resident; thus, as far as Canada is concerned, I am a visitor and will be for 60 days after I graduate. As far as I know (and what has seemed to be the case), I can buy whatever I want in the U.S. while I am a student as long as it's for me. So it would seem my situation would be analogous to someone who worked in the U.S., had a car, and was transferred/moved to Canada and brought the car with them.

Does anyone have any experience with this and how financing/leasing may work? Any potential risks (ignoring exchange-rate risks)? At first glance, it appears as if I can save ~$10k doing this.

And yeah, I know I'm a spoiled brat for getting an S4.

lol, you think you are the first person to think of this? Talk to an import/export specialist. You will likely get taxed heavily for bringing over a car.

Originally Posted by Monaco

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lol, you think you are the first person to think of this? Talk to an import/export specialist. You will likely get taxed heavily for bringing over a car.
The difference is that I am currently a legal resident of the U.S., although that residency will expire in July.

Originally Posted by leftover_salmon

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The difference is that I am currently a legal resident of the U.S., although that residency will expire in July.

I don't think students are considered residents,you are non-resident.

Originally Posted by forex

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I don't think students are considered residents,you are non-resident.

I'm not a *permanent resident* (as in Green Card), but Canada considers me a visitor -- for the last four years, I have filled out my customs cards as a visitor and not had to pay duty (or been asked to pay duty) on anything I bought in the U.S. I was told by a Canada customs agent to write my home address as my U.S. address and similarly by U.S. customs agents. I'm on a student visa which isn't a whole lot different than a work visa.

Look, this is a serious question -- I would like to save $10k and I think any of you would, too. If you don't know, don't comment, please. Thanks.

Originally Posted by leftover_salmon

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I'm not a *permanent resident* (as in Green Card), but Canada considers me a visitor -- for the last four years, I have filled out my customs cards as a visitor and not had to pay duty (or been asked to pay duty) on anything I bought in the U.S. I was told by a Canada customs agent to write my home address as my U.S. address and similarly by U.S. customs agents. I'm on a student visa which isn't a whole lot different than a work visa.

Look, this is a serious question -- I would like to save $10k and I think any of you would, too. If you don't know, don't comment, please. Thanks.

Why not call Canadian Customs? See if you'll be subject to PST and/or GST. Btw, if not, you're going to save much more than 10k.

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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Why not call Canadian Customs? See if you'll be subject to PST and/or GST. Btw, if not, you're going to save much more than 10k.

Don't want them to get wise to the whole operation!

Actually, I'm having my dad look into it through his lawyer/account/customs guys...he's an importer so he should be able to get some kind of answer. I was just curious if anyone here has had actual experience.

How do you figure much more than $10k? In Canadian dollars, it's about $46k pretax in the U.S. and $53k in Canada. Figure I can bargain those down to $44k and 51k. Slap on 6% tax in PA and 13% in Ontario, and we have $46.5k and $60k. Actually, writing it out, you're right. Even if I pay duty on the car, how bad could it be? $3,000? I still save 10k.

Originally Posted by leftover_salmon

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I'm not a *permanent resident* (as in Green Card), but Canada considers me a visitor -- for the last four years, I have filled out my customs cards as a visitor and not had to pay duty (or been asked to pay duty) on anything I bought in the U.S. I was told by a Canada customs agent to write my home address as my U.S. address and similarly by U.S. customs agents. I'm on a student visa which isn't a whole lot different than a work visa.

Look, this is a serious question -- I would like to save $10k and I think any of you would, too. If you don't know, don't comment, please. Thanks.
Contrary to that border agent, I don't think you are supposed to declare yourself a visitor to Canada. You present your Canadian passport, don't you? I'm in a similar situation (Canadian studying in the US), and we are considered "nonresident aliens". It is not similar to a work visa. Doesn't bar me from having to pay social security benefits I'll never recover though . . . I would not personally advise buying a car on financing and moving it to Canada. If you plan to purchase it outright, you have to be careful as well since some car dealers won't sell to Canadians, so don't tell them. Make sure your warranty will be valid in Canada A quick Google search will turn up many answers to your question. Ensure that your car is actually allowed into Canada. Some manufacturers have different specs for emissions, etc., that will give you a hard time. Ideally, you want to have all your paperwork ready so the border crossing process will be quick. Factor in the CADUSD conversion rate/fees, depreciation (some people will judge imported cars when you eventually sell it), taxes, duties, and overall hassle, you will probably only save close to $5k. And whoop-de-doo, a S4. You'll learn in time it's better to buy a car to suit your needs.

Originally Posted by leftover_salmon

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Don't want them to get wise to the whole operation!

Actually, I'm having my dad look into it through his lawyer/account/customs guys...he's an importer so he should be able to get some kind of answer. I was just curious if anyone here has had actual experience.

How do you figure much more than $10k? In Canadian dollars, it's about $46k pretax in the U.S. and $53k in Canada. Figure I can bargain those down to $44k and 51k. Slap on 6% tax in PA and 13% in Ontario, and we have $46.5k and $60k. Actually, writing it out, you're right. Even if I pay duty on the car, how bad could it be? $3,000? I still save 10k.

Also, what is the gas guzzler tax? I remember it was 3.2k on a Jeep Cherokee when I left Ontario in the 1990s. I can't see that tax has declined.

I have done this and I'm a citizen and resident of Canada. I brought over a 350Z for $12k less and after all was said and done, saved $8k. You pay GST at the border, but you pay GST on all cars purchased in Canada anyways. Here's your steps 1) Check to see if it is admissible at http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/safev...ist2/VAFUS.pdf 2) Call Audi (1-800-822-2834) will sell to Canadians on border towns and whether the warranty is valid in Canada. I know Honda does not do either. You may have to go one state deep before anyone will sell to you, although this only applies to new vehicles. 3) Get insurance in Canada. 4) Call the dealer you are interested in and tell them to fax the Certificate of Title to the border crossing. Do this for all cars you are mildly interested in. Must be done 3 days in advance - although I got by with 2 days. 5) Pay 5% GST and duties, depending on whether the car is made in USA or Canada. An S4 is assembled in Germany and hence you will pay duties. 6) Eventually get the proof of recall clearance from the dealer. 7) Register your vehicle. In all likelihood it will be cheaper, just a bit of a pain **********.

Originally Posted by leftover_salmon

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Slap on 6% tax in PA and 13% in Ontario, and we have $46.5k and $60k.

You don't pay PST.

Originally Posted by intent

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Contrary to that border agent, I don't think you are supposed to declare yourself a visitor to Canada. You present your Canadian passport, don't you? I'm in a similar situation (Canadian studying in the US), and we are considered "nonresident aliens". It is not similar to a work visa. Doesn't bar me from having to pay social security benefits I'll never recover though . . .
I still think you're wrong. I have probably gone back and forth between Canada and the U.S. over 20 times since I started attending university in the US. Every time I have filled out the "Visitor" portion of my customs declaration, and every time a Canadian customs agent asks why, and every time I say I'm a student, and every time he nods his head and checks "US V" at the top of the customs card. (And these are obviously different customs agents each time.) If I was on a work visa, or even a green card, I would still present my Canadian passport because I'd still be a Canadian citizen. And you should look into recuperating Canadian taxes due to your studying in the U.S.; I know my dad has his accountant get us a lot of money back. None of the Google searches have satisfied me as 99% of them are for border-hoppers, not people living in the U.S. who move back to Canada.

Originally Posted by chrisjustinparr

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I have done this and I'm a citizen and resident of Canada. I brought over a 350Z for $12k less and after all was said and done, saved $8k. You pay GST at the border, but you pay GST on all cars purchased in Canada anyways. Here's your steps 1) Check to see if it is admissible at http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/safev...ist2/VAFUS.pdf 2) Call Audi (1-800-822-2834) will sell to Canadians on border towns and whether the warranty is valid in Canada. I know Honda does not do either. You may have to go one state deep before anyone will sell to you, although this only applies to new vehicles. 3) Get insurance in Canada. 4) Call the dealer you are interested in and tell them to fax the Certificate of Title to the border crossing. Do this for all cars you are mildly interested in. Must be done 3 days in advance - although I got by with 2 days. 5) Pay 5% GST and duties, depending on whether the car is made in USA or Canada. An S4 is assembled in Germany and hence you will pay duties. 6) Eventually get the proof of recall clearance from the dealer. 7) Register your vehicle. In all likelihood it will be cheaper, just a bit of a pain **********.
I've looked into a lot of this process. Audi does honor warranties and the car is admissible into Canada. My question is, can I avoid the duties or other charges by claiming I bought it while I was living in the U.S.? It seems like complete bullshit -- let's say I bought the car in the U.S. three years ago and drove it there for three years. All of the sudden, upon crossing the border to move back to Canada, I have to cough up over $5k in taxes and duties? Like I said, my situation is slightly different because I'm not hopping the border just to buy a car -- I'm buying it to use for some time in the U.S. while I reside there. It just so happens I'm buying it close to my stay expiring. What if I were here on a work visa and suddenly got transferred? What if I bought the car as a freshman and had my student visa revoked and got sent back to Canada? This is really ******* pissing me off the more I think about it. If Canadian dealers can't compete on price, the government shouldn't steal my money on a car that is made in Germany anyways! Biggest issue is financing. How do you get it for the cars you've bought? It seems as if it's unobtainable in the U.S. for Canadian citizens or people who otherwise do not have SSNs. Finally, why don't I pay PST?

chrisjustinparr advice is pretty much spot on.

As far as financing goes, no one in the US will give you financing if you're exporting the car to Canada. They want the car to stay in the country where you have the financing in case you default on payments and they have to repo it. That means you will need cash or have to make arrangements for financing it in Canada.

Customs and duties are a fact of life you just have to deal with. The only way to be 100% sure about the rules for your situation is to call Canada customs and speak directly to them, after all, they're the final authority on how much you get charged. If you find a way around this on account of your student visa, I'd be quite interested to hear it. This is why most auto dealers don't bother importing foreign made vehicles from the US, they specifically focus on bringing in the ones assembled in the US because the import duties they pay at the border basically kills any savings in alot of cases.


You say you'll save $10K by bringing it in, but talking to car dealers I've worked with, it generally costs around $4K end to end to bring the car into Canada for them. Since you're doing it as a one-off if might cost you a little more. Keep in mind you probably need to get some work done on it light modifying the bumper and getting daytime running lights to comply with Canadian laws as they differ slightly from American laws.

This leaves you with potential savings of $6K... before you even deal with duties. I have no idea how much duties will be, but if you're paying something like 10% duties, it probably won't even be worth it to buy it from the US and you may as well just pick it up at a dealership in Canada and save yourself the headache.

I've calculated that with State sales tax, duties and GST, I can still save around $7k.