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It sounded like a pretty far-fetched idea at first, but it is actually
much simpler than it seems. Buying a car on eBay is the same as buying
any other item on eBay - you bid or buy, then you pay, then you get the
item - the only difference is a car is typically a lot more expensive
than most other items on eBay, and when you live in Canada, most of the
car selection is south of the border.
If you find a car on eBay located in the United States that you are interested in, before doing anything, you will want to check to see if the vehicle is even admissible to be imported into Canada. The Registrar of Imported Vehicles (www.riv.ca) publishes a list on there website of cars you can and cannot import into Canada. This is usually due to differences in American and Canadian safety standards.
When you buy a car on eBay you will want to take all the regular precautions you would with any auction - make sure the seller is legit, maybe give him or her a call, etc. etc. In addition to this, you will also want to run an Autocheck report to make sure the vehicle has a clean title, as well as a Carchex Inspection to make sure that the car is in good running order and it will arrive as you expect. Also make sure the car has no outstanding recalls on it as this will prevent you from being able to import it.
As soon as you pay for the car, arrange to have the title document, the bill of sale and, if you can, a vehicle clearance letter sent to you via courrier. You will need to fax in a copy of the vehicle title to the US customs office at the gate of which you intend to import the car into Canada. You are legally required to do this at least 72 hours of business days in advance of the time the car gets imported so that they can run checks on it such as outstanding debts and stolen car reports etc.
You can choose to either pick the vehicle up yourself or have the vehicle shipped. You can also choose whether you want to take care of the importation paperwork yourself, or if you want a customs broker to do it for you.
The easiest option would be to find a shipping and customs brokerage company to do it for you, the cheapest route would be to do it all yourself. Being the cheapo that I am, we decided to pick it up and do the paperwork ourselves.
Arrange for insurance on the vehicle and go to the place where you bought the car from. Dealers will provide you with temporary trip permits. If you aren't buying from a dealer you will need a temporary trip permit from the local DMV. Not all states will provide temporary permits to out-of-state drivers, so make sure you check this out in advance. In such a case, you may be able to keep the current American plate that is on the car.
We bought from a dealer, so this wasn't much hassle at all. We drove the car to the border and stopped at US customs where they checked the VIN number on the Certification label against the actual title, asked us a few questions and we were on our way.
Crossing into Canada was pretty much just as simple. We stopped at the gate, we told him we were importing a car, he asked us to go park it and go inside to do some paperwork. We layed out all the documentation we collected over the course of this process, filled out a form, payed some GST and the $200 RIV fee and we were done. They gave us a copy of the import form and we we on our way home.
Within a few days you'll get a second form in the mail which you need to have filled out at a Canadian tire within 45 days. Get the modifications done to your vehicle (usually just daytime running lights or km/h speedometer). Make an appointment with your local Canadian tire to have a federal inpection. This will be free of charge. If the vehicle passes inspection they will fill out the second import form and hand it to you. You'll also get a new sticker to affix to the frame of the car.
You can then drag all the paperwork you've collected to your provincial motor vehicle office where you can finally register the vehicle! You will be required to pay whatever your provincial sales tax is (usually on the Vehicle's blue book value). Once it's registered, your done! You can now show off your U.S. vehicle to all your friends!
For more info about buying cars on eBay or importing cars into Canada, I've posted some helpful resources on my eBay blog page page for anyone interested.
If you find a car on eBay located in the United States that you are interested in, before doing anything, you will want to check to see if the vehicle is even admissible to be imported into Canada. The Registrar of Imported Vehicles (www.riv.ca) publishes a list on there website of cars you can and cannot import into Canada. This is usually due to differences in American and Canadian safety standards.
When you buy a car on eBay you will want to take all the regular precautions you would with any auction - make sure the seller is legit, maybe give him or her a call, etc. etc. In addition to this, you will also want to run an Autocheck report to make sure the vehicle has a clean title, as well as a Carchex Inspection to make sure that the car is in good running order and it will arrive as you expect. Also make sure the car has no outstanding recalls on it as this will prevent you from being able to import it.
As soon as you pay for the car, arrange to have the title document, the bill of sale and, if you can, a vehicle clearance letter sent to you via courrier. You will need to fax in a copy of the vehicle title to the US customs office at the gate of which you intend to import the car into Canada. You are legally required to do this at least 72 hours of business days in advance of the time the car gets imported so that they can run checks on it such as outstanding debts and stolen car reports etc.
You can choose to either pick the vehicle up yourself or have the vehicle shipped. You can also choose whether you want to take care of the importation paperwork yourself, or if you want a customs broker to do it for you.
The easiest option would be to find a shipping and customs brokerage company to do it for you, the cheapest route would be to do it all yourself. Being the cheapo that I am, we decided to pick it up and do the paperwork ourselves.
Arrange for insurance on the vehicle and go to the place where you bought the car from. Dealers will provide you with temporary trip permits. If you aren't buying from a dealer you will need a temporary trip permit from the local DMV. Not all states will provide temporary permits to out-of-state drivers, so make sure you check this out in advance. In such a case, you may be able to keep the current American plate that is on the car.
We bought from a dealer, so this wasn't much hassle at all. We drove the car to the border and stopped at US customs where they checked the VIN number on the Certification label against the actual title, asked us a few questions and we were on our way.
Crossing into Canada was pretty much just as simple. We stopped at the gate, we told him we were importing a car, he asked us to go park it and go inside to do some paperwork. We layed out all the documentation we collected over the course of this process, filled out a form, payed some GST and the $200 RIV fee and we were done. They gave us a copy of the import form and we we on our way home.
Within a few days you'll get a second form in the mail which you need to have filled out at a Canadian tire within 45 days. Get the modifications done to your vehicle (usually just daytime running lights or km/h speedometer). Make an appointment with your local Canadian tire to have a federal inpection. This will be free of charge. If the vehicle passes inspection they will fill out the second import form and hand it to you. You'll also get a new sticker to affix to the frame of the car.
You can then drag all the paperwork you've collected to your provincial motor vehicle office where you can finally register the vehicle! You will be required to pay whatever your provincial sales tax is (usually on the Vehicle's blue book value). Once it's registered, your done! You can now show off your U.S. vehicle to all your friends!
For more info about buying cars on eBay or importing cars into Canada, I've posted some helpful resources on my eBay blog page page for anyone interested.
Guide created: 05/08/07 (updated 25/08/11)
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