Anyone brought a Porsche in from states recently?Shoot me a pm. Thxs.

 

I brought in a 2009 C2S about 2 months ago from Sarasota, FL to Montreal, PQ. Lots of hoops to jump through but all in all, it went well.

Let me know if you have any questions, unless they are private details, I would rather keep the Q&A within the public forums so others can benefit.

Cheers,

T.

 

tcouture - please do tell about these said hurdles to jump over.

 

hey man i saw your car when i was there during F1 Weekend, you drove by the hotel we were satying at on 420 Sherbrook "Holiday Inn Mid-Town" Looks reallll good man

 

So if I buy private in florida, what are my major costs....exchange rate + 6.1%import tax + gst ? Do I pay pst also? Thxs.

 

Thanks Zookie for the good words.

I was seeing cars left and right myself and would have loved to stop for beverages with fellow motorheads but if you noticed I also had my two kids in there and had to take them home (they are becoming quite the little car buffs themselves)...

I'll make sure I am free that night next year,

T.

 

First, let me say that you should get familiar with the RIV procedures to import and look for your province's requirements for tagging an imported vehicle, it also helps to research the state laws depending on where you want to buy and if you want to drive it back, etc.

OK. So for the details of my experience...

1. I bought the car on eBay, so before the auction closed I did my homework and checked out seller. Since I bought from a small independent dealership (Hawley Motors in Sarasota, FL) who had the car on consignment, and not a Porsche dealer so as a first step I wanted to make sure I wasn't sending a whole pile of cash into the great void. I called the seller in person to make sure they existed and did a little googling and BBB research and everything looked like they were on the up/up. As it turns out, it was really a first class operation - could not have been happier and I would recommend them to anyone.

2. I wanted to get the car inspected so I arranged with Suncoast Porsche, the local Porsche dealership, to have a PPI done. The car was low mileage (~700) and recent (2009) so I did not really worry about broken stuff since the warranty would most likely cover it but I really wanted to get a DME reading to make sure that care was not beat up (not a press or exec car, etc.) and also wanted to check for recalls since that can be critical for the RIV. I talked to the service advisor there who was very nice and knowledgeable and as it turned out, there were a few recalls outstanding. I made another appt for about a week later to take care of the recalls.

3. I bought the car on eBay. And gave the downpayment. Called my insurance company to get the insurance going and booked travel to FL.

4. I flew to Florida (used Aeroplan points) to eyeball the car myself and close the transaction. I got everything signed, arranged for payment and asked the dealer to loan me a dealer plate for the day. Once I had the car, I brought it to the dealership to get the recalls taken care of and do a couple of mods on it (SSK & ADK), once that was done, I asked the service advisor to give me a job system printout saying that there was no recalls outstanding. It is a good idea to get that from a US dealer since a Canadian dealer will charge you $500 for an "import inspection" during which they can find anything wrong with the car and ask you to fix them before they will approve it. I also understand that you do not get the letter on the spot, it is sent by PCNA which can take another week(s) of delay before you can drive your baby. All was well and good for me, I had the letter in my hand. After that I had a couple of hours to enjoy the car by myself and life was good.

5. Back to my hotel (I was leaving the next morning) I called TFX to confirm I wanted them to transport the car ans sent them all the paperwork right away since I just got it from the dealer. Florida is somewhat funny because, if you buy from a dealer and you are an out of country buyer and intend on driving the car off the lot, the dealer will have to charge you sales tax - so it was just cheaper to get it shipped. Note that if you have a DL from another state, you would not pay said state takes, but as a Canadian, I would have had to. So I arranged for the sealer to keep the car until TFX showed up. Probably the longest 2-3 week of my life right there.

6. TFX finally picked up the car (great service) and it was on its way. They dropped in in my street, right in from of the house.

7. In the meantime, I faxed the RIV my recall clearance letter - which was the job management printout from Suncoast (you can do it 30 days in advance)

8. I had paid TFX to handle the import part so the driver handed me a documentation package that included all the originals of the documents I had left with the car because they were required for import and the RIV form 1. The RIV has an online system so you can look at the website and because I had already faxed my letter and it took TFX a couple of days to get here, the Form 2 was already there for download on their website.

9. Since I needed some tags to drive the car around to get the inspections done, I had to go to the Quebec SAAQ to get a temporary tag. These tags are only good for a day (you can have them don in advance) and you can only get three for a specific car. Aftet that, you will have to put the car on a float to get it to the inspections - so no joking there. I had the tag made for a couple of days later and made an appointment for the provincial inspection which is required in Quebec when you import a vehicle for early afternoon that day.

10. On said temporary tag day. Canadian Tire are the ones doing the RIV inspection and don't need an appointment so I showed up first thing in the morning. That was a formality, they only asked to see DRL's. And I was done. They stamped all my RIV forms and faxed their part on the spot. After that, I drove to the Provincial inspection and got that done too. These guys are a bit more careful and tested quite a few things but, since the car was basically new, it was no sweat. I could see an older, heavily modified car could be challenging to get through though.

11. I drove back to the SAAQ to get the REAL tag . Yeah. I was done, for the hard part.

12. I had to fax some stuff to the RIV to close the loop but that was it!

13. Totally non-related, but I also had to get a Boomerang installed because my insurance required it.

I know this may sound complicated but it flowed really well. I spent about 2 days going to FL and probably spent about another 2 days for the SAAQ, inspections, docs, etc. I saved a bunch so that was totally worth it.

I did hit a snag at the SAAQ because the person handling my case did not understand the rules for temporary tags on imported vehicles. This is where it is important to do your homework. If I had not known what I was talking about, I would ave gone back home without a temp tag. But after pushing a little and getting a 2nd opinion from a co-worker, I was all set.

Note that each province has different rules so all the SAAQ hoops may not apply to you.

Your mileage may vary, but in my case, it turned out good and I am enjoying the car like a 10-yr old kid.

T.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain everything. I'm planning on being in florida this aug. A member on here has an 06 997 C4 for sale that I plan on looking at when I'm down there.

 

Great post! thanks for sharing, I am looking into this process as I type this.

The only conflicting thing I have been reading is sales tax in the states. I plan to drive the car back but do not want to have to pay the state tax.

I have read some guys buying from florida without having to pay the state tax? Not sure if there is a trick to get around it or what.

Keith

 

You are right, you will hear different things because:

(a) Each state have its own rules on taxes, some don't even have taxes

(b) Sometimes even dealers are not aware of the finer points (or they just don't care) for out of state buyers so you may just get lucky

Specifically for Florida, I would suggest you take a look at the following Florida Department of Revenue publication (doc# GT-800030).

Which clearly states that "The purchase of a motor vehicle in Florida by a resident of another country is taxable at six percent." you can then read the possible exemptions for yourself but none applied in my case if I wanted to drive it up myself. So shipping it made a lot of sense. Buying from a private party may yield different results. But I can't help you there since I bought from a dealer.

To that end, I would suggest checking with the dealer, the DMV and/or the tax collector's office for the state you intend on purchasing your car in. For me it was easier to start the research with the car, once you find THE car, do the tax due dilligence. Note that there is quite a bit of people from Canada buying cars in the US now, so most dealers will know what rules apply.

Some states make a difference for in-state and out-of-state buyers, some make a difference between out-of-state and out-of-country, some make a difference if you buy from a dealer or a private party, some make a difference if you will drive it in state (i.e. drive off the lot) and if you ship it, some don't. On top od that, some dealers have no clue and just do whatever. It is a mess.

I have been looking for some kind of matrix that would list all the states but no luck so far... That would be way to easy.

Good luck and please let us know what your experience is.

 

Just adding some info after receivng a PM regarding recall letters.

It really wasn't that hard...

My understanding is that there are two ways to go about this:

(1) Bring the car to Canada as is, go to a Porsche dealer in Canada who will perform an "import inspection" for $500 (used to be $1,200 six months ago) and you will get the letter mailed to you by PCNA or whoever their agent in Canada is these days. The dealer may or may not ask you to fix a bunch of stuff depending on how they feel and it may take anywhere between one and three weeks to get the actual letter - meaning you do not get to drive the car during that delay.

(2) Ask a US dealer to give you a printout of their job management system which states that there are no "open campaigns" against your VIN - this effectively means there are no outstanding recalls. Make sure the piece of paper they print it on has some sort of identifier from the dealer (letterhead, rubber stamp, etc.) and you should be good to go. I had the service mgr stamp it and put his business card on it before scanning it and sending it to the RIV. It worked perfectly.

Now, I am not sure a service manager will do this for you if you call them completely out of the blue. But I had a PPI done and asked for this after the inspection. Everything went very smoothly - I was definitively not the first Canadian there.

The only thing that could potentially happen would be that there are actually open recalls on your vehicle and you will have to get those done first. Aftet that, it takes about one week for the PCNA job management to update the system and be able to print a clean (i.e. no recalls) report. So you will get the report a week afterward - I had it faxed to me.

That's exactly what happened to me and it just gave me a chance to chat some more with a great service advisor - who is probably even crazier than me about p-cars.

Hope this helps someone,

T.

 

I imported an 07 997tt a couple of months ago to Ontario. Piece of cake really. If you have specific questions for me shoot me a PM or post here.

 

Hi Bogg....did you buy private or from a dealer? Can't send PM due to # of posts. Thxs. jordanwill1000@hotmail.com

 

Hey tcouture,
Awesome write up!

Thanks!

Sid.

 

sorry for the delay, haven't been to this part of the boards for a while.

I bought the car from Marshall Goldman in Ohio and "channeled" the deal through the local Porsche dealership and got the CPO warranty added for a few extra dollars.