Bring a car from Canada to the US...as a student

I'm attending university in the United States. My permanent address will still be in Canada. When I go down for the upcoming semester, I will driving my car down, but I'm not really planning on driving it back into Canada again anytime soon...I plan on staying there over the summers. I know that the regulations are different while I'm there as a non-resident student. I've seen other cars there with Alberta, Quebec, BC plates, not to mention lots of states. So I believe I won't need to register my car, at least right away. However, I haven't been able to find any information on any other procedures. Do I need to "report" my car being in the state? How long am I able to keep it in the US while it's registered in Canada - the entire length of my stay as a non-resident student, or is there a time limit? I don't think I can get a US-based insurance provider while the car is registered in Canada and I have a Canadian driver's license... is this correct? Speaking of licenses, do the same guidelines to registering the car/having Canadian vs US plates apply to my driver's license? Thanks for any light that can be shed on these subjects!

As a student, you can temporaruily import the car for ONE YEAR, without having to go thru the formalities of true importation, which requires NHTSA letter from carmaker, etc. Students are allowed to keep their "home" plates when in school, unlike temp workers, so this shoudl be enough for you.

But temp importaion means that you keep you provincial plates and insurance, not register your car in your school's state, nor get local DL, and you must at least bring the car out of US within that year.

The only people that will care that you are in US are your insurers. You absolutely need to make it clear to them that you will be in US for school and whether that will cover you and how much more it will cost. You might be able to fins a US insurer, but this will vary.

For DL, talk to your provincial DMV and be sure to tell then that you will be in school in US but are maintaining residence in canada.

thanks for that, so to make sure I understand, when you say you must bring the car out of the US within that year, you mean bring the car out of the US, not bring the car back into Canada? As in, taking the car for a weekend in Mexico would suffice just as well as a summer in Canada.

No. under the rules of temporary importation, it can only be brought in for the one year then must be exported, not merely taken out of the country temporarily.

http://stnw.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/import/

I believe you cannot get indefinite 1-year temp entries. Since I suspect the car has been in US for a while now, if your sone drove it to mexico, he would probably be strongly urged to formally import it. You relly should be getting the paperwork in order to do this.


Let us know what happens.

I have a similar situation to the original poster, except that I am currently LEASING my car from VW, and will be attending school in Chicago for the next two years starting this August.

Here are the details of my situation:

1) My insurance provider will allow me to take the car to the US for up to 10 months. If I return to Canada temporarily during that time, for instance at Christmas, the clock will then reset for another 10 months. I've bumped to my insurance liability up to $2M just to be safe.

2) My lease is active until November 2012.

3) I have checked with the Secretary of State Drivers Services in Illinois, and they said I will not need to apply for a new DL or new plates since I am a student.

4) VW Finance is telling me they will NOT ALLOW me to take the car to the states for such a long period of time. They say 1 or 2 months is the max they will allow. This is because of the difficulty putting a lien on the car if it is in another country, and the potential issues I would run into if the car is impounded in the states.

My question is as follows. Because of #1, 2, and 3 above, I feel that I should be able to take the car to the US and not run into any issues. However, the fact that VW Finance is telling me I don't have their permission is my only concern (#4). Can VW Finance legitimately prevent me from taking the car to the US, even if I maintain a permanent address in Canada and continue making regular monthly payments?

Is there any chance I will run into problems crossing the border if the BP sees that I have a leased automobile? I.e., will I need written permission from VW that I can take this car to the US?

Any insights would be greatly appreciated. I really don't want to have to either purchase the car or end the lease in the next two weeks before I leave.

I actually haven't brought the car into the states yet, I leave next week. I've only completed one semester and left the car here in Canada for that. I guess while I'm on the subject, what do you generally need to do to officially import a car? If it matters, the car is owned with no payments to complete, it was gifted to me, and is registered in my name (not in my parents). It is and always has been registered here in Canada, but it is an American-made GM.
Edit: Upon further inspection, there is a very helpful-looking thread on this forum that discusses the process of importing a car.