Bringing a Canadian car down *before* L2A?

Hi everyone,

My husband will be entering the US with an L1 visa in late September, and I will be accompanying him. We are going to be driving down (from New Brunswick, Canada to New Jersey) at the end of August to begin looking for a home. The original idea was that we would bring most of our belongings in a U-Haul attached to his truck, and I would drive my car down behind him.

The timing of the trip is such that a Canadian coworker of his who is also a NB native will be driving back to Canada from NJ for a visit home about the same time we would be returning to Canada. We were thinking it would be fantastic if we could drive my car down at the end of August, and leave it in New Jersey (we have lots of friends and options) until we made the big move in September with his truck and a U-Haul. We could return to Canada with his coworker. That would save me from driving my car and allow us to drive together - a huge plus, since I'm a bit nervous about making the drive myself!

Is this a possibility? I'm not sure if I need my car to be physically present at the border to import it when we apply for our Visas in September, or if I would be okay to just show registration and other documents in order to get the forms I need for the NJ DMV.

Does anyone have any experience in doing this?

I hope I explained my situation clearly - if not, please feel free to ask for further clarification. If it makes a difference, we plan on becoming permanent residents - his company is planning on working on a green card application shortly after his entry, as he has already spent several years working in the US under L1 status.

Also, I do own the car outright.

You can bring it down temprorarily in August. After all, at thaty time you are still a tourist.

Once you get your L status, you can then formally import it (you can do it at any port of entry, not just border). You will need a letter from the Cdn carmaker saying it is importable or not. You should be securing this NOW so that you are not caught unawares.