California DMV and New Car

Hi everyone,

I'm a Canadian in Los Angeles for school and I purchased a new car as an Ontario resident to drive to school. This car, naturally, is only U.S. Federally emissions compliant.

I called the DMV beforehand and asked if this was a problem, knowing the whole new car, 7,500 miles thing. They told me that because I was bringing the car across, having purchased and registered it as an Ontario resident, that I would be treated in a similar manner to someone who's just come from Texas or Nevada.

When I went to the DMV, they tried to tell me that I couldn't register the car, and forwarded my case to Sacramento.

My question is this: was I given bad advice? Will California refuse to register the car and is there anything I can do?

Thanks so much for any help you can provide!

You must first formally import the car into the US, at a POE, with the appropriate NHTSA compliance letter from your Cdn car maker.
Then you will have to meet whatever regs cali has in place for cars coming from outside the state.

Hi agnelson,

Thank you for the reply.

I did import it at the CBP POE and I did have the manufacturers letter. Basically, I was wondering if anyone else had experience with this before (i.e. buying a new car from Canada as a Canadian resident and then moving and registering it in California).

California law states specifically that:

California considers any vehicle with less than 7,500 miles on the odometer at the time of purchase or trade by a California resident or business to be a new vehicle. This holds true whether or not the vehicle has been registered in another state.

And that:

If you are moving to California from another state, you may register a new 49-State vehicle if it was first registered by you in your home state, or for military personnel, in the last state of your military service. When applying for vehicle registration in California, you must provide evidence that the vehicle was registered.

I believe, and the person from the DMV to whom I spoke earlier, felt that I fell under the second clause - I am coming from another "state" (which I would assume in this case, does not mean one of the United States, but a state jurisdiction), and therefore allowed to register the car. The DMV office to whom I went seemed to feel that I was considered to be a California resident who was "importing" the car and that the odometer reading at the time of residency (6,500 miles) meant that I could not register the car.

Does anyone have any experience with doing this? I can't believe I'm the only person who's bought a new car in Canada for study in the U.S. (it makes life easier going back to Canada because the odometer, lights, etc. are all good there, plus I could just load up the car and make the border crossing easier).

Obviously, the head guys at Sacramento have the final word, but I just wanted to know whether or not I should be planning on selling this car back in Canada or whether someone else has successfully done this before.

You hadn't said you imported it. Thanks for adding that important nugget.
The DMV was incorrect not to register you. However you do not fall under the 49-state rule (obviously) so I wouldn't hang on to that thread -- but that won't prevent you from registering.

I'm sure sacramento will fix this