Crossing the border in a rented vehicle

Hey all,

My wife and I plan to make a long 5-day drive from Canada to our new residence in Texas. We're only buying a car once we get there, so we figured perhaps we would rent a car for the journey.

Because we're finding it impossible to do a one-way cross-border car rental for such a long journey, we thought we might hop over the border to rent a car in nearby Vermont, then drive it back up to Montreal, load our gear in, and go driving to Texas.

The car rental company is fine with this, but advised us "the border people might give you a hard time entering Canada as Canadians in a US rental".

Does anyone think we should be worried about this? Can we simply show paperwork and explain what we're doing and get by?

Thanks for any suggestions!

-- Tue May 25, 2010 2:47 pm --

... well I just answered my own question, nevermind.

"The Canadian Import Law prohibits Canadian Citizens from taking a U.S. owned rental vehicle from the U.S. into Canada. The rental vehicle will be seized by Canadian Customs at the border, whether the Canadian renter plans to return the vehicle to a U.S. or Canadian location. The U.S. owned rental vehicle cannot be imported into Canada, even to temporarily cross the border. However, a Canadian may rent a Canadian owned vehicle in the U.S. and return it to Canada or cross the border without the vehicle being seized. Any U.S. Citizen renting a vehicle in the U.S. may drive across the U.S./Canadian border with no restrictions. The driver may be asked by Customs to show a rental agreement and a form of identification, such as a driver's license."

Can't do it.

I suspect some have actually gotten away with this as sometimes immigration can screw up on both sides of the U.S./Canadian border and not be wary enough to catch this.

However, this is an illegal maneuver from the U.S. into Canada. If Canada Customs is paying attention, they will seize the vehicle. The car rental company transmitted some very bad misinformation.

It is perfectly fine the other way, driving a Canadian rental into the U.S. and back.

The car rental company transmitted some very bad misinformation.

Indeed. In fact most rental companies specifically mention this prohibition on their websites.

Cdns can of course rent a Cdn car and take it anywhere the rental firm will let them.

A US resident however, would probably face the same restriction if he rented a car in canada while on vaction and then tried to drive to US. I was told by the local Hertz guy last summer when I rented a car in Mtl on a business trip that I could not go down to US with it because I was a US resident. This did not surprise me.

You said you are going to your new residence in Texas - do you have some sort of status/visa in the USA or is this just a vacation home? If you have an official status (TN, H1, etc) then you should be fine. However, if it is just a vacation home I wouldn't do it.

I used to have a TN and would often fly into US cities near the Canadian border when going home. I'd rent a car at the US airport (Buffalo and Seattle) and then drive it into Canada for my trip and then back to the USA. I never had any problems but I had the proper paperwork to be in the USA.

You said you are going to your new residence in Texas - do you have some sort of status/visa in the USA or is this just a vacation home? If you have an official status (TN, H1, etc) then you should be fine. However, if it is just a vacation home I wouldn't do it.

I used to have a TN and would often fly into US cities near the Canadian border when going home. I'd rent a car at the US airport (Buffalo and Seattle) and then drive it into Canada for my trip and then back to the USA. I never had any problems but I had the proper paperwork to be in the USA.

I have official H1 status, but it doesn't matter: the law is quite clear on US-plated vehicles being driven into Canada by Canadian citizens, rented or otherwise. Can't do it. If you did, you perhaps got lucky and weren't noticed.

In the end, we've opted to hitch a ride across the border with some friends to Vermont, where we will rent a vehicle to get to Texas.

The law applies only to cdn RESIDENTS not citizens.
Otherwise no Cdn living in US would be able to drive their car into canada -- and we've almost all done that, legally and properly. No different for rental cars. And, Swedes living in canada could do what they wanted, I guess, by your explanation.

Cdn residents (as evidenced by their driver's license) cannot drive a US plated car into Canada without formally importing it. Period.

By the way, could you clearly show us "the law"?

I'll revive an old thread...

I don't own a vehicle and a few times a year, I'll rent a car to drive down to WA state for the day. (primarily for shopping and sometimes sight seeing)

Is it normal for CBP to ask if the car you're driving is yours?
When I tell them it's a rental, they ask "why do you have a rental car". I tell them I don't own a vehicle and that's that. (although on one occasion, the CBP officer told me to park the car and open the trunk. perhaps he didn't like the way I answered my question.
Canadian border officals ask me the same thing too when I return and yes, I had one officer search the trunk.

Perhaps it's because someone driving a rental car may be doing something suspicious? I can see why border officials would think this and I would never do something illegal.

Am I being paranoid to think they've put something on my record to question me when I cross the border in a rental car?