US Driver License - Vehicle registration

joeclarke
New Member



Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Posts: 2
Location: Vancouver/California

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 12:48 pm

 

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I'm a retired type (for now, anyway) and spend a few months a year in each of California/BC/Alberta. I have banking in the US and am looking at the prospect of buying a place in California.

I've also been looking at buying a new Porsche in California because I save 10 or 15k or more vs. buying in Canada. But of course there are the duties to be paid on importation of a German car to Canada, plus a few regulatory hurdles to jump over.

Why not just register the car in California? I assume I'd need a California driver license to do so, which shouldn't be a problem.

Anyone see an issue with my evil plan? Any reason why a Canadian cannot obtain a US driver license and register a car in the US?

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Reba
Moderator


Canuck in NC

Joined: 16 Jul 2004
Posts: 1306
Location: North Carolina

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 4:10 am

 

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If you have a California residence, then you *may* be able to get a CA driver's license. However, check their DMV website for information, because a lot of states are now allowing only citizens and legal permanent residents to obtain licenses. I don't think California does this (yet) but you'll need to check with them directly.
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Steven
CanuckAbroad VIP



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 1368
Location: Calgary

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:17 am

 

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Depends on your status in the US. If you're not a US citizen or permanent resident or in some sort of category that allows you to stay more than six months, you can't do it.

If you just cross the border and use the default B-1/2 visitor category, you cannot obtain a California driver's licence as they will want to see your I-94 or proof of US citizenship. And California also requires your social security number.

Things have tightened up considerably with driver's licenses over the last few years, partly because of concern about illegal immigration but also because of the Real ID Act.

You might be able to buy and register a car in California using a Canadian licence (maybe, depends on how the registration system works), however you then run into the problem of getting car insurance without a valid US licence, plus Canada will not allow a Canadian resident to bring in a US-registered vehicle without all the import paperwork. So you couldn't cross the border with it, essentially, unless you wanted to comply with all the import stuff, which at a minimum means you have to pay GST and have the car modified to meet the Canadian spec. (Which a lot of Canadians do on a regular basis).
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Steve.

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Steven
CanuckAbroad VIP



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 1368
Location: Calgary

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:39 am

 

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This seems to say that you can apply with a Canadian passport, but read a bit further and it says you have to have "legal presence". That seems to mean you can get a DL valid for six months if you're a visitor. Check with them.
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Steve.

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joeclarke
New Member



Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Posts: 2
Location: Vancouver/California

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:30 am

 

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Good thoughts Steven. I'll do some more checking on this on my next trip south. It seems though, that Montana would be the place to register a vehicle, no state tax.

I'm also going to check with Canadian customs about the consequences of a Cdn. citizen bringing a US titled car into Canada. I have imported US cars into Canada and understand that process, but I would hope that a Canadian could also bring a US car back and forth across the border without importation-type consequences.

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Steven
CanuckAbroad VIP



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 1368
Location: Calgary

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:33 am

 

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If you have a Canadian DL and a US-registered car, they consider it to be an import. That's the whole snag with the process, because it's really hard to get a US DL (cough, except in Florida, cough, if you can stand the drive - New Mexico is also pretty easy).

Yeah, buy everything in Montana. I love Montana. Saves you all the hassle with trying to claim the sales tax back from other States. I know people in Alberta who get companies down there to special order stuff for them (TVs, etc.) and they pick it up in Montana, because it saves so much hassle compared with shipping it say from New York with all the brokerage stuff etc.
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Steve.

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terryb
New Member



Joined: 17 Feb 2008
Posts: 4
Location: Alberta

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 1:45 am

 

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any update on this.

i too wanna do the same thing but unfortnatley the car i wanna do this to is listed under the "inadmissable" list for importation of cars. n e advice and how i can get around this. theres no fix either

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