Car Questions

[Natalya]

Okay this is kinda weird. I am an American citizen and a Canadian citizen at the same time (born in USA but got Canadian citizenship shortly after birth because my Canadian parents applied for it.)

Okay so last year in October I moved to Ontario. At the time I had no idea (young and naive here) that you had to import your car when you moved. When I got to the Canadian border in Windsor they gave a fuss about needing to import the car, so they gave me some forms and stuff and over the next month or so I did the RIV program and got the car titled here etc. Everything with Canada and Ontario is in order.

My question is can I drive it back to the USA on a trip? Because I had no idea you had to import the car I obviously did not get clearance from CBP to export the car. I didn't fax them a title or wait 72 hours or anything like that. What will they say if I try to drive back to the USA? Will they even notice? I have Ontario plates now. I thought about calling CBP but I don't have the American title to fax them because the Canadians have it.

Has anyone else been in this situation before?

 

[mic8400]

Are you moving back or are you just going to visit? Realistically it's just a matter of whether you will return or not and for how long you'll be gone.

 

[GK]

You are correct in that you need to export before you import a car. Since you had the original title of the car I assume you fully owned the car. You would have a problem if you brought a car out of the US (and import in Canada) and the car is not fully paid for - even if you were still making payments from Canada. Since that doesn't seem to be the case you don't have much to worry about. Also, since you have ON plates now, CBP would only find out if you are pulled in for secondary and they ran the VIN number.

 

[Natalya]

Car was fully owned before moving to Canada, no loans or liens or whatever were owed.

I have been through secondary three times, it's a good chance they will send me there again. I want to get right with the law but I don't know how. Someone else HAS to have had this happen before, there must be a way to get right with the law on this so I can drive my car to the states again.

I plan on staying in Canada and living here but I cross the border with the States frequently, so it'd be nice if I could use my car for those trips instead of getting a ride or borrowing my aunt's car.

 

[Natalya]

Wow over 500 views and still no advice.

 

[Natalya]

1410 views still nothing am I really the only person who has ever had this happen?

 

[steaky]

1410 views still nothing am I really the only person who has ever had this happen?

So what did you do in the past year? Did you borrow your aunt's car or drive your own to the US?