Vehicle Importation from US for a PR

[chunderscrunch]

Hi
I am from the US and just got my PR in October. I sold my truck last year and I am borrowing my fathers truck until I find something new that I can afford. It is titled in his name and insured under his name as well. I am insured as the primary driver of the vehicle for now with a specific clause allowing driving in Mexico and Canada. I have a BC license. I live in BC 6 months at a time and overseas for 6 months as well, so the vehicle will be here a total of 6 months. I often drive to Washington for various reasons.
Last few times I crossed the border they threatened to deny the vehicle entry into Canada (amongst other threats) unless it is imported.
I have talked to one Transport Canada or RIV person on the phone and they have told me what I am doing is not allowed as a permanent resident.
My question is, are they correct? Am I not allowed to 'borrow' a family members car while in BC for 6 months? Importing the car for 6 months sounds absolutely ludicrous. It is a 2014 Tundra so the import tax would be outrageous. Again, it is not titled under my name and will be returning to its owner in the US in a few months. Did I just talk to a grumpy person on the phone or did they give me the facts? Obviously I will call and talk to another agent, just looking for any other insight into the problem.
Thanks

 

[CDNPR2014]

they are correct. look at it from their end - why would someone who is living and working permanently in canada be "borrowing" someone's car in the us and driving it in canada for 6 mo? this is not normal behaviour in the eyes of CBSA. it absolutely makes sense why CBSA is suspcious of this and why RIV says it is not allowed. If you are living in canada, it is assumed you would be driving a car that is insured and registered in CANADA. You will want to be careful about your father's US insurance company finding out you are regularly driving the car cross the border and attempting to drive it in canada for 6 months. they tend to not like that and often times will cancel insurance because of it.

also, i'm not sure it's even possible to "import" the car for 6 mo. While there IS a temporary import process, i would imagine the car needs to legitimately be in canada for more than 6 months. Also, since you are not the owner of the car, you would not be able to import it. and i'm not sure your father would be able to import it since he is not a resident in canada (either temp or perm).