Moving to Canada, HELP!

[Nexeon]

I'm going to move to Canada from Europe and i've got a highly tuned/styled car which has been passed here in my country. I need some advice and info about getting my car to Canada and passed through the inspection and to get it streetlegal. There a few main questions i need answers to:

If a car has been passed through the latest inspection in Finland, will it be streetlegal there? What changes i will have to do if not?

What regulations there are for tuned cars? How much can the car power be increased from its factory settings? Here it's 20%.

What kind of regulations there are for air suspension?

What about the rims and tires?

What sort of regulations there are for body changes?

Any info regarding non-stock cars is welcome! I know almost all the regulations we have here in Finland and now I need to know what they are there in Canada. Selling this car and buying a new one isn't an option since i've been building this for over 5 years!

[Tik-Tok]

If it's less than 15 years old, and you are moving to Canada as an immigrant, you won't be able to register your car here, if you're here on a working visa, then there are ways around this. Check this site for more info http://www.riv.ca/ImportingAVehicle.aspx

If it is more than 15 years old...


Passing inspection in Finland means nothing here, it will need to pass a thorough safety inspection here.

Not really any power regulations, but if you're moving to Vancouver area (as your "locations indicates", you'll need to pass air quality tests.

No regulations for air suspension, or body work as long as they're road safe.

The only rims/tires rules we really have are that tires must be DOT street legal, and tires cannot extend past the wheel well. Though many people do this, it wouldn't pass inspection.

[Nexeon]

I appreciate for your quick reply, thanks a lot! I'll have a look at the link you put right away. Oh and, my car is about 10 years old, its a 2000 model.

If anyone has more info or anything to add, please write it here since every single tip can be valuable!

[revelations]

Much like moving to Suomi, there are many hurdles in order to bring cars over here from Europe.

Chances are good if your vehicle is sold in Canada, or North America, its likely to be able to be imported into Canada.

As far as I know, you can SHIP your vehicle over to Canada without insurance/registration....but it cannot be registered legally to be used on the road. You can use it on a race track for eg.

[n1zm0]

modification of the car means nothing if you cant get it in first, i think if youre here for working purposes you can bring the vehicle in with you like that R32 golf guy from UK, but if you plan to import it here as Tik-Tok said 15 year rule. exemptions are as follows from the RIV website:

15 years old

Temporary imports for 12 months or less:

# visitors, for a period of 12 months or less; temporary residents such as students studying at an institution for their studies in Canada; or individuals with valid work permits for a period of 36 months or less;
# diplomats, if authorization has been granted in writing from Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, for the duration of the posting in Canada;
# visiting forces personnel, for the duration of their assignment in Canada; and
# U.S. pre-clearance personnel and their dependents for the duration of the U.S. officer’s posting in Canada.

and of course you can import cars from the U.S listed in the RIV's vehicle admissibility list.

so if youre moving here permanently, i may be wrong, but i think your are s.o.l OP

what kind of car is it anyways? any pics?

[Jeremiah]

What kind of car?

[Nexeon]

Well i'm moving there permanently maybe next year and i just don't want to leave the car here since i've spent almost 10 times the value of my car money on it.

It's an Opel Astra G with 2.0 litre Turbo engine with a few mods. Opel is also known as Vauxhall in the UK. Don't have any finished pictures though, only some project pics since it's under work at the moment. Scheduled to finish within 6 moths.

I'm considering to buy the HPS air suspension and i almost ordered it today but then i had to put it on hold for a while and get more information how they regard to it in Canada.

What about Xenon HID conversion? Anything special to know about?

Here's a pic i took few weeks ago, doens't look like that anymore, processed it even further...
http://i578.photobucket.com/albums/ss223/Nexeon/kuva.jpg

This is what im aiming at, photoshopped this a year ago
http://i578.photobucket.com/albums/ss223/Nexeon/Opel_Astra_G_Dreamshot_by_Nexeon86.jpg

[tentacles]

You can't do it. There is no way. Just buy a new car in Canada, cars are much cheaper here than Finland.

[Hakkola]

The cars are actually cheaper in Finland, it's just the taxes on top which are a bitch.

Moi! Where in Finland are you moving from?

[Nexeon]

Originally posted by tentacles
You can't do it. There is no way. Just buy a new car in Canada, cars are much cheaper here than Finland.

An explanation would be nice?

[Nexeon]

Originally posted by Hakkola
The cars are actually cheaper in Finland, it's just the taxes on top which are a bitch.

Moi! Where in Finland are you moving from?

Terve! I'm living in Southern Finland near Helsinki. Didn't know there were any finns around this forum. I just registered to get more info about getting a car like mine to Canada...

[tentacles]

Originally posted by Nexeon


An explanation would be nice?

If you are not GM or Toyota or an actual car maker who has millions of $ c and your own crash and emissions test facilities, you can bring cars to Canada if they fit the following criteria:

1) More than 15 years old. Yours is not.

2) An American market car less than 15 years old provided it is admissible by the RIV. Yours is not.

3) If you are visiting on a work visa or diplomatic staff, you can bring in a personal vehicle for while you are here, the vehicle must leave with you.

4) If it is a race or show car. Yours is not. This is for actual race cars. Mikko Hirvonen's WRC Focus is an actual race car, he would be allowed to come into the country once he shows up with his racing team, FIA logbook, a list of races that he is participating in, etc which prove that it is a real race car. Your car is not a race car.

A lot of people here (Canadians) are confused by #4, because they think it means if you don't "register" it, or "just use it as a track car", then it's OK. This is wrong. It has nothing to do with whether you register the car or not. There are 3 levels of government in Canada - Federal, provincial, and municipal. The laws about importing and selling cars are set by the FEDERAL government and enforced by the CBSA/Canada Customs. They decide whether the car is allowed into the country or not. If the car doesn't meet #1-#4 then it does not come into the country. They do not care whether the car is "registered" or "road legal" because the PROVINCIAL government makes the law on what can be registered and what is road legal. Alberta has no law against R34 Skylines, if you have one that isn't 15 years old and have insurance and it passes OOP you can register it and get plates for it and drive it anywhere you want no problem, IF you find a way to get around the federal laws #1-#4 and actually have the car legally in Canada. If Mikko Mirvonen brings in his WRC car, and he has insurance and it passes OOP, he can drive it around downtown Calgary if he wants, the Alberta government doesn't care. If the car is not one of #1-#4 then you can't bring it in, doesn't matter whether you drive it, register it, put it in your living room, federal government does not care.

[g-m]

yep SOL. Maybe he can take it all apart and ship it across as a kit car or something. Not worth it though, its time to part ways

[Nexeon]

So i quess that means even if the car would've been a stock-car, it still wouldn't be allowed to the country because it doesn't meet the #2 reguirement. There are Opels in the USA and they've been sold there since 1958. I still can't see a real reason for not allowing even a stock car to the country. Everything in the car can be setup to meet even the emission reguirements and all other things. I guess i just have to make sure by asking from a local car inspection center in Surrey.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by Nexeon
There are Opels in the USA and they've been sold there since 1958.

You mean they WERE sold there between 1958 and 1975. They haven't been there in 35 years. They are going to start selling again apparently, but it's probably just going to be another re-badged GM brand over here.

North America has different testing standards then the rest of the world, which is why you can't import one that is less than 15 years old. After that, the demand isn't large enough for the common car purchaser, for the government to care (ie there won't be millions of un-tested vehicles daily driving our streets)

It also helps protect the N.A. auto economy.

[dirtsniffer]

good, leave that POS over there :barf:

[n1zm0]

Originally posted by Nexeon
I still can't see a real reason for not allowing even a stock car to the country. Everything in the car can be setup to meet even the emission reguirements and all other things. I guess i just have to make sure by asking from a local car inspection center in Surrey.

any inspection shop in the Vancouver area and suburbs will tel lyou the same things: either they are knowledgable and will say no right away, or tell you to contact RIV or Transport Canada.

as Tik Tok said, it protects the automotive industry here and even moreso the case with the paranoid yankees and their 25 year rule

i will put money on you not being able to bring the car here for street use if you're moving to be a permanent resident, not trying to be a dick, just not possible because if it were the case, ther'd be 1000s ppl importing year 2000 and newer stuff from Europe and Japan to bring here in a snap of the fingers, i know i would be.

you could buy a Saturn product if you want an opel chassis that badly :poosie:

[tentacles]

Until the 1980s the US had laws similar to most other places and you could import anything you wanted. Mercedes-Benz basically bought off the American government to ban it because it people importing European models was hurting their business. It is not there to protect the domestic car industry, since foreign car MAKERS have no problem importing cars, if you read through the article below, it's actually the foreign carmakers who are behind these laws in order to keep markets separate so they can charge different prices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_import_vehicles#United_States

[uptown.]

leave frankenstein there, buy a beemz when you land

[g-m]

ew no

[uptown.]

Originally posted by g-m
ew no

i already found a buyer!:thumbsup: ^