Reading the thread on importing a car from Canada kinda reminded me of a potential dilemma a friend and I could be facing, and thought someone here could help. Basically, we have a log-booked race car, with no title, that someone in Canada is very interested in, but we're in Ohio. The car has been a race car pretty much all of its life, but was last run in 2012, I believe. After that, it sat at Nelson Ledges until we dragged it to the shop.. Title searches have turned up ZERO, so can't file for abandoned title.
So, long story longer, does anyone know of a way we can legally get this car into Canada, or are we basically better off with some sort of covert action involving parachutes, helicopters and E36 M3?
Thanx,
Will
Shouldn't be a problem on this side.
Importing cars into Canada, you have to comply with the RIV program, but competition vehicles are exempt. I've imported a number of competition vehicles and it was little more than showing up at the border and saying, I'm importing this vehicle. It's competition only. Here's the bill of sale, and (federal) tax money.
Vehicles here don't have titles, but something different, I think, similar to your registration. Either way, they're not required for competition vehicles. If it's the same where you are, it shouldn't be difficult. If it is, that could be the problem
https://www.riv.ca/
In reply to Mr. Peabody :
Yeah, I kinda figured it'd be easier on the Canadian end, because you guys are always so damn polite. I'm just worried about how much bullE36 M3 on this side will be required to reach said politeness. 
In reply to grafmiata :
Will, just remember ....exporting stolen goods results in deep doodoo and no more weekends at Mid-Ohio.
In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
Not stolen, just finding it hard to prove otherwise. Going to spend some more time searching for the last time it was titled, and go from there.
It is a grey area when there is no title. I have been told that if it looks like a vehicle and could potentially be driven on a road its a car and paperwork is needed, so I did not buy that particular car. But I know a couple people who have brought circle track cars up with no issue.
On paper I discovered that there are gray areas concerning parts cars and race cars. In the law books, it looks pretty simple. The problem is, border agents don't deal with it every day and it looks like 50 red flags all at once.
It's no different than a trip to the DMV here. If you're going in to renew registration on your Camry, it's vanilla ice cream. That agent has done 659 of those this week. If you're going in to get a title issued by a court order lien, chances are the DMV agent has never seen one of those in their 5 years behind the counter and they'll be utterly confused. That's more like Rum Raisin ice cream. The level of their experience and number of encounters with exotic ice cream flavors will determine how smooth the process is for you.
The basis of their diligence (on paper) is to make sure that any titled vehicle meets the correct standards for road use in Canada. In the case of non-road vehicles, they want their ounce of flesh in taxes, but (again, on paper) shouldn't care about anything else since it can't be used on the road anyway. A race car is legally treated more like a parts car. On the ground with real humans at the border, it just raises all the red flags with agents because they just spent the last month questioning 247,885 families in a Camry and only asked if they had potatoes, alcohol, tobacco, or firearms. Their ratio of vanilla families-in-Camrys to imported race cars in this dumb example is 247,885:1. They will look at it and assume it's Lavender Creme Brulee ice cream, when it's actually just Neopolitan.
I will be importing an RV (5th wheel) next year to the north and I expect Chocolate instead of Vanilla. I also want to import an ATV, so I expect Rosewater Chardonnay ice cream when it should be just mint chocolate chip, especially because ATVs can and need to be registered in some provinces for road use, but I doubt they encounter them much.
Ummmmm Ice Cream . . .. . :-)
The date of manufacture is also at play, if the date is 15 years or more from today the vehicle is pretty much exempt from importation restrictions. The biggest problem may be exportation from the US. US Customs may require proof the vehicle from the US. It may be that not all ports of entry can be used and the exportation must during normal business hours YMMV.
Rons said:
The date of manufacture is also at play,
It's a race car. It's already exempt
In reply to Mr. Peabody :
I was thinking the age might mean there would be no need to prove it’s an off road vehicle.
