<VV> Importing a Canadian Yamaha

[Bill Elliott]

Some clarifications...

For cars:

You can bring in anything if it was built prior to Jan 1, 1968.

For cars more than 25 years old (typically based on model year and not actual prodction date... laws are unclear) you can get blanket DOT and EPA 
waivers. (Actually, DOT is 25 years and EPA is 21, but in the end, the 25 years dictates).

For cars newer than this you have to prove:
1. That the car was built to US specs (meaning there will be US spec labeling). This covers most Canadian cars.
2. That the car was built to a Canadian spec and that the differences between the US spec and Canadian spec are minimal. This requires a letter from 
the manufacturer and DOES require that a licensed repair shop replace the metric speedo with a US-spec one. Luckily, this covers most of the other 
Canadian cars.

However, there is a small group of vehicles which were built to a Canadian spec where there was NO US-spec. These are vitually impossible to 
(legally) import.

Also, you can import non-conforming cars into Canada when they are only 15 years old... virtually impossible to further legally import these into the US.

(There ARE procedures you can follow, but most usually the cost of a legal conversion and import will be larger than the value of the car... sometimes 
manytimes the value.)

The reason I did not post before is that some rules for motorcycles may be different (more lax) and as I've never officially imported a bike (have brought 
a few in for offroad-use only which do not require a waiver of any sort... but also means you can't register it for ther road) I'm not familiar with those 
rules.

See: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/imports/  and  http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/VIG_Canada07032.html

Please note my liberal use of the word "legally"....

Bill Elliott
Urbana, MD