dcp,
Seems to be bad (costly) news...
I know my car, first delivered in Qatar, already got successful registrations in two EU countries, Germany and Nederlands (albeit each time limited to one country, not valid in the whole EU).
So the conformity process in the EU, though being painful, seems to be more lenient than in the US...
Good luck!

 

Is there a provision for "settlers effects" in the law? In Canada you're allowed to bring in a car you bought overseas if you're moving back or to Canada and have owned it for more than 6 months prior to coming to Canada.

Is there such a thing under US law?

 

The car still must meet CDN/US regs and specs. The law you reference only affects duty and taxes.

 

Tell them its VW diesel see how that goes LOL

 

I owned a BMW CS coupe in the 70's while in Germany and was told on purchase, that for 500 dollars, BMW would convert the car to US spec's when I was ready to leave. Didn't happen. When I was ready to return to the US, was told they didn't do that any longer, but a possible way to get it in the US was to ship it to Canada, then on my return, try to get it from Canada into the US. No guarantee, but it might work since back then Canada wasn't as restrictive as the US. Didn't know if that was true either, but ended up trading it to a guy who just came over, for his Olds. As my luck would have it, customs impounded it here in the US, because it had not been steam cleaned underneath . They kept it 30 days until "they said" they did the steam cleaning. Something about possible bugs or vegetation under the car.
Anyway, it's a crap shoot however you might try to work it. I believe it all depends on the time of day , day of the week (some say never buy a car built on a Friday) or how the inspector feels the day the car is shipped or arrives.
Just my 2 cents-------Cheers

 

Nope, not true (I have personal experience) and it wouldn't have helped anyway. The car would not have had Canadian registration.


Again, it's not just physically getting the car on home soil. There's no way of registering it as-is.

 

So it does, just read the regulations. I think the PO is out of luck trying to import his car.

 

DCP


Do keep us posted on how this tunes out. We feel your pain man.