How is this possible for the non-federalised Smart Cabrio to be registered with Ohio numberplates and titles? This is the second Smart to be posted in the ebay motors for bidding in the past year.
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The owner didn't specify whether it was registered with DOT as special interest (historical and technical) category.
A yellow Smart Car with Middle Eastern numberplates and temporary Colorado transfer numberplate was often seen in Denver area. That car was also posted in the ebay motors and sold for $18.500,? or so.
I suppose there is also strong interest or demand for those Smart cars as the bidding history and amount in both Smart cars reflect...
Regards, Oliver
PS I also came across the 1998 Mercedes-Benz Vito with Georgia numberplates in ebay motors, too.
Perhaps the same way as the (old-style) non-federalised '99 Mini I saw with current California regular plates in San Francisco in 2000. I talked to the owner about it, asked what year it was. Without a moment's hesitation he said "It's a '67". I gave him a look that said "Not...". He chuckled and said "Well...OK, *part* of it is a 1967...heheh...it's titled as a '67...". Translation, VIN-swap. Same way the Mexican-market post-'79 VW Beetles made their way up here. Sometimes it works, but boy, talk about Federal penalties stacked on top of Federal penalties if you get caught! There's False Declaration to Customs (a felony), Smuggling, lying on your DOT form, lying on your EPA form...
Probably not...there was a guy who was interested in trying to import and sell Smarts in the US. He went ten or twelve rounds with NHTSA on it, and did so in such a way that he pissed off NHTSA and they said "No". He even tried stupid crap like claiming to want to import them for "show and display". He'd already tipped his hand to NHTSA, and they said "No". So it's unlikely they'd've let someone else do it. Also remember that special-interest vehicles aren't allowed in and onto the roads just because they're special. They're allowed in -- if NHTSA gives permission
-- on a limited basis or for bona fide show/display. They've ruled that this basically means car shows and museums. A car dealer wanted to bring in a non-US-spec European vehicle, I forget the make, for permanent display in his showroom; NHTSA said "No, that doesn't count". So they really are quite strict about it.
I'm betting the buyer got a very nasty surprise when he tried to transfer the registration. An increasing number of states run the VIN of all registration requests through VinEDIT, which spits out all VINs not originally intended for the US market. Those states then require complete DOT and EPA clearance forms stamped "RELEASED BY CUSTOMS". It's not nearly as easy to get a non-spec car into the US as it was until 1990. Not even
*close*.
And yet...it does happen.
And me, I ran across a European-specs Saab 9-5 not long ago in Florida. And a Mexican-specs Chrysler Spirit in Washington State.
I would do a lot of homework before bidding on a car that was not originally meant to be sold in the US. You could end up losing quite a bit of money if you don't.
There are specific provisions for that. Foreign nationals may bring in their non-US-spec vehicles without any conversion work required for a period of no more than one year, after which the vehicle must be exported or destroyed -- it cannot be sold without going through the official importation process, which is lengthy, rigorous and EXTREMELY expensive.
In practice, sequential one-year compliance waivers are sometimes granted to foreign nationals who have a legitimate reason to use their own non-US-spec vehicles in the US for longer periods of time, but these are granted only on a year-by-year basis. An example is Canadians and Mexicans who, by peculiarities of their home and work situation, must use their cars in the US long-term. After the year is up, the car must still be exported, but this exportation can be accomplished by simply driving back over the border into Mexico or Canada (as appropriate and then applying for the car's re-entry. The DOT keeps a fairly watchful eye on this and tends to deny re-entry to vehicles if they have any reason to believe they're being manipulated.
The rules are different for diplomats and military personnel, who are allowed their non-spec vehicles for as long as their term of assignment.
In news:Xns94CB31DCCA25eldosampleman@130.133.1.4, Frank Kemper decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows
All depends where in Europe the car is used. In the UK you can drive cars with plates from other countries for up to 12 months at a time if "temporary" imports. There's a chap up the road from me with a Spanish registered Alfa 164 that's been here for about 4 years.. I know a bloke in Greece who's been driving a Nissan 4x4 on UK plates for the last 12, never been inspected, never had any tax paid, it seems to just be a legal black hole as far as the relevant Greek authorities are concered.
Unfortunately, the US authorities are a bit more particular. At least, here in NYC they are.
If you drive a car with European registration & plates here, and you are not a diplomat or some other exception, you are going to be arrested and your car will be impounded. Period.
After you get out of jail, there will probably be some kind of fine involved, and you will not get the car back until you make all of the necessary arrangements to have it properly registered and insured here in the USA. If the car cannot be registered or insured here for some reason, then it will likely be sold by the government at auction.
In the chicago area they don't seem to be. Considering at the old place I had neighbor who's car was registered in canada.
Hmm... I've seen cars on the road in chicago area with european plates. So there must be some grace period in IL at the very least. Another sight I've seen a few times is an IL plate bolted on top of a european one.
Yeah, Canada is different; Canadian plates and insurance are OK here, and vice-versa.
Actually, the European plates you saw were probably vanity plates; you can order them from suppliers in europe, and even have your US plate number printed on them. Chances are, they're fully legal and insured cars, just with different plates for the european 'look'; if they get pulled over, it'll be a small fine for not displaying proper number plates, but the car itself is legal. However, if they get pulled over, and it turns out to be just a european car, with no US registration or insurance, then the cop will probably not let the car continue on the road.
The IL plate bolted on top of the euro plate is a different story, but also legal. It just means that the car is probably registered in both Europe and the USA.
Are you sure? Do you have link in the Internet where the NYC police officers are vigorous in prosecuting the vehicles with foreign numberplates? I find it quite doubtful.
I understand that the foreign visitors who are not US citizen or resident are permitted to import and drive their vehicles for 12 months before exporting them back to their home country. Under the NHTSA's temporary importations, the foreign visitors must tick the appropiate boxes on the HS-7 form
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I've seen many vehicles with foreign numberplates in Boulder and Denver at the University of Colorado campuses. I spoke with Boulder Police about it: they only stop them if they seem to violate the traffic regulations or behave erratically just like any other vehicles.
I have lived here my whole life, and honestly, I have only ever seen one car with euro plates; diplomats recieve special plates from the city. So while I probably can't speak to euro-spec cars specifically, I can tell you, that if ANY car on the NYC streets does not have it's paperwork in order regarding registration and such, the driver is going straight to jail, and the car is going straight to the impound, regardless of the situation. Hell, I have heard of people going to jail for having an expired insurance card.
I don't know that anyone here goes through that hassle and expense just to keep their car here for a few months; as I said, I've only seen one european plate in my whole life, and NYC has the highest concentration of foriegn dignitaries and such in the country. I do suppose, however, that NYC honors this nonresident program, but few if any take advantage of it.
Perhaps the very reason you see so many and I see so few is precicely because the NYPD are hardasses when it comes to enforcement of these rules. I can tell you that I would personally NEVER risk driving a european-registered car in this city (unless I was 110% sure that the paperwork was in order). Believe me, it's just asking to get pulled over.
Years ago I read a book written by a German who travelled around the world in his VW microbus mobile home. He has also shipped his car to the US and used it there (he was not very pleased to find it burglarized when he picked it up in the harbour). I have also heard of several guys who wanted to bike across the states and brought their BMW motorbikes with them.
Frank
BTW: Technically it should not be a big problem to run a smart in the US, because the car meets all enviromental and safety standards which other very small cars like the Geo Metro meet. The smart is a very small car, but not a very cheap one.
No, it does not meet US regulations which is somewhat different from ECE regulations, namely collision tests, fuel leak tests, headlamps and lighting systems, ad infinitim. ECE might be more superior in most regualtions, but the Americans are so myrmidomic about their own regulations...
Mercedes-Benz has not considered the Smart Car for US market during the developmental cycle. With a couple more years remaining on current model, it is too late to do the major re-engineering work for one or two years remaining of marketing. I understand Mercedes-Benz has promised to include the Smart ForTwo along with ForFour.
That is not correct. The Smart is not manufacturer-certified as complying with all applicable US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety, antitheft and bumper standards, nor is it manufacturer-certified as conforming to all US EPA requirements applicable to vehicles of its model year. The Smart is type-approved to the international ECE safety and environmental standards, which means it is admissible to any country that accepts ECE-approved cars and parts, but the US and Canada do not accept ECE-approved cars. Some of the many different environmental and safety standards have varying degrees of overlap such that it's possible to build one car that conforms to both sets of standards simultaneously, but conformity with one set of standards in NO way implies conformity with the other set of standards.
I've lived in NYC a long time, 35+ years, and I have never seen anyone arrested for bad car paperwork. They do ticket and tow cars for that reason. And it does cost a lot of money to get your car back. In fact early mornings you can see the cops walking down the side walk checking registration and inspection stickers on car windows.
A couple years back I saw an Alfa Romeo 156 in front of the Sony cinemas on broadway in the 60's. It have Michigan manufacturer plates on it. I only saw it once.
Used to see non-spec cars with M-plates *all the time* when I lived in Ann Arbor, MI. Saw European-market Chryslers, Jeeps, Fords, Smarts, and numerous not-sold-here makes on a regular basis.
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