registering canadian golf in US

I am looking to register a Canadian 1995 VW Golf in the US, specifically New Jersey. Could I do this successfully, or would there be emissions problems?

Reply to
USSEnterprise
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It's a guess but I suspect it'd be fine. the only issue i've heard of emissions-wise on registering a canadian car in the US was during the time (1996-ish) when the US went to OBD2 and canada was still on OBD1. I heard of that with someone that had a '96 Eurovan from canada ('96 was the first year that the US went to OBD2) and was looking to register it in Massachusetts (I think) and they wouldn't pass it on emissions b/c it didn't have OBD2. Since you have a '95 I think you'll be OK and the only way you'd fail is if your car is a polluter to begin with.

Reply to
Matt B.

You are making a big mistake. Why would you want to drive a metric/Canadian car in the U.S. for an extended period of time? The odometer and the speedometer is in Kilometers. It's all metric! If you get a speeding ticket the more you look guilty because it's harder to judge actual speed when you have to constantly calculate in your mind how fast you are actually going. Converting Kilometers to Miles in your head the whole time while driving is not fun.

East-

Reply to
eastwardbound2003

**Oh c'mon. I'm not sure about 1995s but most of my cars have had both miles and kilometers on the speedometer. And when I was in Canada and the sign said: 100 kilometers to the QEW, then I would just look at the speedometer, find 100 kph and see how many miles it was to the QEW.

kaboomie

Reply to
kaboom

Reply to
USSEnterprise

NJ Motor Vehicle Commission

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To register your vehicle: "Before you can register a foreign vehicle, you have to get it titled in New Jersey. Once your vehicle has a title, you may visit any MVC Agency to register with the state.

  • If you are relocating from Canada with a Canadian title in your name, you can title and register it at any MVC Agency."

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kaboomie

Reply to
kaboom

you gotta be kidding.

  1. it's not THAT hard. You don't have to recalculate...just remember a few common ones

100km/h = just over 60mph.

80km/h = about 50 mph

90 km/h = about 55 mph

40 km/h = about 25 mph

Seriously...duh...just those few things will get you by just fine.

  1. you aren't doing it "the whole time while driving". does the speed limit change "the whole time while driving"? no.

and it's not like you can't get new gauge faces or swap the gauge cluster for a miles-based one.

Reply to
Matt B.

Not true. Cars in both the Canadian and US markets have had MPH and KMH on their speedometers for at least 20 years.

Reply to
Papa

Oops, KPH, that is.

Reply to
Papa

WTF? What's this "constantly converting" nonsense? You convert the

*speed limit* on the sign from miles to km, then watch for that speed (in KM) on the dial. Besides, aren't Canadian speedos marked in both miles and km? That's just a dumb reason not to bring the car over.

-- Mike S

Reply to
Mike Smith

One datum: my 1986 Jetta GL, made in Wolfsburg, has only kilometers on the speedometer.

It also has the Canada-only MZ engine with CIS injection (no -E), the big leaded gas filler neck and no catalytic converter, which always causes double takes at the annual smog check. Which it passes by ridiculous margins every time...

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "That's a totally illegal, Grid: CN89mg madcap scheme. I like it!" ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - H. Pearce

Reply to
laura halliday

Well, my 1988 VW Cabriolet Convertible has both MPH and KPH, includes a catalytic converter, and has the narrow filler neck for unleaded fuel. According to the VIN number, it was manufactured at the VW Osnabruck factory in Germany.

Reply to
Papa

FWIW, it's been my experience (speaking in generalities) that:

  1. A car built for a km/h market rarely has the speedo also ticked off in mph increments.
  2. A car built for a mph market usually (but not always) has the speedo also ticked off in km/h increments.

That said, if a car was sold in both markets, a gauge change shouldn't be difficult or prohibitively expensive and it would hardly be a showstopper for me if I liked the car and wanted to keep it.

Reply to
Matt B.

So would I. There is nothing mysterious about the metric system.

Reply to
Papa

AFAIK, all vehicles currently manufactured for sale in Canada have a large speedometer scale in km/h, and a smaller scale in MPH -- a mirror image of what you see on vehicles built for sale in the US.

US federal motor vehicle rules require an MPH scale to be present on the speedometer. The small set of MPH figures on the speedometer of a Canadian vehicle satisfy this requirement.

There will, as I understand it, need to be a label added near the odometer, indicating that the reading on the odometer is in km. (Note that I said "odometer" in this paragraph, not "speedometer".)

There might be other issues to worry about -- seat belts, bumpers, and the like -- but if the car in question was built reasonably recently (last several years), chances are it will meet US specs.

The biggest hangup for importing cars from Canada to the US (or from the US to Canada) used to be conflicting seat belt rules. However, now that virtually all cars have air bags for both the driver and the front-seat passenger, this is unlikely to be a problem any more.

In any case, though, my understanding is that the original poster will need to get a letter from the vehicle manufacturer, certifying that the vehicle (identified by make, model, year, and VIN number) met all US "Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard" (FMVSS) require- ments that were in effect when it was manufactured, with the possible exception of minor labelling requirements. AFAIK, the OP will also need to submit a form stating that the vehicle meets US EPA rules -- which should be no problem as long as it was originally manufactured with a catalytic converter, and the cat still works (or has been replaced with a working cat), and the exhaust system is intact (need to repair it if it's rusted out from road salt, etc.).

Even if the OP can meet all the requirements for importing his VW, however, I'd strongly suggest he consider selling it in Canada and buying a replacement vehicle in the US =unless= the car is in =excellent= (and I =DO= mean "excellent") condition. Consider the following:

(1) If the car is still under warranty, will VW USA honour the vehicle's Canadian warranty? Or will the owner need to pay for warranty repairs in the US up front, then submit the receipts to VW in Canada for (hopeful, eventual) reimbursement?

(2) Will the owner be able to obtain the proper maintenance or replacement parts at a VW dealer in the US? His Canadian-model vehicle will NOT be identical to US models, and it's possible that US dealers may not have access to the exact parts (or even be capable of looking up the right parts in their electronic catalogue systems that are set up only for the specific models sold in the States).

(3) Any amount of body rust (a serious concern if the OP is from a part of Canada where they routinely salt the roads in winter) will =significantly= reduce the car's resale value in the eyes of an American would-be buyer. (4) Even if the car is in perfect condition, many American would-be buyers are likely to be scared off by the "funny" speedometer/ odometer in a Canadian car, preferring instead to buy a used car with a "regular" instrument panel. Even though there are MPH markings on the speedometer, they're small, and many people will consider them too small to read clearly. And as for the odometer, it's always going to be a "weird" reading that most American would-be buyers will be confused and suspicious about -- no alternate "miles" reading is available here.

(4) Moving a car could be costly -- certainly so if the OP is thinking of having it shipped commercially, or even if he's planning to drive it to his new home (consider depreciation for extra mileage).

So, unless the car is in outstandingly good mechanical shape, with absolutely =NO= trace whatsoever of body rust damage -- or unless the owner is hopelessly in love with his car, can't bear to part with it no matter what the cost, and is determined to hang on to it until it falls apart or gets totalled -- I'm not sure if it's really worth going through the paperwork hassle to import it.

Rich Wales snipped-for-privacy@richw.org

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Reply to
Rich Wales

Note that before the original poster can even get to the point of titling his vehicle in New Jersey, he'll have to get it successfully imported into the US (i.e., get it past US Customs). That means the car will have to be certified as meeting US federal vehicle rules; see my earlier posting in this thread for more about that.

Even if info from New Jersey (or any other US state) neglected to mention the federal requirements and US Customs, that will still be a requirement; the federal rules trump state rules if they conflict.

Unfortunately, the average state DMV/MVC/whatever employee is most likely =not= going to be familiar with any of this stuff. Make sure you're getting state-level advice from an expert at the main office (probably in the respective state capital) -- and realize that you =WILL= have to deal with US Customs and federal requirements, and if someone from the state DMV tries to tell you that won't be necessary, don't believe them.

Rich Wales snipped-for-privacy@richw.org

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Reply to
Rich Wales

Current, maybe, but back in the mid 1990s (original poster's Golf in question) this was not required.

Good point there. It took Canada another couple of years to mandate dual airbags and so if this Golf doesn't have them, that may be an issue.

In short:

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Reply to
Matt B.

Reply to
none2u

Reply to
none2u

Note that the proper abbreviation for kilometers per hour is km/h not KPH.

Reply to
sgallagher

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