Canadian Snowbird Car Shipping, Doable Hoops to Jump

As we were traveling I-75 yesterday heading to my in-laws in Tennessee for Thanksgiving, I spotted a few RVs with Ontario plates heading south. While most American Grey-Crested Snowbirds on the move this weekend would wait until after Thanksgiving to head south, their Canadian counterparts have no such issue, since Canada does Thanksgiving in mid-October.

That begs the question-what are the specs for shipping a car “across the 49th?”

Here's the US customs page on the issue. There is no duty due for Canadian cars imported for personal use; it’s a surprisingly low 2.5% for cars from non-NAFTA countries. The key issue that the US seems to worry about is that the cars meet US safety and pollution standards; given that Canadian cars have similar standards, that is generally not a binding constraint for snowbirds.

One interesting point that the customs page points out is that cars being transported shouldn’t be used to ship other personal effects. Remember that the car is going through customs, and your shipper won’t want to have to catalog your underwear and socks along with the car proper. Also, since there will often be a number of checks along the way, there is the chance of your goods getting damaged or stolen in transit.

Canadian license plates are good for Canadian visitors; they don’t need extra licenses beyond the clearance to be imported. The same applies to Mexican cars as well.

While you’ll need an experienced shipper to make sure the paperwork gets done, shipping a car from Canada seems fairly straight-forward.