Importing Ferraris from the US

Dealer employees browsing this site, don't bother putting in your "I would buy local" opinions - don't wanna hear it.

Thanks[/QUOTE]

I don't think the dealers are that far off. If you want to bring in a 89 or older vehicle then anything goes, Europe, U.S., etc... However if you have some dream of bringing in a 94 348 spider or 355 or 360, good luck. The bumpers and reinforcements on both cars are different and very expensive to replace, i.e. $15,000+.

A duty has to be paid on cars not manufactured in the U.S. of I believe 6.7% or 6.2% and brokerage fees of a couple hundred dollars, faxing titles back and forth to each border, etc...

So if you add in all of the expense it's only slightly cheaper to purchase a Ferrari in the U.S. and to be honest a Florida car unless it was garaged regularly and driven infrequently is going to look "beat" compared to a Canadian car driven 6 months of the year.

 

Consult this webpage for details. Most modern F-cars do require extensive modifications, 2002-2004 Modenas appear to be allowed in as is.

http://www.riv.ca/english/TC_admis_list_nov03_Eng.PDF

Regards,
Bruckner

 

It would be nice if you could bring in a 2002-2004 modena..........but they should be the same as the 99s and up..........I would email them to double check

 

Look closely at the Riv.ca list and you will see that both 02-04 360 Modenas both 6spd and F1 have "**" beside them. Which means modifications are needed.

 

I'm bringing my '89 348 up in August from Salt Lake City.
Cost is 6% duty, GST and upon registration PST.
That's it as it's 15 yrs old in August.

If it's not yet 15 the most common mods are the child restraint buckle
and low speed bumpers. The bumpers cost about 15K or more to obtain and install.

I'll update upon my arrival if anything changes.

 

Here's a little calculation that I do when looking at automotive arbitrage from the US. This based on a late 80's TR.

If I find a Canadian car locally that I want to compare against and it's $79,995 CAD + GST for example.......what I do is assume I can get it for $75,000........then I back out 6.1% duty..........$70,688 CAD......then I back out the shipping of $ 2,000......now we are at $68,688 CAD.......subtract RIV fees and misc expenses...another $500......$68,188 CAD. Less conversion expenses....($1-15,000 CAD)...etc...etc....

Now exchange it to US dollars......1.3616 is today's cash rate at the Bank of Canada....$48,076 USD is the end result for an example of a car that does not need any conversion done.

Can I buy an equivalent US car for that much ? There are not a lot of deals out there.........a lot of people use the wrong exchange rate when doing this.......and frankly if it was advantageous........I'd have a lot full of US cars right now. I don't...as it is not.

Maybe you could be more specific with your example ?

 

The bigger problem in Canada is availability of exotics.
I'm looking for a decent early Pantera (25-35 USD). There's really nothing in Canada.
Looking last summer and found 348 Spider at FoO. They were asking $140K Cdn. Using KDS math it's $140K asking - $131,950 for duty - 129,950 after shipping - $129450 after misc - 114,450 after bumper conversion - conversion to USD makes it 84K. I can get you a good 348 Spider for less than this.
Sometimes it makes sense! You've just got to be selective.

 

http://www.zrauto.ca/modules/mod_carDetails.cfm?numCarDetailID=14

What about this Canadian spec 1993 512TR for $139K "ask"......it's been there over a year and used to be $149K......I'm sure that you have seen it...haven't you ?

 

15 years old or more, you can skip RIVA altogether. See http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/importation/menu.htm