Prius V almost seized at the border

You live in Canada. Why would you think you could drive a car with U.S. plates?

 

OUCH! Are the v's not available in Canada?

 

Wow, what a drag. Tough lesson.

 

Man, sorry to hear that, But the Prius v does have DRL on all models I thought.

 

Agreed.

 

+1 Exactly.

You can drive a US plated car for visiting similar to how Mexican plated cars can drive in the US for visiting. But when you are a resident, you must follow the rules in the country you live in.

But if you have US plates, you must have a US address. In which case you would just have to say you're visiting Canada at the border and be let in. But you would not be able to register or insure it in Canada. And upon re-entry, you may be asked why you "visited" so long.

 

ICBC | Importing a vehicle into B.C.

Lists the three federal agencies you must comply with before going into detail on B.C.'s laws. (As I read this, you never even got to B.C.'s rules)

 

Strange, I'm not sure why, since registration on a vehicle is only good for 1-2 years.

I've always had the sense that importing a car cross-border was a big hassle. Definitely is worth checking into before attempting!

 

You are confusing things.

Think of it this way:

An american may drive an american car in Canada.
A Canadian may drive a Canadian car in america.

An american may not drive a Canadian car in america.
A Canadian may not drive an american car in Canada.

If you are not a permanent resident of Canada, you are not considered a Canadian.
If you are not a permanent resident of america, you are not considered an american.

So as an american (pre-PR status in Canada) you could drive your american car in Canada. Now as a Canadian (post-PR status in Canada) you may only drive Canadian cars in Canada.

Unfortunately you are an american citizen too. Which legally means you may not drive your Canadian vehicle in the US unless you declare to the US that your permanent residence is outside of US territory.

 

Just crossing the border is hassle enough these days, with or without a car, never mind importing one. I don't even want to think about the income tax complications of living and working in one country while being an 'official resident' of another.

 

It has been much more of a hassle these past years, but US->Canada is always easier than Canada->US entry. Last few times I just flash my passport and the friendly booth person says welcome home and I am back in Ontario. Going back to the US I get a 5 minute interrogation about my intentions, what I did in Canada, why did I visit Canada, who did I see, why did I see them, yadda yadda... Royal PITA.

 

Citizenship is irrelevant here. What matters is your permanent address. A car must be registered in the province of your permanent address. In the U.S. a car must be registered in the state of your permanent address. Your permanent address is where your head hits the pillow each night.

 

Where your heads hits the pillow more than 180/days a year generally.

 

Of course. If you are working in Canada on a TN visa, for example, you would be able to get away with not being considered a "permanent resident". As soon as you are a permanent resident, you must register the car where you live.

 

Again permanent address and residency are very different.

Permanent address is where you are more than 180 days out of the year. It is also what gives you universal healthcare coverage (in ON at least).

On a work visa you are not a resident. So re-read my above post. Non-resident = non-Canadian = US plated car.

My family has been-there-done-that many times before in this scenario. Both ways, US importation to Canada and Canadian importation to the US. US vehicles driven in Canada and Canadian vehicles driven in the US.