Shipping a car to Canada from the US isn?t much of an issue. However, as we get a larger and more universal used car market, you might run into a customer from ?north of the 49th.? Here are some of the financial issues of getting a car over the border.<br><br>Duties are not an issue if the car was primarily made in North America. If you have a domestic car company model, that shouldn?t be an issue, as most domestic car makes have the 62.5% NAFTA content to avoid duties. Quite a few cars from foreign nameplates are made stateside, as many companies like Toyota and Honda have US plants, so they would be eligible for a duty waiver if most of their components are made in North America. However, if the car was made overseas, there is a 6.1% duty, so selling a fancy European sports car to a Canadian client will be more expensive.<br><br>All imports, North American or not, get slapped with a 5% Goods and Services Tax; the GST is their national sales tax. Also, larger cars over 2000kg (4425 pounds) and cars with air conditioning get an additional C$100 tax (the Canadian dollar is worth about 94 US cents at present); that?s going to cover most vehicles. If you have a Quebec customer, they?ll get an extra 7.5% in sales taxes tacked on to the GST.<br><br>Lastly, the car has to be filed with the Registrar of Imported Vehicles if they?re less than 15 years old. That has a C$195 price tag and requires that the vehicle meets safety and emissions requirements; if the car doesn?t meet specs, the buyer will have 45 days to fix things.<br><br>That means that your buyer has 5% of the value of the car plus C$295 in order to get their car street-legal in Canada. Canadian buyers will have to remember to factor that in when they buy a car from an American seller.<br><br>Mexico is a lot tougher on imports that Canada is. They don?t allow the sale of imported used cars and limit the importation of cars for personal use. So, Mexicans are limited to buying used cars that are already in the country.<br><br>If someone is taking a car back to Mexico from the US, there are a number of hoops to jump through that make it problematic to bring a car in from el Norte.<br><br>First, the car has to be NAFTA-made. At least 62.5% of a car?s components have to be made in North America. So, if you had a BMW made in Germany, it?s stuck in the US.<br><br>Secondly, the car has to ten years old. Not nine or eleven, ten years on the nose. Anything else stays north of the border as well. If you happen to own a 2000 model car, you can bring it back. That means that 2000s are hot commodities near the Mexican border.<br><br>If you happen to have that precious 2000-model-year, NAFTA-built car, you then have to pay some cash to the federales. There is a 0.8% customs processing fee and a value-added tax of 10% for folks within 25 miles of the border and 15% for folks further south. While there?s no duty, there is an importation tax of 10% and a new car tax of between 50% and 100%.<br><br>Thus, unless you?re planning to move to Mexico and happen to have a car exactly ten years old, forgetaboutit.