Getting a '7' into the country

[SR27.Seth]

Do any of you have some pointers for importing a new or used seven clone (full running car, not a kit) into the country? Shipping is not my concern and registering the car in NY seems to be a cinch, but I am concerned about the EPA and Customs. Any experiences out there?

 

 

 

-Seth

[scannon]

Unless they have changed the laws in the past few years, you won't be able to do it without spending big bux for emissions and crash testing. The gov closed off the grey market to all but those with the resources to do the mods and testing. These companies bring in cars in small volumes like the Smart where the costs can be amortized over a number of similar vehicles.

 

 

 

I think you can still bring in '67 and older cars without doing the mods and testing. You can also bring in newer cars as show cars or race cars but you will not be able to get them registered for the street.

 

 

 

Best to check with the EPA and DOT for current rules and regs.

 

 

 

Skip

[slngsht]

sounds like it might be easier to bring it as a kit

[solder_guy]

sounds like it might be easier to bring it as a kit

 

 

 

Someone wrote a blog about his Caterham build .. from the shipping crates to the road.

 

 

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

 

 

[manik]

Unless the car is more than 25 years old, you will *not* be able to bring it in with the engine and gearbox. Even then, if you simply remove the engine and gearbox from a car in the UK, you will have difficulty, as the DOT & EPA still treat it as an automobile and require all the safety & emissions items.

 

 

 

Have a looksee:

 

 

 

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/FAQ%20Site/index.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

tm

[stevet]

I remember a few years back, a guy here bought a used Caterham in England, took it apart, then shipped the parts (incl. engine and gearbox) here. He then rebuilt it. I think he was from Michigan, but can't remeber his name. Not sure you can still do that.

[manik]

While I won't comment on that method for obvious reasons, but if you can find a seller willing to break down the car and ship it in pieces, you will have found an unusual seller. http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/smile5.gif

 

 

 

 

 

tm

[Birkin42]

If it is like up here in Canada, you will need to show a bill of sales for all major items used to build the car, whether that be a kit or a home built when you go to register it. Unless you have a method of getting fake receipts so that it doesn't look like all the parts came from one source or car, you will likely have problems registering the car. I've heard in Canada they impound the car, then you have to get it out of the country, and then pay the storage fees and fines.

 

 

 

To avoid these problems when I brought in my Birkin roller into Canada, I needed to have the car further disassembled, shipped in pieces and all items itemized as car parts, not as a reciept for a dismantled rolling chassis. This worked fine with no hassles from customs.

 

 

 

Like in the US, you can't bring in a roller or a whole car unless it was previously registered and is at least 15 years old, or is on the approved list of vehicles that can be imported. There are no current 7's that are on the approved list and haven't been for some years.

 

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

Jack

[Alaskossie]

I can speak from some experience. Unless the vehicle is 25 years old or older, it will be very difficult to bring it into the USA past US Customs, which listens very closely to EPA and DOT before signing off. You might be able to bring a bunch of miscellaneous parts (i. e., a disassembled non-approved vehicle) that are newer than 25 years,but you take the real chance of having the stuff imponded, re-exported at your expense, or sold involuntarily at auction for re-export.

 

 

 

In 2000 I imported a Land Rover-based 1990 MWG Esarco 8X8 truck from England. I finally had it sitting in my back yard in January 2005, after 6 years of bonded Customs impoundment at $150/month. The 4-cyl. turbo diesel engine was clearly an "off-highway" engine under EPA regulations, but EPA and Customs had to insist on proof that this "off-highway engine" was in fact installed in an "off-highway vehicle," or else I faced seizure, involuntary auction, or re-export at my expense.

 

 

 

For cryin' out loud, it was an 8X8, 4-axle vehicle with 4-wheel steering and three transfer cases, and EPA would not accept the logic that it was an "off-highway vehicle" unless I could fix it so that it could go no more than 25 mph (which in their eyes made it presumptively an "off-highway vehicle" -- don't tell an Abrams tank or a Baja-racing buggy that they aren't "off-highway vehicles" in the eyes of the law because they can go faster than 25 mph!!).

 

 

 

So I had a certified truck shop sign an affidavit that they had put the Esarco into low range and then disconected the transfer case linkage, so that it couldn't go more than 25 mph.

 

 

 

But it took years to reach this result, because EPA never reads its mail, never puts anything in writing, and has a bunch of bureaucrats staffing its compliance office who know nothing about vehicle engineering, dynamics, or uses, never leave the DC Beltway area, and are just putting in their time until retirement.

 

 

 

My advice: don't go there.....

 

 

 

I haven't even mentioned the $3000 I had to spend on vacuum trucks for the steam cleaning of the Esarco (twice) to meet Dept. of Agriculture requirments, first for mad cow disease, then for hoof and mouth disease. (Of course, a Seven probably won't have started its life on a British farm!)

 

 

 

Tom Meacham

 

Anchorage, Alaska

 

 

 

 

[slngsht]

I can speak from some experience. Unless the vehicle is 25 years old or older, it will be very difficult to bring it into the USA past US Customs, which listens very closely to EPA and DOT before signing off. You might be able to bring a bunch of miscellaneous parts (i. e., a disassembled non-approved vehicle) that are newer than 25 years,but you take the real chance of having the stuff imponded, re-exported at your expense, or sold involuntarily at auction for re-export.

 

 

 

In 2000 I imported a Land Rover-based 1990 MWG Esarco 8X8 truck from England. I finally had it sitting in my back yard in January 2005, after 6 years of bonded Customs impoundment at $150/month. The 4-cyl. turbo diesel engine was clearly an "off-highway" engine under EPA regulations, but EPA and Customs had to insist on proof that this "off-highway engine" was in fact installed in an "off-highway vehicle," or else I faced seizure, involuntary auction, or re-export at my expense.

 

 

 

For cryin' out loud, it was an 8X8, 4-axle vehicle with 4-wheel steering and three transfer cases, and EPA would not accept the logic that it was an "off-highway vehicle" unless I could fix it so that it could go no more than 25 mph (which in their eyes made it presumptively an "off-highway vehicle" -- don't tell an Abrams tank or a Baja-racing buggy that they aren't "off-highway vehicles" in the eyes of the law because they can go faster than 25 mph!!).

 

 

 

So I had a certified truck shop sign an affidavit that they had put the Esarco into low range and then disconected the transfer case linkage, so that it couldn't go more than 25 mph.

 

 

 

But it took years to reach this result, because EPA never reads its mail, never puts anything in writing, and has a bunch of bureaucrats staffing its compliance office who know nothing about vehicle engineering, dynamics, or uses, never leave the DC Beltway area, and are just putting in their time until retirement.

 

 

 

My advice: don't go there.....

 

 

 

I haven't even mentioned the $3000 I had to spend on vacuum trucks for the steam cleaning of the Esarco (twice) to meet Dept. of Agriculture requirments, first for mad cow disease, then for hoof and mouth disease. (Of course, a Seven probably won't have started its life on a British farm!)

 

 

 

Tom Meacham

 

Anchorage, Alaska

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/nonod.gif

[westfield]

How about getting an uncompleted kitcar that never was registered.