Here are some (if not all) the information you need to import a car, in plain English.

1. Figure out which car(s) can be imported into Canada. Not every car can. Here's a list from RIV.ca (The Canadian governing body for imported vehicles.) Please read carefully. Worst case scenario, if you attempt to import a vehicle that's inadmissible to Canada, they can choose to take your vehicle, destroy it, and bill the cost to you!

2. Make sure you have a Letter of Recall Clearance. Simply put, the letter is to ensure that your car does not have any outstanding recalls that are needed to be done. Right now, a lot of automobile manufacturers won't issue recall letters for people that want to export their vehicles. RIV is aware of this, and will help you get the letter. For some companies like Honda, they won't issue you a recall letter, but you can go online and type in the VIN, and it'll tell you whether you need recalls or not. RIV.ca will allow that document to be printed out and be use as the letter of recall clearance!

3. Find a car, I used: oodle.com I'm not advertising for them, but they're great in that you can search also by region, colour, and even mileage.

4. Purchase vehicle outright. As far as I know, there's no financing methods. You need to pay for the car outright. I used a credit card with cash back. You may want to apply for a 2% cash back credit card, but that might have a fee. Do the math, it might be worth it. (You may also need several credit cards to pay for it all - or do what I did, credit cards plus cash.)

5. Vehicle Insurance. You need vehicle insurance if you intend to drive it back home from the border.

6. Temporary transport plates. You need temporary transport plates issued from the state you bought the vehicle from if you intend to drive it yourself. You may also need other temporary plates from other states as well, I have no experience with this here, so you'll have to search on-line. I bought my car from New York, the temp plates were $10, dealer got it for me.

7. Obtain title, bill of sale, and any other documents associated with the sale of a vehicle in the state that you bought the car from. The dealer should be able to take care of this - make sure you have the TITLE and bill of sale though. Ensure they are originals!

8. Get a copy of the title and fax it to US Customs 72 hours before exporting the vehicle. Depending on where you intend to import the car, you need to fax it there. NOTE: Not all border crossings will process the papers, so do some research before you fax. Here's a list of ports

You may want the dealership to help you out by faxing it on your behalf, but trust me, do it yourself for the peace of mind. I can't stress this enough. If you don't wait 72 hours, they will NOT let you go. Worse, they may choose to impound your vehicle and force you to wait, thereby incurring more unnecessary charges. You can fax it 2 months in advance, that's okay, but before the 72 hours is up, stay home - or find a nice hotel to chill out at the border, US side.

9. Find out exactly how to get to the US Vehicle import/export office. You might think that's a bit much, but trust me, they don't make it easy to find. People driving around lost near the border makes agents nervous/suspicious. Google for maps and such. Example: Picture at Lewiston/Queenston crossing

10. Get a shipping company if you can't pick up the car yourself to have it ship it to the border. You can use a service like: shipmyvehicle.com. They actually will bid for your business, to ensure the best rates possible.

11. If for any reason you can't pick up your vehicle on the day it is delivered, you'll have to find a towing/storage company that will receive your car. I found one literally 5 minutes away from the Lewiston/Queenston border that charged $10 to store. NOTE: US border open from 8am-4pm, Monday to Friday. So you have to figure out when you can drive it across.

12. After you pick up the vehicle and you're at the US border, get your title stamped for approval and drive to the Canadian side. Tell the Canadian Customs agent that you are importing the vehicle. He will ask what's the make, model, year, and the amount the vehicle is worth.

13. Go to the Canadian office. Make sure you have your title ready. You will also need bill of sale, and all the other documents that go with the sale of the vehicle. Canadians are cooler, their export offices open 24/7, even on holidays.

14. There are several fees and taxes that you have to pay upfront: Vehicle Duties, Taxes & Fees. Careful! Some cars cost a lot more to import than others because they are gas guzzlers. It is here you will need to think ahead. For easiness sake, I again used a money back credit card.

15. Once all paperwork is completed, and you get the vehicle home, you need to register and pay a fee to RIV.ca. You can even pay on-line. Depending on where you live, fees might be more.

16. Temporary Province plates. Depending on the province, and how brave you are, you may need temporary plates from your own province. I'm not sure. Please check yourself. I drove around with the temporary NY plates that I bought, but am not sure how legal that was.

17. Inspections. If the vehicle is used, you will need the following three types of inspection:
- RIV inspection. This is free - they check for daytime running lights (DRL), child seat anchors, km/h dashboards, and French warning stickers for airbags. There are exceptions (i.e.: convertible don't have child seat anchor points), but you will need them - and if you didn't do all this in advance, you'll fail inspection and have to do it again. Unsure if there's a fee after the first inspection (which is "free", since you already paid for the fee to RIV.ca)

- Emissions. Depending on province, you may have to pay for an emissions test. Ontario is great!

- Used Vehicle inspection. This is different from RIV.ca inspection. In Ontario, you need to have this done to sell a used car. People call it "certifying" the car. You'll need to do this. They check for brake wear, tire tread ware, etc.

18. Congrats, you've made it pretty far, so now the final hurdle is registering your vehicle for your province.

In Ontario, you need the following documents:

- All inspection documents mentioned above: emissions, vehicle safety cert, RIV compliance inspection
- Original title. NOTE: They keep that title, so if you want a copy, make photocopies for your own records
- All documents MUST be original and not photocopies/fax

19. Very close now! You have to pay a fee for new plates, fee for stickers, and then PST (or known as RST on MTO websites). Watch out!! They put the fee of the PST on top of all the previous fees, it works like: (value of car + excise taxes + duty) + PST.

That's it, you'll now get ownership papers for the car, you'll have insurance for said vehicle, plates, and valid stickers on said plates.
===============================================================

Here are some important websites:

RIV.ca = http://riv.ca/
US customs for exporting vehicles: http://www.customs.gov/xp/cgov/export/export_docs/motor_vehicle.xml
Ministry of Transportation (Ontario): http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/vehicle/rgoutcan.htm

....Cruising down the highway....