Importing a MT AC LB OR from Canada

The Tacoma access cab, manual trans, off road is only available in Canada unfortunately for US citizens.

What would be the fees involved with importing a vehicle like this into the US?

Asking for a friend

 

All I can tell you is that many manual transmission Tacos, including mine, do not have TPMS and that's a blocking issue to importing them into USA. I looked into retrofitting the factory system, it is a nonstarter as far as I can tell. I don't know if you can install one of the aftermarket systems with sensors on the schraeder valves and a head unit plugged into cigarette lighter, and get it homologated that way.

 

Find a shipping broker and he'll have all the details

 

@mrCanoehead , you're saying TPMS like as in Tire Pressure Monitor System doesn't exist in MT's? because mine does...... or are you meaning something else? ....i'm with Tocamo, might want to make some calls and find out, might be easier that way and more reliable info....let us know if you find out anything

 

I am saying my Canadian Taco does not have a tire pressure monitoring system, and as far as I know there are no Canadian manual transmission trucks with TPMS. TPMS is a regulatory requirement in the USA only, not Canada.

 

Well TPMS would be the least of my concerns. Those can be added for about $50.

 

@MOC221_ do you have tpms in your truck?

 

oh, ok...learn something new everyday thanks @mrCanoehead

 

I am aware but the question is whether your authority having jurisdiction will accept a system like that. You would want to be very sure of the answer.

 

That makes sense, you need the whole system. It would be sad if the whole import process was held up by tire pressure monitors.

 

What I can tell you is that I called a guy who ships 350 trucks a week across the border to an auction in Detroit. His first question was if my truck had TPMS. When I said no, he could not hang up fast enough.

 

I don't know about Canada, but just after I got my Taco, I met a guy that brought one in from Mexico. His was a BR DCSB Sport AT and thought that my truck was his in a moment of confusion. The kicker was that he said that he paid about $17,000USD for it. Go figure.

He said the only recognizable difference was the speedo. We didn't get too technical though.

 

And here I thought Canada was the Nanny State, not the USA. It is possible that a used vehicle is exempt. Would be worth checking it out. I know day-time running lights are required as standard equipment on all new cars sold in Canada, but there is no such requirement for used vehicles, nor is there any law stopping someone from disabling DTRL once they have bought a new car. (US tourists are NOT required to turn on their cars headlights during daylight hours, either).

BTW I had no idea that low tire pressure was a big safety issue. How many serious MVAs or deaths have been caused by low tire pressure. What is next, every car mandatory equipped with an air pump?

 

The TPMS system was made mandatory in the USA because a great way to get your high CofG Ford Explorer to roll over and hurt or kill everyone in it, is to run a front tire with the square root of zero pressure in it. When you go around a corner, the tire will come off the rim. The US government's clever solution was to mandate battery powered sensors with radios in them in every tire. In Canada, we know what a flat tire looks like, and we know what to do about it, so it's not mandatory.

 

First off, i’ll be surprised if Toyota makes a non-TPMS Tacoma that was/is legal in Canada, but not in the US. I could be wrong, but it would just seem really weird to me if Toyota did something like that.............
Anyway, I moved from Canada to Tennessee about 3 years ago and imported two used vehicles that were registered in my name.
Before the move I researched importing them and there is a shit-ton of online-mis-information to make the process seem overly complicated (i’m assuming to make people think they need to hire a broker/importer to complete the paperwork) All I did was print off and fill out a form for each vehicle from the US Gov website and print off a current KBB value for each vehicle (FYI-Lowest reasonable value is better than a higher value)
When I arrived at the border I informed the officer that I was importing the vehicles and he sent me to secondary where I filled out two more forms and paid some $$$. The US built Chev was worth about $15K (US) and I had to pay about $100 and the Japanese built Mitsubishi was only worth about $5k and I had to pay about $300. They didn’t even look at either vehicle, I paid on the spot and they stamped and gave me two forms.
In Tennessee at the DMV, there were no safety inspections or US/Canada vehicle compatibility checks, just a quick E-test. I gave them the two forms from the border and my Cdn ownerships and got my new titles in the mail a few weeks later.
It probably varies a bit from state to state but my experience was way easier and cheaper than I expected.

 

Toyota does it all the time. There are a lot of Canadian Toyota models that do not have TPMS. Ditto for other countries as well.

When Toyota started implementing direct-reading TPMS in the US (around 2004), Canadian models got it at the same time, however after several years (around 2011) Toyota Canada stopped equipping many models with TPMS even though all models in the US require TPMS.

You're right though, the actual importation process for an individual is actually quite simple and not expensive, just get your paperwork figured out and hand it to them at the border, more or less.

If you import a used car into Canada that is newer than 15 years old, you will require an RIV inspection which will check for DRL's. If you import a used car into Canada that is older than 15 years old, DRL's will likely be an issue to pass the required out of province inspection in most provinces. Either way, you will need to have DRL's to import a used car into Canada and again often if you bring a car between provinces.

Once a used car is in a province, you can sell and register it easily without functional DRL's, but that initial inspection will require them.

Tourists or other visitors to Canada are obviously not required to modify their car to meet Canadian regulations.

Jeff

 

Lol, quite a late reply..
Nope, no TPMS.
Tow package, dual zone climate control, sill protectors, mud flaps. All part of the TRD OR package on my truck.
No tech package, no wireless charging.

 

Premium & tech MT sport. No TPMS but awesome sunglasses holder!

 

I went down this rabbit hole in the fall of 2018 to the point where I actually bought a truck in Alberta and then discovered the whole TPMS issue. The long and short of it is: you can't do it.

U.S. customs is going to require the full compliance paperwork from the manufacturer at the border (there are a variety of forms too that you have to fill out and carry). Toyota in Toronto is really sweet and they will send a statement of compliance and it will very sweetly say that no, the vehicle doesn't have TPMS but otherwise it's a great fit for the U.S. highway system except for that one small but also not really small at all detail. Nearly cried when I saw it. So, then invariably people start thinking of work arounds. Why not just install a TPMS? If you look closely at the regs for importing vehicles it has to be the manufacturer's TPMS system. Which puts you way out of reach of spare parts and fiddling under the dash yourself. Toyota Canada would have to install the full system and it is more than just the four sensors--the computer is wired differently, the harness is different etc. etc. You also can't take it to some shop because the dealer has to sign off that the system is manufacturer made and installed. Oh, and best part, the instrument cluster does not have the TPMS light, so they have to replace the cluster from another Canadian Tacoma that does have it. Also, important detail, literally no dealer in Canada will do this. I called literally every Toyota dealer in the three western provinces and asked persistently if their shop would do the conversion if I bought the truck from them (you should have seen the spreadsheet). Found exactly one and they wanted $10K to do it, confessed they weren't sure how to do it, couldn't guarantee it would work and wouldn't take responsibility if they hosed up the dash/electronics/wheels.

Luckily the dealer I bought the truck from felt bad (very Canadian) and was nice enough to let me return the truck (which technically never left the lot) with a full refund (they had told me it did have TPMS but got it wrong because as others have said it varies up there by trim/transmission). Would be keen to hear if anyone has gone down this path as well and succeeded. I talked to numerous car importers in LA, Montana and Detroit and all of them cut me off when I explained the problem and said I should find another truck because there was no way to make it work. The border with Canada of course is long, porous, not patrolled etc. so it wouldn't be hard to bring the "outlaw" TPMS-less Tacoma over the tundra up north and into WA/ID/MT/ND somewhere. The trouble is registering it here—the California DMV would start to have a headache as soon as you said the word 'Canada' and then you'd be rolling the dice with getting pulled over in an unregistered car. Yes, you could register a U.S. Tacoma with same color and then switch the plates but doubtless the DMV has a way of tracking VINs to plates etc.

There is one successful anecdote on TacomaWorld on this topic where someone (allegedly) lived in northern Maine or NH or something and bought from a dealer that was just a few miles from his house and somehow got it across and registered without issue. Would be nice to hear how to make that work/replicate.

 

TPMS is lame weak sauce BS.