How old does it have to be to get out of federalization?

[kit533i]

Doing some random searching on ebay and ran across this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... eName=WDVW

[stuartinmn]

I think the general rule is 25 years old or more. I found a couple websites with info.

http://www.NHTSA.dot.gov/cars/rules/import

http://www.foreignborn.com/visas_imm/en ... ourcar.htm

[Tim in N FL]

Me wantee too! Gosh that is a gorgeous car....looks like someone's siggy photo here on this board. Who dat?

I've heard from from at least one former U.S. armed services member who was stationed in Europe (Belgium) that he was able to obtain an EPA waiver as part of the process or privately importing his personal vehicle (eurospec '87 Porsche 928s4 5spd) while he was in the service (Army). I believe that helped save him some money in the "federalization" but it still cost him something like $8k to bring the car into the states. This whole "federalization" thing must be wrought with graft and corruption. I mean c'mon does it really cost that much money to do this work?

[fastpat]

[QUOTE="kit533i"]Doing some random searching on ebay and ran across this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... eName=WDVW

[/QUOTE]

Strange, the negatives have been tampered with so that the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, while the registration plates read correctly. Must have been photoshoped! :p

[Tim in N FL]

Wow Pat....that was a good catch! Good eyes, dude!

[Guest]

The cutoff for Federalization is 25 years. You only pay duty to Customs based on what was payed/value of the car when it's imported into the US.

The only exceptions are for rare specialty vehicles, such as one off prototypes that have historical significance. The caveat to importing cars under this exception is the milage allowed per year is limited to something like 3000 / year.

Of course any race vehicle with documentation can be imported, but these aren't driven on the road.

To import that RHD ALPINA would require full federalization and would likely take several months and cost $7k-10k above the cost of the actual car itself.

HTH

Rich

[Tim in N FL]

Rich,
Thank you for the helpful information re: importing. Have you gone through this process yourself with one of your cars?
Best,
Tim

[Guest]

Tim,

I actually haven't gone through the process but did spend ALOT of time going over all the regulations at the various DOT/EPA websites. At one time I was very interested in acquiring an ALPINA B7, but based on what I found out and the difficulty of getting the B7 with the Pierburg injection through emissions nix'd any thoughts of doing this. That is until the E28 versions of the B7 become 25 years old. IIRC, the first E28 based cars were built around late '83 or '84, so we only have to wait a few more years.

Rich

[Tim in N FL]

Rich,
Excellente....thanks again. I've never spoken with anyone who privately imported a euro/ROW BMW (e.g., tuner car). I almost bought a Canadian '91 e34 ///M5 that had been US-DOT'd for less than $1,000. It was a nice car but I'm glad I passed on it.
Let's see, if the earliest e28 was produced in 1983 + 25 years, that means 2008 is the earliest we could bring one in. YIKES! I still don't know what costs $7-10k USD to federalize some of these cars. Seems to me that the Canadian cars might be a good way to go. There is some guy on eBay who brings in later-model BMWs (///M cars, etc) on a regular basis...forgot his name but his eBay prices don't include the federalization cost and those costs are substantial (minimum of $5k...).

[Ted in T.O.]

Ask Brad aka BNC off the board how he got a euro 323ix into the US.

[M-technik-3]

[QUOTE="fastpat"]Strange, the negatives have been tampered with so that the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, while the registration plates read correctly. Must have been photoshoped! :p [/QUOTE]

From the auction
"THIS CAR WAS ALPINA BUILT AT NEW IN OCTOBER 1984 AND PRIOR TO SUPPLY TO ITS FIRST OWNER IN FEBRUARY 1985 BY SYTNERS ALPINA WORKSHOP IN NOTTINGHAM.IT IS CONFIRMED AS BEING ONE OF THE 64 RHD CARS BUILT BY THEM OF WHICH POSSIBLY LESS THAN HALF REMAIN!THESE CARS ARE NOT COSMETIC CONVERSIONS BUT FULL ALPINA CARS BUILT BY SYTNERS, UNDER LICENCE TO THE GERMAN FACTORY, USING THE 528i SE AS A BASE AND INCORPORATING THE ALPINA MODIFICATIONS LISTED BELOW"

So it's a factory authorised right hand drive Alpina. They are out there. And yes the rule is 25/20 years and us military can not get around the system that easy. I shipped a Yamaha TZR 500r back from Japan but that was for race purposes only as it was a street legal 2 stroke 500. Built for the track. I sold it shortly after bringing into the US.

I was trying to get my local shipper to ship my Touring back to the US but without a 17 digit vin tag the would not do it plus It needs conforms to US spec decals to ship unless the would red line it to US customs and when it arrives in port you will need to surrender it or get it bonded and federalised.