Temporary Registration in BC: How fast can it be done?

[professorpunishment]

Hello all and please forgive any newbieness.

I am living in Japan and will bring my '92 Delica back to Canada with me next summer. My plan is to ship it to Vancouver, get a temporary registration, and drive across the country from there.

Early planning stages here, so for starters I'd like to know how long I should plan on being in Vancouver getting this sorted out. Any other comments you may have are welcome.

On the detail side, I probably don't even know the right questions to ask. Has anyone on this forum ever written a step-by-step, Delica-for-Dummies guide on how to go through the importation process painlessly?

[gregvdd]

I am pretty sure you can drive it in Canada for a few month with your japanese registration.
Are you planning to sell it at the end of your trip ? On the east coast ? I might be very interested
greg

[professorpunishment]

Thanks for the reply -

You are the second person to mention the possibility of driving with the Japanese plates for a while. A very appealing solution. I guess I'm just paranoid and can't imagine it will be so easy to just drive the thing out of the Customs yard. Maybe it is!

Do you (or does anyone) know where I can find specific information on this? Like how long I can keep the Japanese plates, do I need to carry any paperwork other than insurance?

Selling - no, sorry! We love it and hope to keep it for a long time. Only 60,000 kms and a real beauty. I will soon post in another section looking for information on service and parts in the east, and advice on what parts (if any) I should bring back.

[EnviroImports.com]

your going to need 1-2 weeks for customs, if your in a container, roro is under a week, you can get a unique plate for temp from icbc, but it also will be different if your here on a student visa. you should ask about this on http://www.ivoac.ca and you will get an answer you can count on.
good luck.
Noel

[professorpunishment]

Thanks Noel -

I will ask the ivoac folks too. Do you know offhand whether I actually have to be in Vancouver while the thing is clearing customs? I'm hoping I can arrange to have it arrive a couple of weeks before I get there, and then be good to go.

[EnviroImports.com]

Hi, glad to help, you either have to be here to clear customs, OR hire a customs broker for $250, It will take at least a week for the process to be completed as Agriculture Canada has to either inspect it or decide not to lol, either way you pay the $45. so make sure you have the vehicle presure washed WELL befor its shipped, you dont want to be told there is a dirt patch near your tires so it has to be powerwashed, and the soil disinfected, Been there paid DEARLY for that. once the van is actually unloaded you have 5 days of free storage, but after that you can expect $200/day to store it. so hopefully your here to take posession of it then or you have someone to store it for you.
OH this is also only valid info if your shipping with a container and not roro.
I would think the customs broker might be the way to go, they tend to slow things down by a few days and will also know more about your temp reg here. or find out about if you will need to be inspected here for being on the roads since your headlights point the wrong way to be driving on the roads here. (highbeams blind oncoming traffic )
Hope that helps a bit also
ttyl
Noel

[professorpunishment]

That's great Noel.

I had been thinking roro actually, since I have heard positive things about that. How does that change things in terms of Customs / Ag. Canada? Customs broker sure sounds like a good idea in our case. Not too worried about dirt... we live in Tokyo and there's no dirt to drive on within a 100 km of here, I am sure.

[EnviroImports.com]

Hi,
Ro/Ro is much cheaper, almost half the price for shipping, but can be a long wait to get a spot on the ship, I would contact some freight forwarding companys Today about how long in advance to book, and even then you can get bumped for sailing after sailing, thats why I only ship container now. But container costs a couple hundred dollars to unload and transport the container to a bonded warehouse.. the money really flyes out of your pocket this way.
RO/RO is cheap to ship, cheap to pick up as it gets driven off the boat at stock car speed....litterally, some video on U-tube about the car abuse that happens..... but your vehicle is ready to be picked up as soon as agriculture clears it and you have paid your taxes..
Noel