Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Hi,
Myself and my partner are curently going through the immigration process to move from the UK to BC. We are hoping to move in 6mths to a year's time and want to take my Deli with me!!. We have been out to Canada a few times and had a look at cars and trucks and can't find anything we want to replace our Deli when we get there.
Just wondering if any of you guys could help with any information you could supply with regards importing it, registering and getting it approved. Does age have any influence on it?? Talked to people over here and they are very negative about shipping it into Canada as they say it is difficult to register them over there. Obviously they are finding their way there because you guys have them!!
My Deli is a 1994 L400 LWB 2.8TD Auto and we camp in it, off road it, and love everything about it.


Any help or information you can give would be much appreciated.

Welcome Ali,

I'm fairly new here myself and by no means do I know all of the rules for importing from the UK. What I do know is that the Delica's we import here from Japan have to be at least 15 year old. Perhaps you can find more help here http://www.ivoac.ca/pn/

Regards, Jason.

Under current Canadian law the vehicle has to be 15 years old to the month of manufacture. so your L400 isn't coming over quite yet....
Also note that once it does become legal, there will still be other issues, the headlights need to be changed out for ones that are aimed for the right side of the road (while we've sorted a solution for the L300, nobody over here has tackled that for the L400 yet as we can't get those vehicles yet)
The rest of the compliance stuff is pretty easy though, make sure it has a rear centre high mount brake light, it'll need side reflectors and side running lights added, as well as daytime running lights.
I suspect that all the glass would already be compliant as the L300 is...

All of this however hinges on our government which is currently trying to change our already overly strict 15 year rule to 25 years and make us the strictest country in the world for denying imports... for more information on that see the international vehicle owners association canada site at http://www.ivoac.ca

Nice rig Ali, I only wish we could get L400's here yet. Unfortunately you'd probably have to wait a few years to bring it in.

Thanks for the info, had a feeling it was 15yrs. She's got another 2 yrs yet before she gets there, so we'll see. Seriously hope they don't put the age up to 25yrs. As good as the L300's are the L400 is so much better. Maybe i'll put it in storage until it reaches the 15yr, as i can't believe the prices you guys have to pay for them over there.

Hmmmm ! Yes the price is getting up there.

if you are moving you have the ability to import any vehicle that was yours, regardless of age, I beleive.... So you might have the only L400 in the country if you come soon enough.

Ali, welcome to Canada.

I'm not entirely positive on this, but I believe if you are moving to Canada, you can bring your own vehicle with you. It doesn't have to be compliant, because it is your's. But only for a year. After that, you have to take it "home" with you. The idea is that if you are coming here to work for a short time, you can bring vehicle with you.

After the year, if you want to keep it, it would have to comply. Right now, 1992 can be brought in (15 years from month of manufacture). So when you move in a year, 1993 would be okay. Then you drive it "as is" for a year, by which time it is legal with compliance.

But this might only apply to foreigners moving here for short time, not immigrants.

So don't lose hope! Ask on the IVOAC forum, someone there should be able to give you a definitive answer that applies in your case.

Also, ask at the immigration office in the UK you are dealing with. But this might be a question they really don't know the correct answer to (just like me!), so don't take it as gospel.

Ruminanté