VW Beetle

January 5, 2006 8:16 PM

I'd like to buy an new, original-style VW Beetle in Mexico and drive it back to Canada and register it for use in Vancouver, BC. What are all the steps involved?

1) Where in Mexico can I buy one? I understand they're no longer produced but I imagine you must be able to buy new or near-new cars still, right? How much do they cost?

2) What's involved in getting the car registered in British Columbia? How do you import a car? How do you make sure it will pass Aircare, etc?

posted by randomstriker to sports, hobbies, & recreation (9 comments total)

Start with the Motor Vehicle Act's rules for importing cars and then check out this Canadian Driver article. It sounds like you also have to involve CCRA and Transport Canada. You may have to pay duty on the car.

As for AirCare, you can usually get away with just having the car inspected by a garage that says the repairs will cost more than $X. But this is assuming you could get the car to pass the import inspection first. If you live outside of Vancouver/Lower Mainland (or maybe Victoria), you don't need AirCare, btw. But your profile says Vancouver...
posted by acoutu at 8:52 PM on January 5, 2006

Well, the Transport Canada site says this:

"Vehicles manufactured for sale in countries other than Canada and the United States do not comply with the requirements of the Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Act, CANNOT be altered to comply and CANNOT be imported into Canada. The only exceptions to this rule are vehicles fifteen (15) years old or older..."
posted by Salmonberry at 10:10 PM on January 5, 2006

bah, got half my quote in there.....

"Vehicles acquired in foreign countries other than the U.S. and designed, built, tested and certified to meet either all applicable Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standards or all applicable United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and bearing a statement of compliance label affixed by the original manufacturer, as required by the Regulations, may be eligible for importation into Canada provided the vehicle has not been altered and the certification from the original manufacturer is maintained. Please contact Transport Canada, Road Safety and Motor Vehicle Regulation Directorate, at 1-613-998-8616 for further information."

I'm sure they'll be able to tell you whether or not you can get a new bug in.
posted by Salmonberry at 10:12 PM on January 5, 2006

I would bet it isn't possible. I looked into this a while back--Mexican VW Beetles were equipped with the original engines and had no emissions controls, so they aren't legal to drive in the USA, and USBP and Customs would regularly seize brand-new Mexican Beetles purchased by folks who thought they could just drive them back over the border.

I would thoroughly check the emissions laws for BC. Most Departments of Motor Vehicles don't consider Mexican Beetles "vintage" cars; they're considered brand-new cars without smog control, and here in the States, all brand-new cars must have emissions control equipment and pass regular smog checks. I would imagine Canada has similar laws.
posted by fandango_matt at 10:19 PM on January 5, 2006

You are two years late. Sorry.
posted by mmdei at 11:06 PM on January 5, 2006

Interesting reading here.
posted by fandango_matt at 12:18 AM on January 6, 2006

If it's difficult, or impossible, to import a new one, why not get a fully restored old one? A properly restored one (as in full body-off restoration) will be better than new. Note the 'properly restored' bit. A proper restoration will have lots of photos of all stages of the restoration. A restored Bug probably won't cost more than a newly built one.

I've got a 1970 Beetle, and it does between 1,000 and 2,000 miles a month. Driving a 35 year old car isn't without its problems, but (in my humble opinion) it's worth it.

I've no idea what the weather is like where you are, but a fresh off the production line Mexican Beetle will be misery incarnate for you, if the temperature goes near freezing on a regular basis. Getting the engine started, and keeping it running, will become an object lesson in anger management. The stock carb just won't be up for it - remember that Mexico tends to have a warmer climate than Canada. To solve this, you'll probably need to fit twin carbs. I've got twin Weber IDFs on mine. Twin carbs are better because they sit directly over the cylinder head and have a very short inlet manifold. That keeps them toasty warm and aids atomisation. With a single carb, which will be centrally mounted, the inlet manifold branches both ways across the width of the engine, and will cause repeated stalls until it gets up to normal operating temperature. The better atomisation for twin carbs also means that they are usually more fuel efficient for a given mileage.

Also, bear in mind that the annual servicing bill for a Beetle, if you're taking care of it properly, will work out more than the cost of servicing a Porsche Boxster. I know this, because a friend of mine did the calculation for me a couple of days ago. Of course, you don't have to spend that much on servicing, but these are complicated machines and can be temperamental if they think that you're not looking after them.
posted by veedubya at 3:16 AM on January 6, 2006

I rented a 1999 Beetle (air cooled) while in Cancun and also noticed that it had zero windshield defroster (it did still have a heater, though). Really, its not like any of my US-market Beetles ever had much of a defroster, but there isn't even an air outlet at the top of the dash on the Mexican model I drove. That might be tricky in Canada.

There are often US residents selling Mexican Beetles on eBay. There also used to be a company called BeetleMex who brought all the parts into the US and assembled them on older Beetle pans, so there are a number of those conversions floating around.
posted by daveleck at 5:28 AM on January 6, 2006

The grey market way to do this and bypass the import restrictions is to buy a an old, preferably wrecked or rusted out basket case so it'll be cheap, Canadian Beetle. Then get the Mexican car shipped to you in pieces. Reassemble and affix the Canadian Vin plate to the new Mexican Beetle. Not strictly legal but you can get away with doing just one car as long as you never sell it. Kind of like great grampas original homestead axe that has had three handle replacements and two new heads. The rational is you slowly rebuilt the rusted out original car with used parts from Mexico to the point that only the VIN is from the original.
posted by Mitheral at 12:00 PM on January 6, 2006