Living here in Michigan, I can tell you everything is tied to the survival of GM and Ford. Out of curiosity, a question for Corvette owners on this forum, outside of the U.S., what kind of tarriffs to you face bringing U.S. made cars into your country? Did you have to do any modifications to be road legal in your country? Any "taxes or fees", used or new?

 

I've imported two C5's from the US myself. It does take some work and money before the car has a title in its new home country.

There are some European regulations for imported car. For instance, you have to change all the lights, including side markers, and also add a rear fog light and turn signals to the side of the car. Additionally, we have to get an equivalence certificate (not sure if that's the right word in English) for used cars for their brakes, emissions etc., and that costs another fortune..

You don't really even want to know how much all the taxes are. How much you have to pay for taxes, it mainly depends on the mileage, emissions, weight and year of the car, at least here where I live. I can tell you that you could buy a new ZR1 for the price I paid for my 2004 Z06 after all the taxes and fees.. It's that much.

Here are some pics of my Z06. I was lucky I didn't have to make almost any modifications. Some inspectors just don't care about all the modifications required.





And here are a few pics of my euro-export C5 so you can see what they look like. This car was originally imported to Germany.





The rear fog lights are ugly, but fortunately they don't have to be that big on imported C5. They were originally that big on original euro-export C5's only.. Here's a pic of an imported C5 with a popular fog light solution (on the left side, next to the exhaust).



I hope this answered your question. Although it requires some work to register a Corvette here, I can say it's all worth it!

 

No Duty to Canada! Just the taxes, a couple RIV fees, inspections and you have your Corvette. But I'm sure you weren't too worried about importing to Canada.

 

As far as Canada, I believe auto trade is on an even playing field. U.S. public-owned companies building auto plants in a neighbor country in a similar cost of labor and living status, two-way boarders in Sarnia and Winsor, who actually buy our products. Great concept! It's a win-win. For the record, my last two Silverados were built in Da Great White North and were fine vehicles!!

The FinnZ06 respones with pics is great! Thank you! Kind of confirms my suspicions. Here in the states, we are willing to bring anything and everyting into the country with low resrictions and kill the domestic auto industry, mainly from Japan, South Korea and Germany, but try to export U.S. made cars into those three countries and you end up with the fiasco similar to FinnZ06's. I personally blame the U.S. Congress for opening the one-way flood gates. Some blame the presidents, but Congress writes and makes the laws, the Prez just suggests them and signs them. Congress and their laws are killing the American Auto industry and economy.

 

I'm military so I can import my cars tax free on return. Normally a car attracts a car tax of (I think) about 10% of the value and then VAT on top, currently 17.5%. Shipping is about $3000 from the US.

There are some major mods to comply with Euro standards. Here in UK I need T85 lghts (left dippers) because we drive on the left. You also need white sidelights, amber DRLs are illegal, you need side repeaters for the turn signals and a rear high intensity fog lamp. The rear lights also need amber turn signals. Dual ode reds dont cut it. Most of it can be done quite cheaply DIY but if you have it done professionally it an cost $$$$$$$$$$$$.

The car has to pass a compliance test before it can be registered which costs a further £200 ($350)

In terms of market, there is no UK car industry any more. All the major companies were amalgamated and then Rover finally sold to the Chinese. Most cars you see are Japanese, German or French although many are built in UK. Theres a strong US input with Chrysler, Dodge, Cadillac and of course Chevrolet (although all those are rebadged Daewoos). All the famous marques are owned overseas now (Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar etc)