Importing a fortwo 450 (2005) from Europe to the US

[smart450]

Does anybody have any experience of importing a 450 fortwo model? I have owned my vehicle since it was brand new in June 2005. I am very partial to my car, as I'm sure many in this forum will be able to understand. I might be moving to the USA later this year or early next year and was thinking of trying to bring my car with me. There is a massive snag: it is a RHD (Right Hand Drive), as it was bought in London. I understand this is a big problem with any car. Any thoughts? Does anyone here have any personal experience of this? All the best and greetings from Berlin (where I currently live). Matthew

[jwight]

This will get you started: How to import Smart Roadster?

Very difficult if not impossible to do legally.

to SCoA.

[Uptown Dog Co]

I don't think RHD would have any bearing on it. I've seen many RHDs for sale here. On a 2005, does he have to meet emission and safety standards? The car's only 7 years old, so I'd think there'd be issues along those lines, but that's just my uninformed opinion. Hope it's workable.

Uptown Dog Company

[AnthonyKeene]

But, I assume you would know this anyway but many modern cars have a simple slide handle behind the headlamp unit that changes the direction of the headlight which turns the beam for use on the right to the left. There's lots to do and i'm just wondering whether anyone knows of company/garage that would sort it all out. Don't seem to be getting much help from smart centre in Harrogate.

Anthony

[Mike T]

In Canada, people immigrating can import a non-conforming car, but I am not sure about the USA.

[Stretchmobile]

RHD isn't an issue, almost all of our postal and traffic control vehicles are RHD. The other stuff going to be a much bigger hassle. Don't come to California, it's 3 times as hard as everywhere else.

[kennyrayandersen]

I recently imported a car form the UK, and have been following this topic for about 20+ years. You could do it legally now if you were willing to commit server hundred thousand dollars. So, though you can, you practically cannot -- At least not legally!

Or, you could legally wait until 2030 when the car is 25 years old.

Or you could do it illegally…

What you could possibly do is wait until 2020, and then import it into Canadia (if they don’t change the law in the meantime to match the US regulation – evidently there is some talk of that!). Then you have to have a Canadian drive it across the border and take it to a state that is ‘easy’ to get a title. Once you have it titled in one state, it’s easier to get it titled in another. If your state is one, you can drive it one the road. Mind you it’s STILL not legal according to the federal regulations and your car could be seized and you fined. Now, they probably will not, but they could. Is it worth all that? You have to decide.



The other way is to outright lie about the year, and you might get lucky and they may not inspect it. When I brought in my old FIAT, which was a 1963 and perfectly legal as it is more than 25 years old, someone from US customs actually went out and verified the car was what I said it was on the forms. Now, they don’t always do that, so you might get away with it. But, if they do notice, then you either have to pay to ship the car out, or have it destroyed!

If you do bring the car in by hook or crook, then the car is always subject to seizure.



Don’t you just love being told what to do?

[jimvw57]

I believe G&K will still act as an importer and do the needed modifications but it will be expensive. as kennyrayandersen said. Or you can find a local importer closer to where you are moving to and have them bring it up to specifications for the USA.

[kennyrayandersen]

Originally Posted by jimvw57

I believe G&K will still act as an importer and do the needed modifications but it will be expensive. as kennyrayandersen said. Or you can find a local importer closer to where you are moving to and have them bring it up to specifications for the USA.

I thought G&K were not doing smarts any more.

Also, the car the importer brings in has to be on an approved list. The HARD part is getting it on the list. It's different than a regular gray-market car. In the case of a gray-market car there IS an equivalent car to use as a go-by when bring the imported car up to US specs. In the case of the fortwo, they had to do a lot of work just to get it on the list before they could even start because the car was never importer into the US!

The roadster ain't on the list!

The government is involved, it's not easy