[767Jockey]

Originally Posted by cycleguy55

It's the importing country regulations you need to deal with, not the exporting country.

Speaking strictly from the Canadian perspective, titles are irrelevant. What's needed is a 'Bill of Sale' and proof the vehicle was completed and registered / licensed no less than 15 years prior to importation into Canada.

In my case we had a bit of difficulty, in that the car had been titled first in Michigan in 1991, then moved to Alabama. It was then sold and moved to Connecticut in 2004, where it was re-titled. It was then titled again in Connecticut before I bought it. Each time the previous title was surrendered, so there was no title showing its original date of completion / registration / licensing. Compounding the problem is that Michigan purges its records after 10 years.

Thankfully the date the car was registered in Michigan is embedded in the state-issued VIN. That, and a letter of interpretation from the Michigan Secretary of State cleared things up. Well, after we sorted out that "MI" in the VIN wasn't "M1". It turns out "M1" stands for Malta, which would have meant 6.25% duty would have had to be paid on the car, whereas "MI" (Michigan) was duty-free due to NAFTA.

Hmmm, that's interesting. I wonder is NY has any such date coding in their issued VIN numbers. My VIN starts with NY followed by a 5 digit number. None of the numbers in the state issued VIN are remotely close to 84, the year in which the car is titled. One thing that might be helpful is that the title is issued in March of 2007, and it is clearly stamped in the odometer reading spot "EXEMPT - VEHICLE OVER 10 YEARS OLD." That would date the vehicle to a minimum of 1997, which today would make it a minimum of 23 years old. I wonder if that would hold up as proof of age when selling into one of those countries that require a vehicle to be over 20 years old? Then there is still the process of trying to retain a copy of the NY title rather than having Texas take it away when I title it here, as this is the only proof I have that this exemption due to age of the car exists.