Question about selling an older build eligable for overseas sale

[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.