Less snarky answer.
Read this awesome thread by
@gilmorneau
Information Re: Importing to the USA and Complete DIY How-To - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/information-re-importing-to-the-usa-and-complete-diy-how-to.1242055/
The juicy details:
Box 1: The vehicle is over 25 years old. It’s exempt from FMVSS and you can import it.
This is the winner for most people, but read on if you must have a newer than 25 year old car.
Box 2: The vehicle complies with all US FMVSS and has a manufacturer’s sticker to prove it,
orthe vehicle complies with all Canadian Safety Standards
. Unless the vehicle was originally sold new in the US or Canada, this won’t be the case.
Box 3: The vehicle is to be imported by a
Registered Importer and modified (within 120 days) to meet all relevant FMVSS
. Now, this is actually a way to get some newer than 25 year old vehicles imported legally. If there’s a “substantially similar” version that was sold in the USA, it should be possible for a Registered Importer to modify an import to meet FMVSS, albeit sometimes at great expense. (More info about this in a subsequent post)
Box 4: You’re only importing the vehicle to immediately export it.
This is probably not your plan.
Box 5: You’re a foreign citizen importing your car for personal use while you’re in the US and you’ll export it after no more than a year. Can’t sell it or keep it here.
Probably not your situation.
Box 6: You’re a foreign diplomat or ambassador or something like that.
You’re probably not.
Box 7: You’re importing the vehicle for research, demonstration, or racing. You’ll never drive it on the road, you can’t sell it, you can keep it for a maximum of 1 year (at the discretion of the NHTSA), and you agree to export it or destroy it when you’re done with it.
Probably isn’t, but If you think this is you, the application is here:
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/box7formjuly2014_r.v.3dlf.pdf
Box 8: Vehicle was not manufactured for use on public roads.
People have misread this as being a great big loophole, as in: “if I tell the Feds my import is for off-road use only, they’ll let me have anything.” But that’s not what this says. It doesn’t matter what you intend to do with it, it only matters for what purpose the manufacturer built it. In the case of any Landcruiser ever built, Toyota made them to be driven on public roads. Sorry. This section pertains to tractors or whatever, not Landcruisers. You can try if you want. The application is here:
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/box8formjuly2014_r_v_4dlf.pdf
Box 9: The vehicle was supplied by the manufacturer incomplete
. This would be for something like a cab/chassis that is intended to be built into a motorhome, for example, and when everything that’s on the partial vehicle conforms to FMVSS. It doesn’t apply if you take your new Landcruiser apart overseas and ship it in pieces.
Box 10: Show and Display
. Everybody thinks this is another big loophole, too. It’s not really. The application is here if you want to try:
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/appsd_permissionjuly2014_r.v.2.pdf
Read the Terms of Importation. Pretty limiting. You can’t drive it, you can’t sell it, and honestly, a Landcruiser would not normally be accepted for a Show and Display exemption anyway—most of them aren’t that special (I suspect some at the Landcruiser Musuem might be here on Show and Display, but then, they’re showing and displaying them).
Box 11:
Doesn’t apply to vehicles, only to parts.
Box 12: You are a member of the Armed Forces of a foreign country on assignment in the US and want your own car for personal use. Can’t sell it while you’re here, and you agree to export it when you leave.
Probably not you.
Box 13: You are a Registered Importer and plan to petition the NHTSA to have the car considered for import. If your petition fails, you agree to export, surrender, or destroy the vehicle.
Self explanatory.
And that’s it.
That’s the sum total of all the different ways you can legally import a vehicle into the USA.
