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I believe this is incorrect. Diesels are emission exempt in California. Both trucks I registered have no EPA sticker, and no one looked for one. No emissions test for diesel vehicles.
jan
Everything I Ever Learned About Importing
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I believe this is incorrect. Diesels are emission exempt in California. Both trucks I registered have no EPA sticker, and no one looked for one. No emissions test for diesel vehicles.
jan
Jan-78FJ40 That's what i said until DMV did hold my registration process due to no emissions label. I got no where quick with CARB. After a ton of research it boils down to which enept DMV employee you end up with to do your VIN verification. This form specifically requires the inspector to verify where the emissions label is located,how it's affixed, whether it's Federal 49 state and/or California compliant. If there is no label, there's a box for NONE. When this box is checked by the inspector(DMV employee or any Peace Officer) the registration gets a hold placed on it and then forwarded to the technical compliance division in Sacramento. Then the fun starts. The "But diesels are exempt in California" line gets you nowhere. You either need the notorious, elusive letter from Toyota stating it was compliant, a registered importer, or a DMV employee that checks the wrong boxes because they really don't know the difference s between the data stickers and emission stickers.Bottom line, you were lucky.
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California Diesels
For those of you that got diesels registered in CA you are lucky and they are cracking down by enforcing the existing laws. Bottom line most dmv personal do not know the rules. A diesel cannot be legeally registered in CA without the emmissions sticker showing it passes emisions for the year it was manafactured or a letter from toyota or a certificate of conformity that gets issued after the diesel engine is tested which is very expensive. All those that got their diesel registered in CA are lucky because the DMV does not always know the law. The following is what I found by reading the state laws.
So far this is what I found out about California vehicle registration. The air resource board told me that any vehicle 1975 or newer had to conform to California emissions standards. Even though diesel vehicles are smog except they still have emissions standards. This means that to register a vehicle in California you need to prove the vehicle meets these standards. In order to show conformity they need to have a certificate issued by the state board. This will happen when one of 3 testing stations gives you a certificate. There are currently testing stations in California that do this I know one charges $3000 approximate to test I’m not sure if the others test diesels. They do not care that the vehicle is federally EPA exempt. The California air resource board directed me to look up the California Health and Safety Code to see the emissions laws. After reading them the only legal exemption I could see was to have the vehicle get an EPA emissions certification sticker which still requires expensive testing but this testing is suposed to be cheaper and less stringent and then once the owner owns the vehicle for one year and has it registered in another state they can register it in California. This would mean you still had to pay to test the vehicle in another state which is cheaper but still is a big hassel.
I know plenty of people have diesel land cruisers in California so I know its possible to register them here but maybe they just slipped though the cracks. From what I was told by someone at the the DMV that seemed very knowledgable if you are lucky enough toget a diesel registered in CA cause the dmv messed up they can not come back and take away that registration unless they can prove you lied on some of your forms you completed to register the cruiser. If however you let the renewal lapse they can then refuse to re register your vehicle unless you show them that it complies with the laws and rules i listed above. This is however not likely to happen but if you do have a diesel cruiser registered in CA don't let the registration lapse.
Here are the links to the horrible reading I did to find this information. California law sucks!!!
Hope this was not too boring I do realize that many many diesels are registered in CA I just hope they do not start enforcing the laws or that the DMV representatives don't actually learn what is necessary acording to CA law to register a diesel cruiser.
This link is from the California air resource board and has the part of the health and safety code that deals with Vehicles in California.
http://www.arb.ca.gov/bluebook/bb06/..._pt_5_ch_6.htm
This link is from a law website that lists the full California health and safety code.
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/ca...ebody=&hits=20
This link lists the applicable part that I found pertaining to vehicles being registered in California (HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE
SECTION 44200-44210)
For those of you that got diesels registered in CA you are lucky and they are cracking down by enforcing the existing laws. Bottom line most dmv personal do not know the rules. A diesel cannot be legeally registered in CA without the emmissions sticker showing it passes emisions for the year it was manafactured or a letter from toyota or a certificate of conformity that gets issued after the diesel engine is tested which is very expensive. All those that got their diesel registered in CA are lucky because the DMV does not always know the law. The following is what I found by reading the state laws.
So far this is what I found out about California vehicle registration. The air resource board told me that any vehicle 1975 or newer had to conform to California emissions standards. Even though diesel vehicles are smog except they still have emissions standards. This means that to register a vehicle in California you need to prove the vehicle meets these standards. In order to show conformity they need to have a certificate issued by the state board. This will happen when one of 3 testing stations gives you a certificate. There are currently testing stations in California that do this I know one charges $3000 approximate to test I’m not sure if the others test diesels. They do not care that the vehicle is federally EPA exempt. The California air resource board directed me to look up the California Health and Safety Code to see the emissions laws. After reading them the only legal exemption I could see was to have the vehicle get an EPA emissions certification sticker which still requires expensive testing but this testing is suposed to be cheaper and less stringent and then once the owner owns the vehicle for one year and has it registered in another state they can register it in California. This would mean you still had to pay to test the vehicle in another state which is cheaper but still is a big hassel.
I know plenty of people have diesel land cruisers in California so I know its possible to register them here but maybe they just slipped though the cracks. From what I was told by someone at the the DMV that seemed very knowledgable if you are lucky enough toget a diesel registered in CA cause the dmv messed up they can not come back and take away that registration unless they can prove you lied on some of your forms you completed to register the cruiser. If however you let the renewal lapse they can then refuse to re register your vehicle unless you show them that it complies with the laws and rules i listed above. This is however not likely to happen but if you do have a diesel cruiser registered in CA don't let the registration lapse.
Here are the links to the horrible reading I did to find this information. California law sucks!!!
Hope this was not too boring I do realize that many many diesels are registered in CA I just hope they do not start enforcing the laws or that the DMV representatives don't actually learn what is necessary acording to CA law to register a diesel cruiser.
This link is from the California air resource board and has the part of the health and safety code that deals with Vehicles in California.
http://www.arb.ca.gov/bluebook/bb06/..._pt_5_ch_6.htm
This link is from a law website that lists the full California health and safety code.
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/ca...ebody=&hits=20
This link lists the applicable part that I found pertaining to vehicles being registered in California (HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE
SECTION 44200-44210)
Nice post and I think you are MOSTLY right. A registered importer will supply you with a sticker and paperwork showing EPA, NHTSA, and DOT compliance. That is the point of the RI. The paperwork still goes to Sacramento, but if you have all that stuff plus the customs entry forms, and the RI bond document you should be fine. I Have registered three so far and you can read my experiences in an earlier post in this thread.
You are very right that your experience can be easier or harder depending the employee. Each of my import experiences were different, but all came down to having those same things.
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In your experience was the RI able to give your vehicle a sticker showing emissions conformity? Because if not I would think that acording to the laws I read you would still have to go through the testing process to get emissions conformity if the DMV stuck to their laws
No the sticker is just the DOT one with gross vehicle weight etc. The EPA compliance is in the form of paper docs that the Sacramento Technical Compliance division has accepted every time without a problem.
Excellent responses, you guys are correct. For all whom reads this thread with anticipation on bringing one from Canada straight to California, use an RI. Wake sure he has the LEGAL ability(BOnded,etc.) to prepare and affix the Federal Emissions label(note: it doesn't have to be Calif.compliant,only Federal emissions compliant) They don't care if the form(EPA3520-1) states that it is. They(the VIN verifier) will look for the affixed sticker (usually uder the hood) in place which states that it is emissions legal!!!!!!!!!!! You wouldn't believe the arguous hassles that they will put you through. Do it right and legal the first time by using a licensed, bonded RI(usually $250.00-500.00).
I can't recall whether I have posted this or not, but there is an easy, cheap way to import to usa. My friend in Atlanta has imported 3 BJ70 trucks, the last being a 1985 model with success. He works for a company making fighter jets for the military, so EVERYTHING must be by the book to avoid losing his security clearances. He used an RI in Canada, not the US to import his stuff. It was something like $300, which is chump change, to import LEGALLY. The RI has papers for US and Canada, so it's not an issue for us and he was much less $$ than all US RI's quoted. I'm not at liberty to say who imported it, because I don't want him hassled by emails, etc. .....I'm just saying do your research and do it right. You won't regret the cheap insurance. Same goes for bringing in engines and such. I paid the brokers a few bucks to get it done right and I had zero issues because they knew the process and the gov't had relationships with them. Don't cheap out.
Have heard lots of good and no bad about this Canadian importer. He is licensed in both USA and Canada:
Trevor Normand
Flatwater Enterprises Ltd.
Vehicle Import//Export Specialistes
Phone: 250-862-0897
Toll Free: 1-866-862-0897
Fax: 250-764-0817
Very good prices too.
Trevor Normand
Flatwater Enterprises Ltd.
Vehicle Import//Export Specialistes
Phone: 250-862-0897
Toll Free: 1-866-862-0897
Fax: 250-764-0817
Very good prices too.
So I imported an HJ47 with a notarized bill of sale and last registration, but no title, the PO said they don't use them in AUS... (I messed up I think by not making them give me a title...) I got it through customs no problem and was told by local DMV that they can not title it with the customs paperwork or what I have... I called my freight forwarder and he said yes you can try someone else at the dmv that know what they are talking about.
I am in the state of Florida...
Any suggestions?
I am pretty let down over this as this is the first and probably last time I will go through this ordeal.
I am in the state of Florida...
Any suggestions?
I am pretty let down over this as this is the first and probably last time I will go through this ordeal.
Don't know for sure about Aus, but NZ in fact does not have titles - the "registration" document is the equivalent, it took some convincing at my DMV too, but eventually they looked it up and it went through.
I did the same thing here in Virginia....there are several states in the US that are the same way - older vehicles don't have a title, they just have a bill of sale.
if they will not accept teh oz title docs, you could title it first in another state that will accept it and then title it in your own state based on the title from the other state.
They don't use titles in AU. The person at DMV is just a pee-on. I wouldn't stress.
So get this... right as I was going to call the DMV today, they called me! I did not leave them a message and have not worked this since I first posted as I have been busy with family and work... but long story short, I went round and round over the phone in a nice way with the supervisor and she put me on hold, made a few calls and told me to bring the truck up and they would inspect/issue title to me with no additional information! Just thought I would bring some closure to my post. Now I just have to get the alternator back in to get the truck up there! ha ha Thanks for your follow ups- I LOVE MUD
So I have read this post, and others, as well as the nhtsa website, but I am still confused on one point. I want to import a Sept of 1985 bj60. I know it would be easier to wait till Sept, but the bj I am looking at has the label from the factory affixed to it showing that is is FMVSS compliant. So going by the NHTSA website http://204.68.195.151/cars/rules/import/VIG_Canada01192007.htm
I should not need anything special since it meets this requirement, correct? And I assume I wouldnt need a letter from toyota because the tag already states it meets the reqs? Also, I trust the seller, have a picture of the label.
If having the FMVSS tag works, then what do I need to import this thing? (yes I plan to call customs etc, but experience goes a long way, so I start with mud)
Thanks, and great post!
Jon
I should not need anything special since it meets this requirement, correct? And I assume I wouldnt need a letter from toyota because the tag already states it meets the reqs? Also, I trust the seller, have a picture of the label.
If having the FMVSS tag works, then what do I need to import this thing? (yes I plan to call customs etc, but experience goes a long way, so I start with mud)
Thanks, and great post!
Jon
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Since it's 25 years old, stickers/compliance/letters are irrelevant and don't matter - the vehicle is exempt from showing compliance. Sounds like you should just bring it in. My understanding is that the good folks at Customs won't go tracking down the actual MONTH of the manufacture date - the year is sufficient.