Importing a G?

[turnerc7]

Has Anyone gone down the road of importing and federalizing a G from Europe? It seems that there is a bit of a cottage industry around bringing over JDM vehicles that are now old enough to be legally brought in and then making them comply, I reached out to an importer and they were very positive about bringing one over.

So...Why not a G?

Someone tell my why this wont work?

Cheers

 

[winterg300]

It works as long as it is 25 years old. My G is actually JDM imported and it works really well


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[otiswesty]

21+ years old is pretty easy too as it is EPA exempt.
DOT is the only thing required for federalization, so a 21 year old import is actually pretty cheap.

I brought in a 21 year old 1995 G320 last year and I am probably importing another car from Germany early next year

 

[LocoCoyote]

21+ years old is pretty easy too as it is EPA exempt.
DOT is the only thing required for federalization, so a 21 year old import is actually pretty cheap.

I brought in a 21 year old 1995 G320 last year and I am probably importing another car from Germany early next year

I’ve heard some talk about the import needing to be original....i.e. no engine swap, etc. Any truth to this?


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[turnerc7]

Great to know, what were the shipping and federalization costs like?

 

[turnerc7]

Great to know its being done already. The only wrinkle for me is that I am in California so I need to go through CARB but by all accounts that can be done fairly easily depending upon which model(gas vs diesel).

 

[otiswesty]

Yes the engine has to be the original configuration. Nobody checked my car though.

Shipping was $1100 Ro-Ro from Bremerhavn to Long Beach. The federalizer was another $4600. Plus shipping to federalizer from Port, plus shipping to me, plus customs, plus a bunch of other stuff. Added up to a bunch of money.

Better to buy a collector owned car here and skip 6 months of hassles if you ask me. The 1999-2000 G500s that show up twice a year for $20k are the best deal around.

 

[otiswesty]

I am only doing it again because I am crazy and bored.

 

[calicamper]

Good friend was Tboned in one imported, lets just say he got screwed from both sides by the insurance people when they sorted out what he was driving. Didnt help the redlight runner was in a company car which was going bankrupt. If you have family and kids? Stick to US spec rides. After seeing my buddy get raked over financially I lost interest real quick in rare rides.

 

[pilfra60]

I'm the owner of an "exotic"G camper registered in France.
G professionnal 300 CDI with camper azalai.
I buy it new in December 2014.

I would like to spend lot of my time in North America.
Actually in Seattle with temporary importation for one year.
Some people tell me it absolutely not possible to import in USA or canada.
If it's possible ,what did I need to do?
I will ask informations from Mercedes USA also.

thanks.

 

[calicamper]

Travel visa and vehicle transport is a non issue. Just don't leave it here or the Feds will go looking for it. We have plenty of non residents traveling through the US in non US spec vehicles. The only challenge will be getting a US insurer to cover it.

 

[otiswesty]

It is easy to bring it to the US for up to one year.

I knew a German family which brought a VW Westfalia LT 28 Sven Hedin to the USA on a one year permit. They forgot to take it out of the country within 12 months. Nobody checks on them.

They left the LT Westfalia in the US for 10 years and came every summer for windsurfing.

I bought the car from them in 2008 very cheap. They were scared it would be seized and crushed by US Customs. Only they had to drive it to BC and I brought it back across the border. It was a 1981, so cheap and easy to import because it was over 25 years old.

So nobody had any problems. If someone from US customs found out they kept the car in the US for more than a year and then sold the car here, they could be banned from US soil and car impounded and destroyed.

Your car can get a one year permit very easily, just leave before one year is up, but you can come back on another permit the next week.
Impossible to sell for import here until it is 21 years old though.

PS. Let me know if you want to sell your camper once you are here...

 

[MikeWeaver]

Actually G-Class is not that cheap in Europe either. Looks like they are picking up in value there too. The cheapest that I've seen for sale on a German website was around 8k Euro, and it didn't really look attractive to me.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Has Anyone gone down the road of importing and federalizing a G from Europe? It seems that there is a bit of a cottage industry around bringing over JDM vehicles that are now old enough to be legally brought in and then making them comply, I reached out to an importer and they were very positive about bringing one over.

So...Why not a G?

Someone tell my why this wont work?

Cheers

.
The sponsor of this sub-board, Mastodon Motors in Denver, specializes in importing G's. I drive by their lot every now and then and they almost always have a couple. I'd get in contact with them.

 

[rpanter]

Without starting another Mastodon rant, I drove by their shop about 6 weeks ago or such and it was closed down as they said they were moving when I call their number (which was an Alabama number), no idea where though.

But I just imported my G from Canada this month, I drove it back from Edmonton to Denver on September 2nd and it was a simple process as it is a 1992 (25 years old for DOT and 21 years old for EPA), I had the paperwork filled out ahead of time and called the border crossing as well to make sure I had what I needed and they said I need no forms as they have it all there.

I had the title, letter from MB stating the proper manufacture date (but it was not required) and a bill of sale. They try to look up the vehicle using Kelly Blue Book to figure out the duty, but since the 1992 G was not listed they just went by my bill of sale purchase price, duty was 2.5%.

It took about 45 mins at the border and I was on my way. I also had no issues with emissions, title and registration which required copies of all the paperwork obtained during import.

Obviously different when shipping, but when you look at the simple forms from DOT and EPA there is additional information importing companies must fill out.

Robert