zuma

Hi all

So after 24h of driving my new baby is home! I decided to pick the GTi up and drive it since i only had 2000km to drive and i needed a vehicle sooner than what the shipping could accomodate me.

Experience at the border was the same as posted by Jimminez other than the customs guys were downright rude and definitely not pleasant. PORTAL at the North Dakota border is open 24/7 for importing a vehicle. Spoke to RIV re Form 2 and this apparently takes about 3 business days to aquire after FORM1 was submitted to them by the Border Offfice where you crossed.

Average shipping charges vary depending on where you live and of course where it comes from. I am in edmonton and the charge from NJ New York was between $2200 - $2700 USD. DO no use TNT transport. They promised a 3 day pickup window and transport to edmonton within 14-21 days. Multiple excuses and surprises later i still dont have my vehicle and i placed the order withg them end of JUNE!!! vehicle was only picked up last week....

Shop around and definitely try Dependable Auto Shippers. They seemed better but i couldnt change my carrier after i allready placed the order with TNT since it would have meant a longer wait ironically!

Good luck
posting pics later when the A6 arrive

Jimminez

Did the federal inspection at Canadian Tire yesterday and took a whole ten minutes. You do not have to have the instrument cluster replaced, just need to have the km/h on the speedo and they don't care if the odometer reads miles. I too got a quote from the dealer for approx $1400 to get the odometer in km since they change the entire panel.

RIV accepted a hand written letter on dealer letterhead regarding no open recalls, but Audi USA was quick (same day I faxed the title showing my ownership) to send one via fax. Strange thing though, they had records of the last two places I lived over ten years eventhough I purchased the car cash and they had no reason to do credit background. That was certainly bizarre.

Overall, process is easy, just need some time and patience.

smo

Jimminez, thanks for sharing the experience... now I'm really anxious to get this all done, sounds easier than I expected! I'm going to have to wait though, another 6-8 weeks until my car is ready

Shiv

great posts, but no one here seemed concerned about the warranty. From what I understand, soon as you register a US can in Canada, all your warranty gets void- except if the car was made in NA. The way to tell if your car is made in NA or not is to look at the VIN. If it starts with alpha charactors, it was built in N.A.

Can someone confirm the warranty part?

smo

Shiv, that's not so. Audi/VW warranty is valid anywhere in North American, regardless where you bought your car. Where it's manufactured has no relation to warranty.

Other manufacturers, such as Honda, don't honour the warranty. But that's simply Honda Canada not wanting to honour a warranty for a car bought from Honda USA. I understand Chrysler also does not honour it.

Jimminez

I have confirmation from Audi Canada that provided the car is imported through correct methods, ie. registered through customs and RIV, they will honour any warranty that is attached to the VIN. As for used cars from Audi dealers in the US, they apartly have been warned that they may get fined by Audi USA if they set up a CPO warranty and title it to a Canadian address. This is what occured to me, and the dealer wasn't willing to take the chance of having to pay for the CPO out of pocket. CPO roughly costs the dealer $1000.

smo

Jimminez, good point. I spoke with Audi about this a while ago as well, and they told me the same thing. New car warranty honoured anywhere in North American, but any extended warranty or used car warranty is not.

zuma

Guys, I also spoke to Audi Canada re this. I was told the same story except that the Audi CPO warranty will be honored in Canada if the vehicle is bought from an Audi Dealership. If you buy a used AUDI from anyone or any place else with an CPO warranty attached they will not honor it in canada - the new car warranty is honored no matter who you buy it from.

Interesting with VW it doesnt seem to matter. New car and CPO will both be honored whoever you bought it from.

my 0.02

Spin

Jimminez.

What process was used to install the DRLs. I bought the Cdn Tire DRL kit but read on posts that it won't work. Everywhere else appears to cost between $450 and $1000 to install. As for odometer (l/100km, degrees celcius,etc) can this be programed with a VagCom or does it give instructions in the manual (need to get a manual off ebay). Have you completed your out of province and out of country inspection now? What other issues did you encounter. Just bought a 2003 A6 from the US and trying to get it registered in Alberta. Any info will help. Thanks.

Jimminez

For my A4, the DRL were just a software switch that can be done at the dealer but I had it done a local shop for around $50. For the temp display it is a switch you do yourself in the car (can't remember what that was but can check my manual), as for the odometer display I was told that that was a complete swap of the display and not a program. I would call the local dealer and just as, but they'll probably quote you around 1400 for the whole display to be changed. You do not require the odometer to be in km! As long as the spedometer has kph on it as well as the mph, you'll be fine. I have had my inspection and had no problems. Took less than 10 minutes at Canadian Tire and checked for the DRLs, didn't really care about the air bag stickers, checked the compliance sticker and tire pressure. I also had to do the emissions and safety check prior to registering it in Ontario.