a4n00b

The latest,
Wire transfer arrived on Monday morning just before I did so was able to bring the car back. US Customs - title, bill of sale and export worksheet - about 2 minutes. Then straight through border - had to wait about 20 minutes then it was fill out form 1, show title and bill of sale and stamp from US Customs, then pay GST, Duty and air conditioning fee (100 bucks). Then home! It was a smooth ride, and I was happy, for now...

Next called Audi back and got the recall clearance letter. There was a problem since the title I had did not have my signature on the back, I just had the old title and the bill of sale. After explaining this to me they faxed out a recall clearance letter to me.

In the meantime I went and paid RIV online - use the code on the Form 1 as your reference number. I also sent them the title and bill of sale, and a copy of form 1. Once I had the recall clearance letter I faxed that as well. Since I had called RIV and organized for them to email me my form2 it arrived about an hour after I sent off the recall clearance letter! amazing.

Form 2 stated that I needed DRL (installed already), infant restraint kit (has it), French stickers for airbags "if they are airbags which require regular maintenance" - not applicable, KM capable speedometer - has it, and a sticker that states that odometer is in miles - available from Canadian Tire. I called canadian tire and confirmed with them that all they really do is turn the car on, and if the lights go on they pass you.

Set up a local shop to do the provincial inspection since CT charges 120 bucks - my shop did it for 60 after tax. They warned me to check for windshield cracks - mine has a small chip which they said they would pass.

went to ICBC and since my binder of insurance was still valid, they gave me a temporary operating permit for free for the purposes of driving to CT and to my service station for the inspections.

Went to do the provincial first and... FAILED! Moisture in headlights. I'm devastated. If I had done the inspection on a sunny day I would have passed. So annoying.

Read about this common problem with 2005 A4s and am applying the "o-ring fix". If anyone has any experience with this please let me know as I have a few questions.

Hopefully this will all be over soon. All of the brief opportunities I've had to drive the car have been awesome, I want to get my new baby on the road!

Cargenelle

You won't need the recall letter at the border.......just your bill of sale and title (Certificate of ownership) with your name on it.

Black_RS4

wow great info guys... thanks for sharing...

a4n00b

Long overdue update...

Drying out the headlights was a PITA - took several days and several "re-install... oops still foggy... uninstall" cycles before they were ok. Finally got them dry, fixed the o-ring and headed down to canadian tire for federal inspection - they need Form 1 and 2 from CBSA/RIV. They'll do it for free, and will do the provincial for 120 bucks or something... but take it somewhere else for provincial, you can get it done for like 50 bucks if you look around.

Passed the inspections - CT took about 4 hours and provincial was done in about 45 mins, then down to ICBC to get insured. Paid PST and insurance, new plates and... IT'S ON THE ROAD! I love it.

All in all, experience was fine - without the headlight hiccup and the delay with the wire transfer it would have been no problem. Would do it again in a second. When I got my insurance the guy said the gold book value of my car was 29K - though browsing the classifieds I think I could sell it for more - and I figure at an even par dollar I'm all in for about 25K so it saved me money for sure.

If I get around to it I'll post some pics... but trust me it's beautiful... I love it! Hope this helps anyone else trying to get a car across.