Ship a Car From USA to Canada

USA to Canada Is Overland — No Ocean Freight

Unlike UK, Germany, or UAE shipments, USA-to-Canada car shipping is overland. Bold's carriers cross the border by truck and deliver directly to Canadian addresses — Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax, and rural points in between.

No port. No ocean freight. No two-stage handoff. It's a long-haul U.S. lane with a customs stop at the border. Your responsibility is the customs paperwork (Form 1) and post-import RIV (Registrar of Imported Vehicles) compliance — but Bold's drivers cross the border every week and know the inspection and paperwork flow.

How USA-to-Canada Shipping Works With Bold

1. Get a quote. Use our cost calculator with U.S. origin and Canadian delivery ZIP/postal code. We treat U.S.-to-Canada lanes like any long-haul U.S. route plus a border crossing.
2. Pre-book customs paperwork. Before pickup, you'll need: a clear U.S. title, a Bill of Sale, the vehicle's VIN, and confirmation the vehicle is admissible to Canada per Transport Canada's List of Vehicles Admissible from the United States.
3. Submit a 72-hour CBP export filing. U.S. Customs and Border Protection requires the vehicle's title and export information at least 72 hours before crossing. The exporter (you) submits this through ACE — Bold's driver presents the original title at the border.
4. Pickup and U.S. transit. Standard Bold dispatch — driver picks up, inspects, loads.
5. Border crossing. Driver presents vehicle, title, Bill of Sale, and the U.S. export confirmation at the U.S. CBP outbound office. The vehicle then enters Canada and clears CBSA (Canada Border Services Agency). You complete Form 1 (Vehicle Import Form) at this stage. Pay any GST and duty.
6. Canadian delivery. Driver continues to your Canadian address. Door-to-door, just like a U.S. domestic lane.
7. Post-arrival compliance. You have 45 days to complete RIV (Registrar of Imported Vehicles) registration, including a federal RIV inspection at Canadian Tire, daytime running lights modification (if needed), and any open recall closure with the manufacturer's Canadian arm.

Common Canadian Lanes & Pricing

U.S.-to-Canada lanes price out as long-haul U.S. routes plus a $100–$200 border-crossing premium for additional driver paperwork time. Most Canadian cities are within reach of the standard U.S. carrier network.

Quoted in USD. Note that Canadian remote points (rural Newfoundland, Yukon, Northwest Territories) require additional time and special routing — get a custom quote for any address north of standard population centers. For winter cross-border lanes carrying anything sensitive to road salt or freeze-thaw, our weather-protected cross-border options add roughly 35–45% to the open rate above and run on the same border-vetted carrier panel.

Border Crossings We Use

Carriers select the crossing based on the lane. Common U.S./Canada crossings for auto transport:

• Detroit, MI / Windsor, ON — Ambassador Bridge or Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. Highest-volume crossing for Toronto-bound shipments.
• Buffalo, NY / Fort Erie, ON — Peace Bridge. Common Toronto and Niagara routing.
• Champlain, NY / Lacolle, QC — Most common Montreal routing.
• Calais, ME / St. Stephen, NB — Atlantic Canada routing.
• Pembina, ND / Emerson, MB — Manitoba and prairie province routing.
• Sweetgrass, MT / Coutts, AB — Calgary and Edmonton routing.
• Blaine, WA / Surrey, BC — Pacific Highway crossing for Vancouver-bound loads.

Canadian Import Requirements — Plain English

Bold is not a customs broker. The figures below are general guidance circa 2025–2026. For the authoritative rules, see Transport Canada's Importing a Vehicle from the U.S. page and the RIV program portal.

• RIV fee: CAD $295 + GST (Ontario) or CAD $325 + applicable PST/HST in other provinces.
• Federal GST: 5% of the vehicle's customs value.
• Provincial sales tax: Charged at the time of provincial registration (HST in Ontario at 13%, PST in BC at 7%, etc.). Not paid at the border.
• Import duty: 0% on most U.S.-built vehicles under USMCA. Vehicles built outside North America (Japanese, German, Korean) ARE subject to a 6.1% duty when imported from the U.S. — be careful with this one.
• Air conditioning excise tax: CAD $100 if the vehicle has A/C.
• Green levy: Some high-fuel-consumption vehicles face a CAD $1,000–$4,000 levy at import.
• RIV inspection: Free 45-day RIV inspection at Canadian Tire after entry. Verifies daytime running lights, child-restraint anchors, immobilizer, and recall status.
• Open recalls: Vehicles with open safety recalls cannot be imported until the recall is closed. Get a recall clearance letter from the manufacturer's Canadian arm before booking transport.

Documents Bold's Driver Will Need

Hand the driver an envelope at pickup with photocopies (originals stay with you/the driver as needed) — see our broader USMCA-friendly pre-shipment paperwork guidance for general pre-pickup steps that apply on top of the cross-border document list:

• Original signed U.S. title (driver carries this across the border)
• Bill of Sale showing purchase price
• Vehicle Import Form (Form 1) — pre-filled if possible
• Recall clearance letter from manufacturer (if applicable)
• Confirmation that the U.S. CBP 72-hour export filing was submitted
• Your full Canadian delivery address and phone number
• Buyer/recipient ID details for the CBSA officer

Who Ships USA → Canada

• Canadian buyers who bought a vehicle on Copart, IAA, eBay Motors, BringATrailer, or from a U.S. private seller — including USMCA-built F-150s and Silverados sourced through Manheim dealer auctions or salvage units from Copart auction transport lanes, where the VIN-prefix duty math (covered in our USMCA decoder above) decides whether the buy stays profitable after CBSA.
• U.S. expats relocating to Canada for work, study, or family reasons
• Canadian snowbirds shipping a second vehicle home from a U.S. winter residence — common winter relocation patterns include Florida-to-Ontario and Arizona-to-BC moves twice a year, with Bold's seasonal carrier capacity built around the late-September and mid-April peaks.
• Canadian dealers running U.S. inventory into the Canadian wholesale market — Bold treats these as dealer auto transport moves with the same Net 15 invoicing, gate-pass handling, and account-manager continuity our U.S. dealer accounts get, just with the cross-border CBP/CBSA paperwork layered on top.
• RV and powersports owners moving toy haulers, motorcycles, or sport boats north

USMCA VIN-Prefix Decoder + Green Levy Quantification

USMCA-built vehicles enter Canada at 0% duty; non-North-American vehicles pay 6.1% MFN. The deciding factor is the first character of the 17-character VIN:

• 1, 4, 5 = U.S. assembly → 0% USMCA duty
• 2 = Canadian assembly → 0% USMCA duty (already domestic)
• 3 = Mexican assembly → 0% USMCA duty
• J = Japan, K = Korea, W = Germany, V = France, L = China → 6.1% MFN duty

Green Levy (Excise Tax on Fuel-Inefficient Vehicles): Triggered at 13+ L/100 km combined fuel rating (~18 mpg). Tiered $1,000 (13–14 L/100 km) → $2,000 (14–15) → $3,000 (15–16) → $4,000 (16+ L/100 km). Applies to most large pickups, V8 SUVs, and some performance sedans. Check the Natural Resources Canada Energuide rating before booking transport — knowing the levy upfront avoids the surprise bill at CBSA.