Is RHD illegal to buy in the US?

[MrFisty]

On a side note, I definitely will own a Skyline (probably gt-st). As for which, I like them all.

I also definitely won't daily it because RHD.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Summerwolf

I think that was done prior to them becoming 25 years old as this just happened recently that they fell in that 25 year window, and it is only R32s currently. The vehicles crushed were mostly R33 / R34s.


I have been looking in to this a lot recently, and almost anything 25 years or older is fair game now.


http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/impo...ges/page2.html


www.japaneseclassics.com - Import cars, do maintenance on them, clean them up, and include all proper paperwork to register in all 50 states. You do pay a premium, but it might be worth it.


I have read of people doing it themselves and as long as they do their due diligence with the proper paperwork and getting a clean car originally.... it hasn't seemed to be too horrible for them.


I have always wanted to drive to Canada and find a clean one, but it might actually be cheaper to import a clean one from Japan, lol.

The 25 year old exception is only part of the equation though. The car still needs to meet the requirements to be street driven. It isn't as simple as saying "it is old let me have it".

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Summerwolf

Here I am thinking ALL that would be fun......


Dave Demuro explained about driving a RHD car in America and apparently the worst for him was long left hand turns from a stoplight.


http://www.dougdemuro.com/automotive-columns/importing/

Selected quotes:


Here’s How You Register An Imported Car With the DMV – February 25, 2015
Today, we’re going to discuss the art of registering an imported car with your local department of motor vehicles. I call it an “art” because, like any good art, there’s a fair amount of agony, and pain, and suffering, and at some point you get really close to clawing out your own eyes.

Here’s Why It’s So Hard To Find a 25-Year-Old Car to Import – February 3, 2015
I wanted a Lancia Delta Integrale. I really did.
Actually, I wanted a BMW 325iX Touring. Then I decided I’d be happy with any BMW 3 Series Touring. Then I wanted a Lancia Delta Integrale. The fact that I ended up with a different car from a different manufacturer on an entirely different continent should give you some insight into exactly how hard it is to find a good car to import to the United States.

As far as driving them it is a royal pain in the ass. I don't care if his only issue was turning left. You can't see oncoming traffic, passing is suicide, NOTHING (drive through, etc) is set up to be able to use and even parking is a pain because you have to make sure the door will open. May be fine for a weekend toy but as a DD the hassle outweighs the cool factor by many degrees.

[Summerwolf]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

The 25 year old exception is only part of the equation though. The car still needs to meet the requirements to be street driven. It isn't as simple as saying "it is old let me have it".

"Importing a vehicle that is at least 25 years old.

A motor vehicle that is at least 25 years old can be lawfully imported into the U.S. without regard to whether it complies with all applicable FMVSS. Such a vehicle would be entered under Box 1 on the HS-7 Declaration form to be given to Customs at the time of importation. If you wish to see that form, you may download a copy from our website at www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import. You should note that the 25 year period runs from the date of the vehicle's manufacture. If the date of manufacture is not identified on a label permanently affixed to the vehicle by its original manufacturer, to establish the age of the vehicle, you should have documentation available such as an invoice showing the date the vehicle was first sold or a registration document showing that the vehicle was registered at least 25 years ago. Absent such information, a statement from a recognized vehicle historical society identifying the age of the vehicle could be used."


It seems like it kind of is.... obviously it would have to have lights but they don't have to meet much. Paperwork is obviously the biggest PITA, but even that struggle is easier as more and more people are doing it. They're importing bikes and utility vehicles and all sorts of stuff now.


http://icsw.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/import/


Well, Doug's selected quotes prove a few things.... 1) a lancia delta integrale is hard to obtain to begin with, let alone import. 2) most importers wouldn't waste their time with a BMW when you can get US market equivalents without issue. 3) The GTR and skyline derivatives are some of the most imported cars currently, meaning he could actually obtain one through an importer without issue.


Paperwork, the first time, by yourself... I'm sure is a huge pain. He had no issues registering the Skyline he bought from japaneseclassics, and I believe he registered it in California.


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbxfH7oE0q8"]How To Import The Car Of Your Dreams - YouTube[/ame]

[i heart ricers]

illegal! illegal!

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Summerwolf

"Importing a vehicle that is at least 25 years old.

A motor vehicle that is at least 25 years old can be lawfully imported into the U.S. without regard to whether it complies with all applicable FMVSS. Such a vehicle would be entered under Box 1 on the HS-7 Declaration form to be given to Customs at the time of importation. If you wish to see that form, you may download a copy from our website at www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import. You should note that the 25 year period runs from the date of the vehicle's manufacture. If the date of manufacture is not identified on a label permanently affixed to the vehicle by its original manufacturer, to establish the age of the vehicle, you should have documentation available such as an invoice showing the date the vehicle was first sold or a registration document showing that the vehicle was registered at least 25 years ago. Absent such information, a statement from a recognized vehicle historical society identifying the age of the vehicle could be used."


It seems like it kind of is.... obviously it would have to have lights but they don't have to meet much. Paperwork is obviously the biggest PITA, but even that struggle is easier as more and more people are doing it. They're importing bikes and utility vehicles and all sorts of stuff now.


http://icsw.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/import/


Well, Doug's selected quotes prove a few things.... 1) a lancia delta integrale is hard to obtain to begin with, let alone import. 2) most importers wouldn't waste their time with a BMW when you can get US market equivalents without issue. 3) The GTR and skyline derivatives are some of the most imported cars currently, meaning he could actually obtain one through an importer without issue.


Paperwork, the first time, by yourself... I'm sure is a huge pain. He had no issues registering the Skyline he bought from japaneseclassics, and I believe he registered it in California.

NO! You are still trying to apply a basic rule across the board. RHD rules STILL apply no matter how old the vehicle is:


Importing a Right Hand Drive into the USA

I realize this is a .ca domain... but I have a substantial amount of traffic from the USA, and don't want to leave them out in the cold. So, today's topic, how to import a Right Hand Drive into the States.
WAIVER: I don't know a lot about this, but I'm sharing what I know.
The USA has an interesting way of banning these vehicles: They are not allowed to be imported. Once imported you can register them. This isn't saying that it'll be _easy_ to register them... some insurers might be completely unprepared to register a Daihatsu Midget. Operator: "Uhhh, that's not in our system". Be prepared to find someone who knows how to handle edge cases like that.
The NHTSA

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is in charge of controlling what hits the roads in the States. Their site is http://www.nhtsa.gov/ and the site we care about is the Importation Requirements page. On the requirements page there are a bunch of interesting documents, and an outline of thing like what you can import easily, who modifies vehicles for use on the road, and so on.
If you're considering importing a RHD, the first thing you should look at is the List of Nonconforming Vehicles Eligible for Importation. On this document you can see which cars are available to import.
The 25 Year Rule

Much like Canada's 15 year rule, the USA has a 25 year rule. From the List of Nonconforming Vehicles Eligible for Importation document

(a) All passenger cars less than 25 years old that were manufactured before September 1, 1989;

I believe this is a sliding window, but if it's not, then the RHD needs new seatbelts that are DOT standard, instead of JIS.
All the vehicles on the list that are RHD are marked as so. If you do a quick 'find' on the document you can quickly see which RHDs are available for import. Sadly, there's so few I can list them here in short order.

• Bently Azure - 1998
• Honda Accord - 1994 to 1997
• Jeep Cherokee - 1994 to 2001 (Postal Jeeps!)
• Nissan Skyline - 1996 to 1998 (that's the R33) GTS and GTR

Annnnnd... that's it.
Other things to note on the Rules Site is the Vehicle Importation Guidelines (Non-Canadian). Even if your RHD comes THROUGH Canada, it's not Canadian, and falls under this umbrella. There is a list of "Registered importers who conform vehicles manufactured for sale in Other countries than Canada". Sounds like a major cash-grab situation. I haven't heard a review of what they might have to do to get, say, an RX-7 street legal. In my opinion moving the steering wheel is out of the question.
Some extra interesting reading here: NHTSA: Importing a Right Hand Drive Vehicle, though I'm not totally sure what to make of it

[Summerwolf]

https://www.japaneseclassics.com/faqs/#toggle-id-6


The quotes you provided above specifically apply to RHD vehicles under 25 years old man.


I'd much more believe the NHTSA and an importer off the NHTSAs list of registered importers than righthanddrive.ca.... but from your quote above


"If you're considering importing a RHD, the first thing you should look at is the List of Nonconforming Vehicles Eligible for Importation. On this document you can see which cars are available to import.
The 25 Year Rule

Much like Canada's 15 year rule, the USA has a 25 year rule. From the List of Nonconforming Vehicles Eligible for Importation document

(a) All passenger cars less than 25 years old that were manufactured before September 1, 1989;"


NHTSA.gov - "




Under 49 U.S.C. § 30112(a), a person may not permanently import into the United States a motor vehicle


manufactured after the date that an applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standard (FMVSS) takes effect


unless the vehicle complies with the standard and is so certified by its original manufacturer. This prohibition


applies to both new and used motor vehicles, but does not apply to motor vehicles that are at least 25 years old


(based on the date that the vehicle was manufactured)."

[Summerwolf]

Also this gem of a quote from righthanddrive.ca


"WAIVER: I don't know a lot about this, but I'm sharing what I know."


LOL.

[Ashikabi]

I didn't read past the first line 15 posts but I looked into this myself for an RX7.

You can import a <25yo car only for off-road use. This isn't because they are specifically banned but because the rhd variant hasn't been crash tested in the US. Even if they sell a LHD variant here, the DOT considers them different. Now IF you can convince the manufacturer to send the DOT a letter, detailing that the LHD and RHD variants will perform identically in a crash, then you can import it and register it for the street. BUT you will never convince any car manufacturer to do this so it doesn't matter. If they sold a RHD variant in the US already then you could import the RHD from Japan. But again, no one does so it doesn't matter.

Anything past 25yo is fair game as far as the DOT is concerned. No modifications are necessary(headlights, crash bars, etc). BUT in states like California you have to deal with getting it smog approved/compliant.

Whether it's easier to drive here... Probably not, pros and cons. You can't use drive thrus, etc. Some things(like exiting while parallel parked) would be better but all in all, it's not better.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Summerwolf

Also this gem of a quote from righthanddrive.ca


"WAIVER: I don't know a lot about this, but I'm sharing what I know."


LOL.

I think we are both agreeing and just don't realize it!


All besides the point since driving the damn things sucks so bad.

[Ashikabi]

I might have used NHTSA and DOT interchangeably above but really it's the government so it doesn't matter

[TylerLieberman]

Oh boy, another one of these threads.

As somebody who travels around and appraises these vehicles with importers as side work, I have a pretty good insight on what takes place for importing these vehicles and was is or isn't illegal. To put it simply, if the vehicle isn't at least 25 years of age, you can be pretty much 95% sure that the car isn't legal to import. It has NOTHING to do whether or not it's RHD! There are cars from other countries that are LHD that would still have to go through the same process to be imported here.

The only exceptions to the "25 year rule" are cars that fall under the "Show or Display" category. This category only covers a handful of vehicles, and those vehicles are limited to 2,500 miles per 12 months.

That's pretty much it. There are a few other exceptions like a select handful of cars that were brought in during the Motorex days, but that's it. With regards to California certification, the car still needs to meet CARB requirements. This costs money. Sean Morris just recently did the entire process for a BNR32 and the cost was something like $10,000. Just to give you an idea, as it isn't really cheap.

Any questions about this shouldn't be taken to a forum, honestly. A large majority of comments in threads like these are false or somewhat misleading, which ends up causing there to be such a big conflict in info. If you want a vehicle imported, talk to Sean Morris at International Vehicle Importers.

http://www.importavehicle.com/3.aspx

Sean has been doing this for years. He helped bring cars in for the Fast and Furious movies. He helped my Dad get his R34 (Silver R34 in 2F2F), he helped Paul Walker get his, and he continues to help people get their cars today. They know what it takes to get the vehicles here, what it takes to get them CARB certified (for those in CA) and knows exactly what is and isn't illegal.

He doesn't go through "loopholes" like a lot of these other dealers do. These same dealers are the ones who have customers getting their cars seized. He's pretty blunt too, which is refreshing. He's not going to sugarcoat anything to help you feel better. He'll tell you exactly how it is and whether it can or cannot be done.

To add furthermore, Doug Demoron is a moron. Listening to him speak gives me brain cancer.

[TylerLieberman]

As far as driving them on the street goes, it's really not a big deal. Left hand turns are the worst, especially when there's a concrete divider that you're turning around, as you tend to be a little cautions and swing a bit wide.

Other than that, getting your eyes used to looking in the rear view mirror above your head to the left, rather than the right, is an adjustment. Pedals and gearbox are arranged the same, so that's easy. Turn signals and wipers are flipped, so you might accidentally flip the wrong switch every now and then when you're starting out, but that's it.

There's obviously adjustments like toll booths and drive-thru's, but you can just simply get out of the car and walk around. After a few days, it kind of just becomes the norm.

[mswbrz]

It is not my friend has two rhd and right now he is building a rhd tt legacy ! Just adjust to driving .


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