Buying a salvage vehicle across the border: Canada, the US and beyond

DNF lists vehicles in Canada and the United States, and the Global view shows every one of them. Buying a vehicle in the other country, or taking it somewhere else, adds steps at each border it crosses. This guide covers what those steps are and where to check them.

DNF lists vehicles and introduces buyers and sellers. We never handle the money, the title or the transport. You and the seller settle the price and the paperwork between yourselves, and you arrange shipping, export and customs, yourself or through a customs broker you choose.

The three directions

From the US into Canada. A vehicle under 15 years old must be on Transport Canada's admissibility list and go through the Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV), with a recall clearance and an inspection in Canada. Canada can accept a US salvage or rebuilt title, but not a non-repairable, junk, scrap, parts-only or flood title, and it treats any flood-damaged vehicle from the US as non-repairable. Your province decides how the US brand carries over and whether the vehicle can be registered. Buying in the US for Canada goes through each step.

From Canada into the US. Unless it's at least 25 years old, it has to meet US safety standards. A Canadian vehicle can do that if it carries the manufacturer's US certification label, or if the manufacturer confirms in writing that it meets US standards, but that second route is closed to salvage, repaired salvage and rebuilt vehicles. It also has to meet US emission rules. Buying in Canada for the US has the details.

To any other country. Every country sets its own rules for importing used, salvage and damaged vehicles, and many restrict them or ban them outright. Check with the destination country's customs and vehicle authorities before you buy. Leaving the US or Canada has its own export steps, which taking a vehicle to another country explains.

Duties, tariffs and taxes

Both countries charge them on imported vehicles, and the rates have changed often since 2025. Before you buy, ask a customs broker or check with the CBSA (into Canada) or U.S. Customs and Border Protection (into the US) for the vehicle you have in mind. Each direction's guide gives the rates its sources stated on the date it was reviewed.

Prices and offers in another currency

Every listing is priced in the currency of the country the vehicle is in. On the Global view, a Canadian listing shows an approximate US dollar price, converted at the Bank of Canada rate for the date shown. The seller's price is in Canadian dollars, and so are offers. Your bank's rate will differ.

Your offer is in the listing's currency: Canadian dollars for a vehicle in Canada, US dollars for one in the US. Once the seller accepts, you and the seller settle the price in that currency between yourselves. DNF never handles the vehicle payment.

Before you buy

• The title or registration is in the seller's name. Canada's import program needs the original US title, and an RIV vehicle without it is refused entry. Leaving the US, the title goes to U.S. Customs and Border Protection before the vehicle does.
• The brand. Read it on the title or registration, and check that the country you're taking it to accepts it. Canada refuses a US non-repairable, junk, scrap, parts-only or flood title as a vehicle.
• Liens. If there's a lien on a US vehicle, you'll need the lienholder's written permission to export it. In Canada, search the personal property registry where the seller lives and where the vehicle is registered.
• Recalls. A US vehicle coming into Canada needs a recall clearance, and some manufacturers won't issue one for a salvage vehicle. Ask before you pay.
• Age. Canada's 15-year rule and the US 25-year rule both count from when the vehicle was made. Age counts from the month it was made, which can differ from the model year.

See every vehicle listed on DNF, in Canada and the US.

Next questions

UK Cat S and Cat N do not translate directly into Canadian or US brands.