Buying a salvage vehicle in Canada for the US

Bringing it 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, and duties and tariffs can apply. Check with NHTSA, the EPA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection before you buy.

DNF never handles the vehicle payment, the title or the transport. You and the seller settle the price between yourselves, and the export, the entry and the paperwork are yours to arrange, or a customs broker's.

The 25-year rule

Every vehicle imported into the US is declared under one of NHTSA's import categories. A vehicle 25 or more years old qualifies on its age alone. Age counts from the month it was made, which can differ from the model year.

A younger vehicle has to meet US safety standards, and for a damaged Canadian vehicle that leaves one route: a damaged Canadian vehicle under 25 years old can be imported into the US to stay only if it carries the manufacturer's US certification label.

The US-label route

A vehicle that carries its original manufacturer's label certifying that it meets US safety, bumper and theft standards enters as a conforming vehicle, and this route has no salvage exclusion. Look for the label near the driver's door. A vehicle without it has to be imported as non-conforming, through a registered importer.

The manufacturer-letter route, and why salvage can't use it

A Canadian-certified vehicle whose manufacturer has told NHTSA it meets the US standards, apart from some labeling and daytime running lamp items, can enter for personal use only. NHTSA's guidelines for Canadian vehicles describe the paperwork: a letter from the original manufacturer on its own letterhead, naming the VIN. A letter saying the vehicle fails the FMVSS 208 automatic-restraint requirement closes this route.

The route is closed to a salvage, repaired salvage or reconstructed vehicle, and so is the registered-importer route for non-conforming vehicles. For these rules, a salvage vehicle, repaired or not, is one whose repair cost was more than 75% of its retail value, or one an insurer acquired in a damage settlement. So salvage and rebuilt Canadian vehicles usually can't use the letter route.

US emission rules

The vehicle also has to meet US emission rules. The EPA treats a Canadian vehicle as identical to a US-certified one when its emission label says it's certified to US EPA standards, or when the manufacturer's US representative confirms in a letter that it complies.

On EPA Form 3520-1, code EE covers a Canadian vehicle identical in all material respects to a US-certified version, imported other than for resale (FF covers one imported for resale, from the EPA's list). Code E covers a vehicle at least 21 years old in its original, unmodified configuration.

Entry at the US border

U.S. Customs and Border Protection needs EPA Form 3520-1 and DOT Form HS-7 at entry.

Duties and tariffs

On the date this guide was reviewed, CBP's pages said:

• the general duty is 2.5% on cars and 25% on trucks
• duty-free treatment under USMCA needs rules-of-origin certifications that vehicles made before 2020 are unlikely to meet
• used passenger vehicles and light trucks are subject to the Section 232 auto duties unless they were made at least 25 years before the year of entry

These rates have changed often since 2025, so check with CBP, or ask a customs broker, before you buy.

Leaving Canada

Exporting from Canada has its own reporting rules, set out in the CBSA's exporters' guide. For a destination other than the US, a declaration is required for non-restricted commercial goods above a value threshold the guide sets. Check the guide, or ask a customs broker, for a vehicle going to the US.

Titling it in your state

Once it's in, your state's DMV decides how it's titled, whether it needs a state inspection first and how a Canadian brand carries over. Rules differ by state, so check with the state's DMV before you buy. The province guides, such as the Alberta salvage rules guide, explain what a Canadian brand means where it was given.

See every vehicle listed on DNF, or go back to buying across the border.