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mkt

'Merkin Newbie

17 posts in this topic

Hello all,

My name's Rob, and I'm a crazy american. I've been looking at Smarts for a while since they began to be sold in Canada, and living in Florida it's rather easy to register a non-US Compliant vehicle.

I've seen various Smarts on the roads here, with various Canadian and Florida plates on the back... and I look forward to joining your ranks soon.

:beerchug:

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Welcome to the board, we all hope that you get one as well, I'm sure everyone here would be interested in visiting a Florida smartie in the winter months.....

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What's the latest with MB selling the smart fortwo car in the U.S.? How about the smart forfour in U.S. and/or Canada? :hotrod:

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I could more than likely purchase one in Canada (I have relatives in Winnipeg, MB and London, ON) register it under their names, and drive it in Florida until the registration expires, at which point I'll simply go to the DMV with the title and register it in Florida... which given some of the cars I've seen on the road here, should be pretty simple (something about a Right Hand Drive Audi Diesel with Florida plates driven by a Brazilian immigrant gives me a good feeling about this).

I mean, I see Smarts regularly when I drive down to Miami, and I've seen more and more of them lately in Orlando, where I live. I don't see much of a reason that I wouldn't be able to buy one in Canada and register it in Florida.

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i hope you get one! you;ll just have to learn the km/mile equivalents because the smart just shows your speed in kilometers.. im sure you could get something that shows both though.

good luck! maybe i'll drive down to see you and your car when you get it!

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lol... KM/H isn't much of an issue to me. Although I was born in the US, I grew up in the Caribbean and in Spain, so I learned how to drive an MPH only car (they do exist) in a kilometer zone and Kilometer only cars in Mile zones. A friend of mine in the UK imported his car from Japan, and all he did to comply with the MPH requirements was put appropriate Mile stickers on the speedo.

I actually might be in Montreal in November to visit some friends and I am going to try to either rent a Smart or go to a dealer and ask for a test drive.

random comment:

Cait, you're from Windsor? I lived very briefly just across the river in GP Woods (Detroit suburbs). We always had fun going to Windsor for the day.

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Good luck getting your smart soon! I'm of the same mind... just do it... ask questions later. :)

Mind you, one Florida person already had his smart removed from the road by the police... however, I think he was not a US citizen and was visiting and had it on a temporary import. I'm not certain though... just remember reading something about it.

Welcome to the forum!

- Steven

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Mind you, one Florida person already had his smart removed from the road by the police... however, I think he was not a US citizen and was visiting and had it on a temporary import. I'm not certain though... just remember reading something about it.

- Steven

I think Steven was refering to this posting, which you'll likely find interesting (it was actually a crossblade rather than a fortwo...hence the windshield issues):

http://www.clubsmartcar.com/index.php?showtopic=1470

Welcome to the forum...be sure to post some photos of any Florida smarts you encounter.

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here's one from Miami I saw in August of 2004. I know of a few in the town of Celebration (South of Orlando), and a pharmacist in the town of Winter Park (North of Orlando) that uses one to make deliveries.

One odd thing... if anyone has been to San Francisco, were my eyes playing trick on me, but when I was there last year, I swear I saw a Fleet of Mercedes A-Classes driving around under the City Car Share program.

post-361-1128534314.jpg

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I'm in the process of finding the photos of a Quebec registered FourTwo I saw at Epcot

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I go to the university of windsor, so for 8 months of the year im from windsor, but for the other 4 im from Waterloo On.I dont usually go to detriot for anything... it scares me :lookaround:I know that you can rent smarts in Toronto..but thats pretty for from montreal. I'm sure you can test drive one no problem though!

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Hey, mkt! Welcome. Word is that you can rent smarts in Montreal as well. I'll try to get that exact info for you before you get here. But as others have said, a test drive at a local dealership would work too.

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Do you think a dealership will have a problem letting me do a test drive with a Florida License? or am I going to have to take a canadian friend along with me and ride shotgun?

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Here's the Smart in the Magic Kingdom Parking lot here in Orlando. It had Quebec plates, but you could tell the car had been in the US for quite some time doing the tourist thing due to the multiple parking permits from all over the US on the Smarts dash.

post-361-1128837873.jpg

post-1-1128837873_thumb.jpg

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