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smartdawg

Can CDNs living in the USA (work visa) keep their smarts?

33 posts in this topic

random tidbit. I've been in Washington, DC for the past 4 or so days, and I've seen 4 CDN smarts and 1 dutch diplomatic one. I didn't see US diplomat plates on the CDN ones... so there's some food for thought.

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I might be faced with a similar dilemma of moving to the states and deciding what to do with my as of yet undelivered car. 1 year might be ok, but I have other service/parts/warranty concerns, and it might be better to cut my losses and cancel my order. Any thoughts. Any idea how much I would get dinged to cancel my order?

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I think some dealers would refund your deposit if they were able to sell your car quickly. Since yours is not here yet they would have a good chance to do this. Just my :2cents: .

Orrr........ weekly rentals while in the states to smart starved Americans could be quite profitable. :devil:

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I know that there are some private garages and smaller MB dealers that are willing to do maintenance and repairs on CDN/MEX smarts. Just a thought

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Kirk,

Why not sell the Smart to a trusted friend who will part it out? Rolling chassis can be imported without the USDOT restrictions on complete vehicles. Drive trains can be imported as parts. Someone familiar with the reassembly, perhaps from experience in disassembly, could construct a 50 state legal kit car.

You'd be subject to the import duties on the parts. You'd have to have an inspection to certify the kit roadworthy upon completion. There are undoubtedly other hurdles to be surmounted, but all those Superformance Cobra replicars, all those Lotus Super 7, all those other rolling chassis kit cars are perfectly legal in the US,

why not a kit of a Smart?

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Hey Lug,

An interesting idea and one I believe others on this forum have investigated for a) doing just that - a fortwo in USA and B) getting a roadster into Canada from the UK.

Frankly, that's way too much work and headache for me I'm afraid. But here's an idea, I'll sell you the car for $20 000 USD and you can part it out and reassemble! :biglaugh:

You've already got a buyer for the engine if you want to slap a suzuki GSXR engine in it instead!

EDIT: As an update on the job scenario, the company is flying me out to Minneapolis in two weeks for the FINAL of three interviews. Exciting!

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