Importing discussion

[earthwormjim]

Help help help!!Can anyone help? i just got the 1991 E30 325i Touring from Florida and car was imported from Japan,. I went to DMV last week and the lady told me it shouldn't be a problem to have the title registered, then I paid for the fees and she said I just need to go to the CHP have them to put the vin number into their system and go back to get the license plate.

Today, I went to the CHP and the officer told me I have to the laboratory test because the vehicle is from Grey market and I called the company and they charge me from $4500 minimum and up to $6500 to get it done...my touring is 1991 325 M20. can anyone help here? any option do i have?

I don't mean to sound heartless, but you should have read the regulations for California. They explain that laboratory testing is required, unlike all other states.

There are two labs I know of G&K and some other lab in the Bay Area. It costs them a lot of money to remain certified, hence the high cost.

There is no other way around it, either pay for the lab testing, or sell the car. Getting a touring in California is an expensive ordeal.

On the plus side, once the car is registered in California and passes lab testing, it is smog'able by any subsequent owner. Having a touring registered in California should let you charge a premium if you decide to sell.

[af dynamic]

Help help help!!Can anyone help? i just got the 1991 E30 325i Touring from Florida and car was imported from Japan,. I went to DMV last week and the lady told me it shouldn't be a problem to have the title registered, then I paid for the fees and she said I just need to go to the CHP have them to put the vin number into their system and go back to get the license plate.

Today, I went to the CHP and the officer told me I have to the laboratory test because the vehicle is from Grey market and I called the company and they charge me from $4500 minimum and up to $6500 to get it done...my touring is 1991 325 M20. can anyone help here? any option do i have?

[earthwormjim]

I have always wanting to buy a Touring...but Im from CA Republic too. Anybody here in CA have a Touring that is legally registered ?

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The ARB website is a mess of conflicting statements. Technically it looks like you could get almost any M20 touring registered in California if it passes laboratory testing, but I think it will be an uphill struggle if it does not have an M42b18 or M20B25.
I'm almost positive an M40 cannot be registered in California, since that engine was never sold and it is unique enough from any other engine sold in California. An M20B20 should be able to be registered since it differs only by emissions and displacement from an M20B25.

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/onroad/cert/ldctp/udi.pdf Page 2 states that an engine does not need identical emissions equipment and displacement as an engine in the same family, already certified for California sale. As long as it is related enough, and passes lab testing, it can be registered.

http://www.arb.ca.gov/html/master_faqs/vehicle_faqs/greymarket_cars_faq.htm

Grey Market vehicle regulations, like the new vehicle certification standards they are based on, are a performance standard and do not have specific equipment requirements.

I interpret that as saying, if it passes a sniffer test in their laboratory, it's good, provided it is in the same series as an already certified Engine.


The only part I'm really fuzzy on, are diesel E30's. We had diesel 5 series cars with identical engines, so I imagine that is how they would be registered. That engine was certified, but does it matter that it was in a different body?
Diesel does not let you avoid lab testing for grey-market cars. So the whole pre '98 smog exemption does not apply.

[jpod999]

I think the only way to bring one into CA would be to get either an M20B25 or a M42B18 car. Then, you will likely have to put all of the US smog equipment on (I have no idea what, if anything, will be missing I'm just speaking generally here) and get the car smogged. I'm sure there are other things seeing as how this is CA.

It almost makes me want to move up to Lake County so I wouldn't have to deal with smog lol.

[roguetoaster]

In theory a turbodiesel might fit the bill as it's exempt from emissions AFAIK (only post for 1998 cars). Does that mean you can register it without jumping through hoops? Who knows, but do look in to that route.

Obviously you couldn't swap out the M21 engine legally, but if you can live with an engine that has very little support/info online it wouldn't be too bad.

[noypi2]

I have always wanting to buy a Touring...but Im from CA Republic too. Anybody here in CA have a Touring that is legally registered ?

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[Styleprojekt]

I imported a Touring last year from Germany. I am native German, so communication was easy for me, which is where it may get challenging for Americans due to the language barrier in some cases (most Germans speak English though). This causes an, IMO, unfortunate effect...People buy Tourings in the UK because they speak English and it is easier for communication.
If you have noticed, a lot of Tourings in the US are RHD (which I think is lame because RHD is only the UK (English), all other European countries are LHD). But, it is what it is, and importing a car is not very hard.

The process in theory is very easy:
- Pick out car in Europe on local classifieds or ebay.de
- Get buyer to work with you on export process
- Fill out paperwork for EPA, DOT, Customs, Shipping etc
- Get it picked up by shipping company
- Pay Shipping company for shipping and Broker to get car to US.
- Wait to clear customs
- Have car shipped to your location, OR pick it up yourself.
- Go through local DMV to get car registered

Here is where it gets tricky
- Convincing the seller that this magic person from oversees wants to buy their car. To Europeans, a 25 year old bmw is nothing special and they sometimes respond in a confusing manner..."why would you want this, isnt that expensive?". On top of that, most will never actually meet the seller, so you have to gain their trust for the transaction...to them, it sounds similar to "I am Nigerian Prince calling you for my heritage of 2 million dollars".
You need to get them to be willing to have the car inspected by a third party (or not, but I highly recommend it because European cars are exposed to a LOT more rain and overall humidity which causes rust..and alot of it).
Second, you need them to hold the car...sometimes for weeks until everything is arranged with the shipping company.
Then there is the money transfer challenge...are they ok with doing half up front? What about a downpayment...maybe have the carrier give them the money at the time of pickup?

Second, you need to have the car cleaned and free of items inside, otherwise shipping AND customs may not be happy.

Third, when the car gets here, your local DMV can be a pain to work with. The funny thing is that EPA and DOT say the car is legal to import once 25 years old...without needing to pass safety and emissions...but at your local State and County level...this may not be the case.
Utah is a nightmare in that regard. The car had to be brought into compliance...most DMV employees had no idea why I would import a car...what to value it at...how to document it...etc...
I got caught in a loop: Car has to pass safety and emissions...but no VIN existed in the systems...at the DMV, I could not get that entry created without a Safety and Emissions certificate. So I got around it by just applying for a title first without plates/tags...then went and got safety/emissions done...then registered car.


You will need to fill out just about as much as you did just to get the car to the US.

So this is my personal experience, which will vary from person to person and state to state.

I have the process down now, so I am going to keep importing more proper German spec LHD Tourings to even out this flood of RHD cars. It's sort of cool to have a Japanese car be RHD since that's how they are in Japan...but to have a RHD German car just is not cool IMO.




The car is also part of our newly started Youtube Channel. Click on the pic to watch the videos

[roguetoaster]

After reading more about California's absurd car registration laws, it looks like I won't be a member of #teamtouring unless I leave the golden state. Basically, to import a car newer than 1975 into CA, it has to run through a battery of tests originally intended for manufacturers, adding $2-3k to the import cost. Bummer

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What about diesels? Do they need undergo the same inspections if they are pre-1998? From what I have found the answer is no, at least for now.

[bstarr3]

After reading more about California's absurd car registration laws, it looks like I won't be a member of #teamtouring unless I leave the golden state. Basically, to import a car newer than 1975 into CA, it has to run through a battery of tests originally intended for manufacturers, adding $2-3k to the import cost. Bummer

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[roguetoaster]

That would be great!

I'll get on it!

[stonea]

Super funny that this section exists now that I effectively have zero tourings. :(

If people want I'll write up the whole process with pictures/directions pertinent to the Baltimore terminal.

That would be great!

[bstarr3]

Also, has anybody imported to west coast? I'd be coming through San Francisco most likely

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[bstarr3]

I have talked to a friend that imported mine and he said its around $2500ish to get it here and paperwork completed but thats to the east coast. I dont know any more info then that as far as the paperwork or shipping part. I have one here in the states for sale. Im in florida which is literally the farthest it could possibly from you lol but its in the states fully imported and a FL title in my name. its the grey one in the touring picture section getting painted. its almost done if you wanted any more info just send me a PM

Your lachs mt2 does look beautiful, but unfortunately I'm not ready to buy just yet. Have to get a little more debt paid off to be in a spot to buy a hobby car. I'll probably be buying next year, just enjoying hanging around here again so I can obsess for the next 12 months [emoji2]

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[bstarr3]

Roguetoaster, I know I for one would definitely be interested in a writeup on the process

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[crash n' burn]

Please do, it'll be a great source of information. I know the importation process has been covered plenty of times before, and even about e30 tourings..but not a pinned discussion thread that we could leave in this sub-forum.