Driving temporarily an UK Exige in the US?

General General Lotus Talk
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This question is for our American BB members (or anybody that has fisthand knowledge about these issues).I am very sad, but it seems that after 1 year in the UK, the company I work for may transfer me again [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/frown.gif[/image], I don’t know where, but one of the possibilities is Mexico.And I’m in love with my Exige, don’t want to sell it.I was thinking on taking the Exige to Mexico, and since I know the customs there are a nightmare, I was wondering how easy it would be to take the car to the US, as a tourist, and then drive it down to Mexico.I hope that the invalid engine wouldn’t be an issue as I would only be passing, not importing.I could have it as a trackday car in Mexico, ideally would like to avoid import duties, could be as a trackday car? I would find later a way to make it legal.Any thoughts?Uldis

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Uldis, sorry to hear that. May be worth a post on the Elise BBS as seem to remember a thread a couple of weeks ago about a bloke who has just had his 340R in the States competing in a Cannonball type event.

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From what I can remember when I living in LA and looking into importing a car from the UK into the US (california), it was expensive, especially if the car was not California spec (saftey,emissions etc.) Importing just for track use (over 12 months) is also liable for import duty and some other fee’s.However I did find a way to import a car for track use, and even use on the public roads, with no tax liability. This was on a “exhibitor/show car” import permit, which allowed you to import a car of “uniqueness and special interest” (exige definately conforms to this), for a period of 12 months, with a limited milage. This allows car owners to compete in rallys, take cars to exhibitons etc. And I believe you can drive them on public roads.The exige will definately not pass Californian safety and emission tests, and I am not aware on any other way of importing a car of this nature in to the US and be able to drive it legally on public roads. I found useful resources in www.dmv.ca.gov, and believe it or not, somewhere deep in www.pistonheads.com there is a story about a guy doing just this. Can’t find it for the life of me at the moment though…I am no expert on this, but thought this may be useful for ya…-Gman

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Hi,If you are a non-US citizen you can use your non-compliant car in the US for up to 1 year then it must be exported! Another 340R owner had his car in Califonia and then bought it back to the UK when the year was up. Mark Derry is the man who used his 340R on the Players Run this month. He just shipped his car in for the run! Serious money…Will340R #153

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Might be a bit late, but I came across the links I was talking about: TVR cars for sale | PistonHeads UK and www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import Hope this helps.-Gman

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Thanks Gman,I checked the links and they have lots of info.But I am trying now not to go back. Let’s see what happens.Cheers,Uldis