INSURING A RIGHT HANDED MINI COOPER S R 53 2003 IN CANADA (ONTARIO).

Good afternoon,
i'm really new to the site and like you guys i am a mini cooper lover.

I am planning on moving to Canada (Ontario) next year and i have been in touch with transport companies to have my MODIFIED MINI COOPER S 2003 shipped over.
The mini has currently 246.7 Hp

Do you guys think i will struggle with getting the car insured considering is a right handed car?
Do you guys think i will struggle with passing safety?
Do you think the insurance companies would kill me money wise?
Would you know some cheap insurance company i could use?

i would really suffer with leaving the car in the UK i truly worked so hard on it.

I hope you guys could help me
I'm in your hands MINI COOPER LOVERS

Mark

 

Where are you moving from? UK? While I'm in South Carolina now I moved from the UK to Ontario about 20 years ago. Sorry to be bearer of bad news but there is no cheap insurance of ANYTHING for newcomers to Canada from outside north america, never mind cars outside the norm. Safety wise its maybe ok as its more than 15 years old, but the cost of shipping it will be disproportionate to its value in any case. If you are not planing to make a permanent move then put it in storage, and if it is, my best advice is to sell it in the UK and buy a new toy in Canada for the three months a year of decent driving weather between the snow, salt, grit, bug and construction seasons. Fall is nice, you will like that

Im presuming you have read this?

https://www.tc.gc.ca/en/services/roa...ed-states.html

Also maybe try the BritishExpats.com canada subforum, lots of helpful types there who may have more recent experience with insurance and newcomer issues then me, plus a wiki full of sage advice. Tell them iaink sent you, I used to be a fixture there.

 

Thank you so much my mate for getting back to me.
Yes i will be moving from the UK and permanently.

The car is a rebuild project and yes it will be a toy for me at the end of the day
I was thinking of having it there sitting in the garage pretty much and keep working on it in my spare time and then once it's ready to go for SAFETY and then GET AN INSURANCE.

I am currently driving it in the UK but i feel for Canada will need some adjustment safety wise.

i did read the article in your link and also got in touch with a UK/CANADIAN transport company how deals with car import/export and the Canadian side of the office was explaining that if the car is 15 years old (mine 17) there will be no problem.
But i will double check that just to be safe and follow your advice.

I will also try the subforum you suggested. Thank you so much again for taking the time to help out.

Mark

 

No Problem, and good luck in Canada, I greatly enjoyed my time there. Whereabouts are you heading in Ontario? Hopefully somewhere with a few curvy roads. (good luck with that!) My daughter is heading back there for college in the Summer if the virus allow.

Dont get me wrong, I can be done, one of the expats I knew (virtually) brought his fathers 1985 Morgan over with few problems. Its really a question of how much is it worth to you. One consideration too is that in my experience there are few cheap cars to be picked up in Ontario as project cars, and those there are will very likely be rustbuckets due to toll the winter conditions take. I never had a car that lasted ten years, primarily due to body rust. Here in the South my R52 is 16 years old and totally rust free. No salt here.

Safety in Ontario is not annual and tends to be similar to the MOT. Some items like DRLs might not apply to an elderly import. Emissions might be a thing, but they dont do a tailpipe test anymore so as long as the cat is still there and the CEL is off it should be OK.

Heres the ontario safety regs, on paper they look worse then the reality, but maybe that depends how friendly a mechanic you find to do the paperwork...
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/tru...n-standard.pdf

 

Thanks!
i have been going to Canada on and off for years while working on a project.
i will be located pretty much an hour away from Toronto away from the city though, i currently live in London and i truly need a break from the city ahahahha.
Not many curvy roads out there i'm afraid very long straight roads and crossroads but i guess i have to do what i have to do at the end of the day unfortunately i fell in the trap of Love ahahhaha.

I cannot ask for everything, i will be happy with just being able to keep working on my rebuild for the moment

i wish you all the best too in the mean time.i understand with this Covid-19 everyone is having hard time.

 

Cheap auto insurance and Ontario is an oxymoron. They hose us pretty good.

 

Yea
I am seeing that.

This insurance company just quoted me about 2000/2500 maybe more he said per year.
i pay 350 pounds right now in the UK maybe 600 dollars per year.

I am considering to keep the car and wait until l it becomes Classic which will be in 2028 and Hagerty (Classic car insurance company) might be able to insure it for 400 Dollars which is not bad.considering is a right handed car.
I am just waiting for them to get back to me and let me know.

Like your mini by the way.
i am in the process now of improving brakes and handling.
I managed to get to a good 246.7 Hp but the car won't stop very well 1st generation Minis are well know for bad brakes and bad stability

 

Sounds about right:( However, some agencies are much more receptive to UK newcomers than others, the trick here is to find someone that will work with your UK driving record (assuming its not too bad!), which is where some input from recently arrived Brits might help. If you do a limited mileage policy for it if its not going to be a daily driver you might catch a break too, but that said the cheapest my insurance in Canada ever got after nearly 20 year no claims, driving bland Subarus and Hondas was around $1500 a year for covering two drivers/ vehicles!

Chat with your current insurer and get reference letters and insurance transcripts that you can bring to try and soften the blow with your new Canadian insurer. Theres a particular format they look for if I remember right.

 

Oh amazing.
Thank you so much, i will definitely get in touch with my current insurance company and get that letter ready.
I haven't had the time to post on the British expat.com forum you suggested yet but i will 100% do it.

 

Has anyone ever done a CONVERSION from a RHD mini cooper 2003 to a LHD?

 

this was a manageable job on a classic Mini .... some anyway ....

a classic with the 'clock' in the middle of the dash (no need to move anything), and the holes and mounting points for the pedals already in the floor pan .. 'in theory' this was an easy swap ... there were other complications but many HAVE done this change

<center mounted dials ... no need to move! ... holes and mounting points for steering col' and pedals are there>



But compare to a MINI: for starters you'll need to replace the entire dash .... and and ....

On the other hand ... ANYTHING is possible .... how much time, effort and $ are you willing to invest?

 

excuse me if I'm out of line .... BUT

have you verified that you can get this car titled (US terminology?)

In the US you generally can not import a RHD car unless it meets certain 'exemptions' .. US disallows RHD import unless one of these are met ....
(one of the exemptions is you can bring it IN but not drive it!)

I HAVE and regularly drive a RHD car in US ...... but it falls under one of the exemptions.

AGAIN ... If you are fully up to speed on this .. sorry for mentioning. My intention is to WARN if you have not fully explored the issue.

 

Thanks for helping with all you information.
I truly appreciate.
I am not moving to the US i am moving to CANADA and the issue i am facing is that insurance could be silly expensive for a RHD car that's all
Other than that the car can be imported as it's over 15 years old.
Yes it will have to pass SAFETY which is fine but that would be it.

And the conversion is a job i would do myself.

I was only asking if anybody that job before on a 2003 MINI COOPER and had to stop becuase it was not just a simple swap of steering racks, pedals, wired moved dashboards pretty much.

Thanks buddy for helping!!

 

Its probably way easier to just buy a left hand drive R53 on arrival and start the mods again using your previous experience. Spend what you save on shipping and potentially higher insurance on moarpowar. (and brakes).

RHD itself isnt such a hurdle, there are a few british and japanese imports on the road. Getting your head around the stupid cost of insurance in general in Canada is a trick though, nevermind the "newcomer premium".

 

I totally agree with what you are suggesting.
And truly i have been considering that too, taking all performance parts off of the current one along with all new parts and just start it from scratch on a LHD.
By the time i will be done with it i will probably have more years driving experience in Canada and the insurance could be slightly cheaper.

 

Hey mate. Theres a fair few RHD cars in Canada - either JDM or UK imports over 15 years old. Once the 15 year mark passes you can legally import all sorts of wacky cars previously non sold to the North American market. Jay Leno used to be jealous of some of the wacky RS fords Jason Priestly had in Vancouver totally legally.

Look for loopholes in insurance categories outside of the 15 year import There are also classic categories - kinda like the old timer/young timer in Europe

. I imported an older BMW and had it plated and insured as a classic vehicle. Some jurisdictions have a 'Vintage' or classic plate and titling that are pretty easy to get. Find the right one for your 03 - be a little vague on some of the mods and you are off.

National import site:
https://www.riv.ca/ProvincialLicensing.aspx

Ontario specifics:
https://www.riv.ca/ProvincialLicensing.aspx

Eastern CDA British car clubs:

http://www.bootnbonnet.ca/links.html


When i emigrated there was process to list all the emigrees 'official imported belongings' too - be sure to gen up on this and minimize taxation/importation on cars

 

What about RHD Jeeps? There are a lot of those sold, registered, and driven in the USA. Mostly by people going postal.

https://www.carfax.com/Used-Jeep-Wra...port-RHD_t2508

 

post office vehicles are a specific exemption mentioned in the rules .. and it is OK to own an 'ex' one ....

but how many right hand drive MINI do you see around ..... not Mini .... MINI?

 

These Jeeps aren't post office vehicles, new or 'ex'. Today, those are made by Grumman.

I can only imagine someone doing deliveries (newspapers?) wanting to buy a RHD Jeep, and I can't imagine the USPS buying vehicles in bright green.

 

From: https://www.autotrader.com/car-news/...gler-us-256279 That’s right, you can buy the Jeep Wrangler in left- or right-hand drive. Allow me to repeat myself: You can walk into a Jeep dealership and choose between driving your Wrangler on the left, like a normal human being, or on the right, like a British person who shipped their Jeep Wrangler to America.

If you think this is incredibly strange, that’s because it is.

Of course, Jeep has an explanation for it. Right-hand-drive Wranglers are intended for rural mail deliverers who need to deal with both intense climates (hence the Wrangler) and mailboxes mounted on the passenger side of the vehicle (hence right-hand drive). These postal workers don’t drive to one spot in the neighborhood and walk around to all the houses, since each one of their deliveries can sometimes be several miles apart, so they deliver mail directly from their vehicles.

But do we really need this many right-hand-drive Wranglers? Right now, there are 428 new Wranglers listed on Autotrader as RHD. I’m not talking about new models plus a lot of used models that were retired at the end of their long postal careers. These 428 Wranglers are all completely new, undriven, zero-mile, right-hand-drive SUVs, just waiting for the passenger seat to carry a "U.S. POST OFFICE" tub with a Christmas card from Aunt Fran, in which she goes into detail about her foot rash.

Interestingly, you don’t have to be a postal worker to buy one of these right-hand-drive Wranglers. If you want one, you can walk into any dealership selling one, pick it out and drive it home.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

exploitation of the outdated rules .. as I recall JEEP was specifically mentioned as an exception to the 'no RHD' rules (because they supplied Post Office) ... if that wording still exists .....

As I recall the basic rule said a car could not be imported or sold new in the US if it was produced as a LHD available in the US. If not available in the US safety testing would be required of the RHD version.

from: https://www.nadaguides.com/Cars/Shop...ve-cars-in-usa

How to Buy a Right-hand Drive Car in the USA

The simplest way to buy a right-hand drive car in the USA is to buy one that’s factory made. There are a handful of companies that sell factory made right-hand cars; in fact, there are specific models that are only available as RHD in the United States.

The target market for these models is generally postal service workers, but car aficionados will be happy to know that they are also available for purchase by the general public. If you wanted to buy one, you could walk into your Jeep dealership today and drive off with a right-hand drive Jeep Wrangler.

Curious about how much it’ll cost you? A quick online search for the Jeep Wrangler reveals that new car prices range from as low as $20,000 to upwards of $60,000, and this model is just one example. You can use an online car finder to search for companies that sell factory made right-hand cars, where you’ll find both new and used options.

While some of the newer RHD cars can get quite expensive, auto enthusiasts will be pleased to know that they can find plenty of unique options to meet their right-hand drive needs. Used car values in this category can vary greatly, perhaps even more than new cars, and range from as low as $9,000 to up to $95,000.

....

Importing

Though importing may seem like a great way to obtain a RHD car, US law prohibits consumers from importing any <RHD> vehicle that’s less than 25 years old. Any RHD import you see that’s less than 25 years old is illegal and could be impounded, seized, or destroyed. <very poorly worded but you probably get the point>

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I have a RHD Mini because it's a Mini! Not because it's practical . . .

can't say I've ever seen a RHD Jeep other than an ex post office one ... not sure why I'd want one ....

HEY .. the truck that collects my trash (with a fancy thing that picks up the can and dumps it) ... is RHD ....


https://www.importavehicle.com/blog/...-united-states

********************
fun bit of research ....... and there's more out there to answer ALL the questions .....