Today is a sad day Options

[reko]

As you guys know, we, in Canada, can import 15+ cars. Yesterday, the SAAQ (the organism that delivers immatriculation in Quebec) decided to suspend the attribution of new licenses for JDM cars.

This means that all the money i was saving to buy my GT-Four ST205 is now useless... The worst thing is that i was wating to get my tax back next week to buy it

http://www.montrealracing.com/en/?p=581

At around noon today one of our members, prelude83, published a forum discussion thread containing a draft ministerial press release that had some very disturbing news for JDM lovers in it. According to the press release, the SAAQ (the Quebec Auto Insurance Board) has banned new registrations of right hand drive vehicles for for at least 180 days while they study the matter further. Apparently these vehicles were deemed unsafe for Quebec roads. Those who doubted him didn’t have to wait long because shortly after the thread was made, the SAAQ itself confirmed the rumor and put out the press release.

Prior to this enactment, it had been legal to import any vehicle fifteen years or older and many companies took advantage of the high demand for right hand drive JDM (Japan Domestic Market) vehicles. Nissan Skylines, Nissan Sylvias, Toyota Soarers, Toyota MR2s and even Honda Civics and CRXs with right hand drive were becoming quite numerous on our roads.

The SAAQ has put word out to its certified garages to not do any inspection for a RHD vehicles as of April 29 2009. Without an inspection the vehicle can not be admitted to the road. The move will not affect current owners of these vehicles who have already had them plated legally or specially certified RHD vehicles such as garbage/recycle trucks, street cleaners or postal vehicles. We can only guess the amount of losses that JDM importers who have shipments of RHD vehicles en route scheduled to arrive after today will have to absorb. Needless to say if the move becomes permanent, the value of the RHD vehicles that made it on the road before the new law will surely increase to the delight of their owners.

Dealers will not be permitted to put x-plates (temporary dealer plates) on any RHD vehicle not registered before today. If you are in the market for a JDM or RHD vehicle ask for the proper documentation to prove that the vehicle was properly plated before the deadline otherwise you’ll be in for a surprise.

The SAAQ is scheduled to remit a reccomendation to the Transport Minsiter Julie Boulet before 180 days.

[purplegt4]

then get a lhd gt-four

[reko]

then get a lhd gt-four

It's been my dream car for the past 5 years and it was available since February 4 2009...

There is a little amount of LHD GT-FOUR in the entire world and there is like 1% chance of finding one, for sale... and i'm not talking about the price it would cost + hassle + shipping from Europe to Canada...

Forget it...

[azian_advanced]

was there any notice that this would occur? it seems so sudden.
there are like 7 gt-fours en route to quebec that i've been keeping track of. i guess this means that the price of JDM cars in quebec will decrease due to the lack of demand? if that's true, then it's time to go import some cars from quebec! i'm surprised that B.C. didn't initiate this regulation first...
i can see more and more provinces slowly getting into this trend in the near future and banning all jdm imported cars.

while having a rhd vehicle does make it more difficult to drive, the bigger reason why they are deemed unsafe is that the cars being sold are bought by a generally younger target market (ages 18-26) who are either inexperienced or incapable of handling such high powered vehicles. at least that's the generalization made here in my province, not sure about quebec though.

This post has been edited by azian_advanced: Apr 30, 2009 - 12:54 PM

[crankyelbow]

Thats bull****.

[Rusty]

I wonder if they'll carry that on in america?

[reko]

Quebec is in Canada dude... wich is in North America

If you meant United States, then no, since they cant import GT-Four at all

Oh well... now i have to find one in other provinces or an LHD one

[Rusty]

nahhh really?

funny though since ive learnt that canada can import a gt4 after 15years, as can america (or United States if you prefer) after 20 years (so they can), however since the recent halt in importing gt4's (and other cars) in Quebec Canada, i was wondering if the same story could happen over in the US after the 20year wait is over rule, say RHD imports are unsafe for their roads and ban them from the roads

"which"

[reko]

yeah my bad english is my second language

[Rusty]

nah I was just having a bad day the other day

so if areas I like california (I think) in the US cant do 3SGTE swaps what are their chances of being allowed a GT-Four?

[Nial]

I`d see this as an amazing oppertunity if I were in Canada.....all those GT4s on route to Canada already will be in essence "worthless" so importers will try to sell them cheap as they can, to get rid of them......buy one for peanuts, convert it to left hand drive and then do all the other things needed to get it legal on the roads.....then you have yourselves your very own GT4 at perhaps a fraction of the cost that it would have cost you.

[reko]

It doesnt apply to all the Canada, only Quebec province.

And our laws prohibit firewall mods

[Rusty]

so why not import into another area or couldn't that work?

[njccmd2002]

move outside the province.....