I have been waiting for years to see if the Ford Ka will ever make its way to the US. I want to import it-how?

Question

I don't know what modifications I would need to have done, I do know it can get rather expensive-at this point, I'd be willing to pay anything to have the car I've waited 6 years for. I don't know whether I have to contact a dealer over there, or if I can have someone do it over here. How much would it cost to buy a Ford Ka, and have all of the mods completed so that it gets the ok to be shipped over here? I do plan on adding a body kit, neons, and other modifications as well, unless I can find a "finished" car in Europe. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Technically, the only legal way to do it is to import it through a Broker, who will hold it in a bonded warehouse while an EPA inspection and certification is performed, this inspection will cost around $25,000, importation fees including frieght costs will be 5-7,000, and then the car itself with the current exchange rate will be in the $10,000 range.  so you are looking at about $40,000.  There are other options however that are not quite legal! that involve importing it to either canada or mexico, licensing it there, driving to the US, however, you will never be able to get a US registration for it without the EPA inspection, so you will need to get a car dealers license, and drive it on a dealer plate for the rest of its life.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it is the reason that only cars that can be marked up a large amount are imported this way (Nissan Skylines Buggatti Veyrons Etc..).  on the bright side, once you have gone through the inspection, you will hold the license for importation, so you can then import a bunch of them, and sell them, assuming you can find customers, you could bring your costs down!!!