Renting cars in the U.S.
 

Can you drive them back into Canada?

In May of 2004 I landed in BUF, rented a Hertz car with NY plates and drove it to the Toronto area and then returned it back to BUF a couple days later.
As for "now", I'm not sure if anything has changed since and I don't know if OW drop-offs are allowed (I believe it is as I've seen WA plates at YVR Hertz).

I believe a Canadian Resident can only drive a vehicle with Canadian Plates into Canada due to some customs regulation.

However, the big guys at BUF usually have a few cars with Canadian Plates for rentals like this. I'd call them directly.

One way WA-BC or BC-WA is permitted at a reasonable surcharge. Though I believe not every rental outlets offer this option.

Canadian residents renting US-plated cars in the US aren't permitted to drive them into Canada due to customs regulations. Although, if it is a short-term rental, I know the Border agents have looked the other way. I've tried to figure out exactly what regulations, but if you look over the auto import regulations, there is no provision for temporary entry of a personal rental vehicle. There is a myriad of rules about age, place of manufacturer, whether or not it was initially a US or US import, and Transport Canada requirements.

No. You may get lucky with a sympathetic or simply not paying attention customs agent- but in reality you will probably be told you cannot enter the country with this vehicle, or, worse, they can impound it.

I have done this on multiple occasions and haven't had any problems. Not sure what the official policy is but it sure doesn't look like it gets enforced too often.

I went over the regulations some time ago. Canadian residents may bring a rental car that is registered in the US into Canada but are obliged to go to the rental agency and switch it for a Canadian-owned vehicle. It's up to you - but with NAFTA I suspect that the rule is relaxed. US residents of course are not restricted in this respect. I don't know if they can rent a car in Canada and drive into the US.

I know that the US is much looser (generally. Your particular agent mileage may vary if they are having a bad day :)) since you don't come to Canada to buy cheap cars.

A few years ago, I was crossing the WA-BC border into Canada driving not a rental vehicle, but my cousin's car, with my cousin sitting on the passenger seat. The immigration/customs officer advised me that I am not allowed to drive this WA-registered vehicle, and that I should switch with my cousin right away. Did not matter rental or not, actual owner in car or not. Don't know the reasons/source behind this law, but thankfully never had the need to rent one way WA-BC. In fact, for such one-ways, I take the Quickcoach from SEA to YVR for less than $30.

A few weeks ago I drove WA-BC with no probs - car with WA plates - said I was returning the car the next day.

Me too... I specifically asked when renting the vehicle and was told no problems and no surcharge. Avis at Seattle airport if it matters. The customs/immigration people didn't ask nor seem to care. As long as I had a ticket out of the US they were happy to let me in.. and out.

I found it was easier with National as they did allow taking the car across the border.

Ok, thanks for all this everyone! I am looking at renting at SEA and then driving it up for a week in Vancouver.

I'll figure out what to do very soon. :) (I'm also hoping that one of my cousins drive down to pick me up so that I can avoid the whole issue. ;) :D)

Interesting, AVIS has a specific policy that reads:

"Due to Canadian law, a Canadian resident is restricted from driving a US owned vehicle into Canada."

And specific to the Seattle location:

"Due to Canadian law, customers with a Canadian driver's license planning to cross the border to Canada in an Avis car can rent onlycars with a Canadian license tag. If the car has a U.S. license tag, customers with a Canadian driver license cannot take the car intoCanada."