RHD woes and troubles

[Matty]

Hello gentlemen,

Decided to make a thread where rhd owners (current and/or past) can talk about some of the troubles they have gone through. Perhaps this will become a sticky since smaller threads exist here and there.

Feel free to talk about anything from HTA compliancy issues, troubles at the MOT, registration or insurance problems, police pull over's, parts availability, etc.

It would be good to post solutions as well that you found to be useful.

I'll start. Obviously insurance is a big one. I found that there were two possible solutions to this. 1) Having the car re-vinned through the Ministry of Transportation so that it utilizes a custom Canadian VIN, 2) Appraisal based insurance policy's (19A).

Fortunately, I have never really been hit with compliancy or police problems since my vehicles have always met HTA specs.

Matty

[king_cobra]

hey matt,

can you explain what is the process of getting a RHD car re-vinned?

[dah_hunter]

In BC its very easy...

Go to ICBC office, Tell them your car doesnt have 2 VIN's..

Fill out form.

VIN get sent to ICBC approved Shop, installed on car..

$25 and your done..

(If you want a 17 digit VIN thats how you get one in BC)

[Andrewc]

To be honest i never had a problem, never been pulled over, never had a problem with insurance, never had a problem getting a loan for my car apart from the fact that my bank had to phone japan to check for liens/value of the car. I suppose the only problem would be some parts availability, that's about it.

[Matty]

Hunter, thats crazy! Over here it's much much more difficult.
I've done this twice now.

Cost: $500 plus tax
Time: 3-4 weeks turnaround (perhaps because I live out in a small town and the inspector said he was wiating for other jobs in the Niagara Region to do mine).

Its all done through the MOT in partnerships with the OPP. I forget who the lady in charge at the MOT is, but call their and ask for a re-vin application.

They will mail/fax one out to you along with payment information. After you've filled everything in, they file it and their inspector (retired OPP traffic officer - B. Serianis (sp)) comes out to your place to inspect the car.

He takes all kinds of info on the vehicle and proceeds to investigate to ensure it is not stolen or has a warranty through interpol.

He needs everythign right down to the factory where the car was produced in, in Japan. If you do not know this (like I did) he will find out.

Once everything is cleared and the car is OK'd, he will proceed back to your location and he re-vins the car on site. A new VIN is placed on the driver door sil and a revin serial number is punched in the fender support or strut tower and he will give you all your documentation to go with the re-vin.


That's all she wrote.
This process use to be done years ago and they axxed the program for a while. They just recently started doing revins on vehicles like our (grey market imports) again only a few years ago.

My 180sx was one of the first to be re-vinned when they brought the program back and it was referred to as a "guinnea pig" by the MOT. :P


After my 180sx, I had my old GTR done in the same fashion.

Its pricey, but its makes insurance an absoute breeze, anywhere.

[dah_hunter]

Well here the car is inspected once and its good to go..

so after you have the first inspection the car never needs to get inspected or looked at by insurance companys... unless theres a claim of course..

I dont really understand other provinces.. BC FTW

What you said sounds like a ton of work..



Private Insurance seems to make things complicated..

[Matty]

Lots of wait time is the big part of it.
I wish Ontario ran like BC or toher western provinces when it comes to this kind of stuff.

[RSi]

In BC its very easy...

Go to ICBC office, Tell them your car doesnt have 2 VIN's..

Fill out form.

VIN get sent to ICBC approved Shop, installed on car..

$25 and your done..

(If you want a 17 digit VIN thats how you get one in BC)

Any chance of getting that done AFTER it has plates?

[Shadao]

Any chance of getting that done AFTER it has plates?

you dont need a BC VIN if you already have plates

[RSi]

Yeah I know but I am thinking of moving to the states and a BC VIN should make my car easier to "register" there...

you dont need a BC VIN if you already have plates

[kev]

I currently have five rhd's plated and have registered many others over the past few years in Ontario. Never had any re-vinned. Seems like a waste of time and money to me.

[Maverick]

Anyone knows how to do this in Alberta?

[Matty]

I did not re-vin my last one.
The reason I went with a re-vin on the early ones was because I was a young driver with a poor driving record. Finding regular insurance at a decent rate was hard enough.

This avenue, although exhausting, made life easier.
Now that i'm older and my record is getting better, I can find insuracne more readily.

It helps that im working with RightDrive now. We have a few insuracne companies that insure our customers cars with next to no hassle. We've managed to set up a few relationships in the insurance industry over the past few years.

[Oakville]

...We've managed to set up a few relationships in the insurance industry over the past few years.

I'll be PMing you in a few months hehe

[G.T.R]

I got a phone call from the owner of my insurance company asking about the car, asking why i kept buying them and blah blah blah, am i a dealer etc and accusing me, and I just said I enjoyed the cars but cars like these snag some crazy cash offers at car shows and meets and some times sell quick, then he asked if I could bring it in as he wants to see it LOL
Steve