Importing 1M?

[jtriggs458]

Don't own a 1M....yet. Stuck with the 135i for now. Im stationed in South Korea with the US Military and for kicks looked at the 1Ms for sale here. There are a few and they're listed at prices I can actually justify. Looked through a few threads a few years ago about people importing 1Ms but they didn't reveal much. It seems that if you can prove that it's similar enough to the NA spec it can be imported. Besides the orange headlight markers I can't find out what spec or what differences the Korean spec 1Ms are. Any info anyone has on them or even info on a reputable importer who could answer would be great. I've dreamed of owning a 1M for 10 years and now possibly could if I can bring it back to the States. Thanks

[nachob]

Hello and welcome to the forum. First off while the sum of its parts make the 1M an epic car when you said I'm stuck with, I thought you were going to say a gold Camry with gold badges. A 135i is pretty impressive car to be stuck with. I know you didn't ask for help with this feeling stuck but next time you feel stuck, find a 2003 Honda CRV and drive it around for 30 minutes. When you get back in your 135i, it will feel like a freakin' Lamborghini Performante. : )

Now on the other stuff.

I think the road will be very tough to import a 1M to US. I have imported a 1M from Canada to the US personally as have a few here but there is a special one-off agreement between Canada and the US on vehicles that does not apply to the rest of the world. First let me list the challenges, not to dissuade you but to help you identify them so you can tackle them. You possibly have a couple of things in your favor.

Will list the possible good news first:
1. You are in the military. Most people appreciate you joining and there are some special rules for military members that I feel you should focus on first. The regular rules are almost impossible especially because you mention cost being a factor. If you were importing a car that didn't exist in the US is one thing but there are some 1Ms here and in Canada.

2. This one I'm not positive but you are not in California. We have very strict DMV rules here. I used to live in the South, albeit many years ago and my recollection is they are more lax than California and some of other big states like New York, etc. So registering in Alabama will most likely be easier than here.

3. The engine is probably the same as the US engines but BMW gets them certified and puts a decal under the hood. Check to see if there is a hood on the bottom right side of the hood that says Conforms to US EPA and California rules. That would help if the decal is there. I don't think so because they have regional builds but few 1Ms were made so check that. That would a good thing to have.

Now the Challenges

3. If you import a car via a ship and customs broker as a regular person (non-miliatry) it is a business transaction. You will have to make the car conform to ALL federal regulations unless it's 25 years or older. So you will have to change the lights, add TPMS if not there, change the instrument cluster and put it in a holding facility that charges about $5000K to certify the car meets all the rules. So you could be looking at $10K in customs fee, certification fees, and duties which I believe are the same 2.5 percent. Again, there are special rules for military members returning which is really where you might be able to bypass this. I will sign off here in case anyone else has better information than me but please keep us informed, this is an interesting case. Best wishes.

[CarJunkie]

As always, nachob knows the answer and takes the time to spell it all out in detail. Forum King.

[jtriggs458]

Awesome thanks for the fantastic reply! I do love my 135i though don't get me wrong. That said I'm seeing the 1Ms here listed at ~35 million won which is around 30k USD. From what I can search online that seems significantly cheaper than the states so if I could swing it that would be sweet. Ive still got a year and a half left here to figure it out but this was a great start thanks again!

[nachob]

Originally Posted by jtriggs458

Awesome thanks for the fantastic reply! I do love my 135i though don't get me wrong. That said I'm seeing the 1Ms here listed at ~35 million won which is around 30k USD. From what I can search online that seems significantly cheaper than the states so if I could swing it that would be sweet. Ive still got a year and a half left here to figure it out but this was a great start thanks again!

I did a quick search and it appears that a commercial importer will still be required for returning military and must be a conforming car. I believe the foreign one will be the same except for instruments, TPMS and corner lights. I would find the Independent Commercial Importer (ICI) or Registered Importer (RI) and get a quote. The cluster would have to be changed by a dealer and I would do it here in the US. It also mentions that for personal use, you should have registration abroad so you might buy it, use it there and that will bolster your case that it's a personal use car. Finally once you buy it, you can contact BMW and tell them you are military and the registered owner and ask for a letter of compliance. It will list conforms to US EPA standards EXCEPT markings and probably list lights. With that letter you might only have to change the lights but my guess is the importer will have you change cluster to sign off and possibly retrofit TPMS if your version doesn't have them. I think you should pick one up and enjoy it for next year and a half and in the meantime do your homework.

https://www.cbp.gov/trade/basic-impo...rsonal-vehicle

This is the NHSTA site. the best place to start. They have list of non compliant cars that are eligible but don't see 1M on there. Maybe it's considered compliant? There is a list of registered importers there that you can contact too.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/importing-vehicle

[champignon]

As a follow-on to Nacho's excellent advice:

My (originally Canadian car) does not have TPMS, but rather uses the other system (ABS) which judges degree of roundness of the tires as opposed to getting a radio wave signal. I would definitely NOT install TPMS into the car unless absolutely required to do so by your state or some other agency. ABS is fine and will save you money on tire changes, plus reduces false alarms and other issues which are common with TPMS. Nacho can be "excused" for limited knowledge of TPMS, being as there are no need for tire swaps in San Diego. Those of us who are accustomed to changing between winter and summer tires on other vehicles with TPMS are experienced with the nuisance and expense that TPMS can cause.

As a general observation, states are highly variable in how they deal with imported vehicles. In my state, Idaho, they were overly concerned about the Odometer readings, which were originally reported in km, not miles. This is a setting that can be changed with button presses and that is explained in the owners manual or via online searching, at least in N. American vehicles. Whether this capacity exists in vehicles originating in Asia, I don't know. In N. American vehicles changing the cluster really only shows you mph vs kph. as originally spec'd. The Idaho DMV became apoplectic about having the odometer reading certified as being correct in miles, assuming that it was the cluster change that did this, however in reality it was a simple setting on the dashboard that anyone (no need for a mechanic) can do, at least on N. American vehicles. The conversion between km and miles was thus automatic, and required no intervention by a trained technician. This will need to be checked vis a vis "rest of the world" cars.

BMWs intentionally report a higher mph on their gauges than is correct, supposedly to reduce speeding. This can vary from 2 or 3 mph optimistic, as in the 1M, to as much as 6-7 mph in others. Coding tools such as Carly and others can allow you to code this out, generally only on the digital speed representation that you can get at the bottom of the dashboard (as "v="); the analog representation will remain "overly optimistic." If you code out this inaccuracy, and change it to report in mph rather than kph, then you could conceivably just rely on the digital speed representation, without even looking at the analog speed on the dial, which might allow you to do without the cluster swap if your state doesn't require it to register the vehicle. I have coded out the speed inaccuracy myself and seldom even look at the analog speed gauge.

BMW is pretty useless when it comes to importing vehicles. You can get a letter of compliance from them, which you will likely need, but beyond that do not expect that they will contact you for recalls, etc.

Bottom line is that it may pay to play dumb when you import the vehicle back to the US. Most things that they may try to get you to do to the car will be of limited to no value, so I would see what they tell you that you need to do, and anything beyond that you should evaluate for its actual usefulness to you personally.

Good luck with your purchase and importation!

[jtriggs458]

Again thanks for the info and replies lots of good advice! I may or may not have *ahem* removed the TPMS from my 135i and coded it out so I can figure that out in the reverse with some trying. I'll continue to do my research but its seeming more and more like its better to ask for forgiveness than permission in this case perhaps. My original residence is Pinal County Arizona which has no emissions testing and relatively lax registration standards so I might try that angle.

[nachob]

Originally Posted by jtriggs458

Again thanks for the info and replies lots of good advice! I may or may not have *ahem* removed the TPMS from my 135i and coded it out so I can figure that out in the reverse with some trying. I'll continue to do my research but its seeming more and more like its better to ask for forgiveness than permission in this case perhaps. My original residence is Pinal County Arizona which has no emissions testing and relatively lax registration standards so I might try that angle.

I agree with Mr. Champignon, I also prefer no TPMS and while we don't have to change wheels here in San Diego, I change often and TPMS are an annoyance to me when the rotational system is good enough.

For clarification, I only bring up TPMS because they were required in US cars in 2011 and not in other countries so it's one more thing that might be required by an importer.

[champignon]

Originally Posted by nachob

I agree with Mr. Champignon, I also prefer no TPMS and while we don't have to change wheels here in San Diego, I change often and TPMS are an annoyance to me when the rotational system is good enough.

For clarification, I only bring up TPMS because they were required in US cars in 2011 and not in other countries so it's one more thing that might be required by an importer.

HI Nacho,

I'm not sure that this is true. My USA VW Golf R, 2018 model, has the ABS system, not TPMS. The snow tires that I have for the car, mounted on rims, do not have TPMS sensors installed and there are no warning/idiot lights on my dash, and I would get them if the car had the ABMS system installed.

[nachob]

Originally Posted by champignon

HI Nacho,

I'm not sure that this is true. My USA VW Golf R, 2018 model, has the ABS system, not TPMS. The snow tires that I have for the car, mounted on rims, do not have TPMS sensors installed and there are no warning/idiot lights on my dash, and I would get them if the car had the ABMS system installed.

If that's the case then they must not be required. Someone had told me they were and didn't verify myself. My bad. The funny thing is I have owned two GTIs since 2008 and both had direct TPMS as did all US BMWs in 2011 that I know of. I tried doing a quick search and couldn't find anything definitive. I prefer the indirect system myself since I like to swap wheels and it seems more reliable. I did see one comment that it was a phased requirement that certain percent of the fleet had to have by some milestones but again nothing definitive.

[champignon]

Originally Posted by nachob

If that's the case then they must not be required. Someone had told me they were and didn't verify myself. My bad. The funny thing is I have owned two GTIs since 2008 and both had direct TPMS as did all US BMWs in 2011 that I know of. I tried doing a quick search and couldn't find anything definitive. I prefer the indirect system myself since I like to swap wheels and it seems more reliable. I did see one comment that it was a phased requirement that certain percent of the fleet had to have by some milestones but again nothing definitive.

I fucking hate TPMS :-)

[iDontRemember]

BMW NA may not even want to discuss a letter of compliance with a vehicle from 1/2 way around the world, they barely wanted to deal with my Canadian spec car (which has already been pointed out as being identical to the US version, sans TPMS).

When I imported mine, I got the run around about the letter of compliance, essentially they wouldn't give me one if I wasn't the owner but I wouldn't be the owner until I purchased and return the car to the US. It was the ultimate catch 22. I ended up just telling them I had purchased it, gave them my US address (they WILL NOT send the letter to an overseas address) and it showed up via email a couple days later with a hard copy about a week or two later via USPS (back when they were somewhat expedient).

Funny thing is, the coveted letter of compliance would be extremely easy to forge and the odds that anyone would call BMW to check on it are pretty low. The guys at the customs/border station didn't even look at mine, nor the EPA sticker. I did get there mid-shift change and these guys didn't seem interested in doing much more than eating sweet buns and slurping coffee and the bare minimum to get me out the door so they could go back to doing nothing.

I've got a new EPA sticker that's correct for the North American chassis, but I don't know if it would do you any good.

TPMS shouldn't be an issue, plenty of cars are now equipped to track pressure based off wheel speed/abs.

Good luck, it'll be one of, if not the most fun car you'll ever own.

[champignon]

BMW NA is worse than useless in this process, and it gets worse. You can register the car multiple times (I did) but they will still claim that they never heard of you or your car. If some serious flaw shows up like the car might kill you or burn your house down or whatever, they will not notify you about it, and when you try to fix it, they will tell you that their records show that your car doesn't have the flawed part in it.

I remember more or less this dialog, that I had with them when there was the recall for the driver side airbag, where they told me on the phone that their records showed that my 1M didn't have a Takata airbag in the steering wheel. I said something to the effect of, "well since you have records that show that my car doesn't have a Takata Airbag, what kind of airbag does it have in it?"

Silence.

After doing this a few times they finally acknowledged that it probably was a Takata Airbag in there, after all. It would probably have been cheaper, considering the value of my time, to have just paid to get the airbag replaced out of my own pocket.

[nachob]

Yes, if there is any hope you will have to own the car or convince them that you do to get a letter. I also had a terrible experience and warned everyone I have spoken about importing a car about dealing with BMW. In my case the Canadian seller owned a house in the US and told BMW that he was going to import the car himself to US and they gave him the letter that he passed on to me. As to the recalls, non US cars do not show up on the BMW USA system. You have to track recalls on US cars yourself, then take it to a good dealer who will contact BMW and get recalls done. Back in the day, you could register a Canadian car with BMW but not sure if that's the case anymore. So that is the one thing now. I don't get any automated notifications about recalls, when I hear of one, I take it in and the dealer contacts BMW. You have to be insistent because often the dealer is lazy and just puts your vin on the online USA tool and it returns no recalls. In my case, you have to enter into the Canadian site and there it does show recalls. It's bad programming. The USA site should say, this is a Canadian VIN, check canadian site. Instead it just says NO RECALLS. So I print Canadian site info and take to dealer and most of the time the recall matches US. The one that doesn't is fuel injectors. US cars have a 10 year warranty extension that Canadian cars didn't get but my car will be 10 years old in August anyway.

[Duck360198]

For those of you who imported from Canada, did you use a broker or do all import paperwork yourself?

[champignon]

Originally Posted by Duck360198

For those of you who imported from Canada, did you use a broker or do all import paperwork yourself?

I bought mine from a Canadian dealer specializing in used luxury cars; the car was listed on ebay and the shipping and customs duties/clearance was bundled into the sales price, so they handled all of that for me. Obviously, that's an unusual situation. This particular dealer does a lot of cross border sales, so they had cross border relationships which smoothed the process. I still had to deal with my state's DMV for titling and registering the car, which was a pain in the ass. One thing that lessened the pain was that the Canadian dealer got the car titled in Ohio, before it was delivered to me, so it ended up being a state to state transfer, although the sticking point was the reported odometer reading, in km.

[nachob]

Originally Posted by Duck360198

For those of you who imported from Canada, did you use a broker or do all import paperwork yourself?

The majority do the paperwork themselves . Shipping across the border and brokers make it a formal entry and different rules. If you import yourself you don't have to change instrument cluster. Another issue I ran into the made me do informal at the last minute was the shipping company made me sign agreement that I would have to pay a per hour rate for the truck if my car delayed them at customs. After 4 or 8 hours at about $150 per hour they would leave the car in a warehouse of their choice and I would have to pay for storage and finally the truck would leave and I forfeit my $1700 shipping charge and would have to fly back from San Diego to Canada or hire someone to deal with it. With customs you never know who you get and if they're having a bad day. So you have more control doing the informal entry. So I cancelled return trip for family and imported and drive it home. A cross country trip in 1M was awesome so glad now I went that route.

[Duck360198]

Originally Posted by nachob

The majority do the paperwork themselves . Shipping across the border and brokers make it a formal entry and different rules. If you import yourself you don't have to change instrument cluster. Another issue I ran into the made me do informal at the last minute was the shipping company made me sign agreement that I would have to pay a per hour rate for the truck if my car delayed them at customs. After 4 or 8 hours at about $150 per hour they would leave the car in a warehouse of their choice and I would have to pay for storage and finally the truck would leave and I forfeit my $1700 shipping charge and would have to fly back from San Diego to Canada or hire someone to deal with it. With customs you never know who you get and if they're having a bad day. So you have more control doing the informal entry. So I cancelled return trip for family and imported and drive it home. A cross country trip in 1M was awesome so glad now I went that route.

I was going to say, that certainly couldn’t have been a bad drive. Sounds amazing in a 1M. Good for you. So, with your informal process, how long were you held at the border?

[nachob]

Originally Posted by Duck360198

I was going to say, that certainly couldn’t have been a bad drive. Sounds amazing in a 1M. Good for you. So, with your informal process, how long were you held at the border?

About an 50 minutes. Yes most of these cars will end up as garage queens so driving it cross country was awesome. I took the scenic route and took my time. As to the crossing I has everything ready. Forms filled invoice etc. There are several here that have done it. The hard part can be getting the letter of compliance from BMW. For some it was a piece of cake but I tried the honest route at first and that was a mess. Some told bmw they were the new registered owner and got the letter. In my case I almost gave up but the seller owned a house in the US as well. So he asked BMW for the letter by saying he wanted to import it himself. The problem is that they will only give the letter to the registered owner. I called first and they told me that. Then the owner called and said I'm selling the car amd want the letter. They told him I, the buyer, would have to call once I register the car and send proof. But I can't register the car without the letter!!! So he called back later and said I'm the owner and want to move it to US. It was amazing how close-minded BMW was. Good luck and let us know. We have a small group of Canadian 1Ms in the US.

[Duck360198]

Originally Posted by nachob

About an 50 minutes. Yes most of these cars will end up as garage queens so driving it cross country was awesome. I took the scenic route and took my time. As to the crossing I has everything ready. Forms filled invoice etc. There are several here that have done it. The hard part can be getting the letter of compliance from BMW. For some it was a piece of cake but I tried the honest route at first and that was a mess. Some told bmw they were the new registered owner and got the letter. In my case I almost gave up but the seller owned a house in the US as well. So he asked BMW for the letter by saying he wanted to import it himself. The problem is that they will only give the letter to the registered owner. I called first and they told me that. Then the owner called and said I'm selling the car amd want the letter. They told him I, the buyer, would have to call once I register the car and send proof. But I can't register the car without the letter!!! So he called back later and said I'm the owner and want to move it to US. It was amazing how close-minded BMW was. Good luck and let us know. We have a small group of Canadian 1Ms in the US.

So I actually imported my current E90 335i just recently, but went through the broker route because of COVID. Car was a great price, but, all said and done, it added up with my contact's fees, brokerage fees, etc. Was it worth it? I think it was because I haven't been able to find a 335 in the combo I wanted.

Anyway, I want to tackle the next import on my own. My registration process was a piece of cake here in Ohio. Zero issues whatsoever. I didn't have any issues with getting the letter of compliance, but like you mentioned, I needed to have the original owner get it in order for me to register the car. I don't THINK there's any issue with his name on the letterhead vs. my name. It still says the car complies regardless of whose name is on it. So my hope is that the border patrol/import guys will see the letter, has the current registered owner's name on it, and will understand that I'll obviously register it when I get to the U.S. I would hate to go get a car, get to the border, and then there's a hiccup over such a small detail.

50 minutes for you? Psshhh....I'll do that all day!

Really appreciate your help and detail on this. I'll have a 1M one day. Unfortunately we had the opportunity to buy a 5K mile 1-owner true AW stripper out of Columbus, OH back in 2014 or 2015 and was told don't bother by a "local independent dealer." It is now one of their hot sellers and I kick myself every day I see one pop up for sale. I have gone with my gut on other purchases since that encounter but that was a tough loss looking back on it.

[nachob]

Originally Posted by Duck360198

So I actually imported my current E90 335i just recently, but went through the broker route because of COVID. Car was a great price, but, all said and done, it added up with my contact's fees, brokerage fees, etc. Was it worth it? I think it was because I haven't been able to find a 335 in the combo I wanted.

Anyway, I want to tackle the next import on my own. My registration process was a piece of cake here in Ohio. Zero issues whatsoever. I didn't have any issues with getting the letter of compliance, but like you mentioned, I needed to have the original owner get it in order for me to register the car. I don't THINK there's any issue with his name on the letterhead vs. my name. It still says the car complies regardless of whose name is on it. So my hope is that the border patrol/import guys will see the letter, has the current registered owner's name on it, and will understand that I'll obviously register it when I get to the U.S. I would hate to go get a car, get to the border, and then there's a hiccup over such a small detail.

50 minutes for you? Psshhh....I'll do that all day!

Really appreciate your help and detail on this. I'll have a 1M one day. Unfortunately we had the opportunity to buy a 5K mile 1-owner true AW stripper out of Columbus, OH back in 2014 or 2015 and was told don't bother by a "local independent dealer." It is now one of their hot sellers and I kick myself every day I see one pop up for sale. I have gone with my gut on other purchases since that encounter but that was a tough loss looking back on it.

Yes the broker route can get expensive and the name on the letter shouldn't matter since it is to prove the car VIN is compliant. When I sold my first one in 2013 mine was the lowest priced 1M in the US with 14k Miles original owner California car. I had people call me and ask my why my price was so low? I just did KBB private seller hood condition and put that as my price. Then I had other idiots that would call me and tell me MSRP on the car was $47310. Never mind I paid more than the MSRP but also there was not a single 1M available in the known universe for MSRP that didn't have a salvage title. So just told them no problem just go buy one at MSRP. Finally had a really nice guy that came buy and I felt good about him. He brought his older brother and he looked ready to take it at 52k when his brother whispers something to him and he says sorry my brother doesn't think I should pay over MSRP. Ok . Next guy was buyer for dealer picked it up then later get nice email from guy and I send him link of the car at dealer with $60k asking price. He wrote me back.... argh. I'm an idiot! : )

I believe it sold for $58500 eventually. I was the idiot once too. I was in Knoxville and the dealer had two 1992 yellow miatas they couldn't sell. It was almost 1993 and I loved it the color and the dealer was selling it below cost to get rid of it. I made the mistake of bringing my now wife with me and she just said. I don't do yellow. Just not a good color!! What they wear ugly Tennessee Vol orange but yellow not good? I got mad and left. Later I went back to look for one and they told me Mazda discontinued yellow miatas and that was the color to have!

: )

We all live and learn. Best of luck and let us know how it goes.

[goatee1m]

I'm 1M user in Korea and I do not know much about export car to US or SOFA etc. but if you need some help for buying or maintaining 1m in Korea, I think I can help you, lol. Contact me if you want, I sent you personal message.