How to Import a BYD into Canada

Simple answer is you can't. Yet. Canada doesn't recognize Chinese VINs at the moment. But why would you want to anyway? What will you do if the car needs any kind of service?

> Step 5: Contact the Manufacturer >They try to contact BYD headquarters in Shenzhen. It's 3 AM there. Nobody answers. It’s a good article when it comes to outlining the problem with carfax not covering Chinese vehicles, but it’s a little bit of dramatization that the authorities would reach out to HQ in China instead of local representatives of the brand. They would have the registry. Also, to issue a recall, the defect needs to be a proven reason for the issue. It’s not going to happen in one hour.

Follow up - I just read the linked article, and will be leaving it visible because OP has done some good work investigating the process, only to discover how much of a mess it is. Kudos to you. Anyone who wants to understand the red tape around importing a vehicle should read it. We'll give some thought as to how to permit this type of genuinely original post (as opposed to rehashing of other peoples work) in future. Ban warning retracted. (edit) just realized this was still locked, fixed - sorry about that.

EVs need nearly zero maintenance.

what if you get into a collision and need body parts?

Lmao the main advantage of a Chinese EV is \*potentially\* lower price. Why would you go through any sort of lengthy troubles to import one? BTW I think generally individual cars only become eligible to import if they were manufactured more than 15 years ago. So no, you should not go out of your way to importan a BYD.

Just buy another one.

Parts break. Accidents happen. You are nuts

Please actually read the article. It has less to do with being a private consumer importing a vehicle and more to do with how absolutely messed up our regulatory system for VIN handling is *and nobody seems to know why*. It's quite the rabbit hole!

You couldn’t if you tried, anyways. None of them are homologated - none have gone through the regulatory process necessary to be insured or driven. Same reason you can’t just buy a Volkswagen Up! and drive it in Canada.

Basically, just sit tight and wait for BYD to come themselves.

This is fantastic journalism, even if it wasn't by a 'journalist'. Documents a crazy but unsurprising degree of cockamamie bureaucratic confusion and inertia.

Yep, I liked that each point was backed up by each access to information request and the subsequent chain of emails. I loved that all the sources were basically right there, we didn't have to trust that the work was done. It was a wild ride, for sure!

The article title is totally misleading, this is nothing about importing a BYD, but the underlying VIN identification system being outsourced to US NHTSA and having no accomodations for Chinese manufacturers

OK, but why would you?