Crossing the border with girlfriends car
 

Can I expect any problems if I drive across the border with my girlfriends car instead of mine? My name is no where on the registration and she won't be with me.

ummm they are going to need proof....so yes there will be problems...

My ex never had a problem crossing the border in my car. It all depends on the border guard, really. Sometimes they ask, sometimes they don't.

Won't be so easy going to the States. You need a legal letter done by a Notary Republic stating when, how long, etc etc.

Coming back is usually ok. A non legal letter is sufficient.

All in all, not worth it. I've tried driving a friends car down on my own to enter it into a show, but they turned me around. You beg and plead and call the owner, but useless obviously.

I've driven people to the seattle airport in their car (with owner in car) with no problems, returning wasn't a big issue. Canadian car coming back to Canada isn't a huge issue.

But in the States, they worry it's potentially a stolen car.

Just make sure there's no drugs or dead hookers in the back and you should be fine..



or get a note..

dont say anything unless they ask.

I have never been asked for registration.

That's... interesting.

Last year, seven of us went on a roadtrip to Seattle, so we borrowed our friend's minivan. He didn't come with us.

At the border, they asked who's car it was, and we even said it was our friend's, and as far as I remember, they didn't even follow that up with any further questions...

It makes sense that they would have a problem with it, but they rarely ask. I've never been asked whether the car is mine, so I dunno...

no problem with me

ive done it. no problems at all.

I guess it really depends on whoever is working and how suspicious you look.
Every time I have crossed, they ask me if its my car or not.
But from the other comments I see, people never have been asked.
I am probably asked every time because I'm a young asian guy, which goes back to my point of depending on how suspicious you look.

half of times they asked me, other half they didnt. so good luck.

I'm a white hot heatscore at the border so I'm always under scrutiny. I've been checked thoroughly and the subject of registration has come up before.

After a break-in on my vehicle I thought that my license plate had been stolen (turns out they just ripped off my Canadian Tire license plate holder and flung the plate down the parking lot) and after reporting the plate stolen as well I re-affixed it to my Explorer and tried to cross the border.

45 minutes into a "discussion" with the border guards involving an unwitting female friend and myself I was able to find that they do a plate search while you roll up to the kiosk.


Also, a co-worker once borrowed his mother's car to take some colleagues down to the Microsoft campus in Redmond. The border turned him around and he had to bring a signed letter with his mother's ID photocopied onto it to take the car south of the line.

It seems a little inconsistent so I'm not sure what the policy is, these are just the experiences I'm aware of. I'd cover your bases before heading down tho.

LoL... my friend had a similar incident.

He had his car stolen, so he had reported it to the police and stuff.

He eventually got his car recovered.

But later on, when he went to drive it across the border, for whatever reason, the computer still had the car flagged as stolen, so before he knew it, cops rolled in on all sides and he was asked to step out of the vehicle at gunpoint. :D

never had a problem

They probably don't ask until a guy drives up in a car registered to a girl named "Jennifer", thus inspiring the questions.

I took my car. My mom was a little less than impressed to drive around in a ratty work truck, but it still beat her paying $100 in parking fees, so the complaints were in check.

My girlfriend was laughing at me for my precautions, but I figure a little extra work upfront can save you a lot of hassle. My family got searched once at the border when we crossed with my dad's showcar. He was convinced that he was taking it to sell it and it was an entire pain in the ass. Another time, I was with my friend, his wife and a friend of theirs. The border guard grills me while ignoring the guy with green card, the american citizen and the girl with no id. She says it was stolen. No follow up questions. Turns out it was surrendered to the FBI....because she was wanted...for kidnapping. And its me they had the problem with.

and why were you with a girl who's wanted for kidnapping? :lol

I never did get a good answer for why they were still friends with her and willing to cross the border with her. She wanted a record of being in Canada to throw them off her trail. No one told me about any of it until after we crossed into the states. How nice would it have been to be in a room with the FBI and the only answer to provide being "I dunno"?

I was furious about it.

It really depends on your looks and what car it is. Me and my frds took my mom's call across the border a few yrs back. they made us wait inside and have a few drug dogs search up and down the car.

If the car in question isn't hella expensive and you don't look like police heatscore you have have no problem. But if u are like who get search 8 times out of 10 through any kind of border you might have a problem.