Importing a vehicle into the US is such a hassle (such an expensive
hassle) that most people would rather walk or take a bus.
Although most (I would say all) European Union's environmental
protection laws exceed comparable US standards or lack thereof (and
there are all sorts of local regulations covering everything from
emissions to removal of packaging from supermarkets, especially German
ones, that exceed even the EU norms), US laws are rules are very
different, designed to protect domestic manufacturers and large scale
importers from any competition.
To make matters worse, all automotive imports are regulated by four US
government entities (may be there are more but I counted only four most
dreadful ones): the Department of Treasury's Customs Office, the
National Highway Safety Traffic Administration, the Environmental
Protection Agency and the US Department Transportation. Besides this
Byzantine bureaucratic maze, every potential importer has also to deal
with the state bureaucracies before contemplating to bring in a car/s
from abroad (at least being acquainted with the Rhode Island's Soviet
style bureaucracy, I would think that shouldn't be one of the life's
most joyous experiences). The absurd complexity of the regulations even
cover particles of foreign soil that might have got stuck on the way
(from factory, from dealership?) to the loading duck. As a "particle" of
soil on a car brought from sterile clean Switzerland would be of course
more hazardous that tons of dirt in the crates of tomatoes and potatoes
being imported from Mexico.
I came across this import dilemma when I thought of importing a (perhaps
a few) used Mercedes(es) from Germany. It seemed to be a good idea
because newer Mercedeses (I've got a really old one) are somewhat
overpriced in the US. It instantly turned into a very bad idea when I
saw the encyclopedia of most bizarre rules that DOT sent me (I didn't
bother contacting other government bodies in charge of protecting me
against foreign cars).
It is apparent that the purpose of this labyrinth of rules, regulations,
ordinances and laws was to make impossible for any car
manufacturer/importer which plans to sell than several hundreds/a few
thousand cars a year to enter into the United States unless those cars
are very expensive and the cost of the separate production facilities
for the US market will be absorbed by the consumer.
If we are talking about larger number of vehicles from probably 4000
cars upward, it would most likely cost the same (or perhaps less) for
any Western European manufacturer to make US models as it would to
manufacture normal ones. However, unless you are importing a Bentley
(that you stole or received as a gift), importing a single average car
is impossible because of the cost, aggravation and time.
Most European and all Western European vehicles meet US safety norms,
are not subjects to any gas "guzzler" taxes (that's an absurd notion for
the nation of Chrysler, GM and Ford), bumper laws, etc. The catalytic
converter itself is $500 retail. Because most of the changes are
trivial, an additional protection layer was wisely introduced. Every
vehicle must be accompanied by the manufacturer-produced (ton of)
paperwork. Of course, if the manufacturer doesn't produce any cars for
North America, then "producing" such paperwork becomes the real Dilemma.
All vehicles must be "brought in compliance" by the DOT authorized
facilities in the United States. There are only four or five such
facilities (may be less now?) which charge of course whatever they
please (thousands of dollars per individual vehicle) and have to perform
such silly things (besides any EPA stuff) as producing DOT stickers that
they slap on the doors of the automobile (remembering prices and fees I
think those stickers must be hand made by Pierre Gardin); affixing some
labels with alphanumeric characters; doing all sorts of strange things
to the car's glass; making sure that the tires have "DOT" mark written
on them and of course there is the VIN (which has to be issued and it
isn't a speedy operation either).
Perhaps it was intended that by the time the process is over, most
individual car importers will go bankrupt and/or commit suicide.
Let's better get the Peugeot back here.
Eugene Soukharnikov
Providence, RI
PS
To see a partial catalogue of horrors, visit the US Customs official
site: http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/imp-exp/car/car.htm#DOT