Posted on September 16, 2010 by Fiona Hilliard

Who knew it was so hard to drive a US rental car into Canada?

Guess what? Right now it is ILLEGAL.

Really?

Yep. Under current regulations, Canadian residents entering Canada in non-Canadian vehicles (such as rented vehicles registered in the US) do not meet the conditions for the temporary importation of non-Canadian vehicles into Canada.

But it works both ways, right?

Well, no, actually it doesn’t.  The situation is made all the more confusing by the fact that no such law exists for Americans driving Canadian-plated rental cars into the US.  According to a spokesperson for the US Customs and Border protection, a driver would only be denied access to the US border if proper documentation such as a rental agreement is not presented.

What about US/Canada Road Trips?

At the moment if you wanted to make a road trip from the US to Canada, you would have to rent a car in the US and drop it off as close to the Canadian border as possible.  You would then need to pick-up another car on the Canadian side and start the second leg of your journey in that car.

Most car rental agents will state this policy clearly when you make a one-way booking/cross-border booking.

Things may be about to change however…

This week, Canadian officials are working to amend a regulation that governs that Canadians cannot drive a US rental car into Canada.

Let’s just hope the new legislation gets the go-ahead.  It would make road trips like this a whole lot easier and more enjoyable.
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