My son has my TCH (2007 built in Japan) while at college in Toronto Canada. He recently infomed me that he is required to get a Canadian drivers license and to get Canadian (Ontario) plates (he will there for 1-2 years). Also, he mention that some modification may need to be made to the TCH to meet Canadian specifications . He is looking into this, but I was hoping someone in the forum would know more.

Any recommendations for Toyota dealerships near Waterloo / Kitchener? Thanks!

 

For that length of stay, yes an Ontario license is necessary. I believe if the driver has 2 yrs of driving experience from previous jurisdiction, no testing is required, just a simple application.

As for the car, I think the main requirement to meet Canadian standards is lighting, most commonly that Daytime Running Lights cannot be turned off. However, I'm not sure you actually need to or would really want to transfer the registration. Transferring a US car to Canadian registration means paying import duties and sales taxes. If the car is registered in your name, as long as the vehicle registration is kept current and your son is properly insured to drive the car in Canada, I'm not sure there is anything illegal about him "borrowing your car" while at school. It might be different if the car was in his own name. Just my opinion though...

 

Thanks for the information. My US insurance company gave me an insurance card that indicates that the car is covered when in Canada and I had called them before he left and they did not have any issues with this. What you said makes sense. Thanks for the information. Do you know if Canada will recipricate for a New York State drivers license?

 

I would recommend verifying this info. There are exceptions for DLs and car registrations for students from other jurisdictions but I don't know what the exact rules are for Ontario.

 

Please double check this. My understanding is that a car is covered in North America while visiting but if I were to use it PRIMARILY outside my province then it would have to registered and insured in that province.

A quick way to confirm this would be to request your insurance company to explicitly allow (by way of an endorsement) the Primary use of the vehicle in ON, Canada.