Sad news for my importing dreams...

"RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
10/31/2019 at 06:34 • Filed to: Piaggio Ape

Preface: Oppo is still going, so I’m not going to get too crazy writing about how it’s going down just yet . We don’t know that FOR SURE yet if G/O is going to kill it , and, as we have several backup options on the board now, it’s “business as usual” for my posting for now. :)

As you all know, I love the FIAT 126p and want to import one. That is still on the cards and I still have funds saved up for it when my living / storage situation changes enough to allow it. I ALSO, have been on a kick of wanting to import a Piaggio Ape TM for the last 1-2 years or so.

Awhile back, I emailed the Nova Scotia DOT to ask for certain which license I would need to drive one here as ANY three-wheeled vehicle is supposedly considered a motorcycle here. As the Ape TM is available with car-style controls (the usual steering wheel, gas, brake, clutch, floor-mounted manual shift, etc), and it has full street-legal modcons (full lighting, being road legal pretty much globally, etc) I thought I would double-check...

Just received a reply back yesterday, finally...APPARENTLY they are unregisterable for the road here, which kills me dream of importing one! :( I COULD import one, but I wouldn’t be able to use it except offroad, and there’s no fun in that. There were a small number of Apes imported and sold here in Canada back in the...late 70s or 80s? Not sure when, but back then somewhere? They ARE legal here because they were grandfathered in under that situation - I’ve connected somebody that owns an Ape 50 in Halifax and his is road-legal as it was grandfathered in through that.

Apparently the only ‘non-single-track’ (as they call it) vehicle that can be registered here for road use is the Can-Am Spyder and it’s siblings. Apparently the Polaris Slingshot is not legal here....well....not legal for SALE here. It’s legal in every other province and can be driven here if purchased and registered in another province (like if somebody owns one and visits with it), but that’s it.

Nova Scotia is not like many places in the US where you can buy a car and register it in another state and keep using it where you are despite the registration being out of state. I think most provinces are like this. If you own a vehicle you only have so long before you HAVE to put plates for the province of your residence on it...because that is where you live. Makes sense.

SOOO....long story short, I won’t be able to get an Ape TM and this makes me many sads...I mean, look at the industrious little thing!

DISCUSSION (24)

pip bip - choose Corrour > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
10/31/2019 at 06:42

launch a petition so they change their minds, speak to your local politicians about the issue

facw > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
10/31/2019 at 06:43

Nova Scotia is not like many places in the US where you can buy a car and register it in another state and keep using it where you are despite the registration being out of state

To be clear, this normally is not legal in the US either. It’s not always well enforced, but every state I’ve lived in requires vehicles to be registered in the state within 30 days or so of obtaining residency. But of cour se it’s hard for a police officer to know how long someone has lived somewhere (and multiple-residency makes things harder). I suspect license plate readers will change this in the not so distant future, making evasion harder.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > facw
10/31/2019 at 06:47

Ah, was unaware of this. I had just heard people doing it so many times I assumed it was legal to do. That’s basically how it is here. I think they have one or two months to get a ‘local’ plate when you move to a new province here...? So similar to there then.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > pip bip - choose Corrour
10/31/2019 at 06:48

I should, but they have far more useless and mundane other things they think they need to worry about then caring about my importing of a little unstable Italian trucklet. :/

pip bip - choose Corrour > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
10/31/2019 at 06:51

they’ve lined their pockets with your taxes, time to ask them to help you for a change

bhtooefr > facw
10/31/2019 at 07:00

The other way it’s done in the US is that a business can own the car, and that business can be in any state. That business can then rent the car to the owner of the business who lives in another state (which gives the business revenue).

Some states are getting wise to this, as it’s usually done to cheat tax and/or emissions laws, and are requiring that businesses have their vehicles registered there if they’re used there most of the time.

Svend > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
10/31/2019 at 07:22

Bloody hell, that’s shite.

Here, as long as it applies to road regulations for it’s type, you can ride/drive it and register it anywhere in the U.K.

Hell there is one sat at Carlisle train station right now used to make coffee that the owner drives everyday from Blackburn, Lancashire (94 miles away) because he likes our train station.

Kinja'd!!!

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Svend
10/31/2019 at 07:26

Yup, the fellow I’ve connected with who has one here that was grandfathered in uses his for a little coffee wagon along the Halifax waterfront :/

I guess one plus though is, if it’s 4-wheeled or 2-wheeled pretty much ANYTHING can be imported and registered as long as it was road legal elsewhere and is older than 15 years...

Svend > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
10/31/2019 at 07:46

I don’t think we in the U.K. appreciate just how good we have it when it comes to cars.

We don’t have the same restrictions as Canada, America, Australia, etc... the awkward way of France, Germany, etc... for repaired cars and emissions, etc...

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Svend
10/31/2019 at 07:47

Yeah, your insurance costs are insane, but otherwise you are a car nirvana! Cars are ridiculously cheap there!

Svend > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
10/31/2019 at 07:52

Even then, car insurance can be brought down (using a black box for a few weeks, it’ll assess your driving and say where you can improve, improve, hand the box back and often the insurance goes down) (upgrade your security, etc...) or linked with another car on a multicar package, etc...

facw > Svend
10/31/2019 at 07:59

You do have the MOT. Nothing David Tracy drives would be allowed on British roads (I think this is generally a good thing).

SiennaMan > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
10/31/2019 at 08:04

I think part of it is some states/locales care more than others for taxing reasons. For instance, last I checked Ohio registration is less than $50/year. Police in Ohio don’t get bent out of shape about out of state plates. By contrast, when I registered a car wort h less than 10k in Indiana in 2007, the registration and tax was at least $130, and some of that money I think goes to local governments. The constabulary there allegedly do look for out of state plates..

Svend > facw
10/31/2019 at 08:08

Ye’, the MOT is strict, some may say overly so but I’m thankful it’s there.

I find it odd that there are places that don’t have yearly inspections or have them but are so basic it’s not even worth calling it an inspection.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Svend
10/31/2019 at 08:21

We can do similar things here as well - my car is on a family plan (as I still live at home at the moment), so it’s lower from that. I could also go the black box route as well to lower it a bit. I also know if your car didn’t come with one and you install an aftermarket security device of some sort, they’ll give you a bit of a discount.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > facw
10/31/2019 at 08:22

We have biennial vehicle inspections here in Nova Scotia. Probably not as strict as in the UK, but I think a lot of David’s vehicles wouldn’t be legal here on that account either. That being said, some of the more rural ‘mom-and-pop’ mechanics are a lot more lenient on what they allow through...

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
10/31/2019 at 08:51

Noooooo

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
10/31/2019 at 09:37

Yup, I was quite put out on hearing that news, but I can at least still import a 126!

This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja: > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
10/31/2019 at 10:13

If you added pedals and electrified it, it would be considered a bicycle. :)

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
10/31/2019 at 10:32

Actually, if I had an Ape 50 and added pedals it might classify as a bike if it was limited to less than 35kph here. I THINK the Ape 50 engine is actually like...49cc, so if it had pedals as a propulsion option and the top speed was limited, it would be considered a moped and wou ldn’t even require a license to drive :P

Dogsatemypants > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
10/31/2019 at 13:31

Get a post o ffice box i n another province. One that doesn't have an address that screams out "I am a po box" and reg8ster it there.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Dogsatemypants
10/31/2019 at 13:55

Not sure if that would be accepted.

BlurpleToyotaDishwasher > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
10/31/2019 at 19:12

Have you considered a Daihatsu Midget II instead? It’s kind of similar, and has four wheels so would probably be easier to register .

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > BlurpleToyotaDishwasher
10/31/2019 at 19:15

Oh yes, I could easily import and register a Midget II. Quite like them as well, but the Ape was just even more out in left-field, plus I like Italian stuff. :P

That being said, I one saw a Midget II pickup painted up in a faux desert army vehicle-type camouflage and it looked VERY cool....maybe I should do that!