Chris_Erica

As part of our holiday to the Rockies at the beginning of October we are travelling from Banff to Nelson. Part of our route will take us via Creston. Is it possible to do a detour here, taking Route 95 over the border with the US into Idaho, via Eastbrook, and entering Canada again via Porthill? It looks possible on the map, but obviously things aren’t always as clear as they look on a map! We don’t have any plans to do anything or stay there, just fancied the idea of popping over the border as I’ve never been to the USA.

I suppose what we need to know, if anyone can help us, is:
- How long this would take
- Coming from the UK, whether there are any restrictions on us entering the US in this way e.g. issues with our passports or (Canadian) hire car
- We have heard that you need to have US currency on you to go over the border – is this true and if so is there a minimum amount we need to take?

If there are any official websites that could guide us on this, it would be very helpful.
Thanks in advance for any words of advice.

bob_brown

Your rental car may present a problem without the right papers.

Without them, there may be a long harangue with the TSA guys at the US border because of your rental car.

Although I am an American citizen, I have twice experienced a thorough grilling at the Montana border because I was an American attempting to drive a a Canadian rental vehicle into Montana.

The fact that I had my rental contract and my passport made no difference.

The questions were still on the order of "What is an American doing driving a Canadian car?" After responding it was a rental from Hertz at the Calgary airport, the next question was "Why did you fly to Calgary?" I ended up showing not only my passport and rental contract but also my airline tickets for the return flight.

Therefore, based on my experience, I strongly suggest you have in writing a statement from the renting agency that you do indeed have permission to drive the car out of the country.

Be aware also that some Canadian rental car companies change the rate structure if you intend to take the car out of the country, or even outside of the Province of Alberta (or British Columbia).

I know that Enterprise Car Rental in Calgary restricts travel out of Alberta without special riders in the contract giving that permission. The rate structure also changes from unlimted kilometers to x number of kilometers per rental day.

Assuming you could cross the border, I do not know how the company would know you went out of the country unless you were in an accident. If you were in the US, and hence out of bounds, you might be in the situation that you had no insurance at all to cover the liability you might incur should you be at fault.

To be on the safe, less hassle side of the scenario, I suggest having a specific notation in your rental contract that gives you permission to enter the USA with the vehicle.

I doubt if re-entering Canada will be a problem at all. I have never had any trouble with a US into Canada crossing except once when each of us had to eat several plums or else forfeit them to a trash barrel.

The only time I have ever known the Canadian border officials to search a car was when a guy driving a psychedelic painted VW van gave smart answers to the normal questions about alcohol, tobacco, and firearms.

I was behind him in line and could hear some of his wise cracks. They were to the effect that he had enough hootch in his van to bet all the Indians drunk and enough boom boom to blow up that end of Alberta.

The border official told him to pull over and wait. I was next in line, and after a few questions, which I answered ultra politely, I went on my way. As I left the area, several officers had assembled, and they were rapidly making the insides of the van the outsides.
Here is hoping your brief foray into the US of A will be more serene than my last two attempts. Those TSA guys can be surly at best.

NorthwestMale

With all due respect, the situation of someone coming from the UK, to Canada, and wanting to drive into the U.S. with a Canadian rental car is VASTLY different from what is described.

Consider the idea of someone from Mexico coming to the U.S. and then attempting to drive a rented U.S. car back over the border. (downright laughable, right???)

Well that is the concern when citizens of EITHER side of the U.S.-CAN. border drive the other's rented vehicles into their own country.

As our friend is from the UK, he/she does not cause this concern to border guards and customs agents.

Not to imply that there won't be considerable interest in this brief trip through the USA, but if documentation is all in order, they should not be fearful of the attempt based on rental car origin.

Hope this makes sense to all.

Judy_in_Calgary

>>>>>>How long this would take<<<<<<

If you travelled through Canadian territory all the way, it would take you 6.5 hours. If you took the detour through Idaho, it would add maybe half an hour to the driving time. If all your papers are in order, I don't expect the border crossings will add a great deal of time.

>>>>>>Coming from the UK, whether there are any restrictions on us entering the US in this way e.g. issues with our passports<<<<<<

Do a Google search for VISA WAIVER PROGRAM. That will give you a link to the relevant page of the U.S. State Department's website.

>>>>>>or (Canadian) hire car<<<<<<

As Bob has stated, you need a written notation on your car rental agreement to the effect that you have the car rental company's authorization to take their vehicle into the USA.

>>>>>>We have heard that you need to have US currency on you to go over the border – is this true and if so is there a minimum amount we need to take?<<<<<<

Australian friends of ours were turned away from the US border at the Chief Mountain crossing near Waterton Lakes National Park because they did not have American cash on them. There was no ATM from which they could withdraw cash at the border. They had to drive back to Waterton, find a bank, wait until the bank re-opened after its lunch break, and exchange some Canadian cash for American cash. I don't know how much cash American authorities would consider to be enough.

bob_brown

I am afraid it does not make sense at all. Quite the contrary. A UK citizen driving a Canadian car into the US does not really change the algorithm.

The situation is the same: A non Canadian is at the wheel of a Canadian car. Should it matter whether it be a citizen of the US, UK, Germany or China?

A German is as much of a foreigner in Canada as an American. So why should he or she get preferential treatment.
S/He could be working for a car theft ring as well an anyone else.

If a Mexican national tried to enter Mexico from Texas with a US rental car, do you really think the Mexican authorities would stop the vehicle and deny entry?

I would be surprised if they did, espicially if the driver of the vehicle displayed the appropriate proof of valid Mexican insurance.

Afterall the insurance regulations between the US and Canada are far different than the regulations for vehicles traveling from the US into Mexico.

My liability insurance is good inside Canada. It is NOT valid at all inside Mexico.

I do not see where the two situations are comparable at all.

Furthermore, who is to say that if I am driving an American vehicle that I did not steal it from an American already in Canada? Rental contracts can be forged rather easily if the guy at the gate wants to check contracts.

I doubt very much if there would have been any questions at all had I been driving an American registered car whether stolen or not.

A car thief could even bring his own US tags with him when he went to Canada.
Or what is to stop a Canadian from stealing a Canadian car, driving it to the US and delivering it to a chop shop?

Heather49

Your detour would take you perhaps 15 minutes to half an hour longer than Highway 3 - depending on how long it takes to get over the border.

I've never been asked if I've had US currency while crossing the border.

The border staff at the Porthill entrance are accustomed to non Canadians going across the border just to have crossed the border. I imagine the Kingsgate staff are too and won't find your detour odd.

There's a group promoting part of that route as the Selkirk Loop. Since the loop crosses the border, they might have dealt with the legalities of rental cars and the border.

Chris_Erica

Thanks everyone for your replies. Seems to have caused quite some debate!
And thanks Judy of Calgary, we shall check out the Visa Waiver Programme.

Particularly liked the story about the psychedelic VW van driver!

NorthwestMale

Bob, you don't get it.

A U.S. border guard would observe a citizen and resident of the UK driving a rental car into the USA, and reason, correctly, that said resident/citizen is most probably going to end his vacation and go back home to the UK in due time. (with any financial liability for the vehicle hanging over his head)

The same US border guard would have plenty of cause to wonder why a citizen of the USA might want to go to Canada, obtain a vehicle, and then drive it back into the USA. ("whyyyyyy couldn't this person have rented a car IN his home country?", is the typical question that comes to mind, and sensibly so)

Surely you've read about the many USA-owned cars that are stolen in the USA and driven to Mexico and never seen again? Well the same rules that require major scrutiny of a resident of Mexico who might want to rent a car in the USA near southern border areas, also apply in the north. (and Canada, for having no [other] northern land neighbor, has only reciprocity guiding their policies)

If they didn't, then the laws and policing would be a throwback to a time where people just looked at the skin color of one another and made assumptions based on that alone.

""I doubt very much if there would have been any questions at all had I been driving an American registered car whether stolen or not.""

Thaaaaat's the point, Bob. Perhaps you do get it after all.

Chris_Erica

Hello all - just thought we'd let you know about our visit over the border. Despite everything being in order (passports, vehicle rental papers) we found it a bit of an ordeal, and not really worth doing! It was just supposed to be a little jaunt to say 'we've been', but we had to go inside for fingerprints, photos, a few probing questions and to pay $12US for the privilege. The US border guards were unwelcoming, verging on the unpleasant, and had we not been unsure of their reaction, we would have changed our minds after a few minutes and turned back! No problems on return to Canada 20 minutes later. All in all an awful lot of fuss just to get a different stamp in our passports!

icithecat

Glad you made out ok and without cavity searching.

I think a couple of posters should now be licking egg off their faces.

NorthwestMale

icithecat,

what are you suggesting?

That you didn't expect border guards to be suspicious of people who had as their purpose of coming to the U.S. stated as

"a little jaunt"

and "20 minutes" as the response to "how long will you be in the U.S.?"

OF COURSE these are the sorts of answers which are going to raise the most scrutiny. Might as well be stating that "we have no purpose for visiting the U.S.".

The point of what this discussion became, is the difference between an American or Canadian crossing the (U.S./CANADA) border with a vehicle from his/her OWN country, vs. doing same with a vehicle from the opposite country.

When will people begin to understand that those border guards are there for the reason of protecting our country?

Just because those on the Canadian end of the U.S. aren't roaming the forests and farmlands with UZI's, shooting first and asking questions later, doesn't mean the purpose isn't the same.

Of course somebody without a true "reason" to go to the U.S. is going to be hassled on a whimsical run to the border station, BUT NOT BECAUSE OF ANY CANADIAN RENTAL CAR THEY MIGHT BE DRIVING.

xyz123

I understand the photo and fingerprinting part (part of the requirements of a paranoid government after the 9/11 attacks) and while I disagree on their usefulness and whatever they are done on every foreigner entering the USA (probably the only country in the world which does this)...

I understand filling out the green visa waiver form...that is required of citizens of all countries on the list of visa waiver countries who enter the USA without a visa...

I don't understand the $12...nothing in the regs say you have to pay $12 to the best of my knowledge.

The whole thing really is paranoia and distrust of our Canadian friends...while I can understand some of the stuff for visitors from overseas, we used to brag about the US Canadian border being the longest undefended border in the world...now if you live in Southern Ontario and want to go to a Buffalo Sabres game come next June, it will be one big hassle withpassports and all that simply to go from Ft. Erie to Buffalo...

It's sad that the USA has come to this and in an era (see the Schengen agreement) where countries are dropping the hassling of people crossing international borders because they trust the other guys, the USA has found it necessary to make visitors most unwelcome.

At least that's one person's opinion of all this.

Heather49

It's standard for non Canadians to pay $6 each to get a visa at the border - it has been for several years now. As I recall, a Japanese guest of mine got charged even prior to 9/11.