My wife and I are taking our grandson on vacation next month. We are flying into Seattle and then planning on renting a car and driving up to Vancouver BC for a few days. I’m assuming this kind of crossing-the-border thing happens a lot and rental car companies are OK with it. But I don’t want any unexpected surprises either at the rental counter or at the border. So I thought I’d check in with my fellow Dopers and see if there is anything I should be aware of or watchful for.
I can’t help with the answer but I bet this depends on which car rental company you’re using?
Definitely check with the location where you willl be renting the car - I know I was once told about an extra fee for crossing the border, although I don’t recall if it was Canada or Mexico. And check withthe actual location, not corporate because franchisees can have different policies.
Most if not all rental companies will not let you take a car to Mexico. Hard enough to drive your own car across the boarder into Mexico, but it can be done.
I’ve driven through Canada from Detroit to Niagara Falls, but that was 20 years ago.
How old is grandson? If a minor, there are also issues w taking him out of and back into the country if you’re not the legal parent or guardian.
Remember that moose and bear have right of way. Speed limits in residential igloo zones of 40km/h apply.
On a serious note, make sure that you tell the rental company when you get the car. They should provide you with a non-resident insurance card required to prove sufficient liability insurance.
Something tells me you should check with your insurance agent; CYA!
Wow, now that is something I hadn’t even thought about. (He’s 11.) My wife just did a quick search and it sounds like we need a notarized document signed by both parents stating our relationship and that we are allowed to make medical decisions if needed. Copies of birth certificate and medical cards are a bonus.
I remember, back when daily comics ran in newspapers (printed with ink on paper) reading a comic about this Canadian family. There’s kind of an over-arching plot about their trip to the US. Anyway, the first panel, a US border agent asks the driver (the dad) if the kids in the car are his. Second panel, he says, “Do you think we’d have driven them this far if they weren’t ours?” with a kind of smirk. Third panel: the hood is up, the trunk is up, all four doors are open, and there’s an agent with a flashlight looking in every orifice of the car.
Likely For Better or For Worse
Definitely check with the location regarding their policies. Last time I rented a car (three weeks ago) I was instructed that I could not take the car out of the country. Now, this was Austin, TX, which of course is much closer to Mexico than to Canada, and it’s possible that they meant “You can’t take it to Mexico” even though they said “…out of the country.” Anyway, check (I know you will); the stakes are too high to get there and discover that you can’t.
As noted by the comic cited above, the issue isn’t whether you’re empowered to make medical decisions for problems that might occur in Canada.
It’s that you need to be able to prove to the US & Canadian border agents that you’re not smuggling a child out of / into the other country. And that problem will happen; twice. Going and coming back. They will ask, and you’ll need something good enough to show you’re in lawful possession of that kid.
Exactly!
I would error on having more proof than necessary rather than too little.
customs agents have a lot more power to detain than regular cops (says the guy who has heard too many horror stories over the years).
I would definitely have the birth certificate and copies of his parents’ passports and any way of showing your relationship to them.
We live in Ohio, and vacation each year in Ontario for a week. I always rent a van from Budget here in Ohio. I have never had a problem at the border crossings, and have never had a problem while driving in Canada. On the other hand, I have never informed Budget that I am driving to Canada. Should I be doing that?
Oh, and whenever I rent a car (regardless of where I am taking it), I always purchase full, bumper-to-bumper insurance from the car rental company. I hate purchasing it because it’s so expensive, but we do not carry comprehensive insurance on any of our vehicles (only liability), so my insurance company will not cover damage to a rental.
I rented a car from Hertz at Buffalo airport and was told I could not take it out of the country. Since that made my trip pointless (our hotel was in Niagara Falls ON, and we were headed to Toronto after that) we ended up using another rental car company. I believe it was Enterprise, but this was almost twenty years ago.
Decent bet you had no actual insurance while in Canada. Decent bet Budget could have considered the car stolen.
Hell yes you have to disclose where you’re taking it.
I have rented cars from mainstream vendors in the middle of the USA where they asked where I was going. Which was easy for me: I had no intention of leaving the county, much less the state or country.
And I asked in turn why they wanted to know. The answer was “You can only take the car within this state and the one state right nearby this metro area. None of the other 46 states.”
It pays you to ask. Or at least it can cost you dearly if you do not, thereby violate the rental or insurance terms, and you get unlucky.
It’s been at least a decade, probably longer, but I saw a story on Inside Edition or a similar TV magazine about a guy who was battling a rental car company. He rented it at the Memphis airport, and the fine print said he wasn’t to take it out of state. A few hours later, he misses his exit, winds up on the other other side of the Mississippi state line, and the GPS alerts the company that he’s taken the vehicle out of state. Now a Black man is reported to be driving stolen car. In Mississippi. You can imagine how this turned out for him.
Oh, and also, they tried to fine him several hundred, if not several thousand dollars.
Here’s another issue which you may encounter: the border police might want to question the child , alone , without you.
I know of only one case, (20 years ago). A friend (an unmarried woman) travelling with her 10 year old niece at the airport for an international flight out of the US.
She didn’t bring enough documentation from the girl’s parents. The border control took the girl aside in a private room and talked to her, to verify that she was travelling voluntarily, felt safe and happy with her aunt, etc.
The girl cried at first, but then calmed down.
It seems unlikely to happen, but you might want to be prepared. Talk with your grandson before you reach the border crossing. Explain to him that the nice policeman might want to talk to him alone, so don’t be scared.
And be sure to check if everyone’s health insurance is valid in Canada
Or consider getting travel insurance that includes medical coverage.