"Import" a vehicle from US to Canada

[kaoni]

My scenario:
- looking to purchase a car this christmas (new or 1-2 yr old)
- currently a student in Canada. I will most likely go to a US school to pursue an advanced degree in 07'. Therefore the vehicle will most likely be sold in US later on.
- daddy works in the states under Canadian citizenship (I'm not sure if this will play a role here)

Question:
Because of the low US/CAN exchange rate, purchasing a vehicle in US due to this reason alone saves a fair amount of money. Also since I will probably be taking the car back to US and ultimately sell it there, I think it would be advantagous to keep everything in US spec. The negative side about this is that if I purchase the vehicle in US and import it to CAN then import it back to US, I need to have the vehicle imported cross the border twice, which is probably double amount of work and double amount of fees.

Q: Since the vehicle will "only" leave US for less than 2yrs, I wonder if there is a way to get around the whole importing method and have it under some kind of temperarily status in Canada?

If what I asked above is not possible, what is the recommanded approach to purchase a vehicle under my situation? (is it still a good idea to purchase the vehicle in US even if I have to have it crossing the border twice)

I hope someone with experience and expertise in importing vehicles can help me out here. Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks in advance

[fredjacksonsan]

No experience myself, but Google is your friend. I did a quick search and there are several sites that deal with this exact issue.

Basically what I found is that your vehicle should be paid off before crossing for more than a few days (tourism), and that the customs for each country might get involved. I didn't see anything (this was NOT in depth) about lengthy, but non-permanent stays.