Importing a car from Japan
Discussion
152Y / £ isn't really favourable, it needs to be up around 180Y unless you are buying something very cheap, the shipping is more expensive now and you need to factor in the 30% tax you pay on landing.
You are taking a very big chance buying unseen, if you do go ahead get a company to deal with it all for you (including inspection), it'll be worth the 130000Y or so they charge.
I'm picking up a S15 Silvia from DCY Europe (near York) next weekend.
I'd recommend using someone to import for you, it can be a bit of a minefield if you're trying it on your own.
It probably works a bit different depending on who you use, but the process for me was:
- Contacted DCY, let them know what kind of car I wanted, what specification, colour etc and sent a small deposit (£200).
- DCY then sent me a pre-order invoice which I filled in, which states exactly what I want and the budget I'm willing to go to.
- After that, DCY checked the Japanese auctions daily for me. If any suitable matches (or even possible matches) came up, basic details of the car would be emailed to me. I'd get 1-2 photos of the exterior, maybe an interior shot and get told of any modifications/accident history. All cars that go through auctions in Japan will have an auction sheet. This shows all details (mileage, spec, extras, mods) and shows a 'map' of the car highlighting if there are any scratches/dents or panel replacements. Cars are rated; 1-5 based on exterior quality (5 being showroom spec) and I believe A-E on interior. Most of the cars I was sent were around the 4-B mark. If a car is marked as R, it's been repaired (usually just a panel replacement, mine for instance is R but only because of a front wing that's been replaced). I believe Rx means it's heavily modified and Rs shows on sheets occasionally (might mean salvage?).
- If you're interested, agents will be sent to look at the car in detail before it actually goes on auction. You'll get detailed feedback of any issues at this stage. If not, you'll go back to searching again. This search period for me took about 2 months or so.
- If you're happy, you'll go to bidding. Because of the time difference, you'll agree with your importer a top limit for your budget. The car will then be auctioned and your Japanese agent working on your behalf will bid upto your maximum and no higher. This can be tough (I got beat on one S15 by £150, was totally gutted).
- Generally you'll find out the next day if you were successful. After this, with DCY I was required to pay half the cost of the car at that point. You'll also get dockside photos at this point showing the car in much more detail. The car will undergo paperwork to deregister it in Japan and if necessary it'll also be tested for radiation and water damage (due to the tsunami/Fukushima reactor problems).
- The car will then be loaded onto a ship. These leave most weeks from Japan. My ship took about 6 weeks to arrive in the UK.
- Once it arrived in the UK, my car was cleared through customs (DCY took care of this paperwork before it arrived). It's then transported to your importer.
- When mine arrived at DCY, it was given a quick service and checked over. More photos were sent and the car undergoes conversions to make it UK legal. This involves fitting a rear fog light, but DCY also converted the speedo from km/h to mp/h and removed the speed limiter (Japanese cars are limited to 112mph by law).
- The car then undergoes a kind of MOT/SVA which checks for roadworthiness. Mine was also given a treatment of underseal at this point. Japan do not use salt much/at all on their roads, so an import will rust like crazy here if you don't underseal it.
- After this, my car was registered with the DVLA and I was notified of the registration plate. This allowed me to sort my car insurance out. It was also taxed.
- Car was then ready to pick up (and final balance paid).
In my situation, I contacted DCY originally towards the middle of January. I'd been successful on a bid by around mid February, the car shipped out at end of March (were some delays in Japan with the paperwork), it arrived here 2 weeks ago and I'm picking it up on 1st June.
Obviously different importers will work slightly differently. So far I'd recommend DCY; the guys have been incredibly helpful and answered any questions/concerns I've had. I know JM-Imports and Torque GT have very good reputations as well.
If you have any other questions, let me know.
I'd recommend using someone to import for you, it can be a bit of a minefield if you're trying it on your own.
It probably works a bit different depending on who you use, but the process for me was:
- Contacted DCY, let them know what kind of car I wanted, what specification, colour etc and sent a small deposit (£200).
- DCY then sent me a pre-order invoice which I filled in, which states exactly what I want and the budget I'm willing to go to.
- After that, DCY checked the Japanese auctions daily for me. If any suitable matches (or even possible matches) came up, basic details of the car would be emailed to me. I'd get 1-2 photos of the exterior, maybe an interior shot and get told of any modifications/accident history. All cars that go through auctions in Japan will have an auction sheet. This shows all details (mileage, spec, extras, mods) and shows a 'map' of the car highlighting if there are any scratches/dents or panel replacements. Cars are rated; 1-5 based on exterior quality (5 being showroom spec) and I believe A-E on interior. Most of the cars I was sent were around the 4-B mark. If a car is marked as R, it's been repaired (usually just a panel replacement, mine for instance is R but only because of a front wing that's been replaced). I believe Rx means it's heavily modified and Rs shows on sheets occasionally (might mean salvage?).
- If you're interested, agents will be sent to look at the car in detail before it actually goes on auction. You'll get detailed feedback of any issues at this stage. If not, you'll go back to searching again. This search period for me took about 2 months or so.
- If you're happy, you'll go to bidding. Because of the time difference, you'll agree with your importer a top limit for your budget. The car will then be auctioned and your Japanese agent working on your behalf will bid upto your maximum and no higher. This can be tough (I got beat on one S15 by £150, was totally gutted).
- Generally you'll find out the next day if you were successful. After this, with DCY I was required to pay half the cost of the car at that point. You'll also get dockside photos at this point showing the car in much more detail. The car will undergo paperwork to deregister it in Japan and if necessary it'll also be tested for radiation and water damage (due to the tsunami/Fukushima reactor problems).
- The car will then be loaded onto a ship. These leave most weeks from Japan. My ship took about 6 weeks to arrive in the UK.
- Once it arrived in the UK, my car was cleared through customs (DCY took care of this paperwork before it arrived). It's then transported to your importer.
- When mine arrived at DCY, it was given a quick service and checked over. More photos were sent and the car undergoes conversions to make it UK legal. This involves fitting a rear fog light, but DCY also converted the speedo from km/h to mp/h and removed the speed limiter (Japanese cars are limited to 112mph by law).
- The car then undergoes a kind of MOT/SVA which checks for roadworthiness. Mine was also given a treatment of underseal at this point. Japan do not use salt much/at all on their roads, so an import will rust like crazy here if you don't underseal it.
- After this, my car was registered with the DVLA and I was notified of the registration plate. This allowed me to sort my car insurance out. It was also taxed.
- Car was then ready to pick up (and final balance paid).
In my situation, I contacted DCY originally towards the middle of January. I'd been successful on a bid by around mid February, the car shipped out at end of March (were some delays in Japan with the paperwork), it arrived here 2 weeks ago and I'm picking it up on 1st June.
Obviously different importers will work slightly differently. So far I'd recommend DCY; the guys have been incredibly helpful and answered any questions/concerns I've had. I know JM-Imports and Torque GT have very good reputations as well.
If you have any other questions, let me know.
Thanks Neith very informative, the vehicle I'm looking to buy is at a car dealer and has been rated by Goo-net as 4 star which I understand is quite good. I have over 20 high res photo's of the car and it looks to be good with a proper service record which generally means a very good record of maintenance.
I am Looking to buy an Isuzu Vehi-Cross I had one many years ago and loved it wierd looks and it went like a rocket. Unfortunately I had very large tax bill one year and very reluctantly had to sell it to help towards my big tax bill.
I intend to turn it into an urban assault type thermed vehicle if I can find the pictures of the paint job I intend to put on it I'll post it up.
<a href="http://thumbsnap.com/e3Bsr6ro" title="Image Hosted by ThumbSnap"><img src="http://thumbsnap.com/sc/e3Bsr6ro.jpg" alt="Free Photo Sharing by ThumbSnap" /></a>
I am Looking to buy an Isuzu Vehi-Cross I had one many years ago and loved it wierd looks and it went like a rocket. Unfortunately I had very large tax bill one year and very reluctantly had to sell it to help towards my big tax bill.
I intend to turn it into an urban assault type thermed vehicle if I can find the pictures of the paint job I intend to put on it I'll post it up.
<a href="http://thumbsnap.com/e3Bsr6ro" title="Image Hosted by ThumbSnap"><img src="http://thumbsnap.com/sc/e3Bsr6ro.jpg" alt="Free Photo Sharing by ThumbSnap" /></a>
Edited by BIRMA on Tuesday 28th May 09:08
Edited by BIRMA on Tuesday 28th May 09:09
Edited by BIRMA on Tuesday 28th May 10:52
D_G said:
I imported a few of these a while back, you won't need IVA as it is over ten years old, just the speedometer, foglight system and an MOT.
Thanks for that, not done this before so I'm learning as I go along. I understand there are a few companies set up in Southampton docks who do this so will try and contact them today. I'd be a bit careful who you get to do the work, the quality can vary, get some recommendations first. If you have a look at some imports they have some terrible foglight installs for example.
I would get a full quote for the Japan side, speak to a shipping agent (I can PM details of a good one) and they can quote you for the UK stuff to the port. Then the UK compliance will depend on the MOT and the compliance items plus FRF and the road tax etc.
Then add £500 contingency and that'll be about right.
I personally wouldn't buy anything via goo-net. I had a quick look at it last night and noticed a couple of cars bought by dealers via the usual auctions. i.e. there was a white R32 GT-R up for sale at a dealer for around 1.6M Yen but had been sold at a USS auction for around 1M Yen a few weeks earlier.
My personal opinion is that you should buy from an export firm that is based out in Japan who has access to the auctions and will translate the sheets for you - that way you will get the full facts about what you're buying. I've seen too many sharp practices to ever trust an additional middle man.
My personal opinion is that you should buy from an export firm that is based out in Japan who has access to the auctions and will translate the sheets for you - that way you will get the full facts about what you're buying. I've seen too many sharp practices to ever trust an additional middle man.
Neith said:
I'm picking up a S15 Silvia from DCY Europe (near York) next weekend.
I'd recommend using someone to import for you, it can be a bit of a minefield if you're trying it on your own.
It probably works a bit different depending on who you use, but the process for me was:
- Contacted DCY, let them know what kind of car I wanted, what specification, colour etc and sent a small deposit (£200).
What's the overall cost of importing a car if you don't mind me asking? Their website does look quite good, nice RX7 on there.I'd recommend using someone to import for you, it can be a bit of a minefield if you're trying it on your own.
It probably works a bit different depending on who you use, but the process for me was:
- Contacted DCY, let them know what kind of car I wanted, what specification, colour etc and sent a small deposit (£200).
ADM06 said:
What's the overall cost of importing a car if you don't mind me asking? Their website does look quite good, nice RX7 on there.
If it's the white RX7, I'm sure that's already in their showroom. Unfortunately I didn't see it when I picked my S15 up but I'm sure it's already in the UK. I was actually considering that car before deciding on a Silvia, looks really smart. Also considered the white R33 they have but couldn't get competitive insurance for it.For me, I paid just over £11k for my S15. Exchange rates were quite bad when I won the auction (around 140yen/£) and that price included the transport/shipping, all documentation etc. Not sure on the specific costs for each part of the import process as DCY just quote an 'on the road' cost. If it seems expensive it's because S15s are stupid money at the minute, ~£9-10k+ for a decent Spec-R. My S15 is bone stock and low mileage though, so bit of a higher outlay on it.
It is possible to get a really good deal on some very clean cars but just not as cheap as it used to be years ago because of the unfavourable exchange rates. Would recommend DCY though; car seems very well looked after so far and kept me updated all the way.
Sorry it's a bit vague but I didn't get an itemised list of costs, everything was just rolled into an on-the-road price.
Although not totally the same, www.jdmauctionwatch.com is going to be the most useful for you in terms of viewing cars that you can then ship to the UK. As per other posts, JM Imports and Torque GT are great importers to use if you want to take some of the legwork out yourself.
I got bitten using a company called Mashamoto.
I used to import a few going on their website after leaving a £600 deposit I could have any cars inspected before they went through auction.
Bought a few but after paying for a Subaru B4 in full they went bust and I lost all my money.
DCY are about 5 miles from my house. the cars are massively overpriced and most stock isnt good quality either.
That said if your specifying a grade of car and seeing pictures to approve of the car its different.
Be interested to know how much they charge for that service. The bloke who runs it is a nice fella.
I used to import a few going on their website after leaving a £600 deposit I could have any cars inspected before they went through auction.
Bought a few but after paying for a Subaru B4 in full they went bust and I lost all my money.
DCY are about 5 miles from my house. the cars are massively overpriced and most stock isnt good quality either.
That said if your specifying a grade of car and seeing pictures to approve of the car its different.
Be interested to know how much they charge for that service. The bloke who runs it is a nice fella.
I have a desperate urge to own a Toyota Century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Century
Importing one is the only way to do it, but even if I did, I assume that the local Toyota main dealer will not want to know
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Century
Importing one is the only way to do it, but even if I did, I assume that the local Toyota main dealer will not want to know
I was just about to start a thread to ask for advice om importing a car from Japan.
My Galant VR4 is suffering from rust issues and I can either spend a few grand on getting it just right or import a rust free car that is the spec I want and swap the mods over from mine. That way I can either sell or part out the spare car to recoup some of the costs.
Has anyone used any of the following websites?
http://www.tradecarview.com
http://www.japan-partner.com
http://www.goo-net-exchange.com
My Galant VR4 is suffering from rust issues and I can either spend a few grand on getting it just right or import a rust free car that is the spec I want and swap the mods over from mine. That way I can either sell or part out the spare car to recoup some of the costs.
Has anyone used any of the following websites?
http://www.tradecarview.com
http://www.japan-partner.com
http://www.goo-net-exchange.com
Gassing Station | Japanese Chat | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff