Re: Importing a car advice

paddy111199

According to my rough calc:

Cost price in Japan €4,000
VRT @ 22.5% of Irish retail price €2,205
VAT at 21% (is this 21% of costs?) €840
Duty at 10% (is this 10% of costs?) €400
Transport costs (is this realistic) €1,000

Total €8,445

Although I would like to drive before I buy, a car costing €4,000 in Japan would be a car under 20,000 km and there are no such cars that I can see for that in Ireland.

Has anyone imported any cars and what were the costs?, company they used? and would they recommend it??

Thanks all!

PaulK_CCI

I only import from EU union, so much easier and cheaper, and if stuff goes wrong, you'd don't fly out to Japan that easy ...

Your calculation is pretty much on the mark.

2 remarks:
The 21% VAT is calculated on the declared Invoice Value PLUS the Transport and handling costs!!!
The declared value is where sometimes a small saving can be made, if in agreement with the vendor, the declared value of the vehicle is "artificially" kept as low as possible . However, be careful as a lower value might have consequences if there is damage done to the car in transit, or because of some other reason. Also, the Customs and Excise staff are not st*pid... A car that is normally selling for 10 times as much as what it is declared for, will raise some serious eyebrows and you might have to come in to explain the low purchase price...

I'd say 1000 for transport is tight, but depending on what shipping agent you use, container transport will be cheapest...

paddy111199

Thanks for that Paul,

can you recommend an importer that you use? Do you think you are better off getting an import or paying extra for it in ireland?

PaulK_CCI

paddy111199 wrote:

Thanks for that Paul,

can you recommend an importer that you use? Do you think you are better off getting an import or paying extra for it in ireland?

As i pointed out in my post, I don't import from outside the EU union, so I wouldnt be able to recommend a reliable shipping agent.

Whether it's better to import or buy in Ireland, depends on how confident you are about undertaking something like this. If you like spending a lot of time on the internet, communicating with vendors, sourcing cars, tracking agents, etc etc etc. then ofcourse, it will be an interesting, but long and winding process, but I would say very satisfying, as long as you don't fall into the many pits along the way. Use your common sense, get as much advice as possible and it should be a good learning experience.
However, if you act too quickly, do not do your homework properly, it could turn out to be a costly mistake in the end.

Ireland is of course 100 times easier: you can visit the car, drive it, bring your mechanic to check it out for you, and if something goes wrong, you can get your money back, or go through the courts for redress! So if you want the least of amount of hassle, and a leg to stand on when things go wrong, go the Irish route. I would have suggested to source a car for you on the continent, but if you put all the costs together for the cars here in Holland and Germany, the price isn't that much cheaper than in Ireland, so you're better off to stay as close to home.

paddy111199

Cheers Paul, Im looking for a Nissan Figaro with <40k on the clock.

Where is the best place to source that specific car in Europe?

Thanks again for all your help:)

S.I.R

paddy you see loads of them in the local paper... wouldn't buy one myself but they go for 8000-9000

paddy111199

has anyone used the above website to buy cars from japan??

All cars are given a rating depending on the state of the car and specifies any scratches, dents etc. The cost of the car includes the cost of shipping and insurance.

Any help with this company would be great cheers

paddy111199

www.ibcjapan.co.jp

paul moore

Shipping on average from Japan is about €600 - €700....
None of them come from there in a container,takes the ship about 30 days to get here, just use the Auction agents shipping set up,they are shipping thousands every month,