Importing from japan??

-gilly-09-

Does anyone know what the cost of importing cars from japan are? The cost of getting it here isn't here issue its getting Irish plates on it. I have no idea about this so any help will be much obliged.

Also what dangers are associated and how many as there are certainly some elements to this that are dodge.

Thanks.

El Guapo!

A good website to look at is www.tradecarview.com I've heard good things and its supposed to be a fairly reputable site. This site will also tell you how much the shipping costs are. When you find the car you want just go onto the vrt website and see how much it is. Then get in touch with the vrt office and they'll explain everything else to you. Just try get a car thats a Grade 4 or 5 which will mean its in excellent condition.

JimmyCrackCorn!

search this forum covered many many times.

Everything from Japanese exporters to vrt process, customs clearance
To Legaly driving it from the port.

Its a little bit of work but its not hard i did it a year/two ago.

TBH before you start id look in pistonheads or an owners club as finding a clean Uk/irish car is far far cheaper than importing from Japan at the moment. (well uk anyway)

colm_mcm

the exchange rate isn't great for importing, and all VRT is charged at the top rate for Jap imports (if no emissions figures are available - which they arent) you also need to pay import duty and VAT.

What car are you thinking of?

-gilly-09-

Mazda RX-8 im lookin at pistonheads have a good few on there but still lokin at bringin in 1 from japan.

bazz26

You could not pick a worse car to import under the current Co2 based VRT rules.

The VRT will be a killer. I think the RX-8 falls into the €2k p.a. motor tax bracket also iirc.

-gilly-09-

Oh crap thats terrible news.

bazz26

Have you looked at a used Irish model? They have really come down in price lately.

EPM

bazz26 wrote: »

Have you looked at a used Irish model? They have really come down in price lately.

+1 and the prices on carzone are only asking prices. Whats your budget?

colm_mcm

there's a red 2005 one (jap spec) in the Merlin auctions at the mo. no reserve. Don't know if it's gone through yet though.

Guy:Incognito

bazz26 wrote: »

I think the RX-8 falls into the €2k p.a. motor tax bracket also iirc.

It does but only if its 08 or 09 though.

Graham_B18C

Stekelly wrote: »

It does but only if its 08 or 09 though.

+1 But the VRT would kill you on one of em, the emmissions are over 230g so it's the 30% VRT, then there's a few hundred quid on the fees at the Irish Docks, then there's 21% VAT after that.

You'd be mad Importing one, you'd get one cheaper here and you would be able to look into the history on it

colm_mcm

+1

at least with one here you can compression test it and verify that it's been serviced properly.

BArra

bazz26 wrote: »

You could not pick a worse car to import under the current Co2 based VRT rules.

The VRT will be a killer. I think the RX-8 falls into the €2k p.a. motor tax bracket also iirc.

eh?

isnt the most expensive anything above 3 litre and is around 1500e?

Guy:Incognito

BArra wrote: »

eh?

isnt the most expensive anything above 3 litre and is around 1500e?

ALL cars are VRT'd based on C02 output, so the RX8 falls into the highest bracket. Tax wont be bad assumeing the OP is looking for one older than 08.

Graham_B18C

BArra wrote: »

eh?

isnt the most expensive anything above 3 litre and is around 1500e?

Tax for new cars changed in July, its now based on emmissions, so the Rx is now in the highest tax group because it gives off more than 230g of CO2 per Km. It's about 2000e.

But thats only for cars registered after July. But the changes were brought in for the VRT also and that affects all cars regardless of year. So the VRT on an RX8 use to be about 20%, now its 30%.

Thats why Mazda dealers only sell em on special order now, I heard somewhere that the RX8 went up by something like 8k so they just dropped it over here

BArra

sorry i thought he was going for a pre 2008 car

sonic74f

OP didnt mention that it was a new car he was buying so I presume its a used one he is considering. If its a pre 2008 registered car(based on when the car was first registered in country of origin), it will be at the old road tax system but vrt will be new co2 based.

Guy:Incognito

BArra wrote: »

sorry i thought he was going for a pre 2008 car

Its still in the highest VRT bracket though.

bazz26

Stekelly wrote: »

It does but only if its 08 or 09 though.

I thought high Co2 imported cars automatically fall into the €2k pa motor tax bracket irrespective of their year of registration?

colm_mcm

bazz26 wrote: »

I thought high Co2 imported cars automatically fall into the €2k pa motor tax bracket irrespective of their year of registration?

This was mentioned pre-July for high emissions cars and cars without proof of emissions, but it never materialised.

bazz26

Ah right.