Jap Car importing

Stephencuthbert

Evening All,

I'm new to this website, and looking through some of the threads it seems like this might be the place to drop this question.

I've been looking into buying a celica over the last few months, preferably direct from japan myself. A lot of the dealers around the country seem to be over pricing their stock. Anyway... I came across a few sites mainly www.japaneseusedcars.com and www.japnuts.com. has anyone heard of these companies before? Has anyone any experience of importing jap cars direct, dealing with companies in Japan? If so how did it go? How difficult/easy is it when dealing with customs/VRT/port duty etc. once the car is in Ireland? Any help would be appreciated.

ei9go

I imported a Celica during the year from www.bestjapancar.com and it was as easy as buying a CD online.

The car arrives at Dublin port and the customs brokers clear the car for you--costs about EUR250. Then you arrange to collect it.

They send you the customs form RF100 which you bring to your local vrt office and pay the vrt.

Costs are as follows

Cost of car including carriage (CIF) e.g. EUr5000
excise duty 10% 500New total 5500

Vat at 21% 1155

Total cleared cost 6655

Plus customs clearance and cost of collecting car and then VRT

quarryman

Hi stephen this might be of interest to you.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=284691&highlight=japan

Steevo

Hi,

I used Japnuts to bring in a Pajero and found them good. I answered a previous post about them before, you can read my experience here... http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=202783

I also used bestjapancar to bring in a celica gt4 a few years back (2000 I think). When the car arrived it had obviously been clocked and had light accident damage which they didn't tell me about. The car was basically alright, but they obviously werent being straight with me. It certainly wasn't as easy as buying a CD on the net, it took me 3 days to clear the car through customs in Dublin and the paperwork was a pain in the a***.

I dont know anything about japaneseusedcar, but the look to me like a lot of the other dealers/exporters in Japan.

Steve

Ratchet

just search the forum, there are good few threads about it

Stephencuthbert

ei9go wrote:

I imported a Celica during the year from www.bestjapancar.com and it was as easy as buying a CD online.

The car arrives at Dublin port and the customs brokers clear the car for you--costs about EUR250. Then you arrange to collect it.

They send you the customs form RF100 which you bring to your local vrt office and pay the vrt.

Costs are as follows

Cost of car including carriage (CIF) e.g. EUr5000
excise duty 10% 500New total 5500

Vat at 21% 1155

Total cleared cost 6655

Plus customs clearance and cost of collecting car and then VRT

Do I need to be at the port when the car comes in?
How do I find the car once it comes into the port?
Does customs look after taking the car off the ship & do they contact me when it is in?

ei9go

When you know the ship with the car on it is coming in, you phone MC customs brokers. They look after all the paperwork and tell you when you can collect your car after the customs have looked at it.

You fill in NO FORMS. They do it all. Costs around EUR250.

After the customs have looked at the car, MC send you the RF100 which is what you need to pay the VRT and get a reg number.

A local garage collected the car at Dublin port on a transporter and delivered it to my door.

It really was as easy as buying a CD.

Stephencuthbert

Well Lads,

Looks like www.japaneseusedcars.com is worth buying from if anyone is thinking of importing. I got my Celica on Monday. A long wait (2.5 months) but worth it. She has a BEAMS engine so I got a nice surprise. I was expecting a standard engine. The car was delivered right to my door. I could sell her in the morning and make €3K profit no problem. The car is in an immaculate condition, on a bit of dust from transportation.

I would definitely buy from them again and would recommend them to anyone. If anyone would like to get a car brought in I would do it for a small fee and all the paperwork and documentation would be in your name. That way it keeps the tax man away from me an you still save a couple of grand.

Happy car hunting to those of you that are looking for Jap imports.

I will post some pictures of her when I get a chance.

JohnCleary

Also, try to be a basic car, ie. no ICE, gauges etc. because chances are they'll get nicked en-route ... ive read some horror stories on other sites

Gunshot

ma dad imported a Mitsubishi Chariot Grandis frm www.mehran.co.jp nd da car is deadly

drdre

stephen how do you pick the car on http://www.japaneseusedcars.com
is it only by auction or can you just pick it online.
i want to but a civic type r, or civic sir, integra type r. but want a good and easy way to buy it.as its my 1st time.
thanks

JohnCleary

drdre wrote:

stephen how do you pick the car on http://www.japaneseusedcars.com
is it only by auction or can you just pick it online.
i want to but a civic type r, or civic sir, integra type r. but want a good and easy way to buy it.as its my 1st time.
thanks

I thought youve a court appearance? I'd be saving my money for a solicitor before I think about getting a Type R

drdre

yeah i know im in court, but im asking how do i go about gettin a car in,i want to use it and then sell it.
thanks for your comment john

guys anyone know how much it would cost to get a 00 civic type r into dublin including all fees etc.and which has a good spec or extras on it.

SouperComputer

shipping varies on the volume occupied by the car in the container. It can be anything from 500 - 1200 euro.

When it lands, you have to pay VRT. You can check how much the VRT on a given car here: https://www.ros.ie/VRTEnquiryServlet/ShowVRT

You have a dock landing charge of about 100 and of course VAT@21% on the cost of the vehicle AND shipping. So, for example on an MX5 I was looking at:


Car: 2750
Shipping 600
VAT on both 703
VRT (1992) 763
Landing Chg 100


Landed total: 4916

drdre

thanks supercomputer, thats good info.

Stephencuthbert

drdre/Everybody else,

1. You look at the sales price data for whatever car you want, to get a ball
park price for the car you are looking for.

2. You fill in the application form and budget you are willing to spend. They
will reply to you advising you if your budget is large enough for what you
want. (You must be reasonable, cars are cheap, but you won't get them
for pittens).

3. You send a deposit of 150000 Yen to their account.

4. You find the car you want at the auction, email the auction reference
number to them with the maximum bid you are willing to pay. (It is not
like ebay where you can watch the prices increasing, auctions are over
within seconds or even minutes).

5. They will email you within a day or two to let you know if you were
successful or not.

6. If you are successful, you must pay the balance within 3 days or else the
car gets sent back in for auction and costs are taken from your deposit.

7. You may bid on a number of cars in one day, you must list them in order
of preference.

8. Once you are successful, all paperwork is done on their side, they send
the paperwork FEDEX, you pay shipping insurance, and freight charges on
the cost of the car, arrange customs agent in Ireland and transporter and
all going well, the car will arrive at your door within 2-3 months. Mine was
over a christmas period, so maybe that is why it took so long.

9. Then you have to bring the car to you nearest VRO to pay VRT. You
cannot drive the car here until you get registration plates. I had to get
mine straight away because Hibernian wouldn't Insure the car with chasis
number (she laughed at me and asked was I serious), too much of a risk
to let the car in the drive uninsured.

That's it in a nutshell. It took me over 12 months to figure all this stuff out, but I'd do it again no bother now that I know what I'm doing.

So....if anyone needs help, advice, or would like me to do all the work for them just let me know.

How do I attach pictures to this forum, I want to show you what she looks like?????

Just got the car alarm fitted yesterday, so she's all secure now.

5500

Stephencuthbert wrote:

8. arrange customs agent in Ireland
.

Ive heard this mentioned a fair bit,what exactly is there role and how much do they charge?are they essential for when your car arrives?eg is it not possible to just remove it from the docks once unloaded from the ship?

Stephencuthbert wrote:

9. Then you have to bring the car to you nearest VRO to pay VRT.

.

When you brought the car to the office was it inspected?ive heard of people removing bumpers ect to make the car look worse off/lesser value hence getting it cleared slightly cheaper.There also seems to be a difference in prices in different counties too

Im close to bidding on a car at the moment,a 00 civic type R,the price difference even after 3600 worth of vrt is still a hell of alot cheaper its unreal

Stephencuthbert

you can take the car off the ship yourself if you know what you are doing. You can leave it on the docks for 7 days free of charge. after that its pretty dear i think. I don't know cause i didn't wait to find out. For the sake of €70 I left an agent sort out all the clearing and payments to customs, its their speciality. I then got the agent and transporter in touch with each other and the organised it between them to collect the car and drop it to my door.

On taking the car to the VRO, it was a joke. I phoned a few timeS just to be clear on what was happening. One person told me just bring in the paperwork and on the day I got the car I checked again to be sure and I was told to bring the car in for inspection. Went in, spent ages trying to get trade plates to drive the car and when I asked do they want to inspect the car the woman said "no" my paperwork was OK. So you'd be best off to bring the car in. There's no point in trying to make the car look shabby. They only want to see that the car is what the paperwork says it is. They have set values on the revenues website. My VRT was bang on what the revenue website said it was going to be.

drdre

stephen thanks for the information on how to buy a car from japan, is it not possible just to go out and buy a car instead of that auction stuff, as that does sound like alot of time is spent on picking cars from the auction etc.there must be a website where you can just go and buy a car at a fixed price.

also eireal how much would a 00 type r cost in japan without vrt,paid,just tring to get a rough idea of how this works.

thanks guys and stephen post pics of your car if you get a chance

Stephencuthbert

Here are some photo's of the car. drdre, as I said, If it is like too much work I can assist you for a small price. It would still be cheaper than a dealer cause I ain't doing this for a living, I have a full time job. The site offers cars at a fixed price too. I don't know of any other sites the offer fixed price cars. I spent a year lookin into this particular website and found it to be the most user friendly. Other companies asked too many questions like are you a dealer, how many cars would you be buying from them in a year, sign documents first, their english was poor. Tony from Japaneseusedcars.com is from Britain so he would be more familiar with the market on this side of the water, and always replied to every email within the next working day, not a single problem from them.

Stephencuthbert

More pics

Stephencuthbert

Final pics.

Thats all the pics I've taken so far of her. She is absolutely spotless, apart from the dent behind the back wheel. But that's easy to get pulled.

bmoferrall

I was speaking to a (small-time) car dealer today. He said that you cannot register Japanese cars here if they are younger than 6 years - i.e. anything later than 2000. Can anyone confirm whether this is true or not? Such a rule would seem very restrictive, particularly for anyone intending to set up an import business.
He also said that scrapyards are often the only place for sourcing certain (non-UK spec) replacement parts (e.g. Micra lights, gearboxes). Surely there's an equivalent to gsfcarparts.com for Japanese cars?

5500

Ive seen 2000+ jap imports here,mostly DC5 Integra type R's so i'd say that puts that one down the drain.

@DrDre - 00 civic type R,grade 4.5,60'000 miles - €7500 including shipping,VRT is about 3600 so 11000 all in.(Am i right in saying that or are there further customs and vat charged ontop of VRT?) Either ways that car here from any jap importer is in or around 16k

Stephencuthbert

Is this dealer a personal friend of yours? If he is then fair enough you wouldn't expect a friend to lie to you. But if he's not the he's probably only trying to protect his best interests ie. his business. I have a lot of friends with japanese imports and they have no problem with finding parts mechanically, which is most important. On body parts, yes, the jap imports are different to the UK spec. But...with the internet now, they can be ordered from Japan and there are so many Japanese imports in Ireland and UK that it will not be hard to find. I had that worry when buying the car but I said F*#k it, I've had a car for the last 5 years and never had to replace any parts on it and I'm hoping I never will with this one either touch wood. I'll just have to deal with that when if it happens. I've realised that thinking too much into things in the past has prevented me from just doing it and enjoying it for the moment, and I've regretted it. So unless your really stuck for money that way and wouldn't be able to replace the parts, then stick with cars on this side of the water. The only things that would need replacing are the lights and bumpers. Panel beaters ca do the rest and if your in that position then more than likely your insurance company might be involved too. If someone hits you, you'll be claiming from their insurance, so just drive carefully and wisely and watch your moves on the road so as you don't cause the accident. I know I've gone off the point a bit, but these are all the things I used to worry about before getting a Jap import.

Hope that helped a bit.

Stephencuthbert

I never addressed your point on the cars younger than 6 years. I have to agree with eireal, that one is way down the drain. All you have to do is check the VRT on the revenues website and you can see that they have values for the cars. Why wouldn't one be able to register a Jap import that is 6 years or youger?? Ring your local VRO and they can tell you straight up.

Stephencuthbert

"Am i right in saying that or are there further customs and vat charged ontop of VRT?) Either ways that car here from any jap importer is in or around 16k"[/QUOTE]

You forgot to add Duty and VAT so you add another 1750 to that so it would be:

7500+1750+3600 = 12850 so around €13K

customs & VAT is charged before the VRT, then take your clearace papers to the VRO to pay the VRT.

bmoferrall

Thanks Stephen.
It's actually my next door neighbour. He's from Iran and buys and sells cars on a small scale to make ends meet.
I've seen a few newer cars advertised so I thought the 6-year thing was strange. Either someone told him fibs to protect their patch, or there's extra red tape for newer cars. I'll try and find out more over the weekend.
I'm not interested in importing a car for myself (at least for now). I have a friend who's considering doing this as a business and I may tag along for a while.

5500

Stephencuthbert wrote:

"Am i right in saying that or are there further customs and vat charged ontop of VRT?) Either ways that car here from any jap importer is in or around 16k"

You forgot to add Duty and VAT so you add another 1750 to that so it would be:

7500+1750+3600 = 12850 so around €13K

customs & VAT is charged before the VRT, then take your clearace papers to the VRO to pay the VRT.[/QUOTE]

Whats the method to calculate the duty and Vat?

Either ways its a 3k + saving on buying here,i think the only problem with jap imports at the minute is every tom dick and harry figured out it wasnt that hard to do and tried making a killing on it,people are also still willing to pay stupid amounts of money for some cars eg 98 toyota glanza V for 10 - 12k which is madness.

drdre

yeah eireal everyone is tring to import at the moment, but i just want to get one for myself with this year, if i get my insurance down abit this year then will get a honda integra dc5 2003/2004. it should be 3-4 grand cheaper if i get it imported myself as prices here are ridiculous.

is there any other site to check out other than

http://www.japaneseusedcars.com/

thanks guys

alias no.9

There's 10% duty or 'Common Customs Tarrif' on the landed price i.e. car + fees + shipping + insurance giving you a duty paid price of €8250

There's 21% VAT on the duty paid price bringing it up to €9982.50

The revenue calculator gives me a VRT price of €4546 (selecting model as EP - High Spec) giving a total of €14528.

So if you can get a similar car here for €16k, I'd say that it was a reasonable price given that you don't have the risk of buying something you've never seen, you don't have to wait for anything between 6 weeks and 3 months for delivery, you dont have to pay out €7500 months before getting the car.

Clonskeagh motors have a 2002 Type R with 45k miles for €18,950
http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=370238
You'll be probably be able to trade in your old car if that's your thing or negotiate a discount if not (I'd be surprised if you couldn't get 1k of for a quick straight cash deal). You'll get a warranty from a main honda dealer, it will be fully serviced and probably have a full service history.

If taking a gamble to save ~€1500 on a €16000 deal which is about 10%, is your thing, then go for the import. if it was my money I think I'd go for the one in clonskeagh motors, an extra €4000 (possibly) gets you a car 2 years newer with warrenty and the reassurance of having been able to test drive it and do a full check before buying.

Traumadoc

Alias is correct - I just brought a 1974 911 I bought in Australia I paid about 10 k for it but duty and VAT added nearly 4K . ( Shipping cost is hard to say as I had a lot of household stuff as well)

breffo

I used www.ibcjapan.co.jp which is linked to their auction site www.idirect.co.jp
This company was recommended to me from a guy whose uncle did it for a living and used them. I also saw cars consigned to dealers from the same company when I was collecting my car. I would definitly recommend them as they deal with 35 auction houses all around Japan and I found then to be very professional.
Dont let any one try to convince you that importing your self is anything other than very simple, it is.
I have just done it and am very pleased with the way things went and my car.
Glad to give anyone the detailed run down.

5500

@Breffo what car did you take in?also how long is it taking now for delivery from port to port

breffo

Eireal, nothing too fancy, a Mitsubishi RVR. I am very pleased with it so far, bit heavy on the juice, especially seeing the way petrol price is climbing...

Johnee

Just wondering if anyone had any particular recommendations for Japanese models?

I'm interested in the idea of importing because Ive heard the Japanese models have better safety features and add-ons, and also that they depreciate much faster, so they should be better value in the 2000-2004 range Id ideally be looking at.

However, Im only looking for something in the cheap-to-midpriced range as I cant afford anything flash or high-performance - would it still be worth my while importing?

And - given my very limited knowledge of Japan-only models - are there Japanese models that people have especially favourable reports on?

kluivert

Would I be right in saying that Jap cars have to run on a higher grade of petrol that what we have here in Ireland.

blastman

They don't have to be run on it, no. Most if not all run on our unleaded without any problem.

G Luxel

someone here says that you cant register a post 2000 japanese import....

Well there is a 05 Toyota Harrier driving around. The things that stood out
was it was black with all emblems changed to Lexus and it had that wing mirror fitted on the passenger side front wing. On the rear was the
hinges for the number plates, only visible close up and black too, and Harrier appeared on the wind deflectors. Im guessing it was only a few months old when sold here. It has been around since last May so must have been sold new in Japan probably January or February. Not sure how much and not sure even if its legal to change from Toyota to Lexus as regards the badging.

Last week I saw a 06 Toyota, this time a Landcruiser Amazon and again featured that wing mirror on the front wing. Im certain it was a japanese
import but no other info available.

daveball

Hi I bought a car for my wife a 02 yaris with 32000km cost me 4200 euro from http://www.ibcjapan.co.jp, this includes all the shipping and insuarnce, I have a price of 1600 for the vrt bringing the car up to 5900,
do I have to pay vat as well what do u reckon it will cost me in the end, thanks

blastman

It depends on how the dealer operates, it's up to them whether they give you a price that includes duty and VAT or not, likewise with VRT. At that price, I'd be inclined to say they haven't included it, but I could be wrong.

Stephencuthbert

Hi Daveball,

You will have to pay duty of 10% on €4200 = €420
then add VAT @ 21% to 4620 = €970.2
Total = 4200 + 420 + 970.2 = €5590.2
Then add €1600 = €7190.2

I would advise you to employ a customs agent fo 70 euro. They will handle all the paper work and clear the car with the customs. Then either employ a car transporter (€120)or pick the car up yourself, depending where you live. I'm from Cork, so got the car delivered to my door. Depends on how busy you are too.

Let me know how you get on with IBC japan. I was thinking of using them but they didn't have what I wanted. They might be good for some other car in the future.


Hope this helps,

Stephen

viccirc

Stephen, cheers for all the info regarding your buy...

Have been in touch with Tony from japaneseusedcars.com - very informative and quick with replies.

Does anyone knpow about having the car insured while going from docks to VRO to sort the VRT? Has anyone done this or is a transporter abs necessary. Thought Id ask before raising any flags with my insurance.

If I proceed with the buy would hope to pick up ad sort VRT same day - and get a reg number that day. Its just the trip between docks and VRO...

Any info or advice is appreciated.

Ratchet

viccirc wrote:

Does anyone knpow about having the car insured while going from docks to VRO to sort the VRT? Has anyone done this or is a transporter abs necessary. .

some companies will do it by chassis number of the car which you can get from the import guys

Tanabe

Stephencuthbert wrote:

Hi Daveball,

Then either employ a car transporter (€120)or pick the car up yourself, depending where you live. I'm from Cork, so got the car delivered to my door. Depends on how busy you are too.

Hope this helps,

Stephen

You wouldn't have the contact details of that transporter Stephen plz? Have a car coming in myself & am looking for same, cheers;)

Stephencuthbert

Ciccirc,

I'm with was with Hibernian at the time and they would not point blank insure my car without a reg number. My uncle got a loan of company plates and we drove it to the VRO. I'd be surprised if any insurance company would insur on chassis even though it is physically imprinted on the car. It's just rubbish.

Tanabe,

Look up Crosbie transport on the Golden pages. They brought my car from Dublin docks to my door in Cork. 120 notes plus VAT. Ask him to do it for cash. Very good to deal with.

Tanabe

Thanks for that Stephen;)

Does anybody know can you get the VRT done on your vehicle anywhere near the port in Dublin? I'm thinking: get it done, drive home myself?

Stephencuthbert

You will have to bring the vehicle to the VRO where they may decide to inspect it. They won't come to you.

Tanabe

Yes I'm aware of that, my question is where is the nearest VRO from the port in Dublin?

shao khan

Is it possible to write up different details on a car thats important from japan. I want to get a 2000cc MR2 and would like to change:the log book to 1600cc for insurance purposes. Does anyone have any experience of this?

Rudolph Claus

shao khan wrote:

Is it possible to write up different details on a car thats important from japan. I want to get a 2000cc MR2 and would like to change:the log book to 1600cc for insurance purposes. Does anyone have any experience of this?

lol, if you ring mr. troll he`ll sort it for ya!