[5zuk]

How difficult is it to import a car from Japan now what are the in's and out's and are there any site's with information on the new legislation's?

 

[Min]

There are quite a few sites which are willing to import Skylines for you if they don't have it in stock. I imported my R33 GTS4 from www.bestjapancar.com which currently has a standard GTR V-spec for about 15k. Though there are a few more like www.mvi-services.com and www.northwestimports.co.uk (which is based in the uk and got showrooms in the north). These are the ones I know about and there's bound to be more if you look around.

Firstly it's not difficult at all to import cars if you have an agent to import it for you . Allow about a month for the car to arrive and about two weeks for conversion and SVA test.

The thing to remember is that you'll need to add about 2-5k more to what ever the price is quoted to you on the website in japanese yen, that'll include shipping (£700-800), vat +custom (about 20% of car price and shipping ), conversion (about £500 for collection from port and fuel pump, rear fog light, speedo uk coversion and SVA tests etc), then you'll probably want alarm (£300) and anti-rust oil/wax tratment (£70-80).

If you do go through the websites I looked at above, they'll all manage the whole business of deregistering in japan, shipping, collection from uk port and conversion for you so it's mainly painless.

One drawback is that you cannot see the car and there may be some damage during shipping (mine gained a huge envy scratch on the bonett during shipping) and that it's a leap of faith to paid a large sum into some account and hope for the best. But the sites I mentioned above have all been around for some time and should be fairly reliable.

Hope that helps

Min

 

[5zuk]

re min

Yeah cheer's Min i was'nt sure how much extra i had to allow on top of the price in Japan.:smokin:

 

[Min]

as you can see vat and customs is by far the largest part. Though if you don't mind being on the wrong side of the law :smokin:, talk to the exporter nicely and they might give you an invoice quoting a lower price for vat + custom purposes.

 

[Talat]

Customs are not stupid - if they suspect a dodgy invoice they'll investigate it. Not sure if saving yourself a couple of hundred quid is worth the hassle of the risk of a fraud investigation. Also VAT and Customs is 27.5% of the car price.

Personally I would buy direct from an auction and get an importer on this side to take care of the import/SVA/Reg etc. This is the safest way imho. PM me if you want to know some of the tricks that people get up to.

Talat.

 

[polarbearit]

Its actually 10% + 17.5% of the total including the 10% which means for every £100 spent in Japan (including agents fees), it actually costs £129.25 (ie 29.25%)... Also worth setting a little bit of money asside if you believe all the rumours about about VAT rising in the budget soon (to 19%-20% allegedly )

I didn't find any saving on the price or R33 GTR's, but a good saving on R34's

Jon