Importing from Japan

fonda

I've just been looking on a few sites where you can import a car for yourself from Japan and save yourself a load of cash instead of giving it to some middleman.

This seems to be the best one i've found:
http://www.japaneseusedcars.com

Anyone ever done this, any advice would be helpful???

Cr8or

I know somone who has used this site before:

http://www.jcarauctions.com/

He seemed to find them quite helpfull. shipping is about 500 depending on the car. You have to lodge the cash in full with them before bidding/buying the cars, I would guess this is to stop time wasters / fraud.

zilog_jones

Don't forget about VRT!

Ratchet

zilog_jones wrote:

Don't forget about VRT!

and VAT

Villain

Just an idea, but perhaps Mike65 or another mod could make a sticky thread about importing from Japan like the one with the UK, or maybe even change that thread to incorporate importing a car from anywhere outside Ireland?

fonda

Ratchet wrote:

and VAT

Japaneseusedcars.com add the shipping and vat and all that stuff to the price themselves, all you have to do then is pay the VRT and you still could save a couple of grand depending on what your buying.

5500

You still have to pay vat here ontop of the vrt dont you?

You really need to be able to understand the auction form too,My friend bout a grade 4 celica thru an auction,all seemed well untill it arrived and it needed new shocks and abit of bodywork so in essence you dont really know what your getting and you have no comeback.

Shipping normally takes a good while too eg 6 - 9 weeks +

fonda

eireal wrote:

You still have to pay vat here ontop of the vrt dont you?

You really need to be able to understand the auction form too,My friend bout a grade 4 celica thru an auction,all seemed well untill it arrived and it needed new shocks and abit of bodywork so in essence you dont really know what your getting and you have no comeback.

Shipping normally takes a good while too eg 6 - 9 weeks +

Don't know about the vat...thats why im trying to get as much info on these places before I even dream of giving them aany money

Ratchet

fonda wrote:

Japaneseusedcars.com add the shipping and vat and all that stuff to the price themselves, ....

nope

taken from here:
http://www.japaneseusedcars.com/auction/auctions2.htm

You will be responsible to pay for shipping and any import taxes and costs at your end, including exchange rate fluctuations

fonda

Ratchet wrote:

nope

taken from here:
http://www.japaneseusedcars.com/auction/auctions2.htm

You will be responsible to pay for shipping and any import taxes and costs at your end, including exchange rate fluctuations

Yeah sorry i meant they work it out for you to give you a general idea of what your gonna pay, im not too worried about exchange rates and shipping cause i think you will still save money....im more worried about what the car will be like when you get it and what can you do if anythin goes wrong

Ratchet

true, some cars look good on the picture but seen few of them arriving here and looked like were resprayed. It was good job but just the fact that was repaired already.
Also few things go missing during the transportation e.g. back shelves etc
there is few companies in ireland importing the cars and it costs more but you can see the car here and you don't have to do this crazy paperwork

fonda

Ratchet wrote:

true, some cars look good on the picture but seen few of them arriving here and looked like were resprayed. It was good job but just the fact that was repaired already.
Also few things go missing during the transportation e.g. back shelves etc
there is few companies in ireland importing the cars and it costs more but you can see the car here and you don't have to do this crazy paperwork

http://www.japaneseimports.ie/
http://www.japaneseconnection.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=search
Yeah was on the 2 above the prices are ok i suppose your right and that its worth paying a bit extra to save yourself all the hassle, thanks

Ratchet

you can also look at cars in UK, they have good few jap imports there

5500

Theres a few importers who are absolute cowboys,selling crashed and repaireds ect at original prices,as a general rule if the seller cannot provide the auction sheet then walk away.

Try www.nrgautos.com He's got a good rep and some good guys working for him in japan so the cars that are sourced are quality

Ratchet

www.japimportsdirect.ie worth looking

there is few importers on ebay.co.uk cheap flight to UK and boat back


the only thing you pay is VRT

zilog_jones

My friend got a '98 March a few months ago from some place in Wicklow, and it was so obviously clocked - which was not a good sign taking into account the mileage on it was around 110,000-130,000km! Not sure what dealer it was exactly. Might want to watch out for that kind of stuff.

Stephencuthbert

How u doin zilog_jones?

I am in the process of getting a car from them at the moment. I have paid for the car and should expect it in the early new year. It takes 6-8 weeks once auction & payments are sorted. I have been researching for the last 6 to 9 months for bringing in a car myself, for the obvious reasons of cutting the middle man and being able to buy a newer car with less mileage for the same price you would buy an older car here. The dealers are making a killing. If it works out for me I might even sell a few on the side. If I get stung, I set to lose €4,777 to be precise. When the car comes in, I have a customs agent lined up to do all the paperwork for me. All I have to do is take the car to the VRO and pay the VRT. I was very sceptical & nervous about parting with that much money online for something I haven't seen, but I said what the hell, If I get stung it will be a lesson learned for me & will be a warning for the rest of ye. I talked to a guy from Dublin who imported a Skyline from them last year and everything went perfect for him. He described in every detail the procedures he went through. If all is well I'll be set to have a gorgeouc silver 98 SS2 Celica with 75,000 kms for about €10K. Some dealers are selling 96 & 97 models for €11 - €12K. So I should have a bargain. If you need any more advice you can contact me @ cubster_2@yahoo.com or through the forum or both, sometimes I don't have time to go to the forum.

BTW - How did you come across the company? Tony is very easy to deal with. All my correspondence has been email & has been very easy. It has been an exciting experience so for and unnerving.

Stephencuthbert

Fonda, this reply is to you, not zilog_jones, I addressed the wrong person in my last reply,

I am in the process of getting a car from them at the moment. I have paid for the car and should expect it in the early new year. It takes 6-8 weeks once auction & payments are sorted. I have been researching for the last 6 to 9 months for bringing in a car myself, for the obvious reasons of cutting the middle man and being able to buy a newer car with less mileage for the same price you would buy an older car here. The dealers are making a killing. If it works out for me I might even sell a few on the side. If I get stung, I set to lose €4,777 to be precise. When the car comes in, I have a customs agent lined up to do all the paperwork for me. All I have to do is take the car to the VRO and pay the VRT. I was very sceptical & nervous about parting with that much money online for something I haven't seen, but I said what the hell, If I get stung it will be a lesson learned for me & will be a warning for the rest of ye. I talked to a guy from Dublin who imported a Skyline from them last year and everything went perfect for him. He described in every detail the procedures he went through. If all is well I'll be set to have a gorgeouc silver 98 SS2 Celica with 75,000 kms for about €10K. Some dealers are selling 96 & 97 models for €11 - €12K. So I should have a bargain. If you need any more advice you can contact me @ cubster_2@yahoo.com or through the forum or both, sometimes I don't have time to go to the forum.

BTW - How did you come across the company? Tony is very easy to deal with. All my correspondence has been email & has been very easy. It has been an exciting experience so for and unnerving.

fonda

Stephencuthbert wrote:

BTW - How did you come across the company? Tony is very easy to deal with. All my correspondence has been email & has been very easy. It has been an exciting experience so for and unnerving.

Came across the company through a workmate he is thinking about using them himself, he reckons they have quite a good reputation, I think but i'm not sure that he knows somebody working in the company.

Also a friend of mine just bought a freshly imported Toyota Levin for 10,000 off a dealer i'd say the dealer made about 2 or 3 grand just for importing it.

Please let me know how you get on and what the car is like when it arrives??

gearbox

hi,
i have imported cars myself... originally for my own use but now to make myself a few extra quid on the side, if your fine with having your money tied up for aprrox two months or so then there is no problem, i have imported Mitsibishi FTO GPX's at a cost to me of €5,500 and sold them for €11-€12,000 making myself an easy €2-4,000 profit after VRT, my latest toy coming in is for myself its a Mitsibishi Evolution 6 costing me €14,000 or €17,500 after VRT and this version of the car can easily be seen in the autotrader for €20-24,000 depending on the condition and i assure you all the cars i get in have low enough millage and are NEVER crashed.

I know for a fact that there are 2 garages on the ballymount rd which i will not name that buy crashed versions of the cars and sell them at the full rate (this is not the case on all their cars btw), i can also say that they do clock the millage on the car to bring the millage to an average of 55,000mls and some of the car importer garages are owned by the same ppl if you want to know more please PM me as it do not see it as fair to name these specific garages

yop

Very interesting lads, I see that they have a few nice Mazda RX8's. If I am correct ex VRT u are looking at about 19k euro.

Would this be a great deal do u think?

elexes

not knowing exactly which site your looking at if its the pre auction price your looking at you could expect the price to go up quite a bit

G Luxel

Has anyone imported a new japanese import?

I see that luxury japanese cars:top of the range are cheaper than bottom of the range export Irish market cars. I presume that the total price minus paying japanese tax and then including shipping, VRT and vat will save u something on its equivalent here.
There seems to be a lot of 04 japanese imports in Cork and a few 05s mostly luxury SUVs with those wing mirrors on the left hand side.

Sesshoumaru

Can someone confirm for me if you are importing a secondhand car from Japan do you pay VRT only? or VRT and VAT to the taxman?

gearbox

you only pay VRT (veichle registration tax) upon import then they assign you a reg plate for the car and a log book, then its up to you to go and actually tax your car for however long you need

Ratchet

gearbox wrote:

you only pay VRT (veichle registration tax) upon import then they assign you a reg plate for the car and a log book, then its up to you to go and actually tax your car for however long you need

you pay vat on all of the invoices you have from Japan, the car is released from the docks(after paying storage fees) so you can go and pay VRT

Sesshoumaru

Ratchet wrote:

you pay vat on all of the invoices you have from Japan, the car is released from the docks(after paying storage fees) so you can go and pay VRT

I rang the Revenue office in tallaght. If you bring in a secondhand car from Japan. You pay the following.

VAT at 21% on what you paid for the car in Japan.

Custom Duties at 10% of what you paid for the car in Japan

And finally VRT which you can get a quote for online. Which is either 22.5%, 25% or 30% depending on the size of the engine.

Ratchet

Sesshoumaru wrote:

I rang the Revenue office in tallaght. If you bring in a secondhand car from Japan. You pay the following.

VAT at 21% on what you paid for the car in Japan.

Custom Duties at 10% of what you paid for the car in Japan

And finally VRT which you can get a quote for online. Which is either 22.5%, 25% or 30% depending on the size of the engine.

there you go, plus you pay storage while running around and getting VAT clearance

jiffy

This is seriously pi$$ing me off. Three rip of taxes made as hard to find out about as possible and then they're rip off prices.

I seem to remember that the EU ruled that the VRT or something wasn't legal. Does anyone know anything about this?

What's the point of being in a common market if the government pick and choose what the decide to abide by.

Matt

elexes

jiffy wrote:

This is seriously pi$$ing me off. Three rip of taxes made as hard to find out about as possible and then they're rip off prices.

I seem to remember that the EU ruled that the VRT or something wasn't legal. Does anyone know anything about this?

What's the point of being in a common market if the government pick and choose what the decide to abide by.

Matt

they are getting rid of vrt but they did say that they wouldnt be getting rid of it in the next 10 years

prospect

Cannot just drop VRT.

Joe bloggs that bought an 05 car for €30000 plus vrt is about €40000.
If the government drop vrt over night, his car value drops €10,000 plus depreciation, probably another €6000 grand i.e. €16,000 in one year.......

AFAIK it is being gradually phased out over the next 10-15 years