Importing a car from Japan

[beeza]

My friends girlfriend (she's Japanese) is getting a small 2 door Toyota sent over from Japan,It's a 98 model,not sure what type.They are paying 2.5K including the import/export duties.

I was always under the impression that you have to do some things to the car to do with emission standards etc... I mean if it was that easy/cheap everyone would be doing it...

Am I right or wrong about this?

[xedent]

Yes, i was researching this before and im pretty sure that you need to get it all complienced and up to the Australian standards before you can get it registered etc
I was also told that these days its not worth it anymore with all the duties on top.

Thats about all i know. Hope that it helps

[xtina]

2.5k doesnt sound right for the car and taxes but add on the cost to change bits and pieces to make it compliant and also if she changing states in australia the road worthy for vic roads (or wateva it is called in other states)

[beeza]

I think she must be getting mates rates...

[Nepolian]

Dont know the details, but it sound like a personal import which has very different rules to import versus RAWS.

[z3lda]

2.5k is just shipping, taxes, customs, duties. etc which sounds about right.

my car costed me 3.5k to be shipped, duties and taxes, customs and quarantine.

[beeza]

I've been reading through heaps of threads about this as it has been covered a few times.I just could never get a strait answer but this chart that your father posted in a old thread is good:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l287/beeza2/importingans2k3pj.jpg

Strait answers are hard to find,alright.I think they make it that way so U just give up.

[panda[cRx]]

it's a personal import, which she has to prove she has owned and used for a year overseas. usually they pay the import taxes, then in some cases they need to pay to have the side intrusion bars, seatbelts and other safety items changes to meed aussie safety standards

[beeza]

So it's best to check out what needs doing to the particular vehicle as every vehicle may require different things done to it.
I was just reading how Japanese cars don't have the intrusion bars in the doors,OMG,but I guess there's a reason for it.

[Drew]

It will cost you a lot more than you think it will

Getting an engineer to just look at hte car and sign the import approval is anywhere from $250-$400
plus anything that needs to be modified
fuel filler will need to be modified to have a restricter; which it will not have right now, or get one off a wrecked car here thats the same model

There's the personal import plate which is $75-$150

Stamp duty on the car; depends on the market value of the car in australia

I thought it would only cost me $4000 to import my car; nearly double that by the time it was registered

[beeza]

Thanks Drew,Great help mate!

[Limbo]

pretty sure you also need to put a new cat on it

[vtegra]

you cant import tegs can you

[panda[cRx]]

oh and i'm pretty sure they make u replace all the tyres too, no matter how new they are already

[beeza]

Damn!

[micka]

;1510954']oh and i'm pretty sure they make u replace all the tyres too, no matter how new they are already
Correct, tyres in Japan are not stamped as compliant to Australian Standards so new tyres are needed to comply/ register

[Drew]

pretty sure you also need to put a new cat on it

No you don't


;1510954']oh and i'm pretty sure they make u replace all the tyres too, no matter how new they are already

Only if they aren't DOT/other standards organization approved or are snow tires or do not have the min tread depth as specified for a RWC
My Accord still has the Potenza GIII's it came with from Japan... I guess it could just be how much of an ass the engineer/rwc person is
If you're in Victoria take it to Enkeilman (sp?) they are on the VASS list anyway, $275 good guys, fairly relaxed


you cant import tegs can you
Personal imports, dismantling and race use only

[panda[cRx]]

with personal imports you can bring in most cars as long as u meet the ownership criteria, but i'm sure there would still be some regulations to it.

iat work we had a personal import ek vti last week that had all the jdm options, very funky.

[EK4R]

ok off topic.

my friends parent lives in japan, say the parent buys a JDM CTR, own it for 1 year, can my friend import it as a personal import being their son or it HAS to be under his name?

how hard is it to transfer ownership of vehicle in japan???

[Drew]

He had to have owned the car himself for 12 calendar months or longer...

He had to have lived in Japan for most of that 12 months

When he comes over to Australia he need to prove that he's not going back anytime soon ie rental/lease termination/sold house, closure of bank account, resignation/termination of employment confirmation, new bank account in Australia, new house/rental or lease agreement and employment, TFN etc etc even if you provide all of that they may ask for even more proof

With personal imports they are very thorough to make sure people don't abuse it

This stops people that just visit from bring in cars, and stops people from coming for a week to sell a car and doing the same thing next year etc etc

[EK4R]

ahh damn, so i guess he can't import it？he works full time here and has been be citizen for many years. sux

[panda[cRx]]

no you need to live there yourself and have owned the car for 12 months. you can only bring it here when u move here as drew said

[EK4R]

thx bois

[beeza]

worrd

[Drew]

I moved here from living 12 odd years in New Zealand...

Took me like 4 months to get an import approval cause every time they would be like "oh yeah cool we just need one more thing... a month later, just one more, just one more etc etc"

More effort than it's worth unless its a unique car

[beeza]

Now my friend believes me (that he's gotta change/fix/do things to the car),haha :)