Importing cars into Australia

I recently had a look at the difference in price of purchasing a used car here in Australia and the prices you could get the same car imported from Japan. I had a look at the s2000, for a fairly decent one with around 80xxx on the clock, would be going for around 16k USD

http://www.tradecarview.com/used_car...a/s2000/?eid=1

My question is, is there a risk in importing the vehicle as you are not able to physically inspect the car & if you have imported in the past, how was your experience. Did it in the end costing cheaper than what it would be to purchase a car here in Aus (including transporting etc)

Thanks

use a good agent and you'll be fine. my importer had a guy on deck inspecting cars before the auction, gave me full jap report on the bodywork and inspected the car started and everything was there and sorted before auction. e-mailed me updates as the auctions were going through and made recommendations based on his guy in Jap.

downside risk- i bidded and won the auction, transferred money over to Jap bank, then the Tsunami hit. if my car was anywhere near the tsunami zone thats bye bye $$ so i got lucky. and yes i paid a lot less then market value for my ep3

would i do it again? hell yeah..

That's a risk that you take, but I'd imagine the process of importing then compliancing and all that will end up costing you a fair bit anyway? Unless you got people in that field it's best you check out the stuff around here for better peace of mind.

i remember seeing something like this on mightycarmods. I think it cost around $3k getting it in or so? not that much really..

that's if you're hell keen on a JDM one.

I'm in the same boat as you.

and that you can't just import a car and rego it. the car needs to be under the SEVS list? an s2000 isnt, the only way u can import one, i think is via, personal import, as in u lived in japan for one year, and ur came back n brining ur car with u (s2000)

but if u got paper (go to the thread a few bumps up about rebirthing, lol import ur s2000 and rebirth it)

yeh i was under the assumption you cant import a car and actually register it here if the manufacturer sold it here. (australian delivered)

so can i buy a r35 gtr for like $60k in japan and then bring it here and register it? dont think you can because nissan brought the GTR here for sale at dealerships
you can import it and use it as a track car but.

only way to do it is like what mwaku sed. personal import

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dc2r-0636

yeh i was under the assumption you cant import a car and actually register it here if the manufacturer sold it here. (australian delivered)

so can i buy a r35 gtr for like $60k in japan and then bring it here and register it? dont think you can because nissan brought the GTR here for sale at dealerships
you can import it and use it as a track car but.

only way to do it is like what mwaku sed. personal import

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This.
@OP unless you go live in japan for a year for it or do a dodgey, you are not bringing a S2K in

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dc2r-0636

yeh i was under the assumption you cant import a car and actually register it here if the manufacturer sold it here. (australian delivered)

so can i buy a r35 gtr for like $60k in japan and then bring it here and register it? dont think you can because nissan brought the GTR here for sale at dealerships
you can import it and use it as a track car but.

only way to do it is like what mwaku sed. personal import

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The laws are so ****ed.
You can import an S15 yet it was sold here in australia yet many people wouldn't know that....
I do believe you CAN import an R35 GTR... Expect to pay alot of tax though

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Originally Posted by Raztaz

This.
@OP unless you go live in japan for a year for it or do a dodgey, you are not bringing a S2K in

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Or... you get an agent who is willing to hold the car for 12 months, ship the car over for you and then sell it to you upon arrival in Australia.

It's changed, I know some people in compliancing in VIC at least, the new go is apparently 5 years of ownership 1 year of USE before you can bring it in as personal import. It's apparently getting more strict and for a car like s2000, not worth it.

I work at a japanese import car yard, and let me say this, the whole owning a car in japan and bringing into australia isn't as easy as it sounds. Yes you have to own it for 1 year, but you have to prove that you lived there, paid for petrol/tolls etc.. and you have to prove that you are leaving the country permanently etc.. so you can't just buy it and store it for one year.

Cost about 5k-7k in taxes to bring a car over.. "compliance, shipping, quarantine, handing duties etc.." its not easy unless you get someone to help you and know what they're doing. This is just for a normal import eg. s15 Spec r.

for a personal import your gonna be looking at paying more..

My boss lived in japan for awhile and when he came back to Australia, he brang his Evo 9 Wagon, only one in Australia. He said he wouldn't try bring a personal import over again as its just nothing but headaches!

What about bringing it from new Zealand surely the costs would be not as much especially shipping

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WATAJK

The laws are so ****ed.
You can import an S15 yet it was sold here in australia yet many people wouldn't know that....
I do believe you CAN import an R35 GTR... Expect to pay alot of tax though

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It depends on the year the car was sold in Australia.
S15 - Sold in Aus from 2001, so you can import S15 built between 1999 to 2000.
GTR - Sold in Aus from 2009 iirc, so you can import JDM GTR built between 2007 and 2008.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WATAJK

The laws are so ****ed.
You can import an S15 yet it was sold here in australia yet many people wouldn't know that....
I do believe you CAN import an R35 GTR... Expect to pay alot of tax though



Or... you get an agent who is willing to hold the car for 12 months, ship the car over for you and then sell it to you upon arrival in Australia.

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As per RSKEbaby's post

Read it and weep it! http://www.raws.com.au/ImportPurchase.asp

If it aint on the list, than u cant bring it in unless its a race/rally, to which than u cant rego the car when it lands here.

You cannot buy a S2k because they were sold here locally from 99 onwards, and good luck on tryna get a personal import S2k ;)

With regards to the R35 GTR, nissan australia was slow as fuk to bring it in asap when it was released, took em another year to do it, within that, importers had already meet requirements to approve of importing the 07/08 models, although its only a low level scheme, with 25 cars per year they can bring in, still better to pay 140k vs 180k

And remember ADM cars will always hold there resale better than the JDM

never knew it was such a head fuk and big process to import a car to australia.. car must be stock aswell jeez

also were paying double the price then what USA pay for a gtr

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dc2r-0636

never knew it was such a head fuk and big process to import a car to australia.. car must be stock aswell jeez

also were paying double the price then what USA pay for a gtr

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You can thank the luxury car tax for that lol, its quite hefty when u compare our car taxes to that of america.

But as far as importing cars go, better off using a import broker or a company such as J-spec or ironchefimports as such, takes the headaches out of tryna import the car yourself.

Few years ago, the import business was booming, now its slowly dying off, too many grey imports made it in the country, now no one wants one, stricter rules may also impact upon the business, but imo, if u cant find the import ur looking for here, than u can always have that option of buying and importing from japan.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dc2r-0636

never knew it was such a head fuk and big process to import a car to australia.. car must be stock aswell jeez

also were paying double the price then what USA pay for a gtr

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Yep its not as easy as everybody thinks it is, also car doesn't have to be stock to import it, but must be stock to be complied and rego'd :)

Yeah usa are ****s lol, get everything for CHEAP!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RSKEbaby

My boss lived in japan for awhile and when he came back to Australia, he brang his Evo 9 Wagon, only one in Australia. He said he wouldn't try bring a personal import over again as its just nothing but headaches!

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Pretty sweet having an Evo IX wagon, at least.

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Originally Posted by williamwong

It depends on the year the car was sold in Australia.
S15 - Sold in Aus from 2001, so you can import S15 built between 1999 to 2000.
GTR - Sold in Aus from 2009 iirc, so you can import JDM GTR built between 2007 and 2008.

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i belive its also because the s15 here was sold as a 200sx rather then the silvia name.

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Originally Posted by GU357

i belive its also because the s15 here was sold as a 200sx rather then the silvia name.

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its not by the name, but rather chassis, and S15 being the chassis code, and the actual name being silvia ;)