Cost of Importing (Overseas)
ian87m
Band Wagon
I know this has been discussed a little bit, but I would like to take the time to provide an estimate for all who are interested.
I have been in contact with William, from JDMConnection, (A Canadian company) He gave me the following:
(From William)
"It's not something we have in stock, but can easily enough locate one for you in Japan. Costs wise they're pretty well give a ways and your only costs will be the import / export costs themselves. Somewhere around the 4-5K area all said and done fully imported to Canada."
"Like I said availability is not an issue and we can locate what your looking for definitely. Here's a small costs breakdown for you:
- $1200.00 for our fee
- $1000.00 for export fees in Japan export docs, inland shipping, insurance, etc.
- $900.00 for shipping to Canada
- $700.00 for import fees, port service charges, customs clearance in Canada, etc.
- $800.00 for inland shipping in Canada"
Looks like a lot of dough to me, however, you could knock off some dollars by picking it up yourself.
I requested an EF5, with the highest trim. Not a problem. RHD, Low KM, with no rust.
Decisions eh?
-Ian
I have been in contact with William, from JDMConnection, (A Canadian company) He gave me the following:
(From William)
"It's not something we have in stock, but can easily enough locate one for you in Japan. Costs wise they're pretty well give a ways and your only costs will be the import / export costs themselves. Somewhere around the 4-5K area all said and done fully imported to Canada."
"Like I said availability is not an issue and we can locate what your looking for definitely. Here's a small costs breakdown for you:
- $1200.00 for our fee
- $1000.00 for export fees in Japan export docs, inland shipping, insurance, etc.
- $900.00 for shipping to Canada
- $700.00 for import fees, port service charges, customs clearance in Canada, etc.
- $800.00 for inland shipping in Canada"
Looks like a lot of dough to me, however, you could knock off some dollars by picking it up yourself.
I requested an EF5, with the highest trim. Not a problem. RHD, Low KM, with no rust.
Decisions eh?
-Ian
Comments
He's very much a member- viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6660
Here in the states, if its over 25 years old, we can import legally with no problems. Anything newer is not legal without getting some of that version either crash tested, or upgraded to us specs and then certified.
The laws when I lived in Arizona are much different than here in Washington.
Thank you for ThatDoodle's contact information, I sent him a PM.
This option is looking good, but its hard to buy a car you have never seen in person, and trust when it gets here, its the one you want.
-Ian
There are only a handful of Japanese cars that you can legally import to the US (that are under 25 years old), and none of them are cars you really want to own.
As of Dec 2009 here are the Hondas you can legally import. You can also import JDM 88-92 legends. woo-hoo!
I'd like to stress that ANY other jdm Honda you see on the road is illegal. Not meaning you can't somehow register it, but legally you shouldn't have been able to.
The real problem with importing is that we test cars to a higher crash standard (higher impact mph) or at a different angle (side impact) than Japan. This means that even if it is the same car, with the same parts they have to be crashed to US standard. You can pay to have this done, and you need three cars to crash for front, side and rollover tests. So it's not impossible, but it will cost you a shit ton of money.
Obviously I have looked into all this at one point.
As far as importing the car here legally, it's not hard at all. They take the motor out of the car, ship the motor and shell separately, then put it back in once it's stateside. Making the car legal to drive is different in each state, but in Wisconsin it was easy.
Hope my 2 cents was helpful.
That said...I would LOVE to import a RHD EF with a B16.
"(In Jersey) Anythings legal, as long as you don't get caught".
But I will agree that RHD cars are not so great in a LHD country. Insurance statistics here claim that RHD vehicles are far more likely to be in an accident, however no explanation was made as to whether this was due to poor sight-lines (ie turning left at an intersection), top heavy and narrow "Kei" cars rolling over, higher performance models in speed / racing related crashes or just the type of Driver who would want a RHD vehicle.
I've heard rumors of a ban coming (just think of the poor insurance industry, living hand-to-mouth month after month :roll: ) as any law in the name of "safety" is pretty much impossible to argue against. (I never knew any kids who took a lawn-dart to the cranium. But 3 wheeled ATVs were death traps. Both were great ways to accelerate survival of the fittest / demise of the least fit. Thank Jeebus we still have tobacco, peanuts, guns, war and motorcycles) :twisted:
You start looking at other cars too, the wagon, to me, is all of what I'm looking for, practicality, performance, and economical. But something about a R32 Skyline GTR for as little as 3,000 more, just makes bad thoughts come into mind.
-Ian
theoretically, you could buy a parts wagon and use that VIN on a gray market wagon.
And why would you spend 5000 to have a wagon imported (and if legally the car will still have to pass all of customs and US regulations, which means you won't be able to even pick it up until someone certified in conversions picks it up, and does the conversion) when you can make a pretty killer wagon for the same price?
I agree with you that the government is not likely to do anything about it themselves. I personally imported an R32 and a GTi-R 5 years back as race cars. They were declared as such with all the appropriate paperwork. Customs inspected them and released them. I used them for local track days and such before selling them last year. I never once considered attempting to register them. The potential penalty from the U.S. Feds, while unlikely to happen, is still quite imposing. Here is the real problem with what you are doing Celm; liability. I realiize just about anyone can get an illegal car registered in certain states. And I understand that no one has shown an instance of the Feds taking one. But, assume you have one of these illegal cars. You register it and are able to insure it. You then get into an accident. I don't know about you guys, but in both of the accidents I was in (and clearly not at fault) took forever to conclude as the opposing insurance company did everything they could to find a way out of paying. Now, assume you are not at fault, you get hit and the car is destroyed, that insurance company is most likely going to do a background check on the Skyline. Once they find that they car is not legit, they are not going to pay for it. And you're out some money. Let's go a step further and assume you are at fault and heaven forbid someone is hurt. Your insurance comapany is going to do the same check I mentioned earlier. And then you are really screwed. They will cite a fraudulent application and the policy will be terminated. Once that happens, the people in the other car will come after you. If you own any property you will loose it. They will take you to court and you will be lucky to leave with your boxer shorts intact. The risk is just too great. Now, if someone really want exclusivity, buy an older Skyline. $20k will get you a very nice KGC10 and will get you a perfect KGC110. Look at some of my other posts and you will see my '71 and my '74. The '71 was $15k before I started to modify it. It was perfectly fine as it was. The '74 is an Australian model and it was just under $6k after shipping. Anything older than 25 years is 100% legal. No issues, no hassels, and no shadyness.
I'm willing to contend that there is virtually no significant difference in safety between the USDM version and the JDM version. But changing the law is impossible and fighting the insurance company is insane.
Bingo.
(not saying I want one, just saying it's something different)
And if you take all the parts off of a Type-R, and put them on a new car- it doesn't make the new car a Type-R. Some people don't see the advantage of buying a virgin car. They're ok with buying a car that has been with the whole football team. And that's ok. But some of us, yearn for the unmolested...
You said it. Espescially in the U.S. where a hot coffee in the lap / whiplash means you can sue for a bazziliongajillion dollars. Here in Canada you can only sue for costs, no punitive damages. Also no sky-high rates for most insurance (ie medical malpractice).
Viva Socialism!
I'm a democratic socialist.
:fistbump:
lol
I've been to 33 countries, have a degree in poly sci, and have voted in every election I could. I've thought long an hard about what I want my government to look like. I am a libertarian leaning democratic socialist though! HA!
Regardless of that though, I think they should all allow japanese imports!
I was thinking about it today and considered that if the reason they do not allow these imports on the road is safety, why do they allow them if they are 25+ years and older. Those cars have little to no safety features, some just lap belts etc. One would think that if their true concern was safety then you could only import things that would be NEWER than say 10 years or something to that effect.
Perhaps emissions are the real concern, with safety being 2nd? Even then, the amount that would be imported would be so low as to not really make a difference I would think.
Libertarian myself. I agree with some things like healthcare and certain financial regulations. But on the whole shot, I think people deserve (to a certain degree) what they work for.
In regards the RHD vehicles, I can definitely see safety being a major factor in why our borders aren't wide open for imports. Though only thing that makes sense to me with the older vehicles being allowed, is the fact that they probably wouldn't be driven much (collector). That's the only reason I could see myself ever buying something like a RHD ITR. Simply to collect.
Me too!
People think of socialism and they think Marxism. I think that in America, only a new brand of American-specific socialism would work. It would have to allow free enterprise and even allow some people to get rich. But all the necessities of life would be a guaranteed safety net. People would still be motivated to achieve luxury. Not many are content with government cheese.
And then we could all import whatever we wanted! And put whatever parts we want on a car as long as the tailpipe emissions meet the standard. J/K. (Trying to make that relevant.)
I don't want RHD. I think that would be a PITA. I also don't care if the car has a past as long as it's in clean shape. I don't give a rats ass about JDM. But you see a clean car like that Beagle, you just dream of using it to restore a USDM LHD car.
I can't believe some people still haven't gotten over the concept "I'm different, so I'm cool". Eff that man. I LOVE ROTAS!
"I love Rotas!" (suspendedhatch, 2010)
1. Not just land-owners have the right to vote
2. We elect officials rather than cast our own votes for every issue
3. We enact laws to protect the environment and fight other "victimless crimes"
4. We enact laws to regulate the behaviors of banks
All of these things we do, not for our own individual good or freedom but for the greater good of a society as a whole. I believe that (in a perfect world) one should be free to behave in anyway they deem fit as long as it does not impinge upon the safety and freedoms of anyone else or their property. But if we all took this to the nth degree we'd be a bunch of greedy toddlers. Sharing means caring. And lending and giving makes for a world where lending and giving are more prevelent, meaning the giver has better odds of becoming a taker. It's called Co-operation in Game Play Theory, or its more familiar opposite "an eye for an eye makes the world blind".
As an interesting aside, the U.S. does infact have a huge Socialist network set-up already, providing millions with State sponsored welfare, make work projects, universal healthcare, jobs in every field of human endevour, and even endowed with propaganda and security "organs" with which to ensure its own existance and crush resistance. I speak of course about the Military-Industrial Complex, though these days it seems appropriate to add the (for profit and taxpayer funded) Legal, Judicial Penal and Policing systems as well. Ooh Ooh and also them insurance types and Big Pharma... HMOs... you get the picture.
Welcome to the Gulag!
hahaha yeah. luckily they allowed those people to keep their cars, but it was some shady business. i'm with everyone else on the boat against RHD...sure it's nice to have something different, but unless you're buying something legally you shouldn't assume that tricking a DMV into registering your car is going to make you totally safe, especially when insurance companies and their lawyers get involved. I vote to just import a clean wagon from one of the nicer states that don't use tons of salt on the roads in the winter and make it nice rather than paying a crapload for a probably stock car and the "JDM OMG" factor.