Vehicle Importing

[bimmer boy 21]

Hey guys,

I have recently been toying with the idea of importing a new car for myself from Japan.. When the mum suggested she would buy 3 cars or so insted and import them all over and maybe keep two and sell one. But those details arnt so important as of yet.

What I am wanting to know is, is this going to be a real pain in the ass to get them over here, complied etc.

I have read the thing on the LTSA website and it all seems fairly straight forward so it would seem.

Has anyone on here imported a car before or know anyone that has that can give me a bit of advice on it all

Flick me a PM.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Cheeers

Ryan.

[briancol 3]

Ryan,

I am a dealer and have imported thousands of cars from Japan, and the first thing you must gat is an agent in Japan.

Once you have purchased the cars they must be deregistered and delivered to the boat. This job is done by the agent and he will charge about $NZ1,500.00 per car. Then you have shipping, about the same amount, before the car arrives in NZ you have to arrange a customs agent to handle the importing over here and you will have to pay their fees plus the GST on the initial purchase, agents fee and shipping. From there they must be complied and can I suggest you go to the North Shore Compliance Center for this. You also have to take care of MAF although this is often done in Japan before the car leaves, but that is another expense you have to deal with.

I don't know how you intend to buy, but be very careful if you are buying at auction, because once the hammer falls you own the car irrespective.

[M3_Power 636]

Have a look at this thread on nzhondas ...

http://nzhondas.com/forum/general-discussi...e-nz-japan.html

[Braeden320 0]

Member on here 'RVT' has imported a few cars I think. He has the E60 M5

[bimmer boy 21]

Thanks for all the help fellas. Brian I may have a few questions and / or propostion later on haha

This is seemingly not as easy as first thought but still a good idea, lets see where it takes me..

[Driftit 2079]

Finding a reliable Jap agent is the hardest part. There is plenty that will get the work done and get you your car. But few of them actually check the car throughly. So many private importers get stung by a car that needs a engineers cert for previous damage. An engineers cert is extremely tough. They will not hesitate to make you re-fix any previous repairs.

E.g. No that rear quarter repair is not up to NZ standard. Do it again. $3000 down the shitter.

And really pay attention to what you can and can not bring in. Don't go by hear say. There is many a muppet who think they know the rules.

Don't expect to get the best deal in the world. You are still buying blind.

[bimmer boy 21]

Cheers for the heads up on that Dan, do you know of anywhere that stats perhaps in plain black and white what cars and what years etc and be brought in rather than what the car needs to have to be complied?

I also found a NZ based company that takes care of most of the stuff for you for a fee which I think might be a good idea. If anyone knows of them or uses them let me know ..

www.autohub.co.nz

[Braeden320 0]

Did you read the Nz Hondas link M3 Power posted, Quite a few links of companies in that people had used with success.

[bimmer boy 21]

Did you read the Nz Hondas link M3 Power posted, Quite a few links of companies in that people had used with success.

Yeah mate, had a good look through.. The website I posted was one of the links they put up

[RvT 9]

Time to chime in ...

Importing is simple and easy to do. I have helped numerous friends complete their first import for the cost of a 6pk (when local).

The main reason I import my own cars is because I want to know if it has been in a crash or repaired. In Japan they are graded from 5 down to 1 and then if it has been in a crash, they come out with R or R1 so you can tell BEFORE bidding what the history is. I once almost bought a car in a yard where the dealer stated it was a 4.5 grade, showed me some documentation ex Japan to support it, then we got it checked out at a dealership and they said it was damaged. I went back to the dealer and asked for the Japan info again and it turned out to be for another vehicle on the yard. Sorry but I don't trust anyone in car yards after that experience and apologies to those on this forum who work in the industry because it was just one yard involved but it tainted my feelings towards car yards.

Anyway I started dealing with a company called TAU for importing my first cars but after 3 cars, I was put onto Kadoco by a mate who mentored me in the beginning. Since then I have brought in about 10 through this company and they are very user friendly to deal with.

http://www.kadoco.co.jp/

The Yen is at 68 cents so it is getting better but I personally won't play in the market again till it is at 70 cents + as the margins to make some money are better.

Process is simple enough; you find a model you like, check to see if it is allowed into NZ thru the VTNZ web site. Pick on cars that are Grade 4 and better and hopefully not under 2002 (from memory). You ask for some history from Kadoco on what previous sale prices were at auction for similar cars you are interested in and they give you a lot of history showing mileage etc. After that it is a case of sending over a deposit (to prove you are genuine bidder), then when the right car comes up for auction in the right colour, specs etc and ask them to bid on your behalf up to a maximum price. Once the auction finishes, they email if you were successful or not and what it was sold for or passed in at. Fairly simple.

If you want some more help, flick me a PM with your email address and I can send you a simple .xls spreadsheet I use to work out the on road price here after punching in the YEN price at the top.

Love helping fellow BMW owners

Edited January 11, 2010 by RvT

[bimmer boy 21]

Ahh Ron you are an utter legend! Much appreciated. I'd love some help haha..

Im not in a hurry to buy really, Im still not entirely 100% on what car I want or what cars the other two will be..

I have been watching the car prices on .tradecarview so I figured I will watch the prices on the various cars I am interested in until the NZ dollar is better against the Yen I guess. I will flick you a PM with my email etc.

Cheers!

[Driftit 2079]

The main reason I import my own cars is because I want to know if it has been in a crash or repaired. In Japan they are graded from 5 down to 1 and then if it has been in a crash, they come out with R or R1 so you can tell BEFORE bidding what the history is. I once almost bought a car in a yard where the dealer stated it was a 4.5 grade, showed me some documentation ex Japan to support it, then we got it checked out at a dealership and they said it was damaged. I went back to the dealer and asked for the Japan info again and it turned out to be for another vehicle on the yard. Sorry but I don't trust anyone in car yards after that experience and apologies to those on this forum who work in the industry because it was just one yard involved but it tainted my feelings towards car yards.

Anyway I started dealing with a company called TAU for importing my first cars but after 3 cars, I was put onto Kadoco by a mate who mentored me in the beginning. Since then I have brought in about 10 through this company and they are very user friendly to deal with.

And this is exactly where you can go wrong. The grading system is not always correct. Some Auction Houses have their own grading system which can differ. I have had cars that were grade 4 (1-5 scale 5 being New), and they have needed major work done to them. The Japs are not stupid. They will fix a damaged car and hide any sign of repairs so it will fetch a better price through Auction.

TAU is one of these!! After the 4th "mistake" they made with cars I purchased through them I threatened court action against them, I won't go into detail but was purely due to miss-information. Their NZ agent was a complete Muppet at the time and lied through his teeth every moment he could. TAU deals with Insurance companies. Most of their cars are written off in Japan so they buy them and export them. They do "Fix" many of them too. Hell even the boat we purchased through them was dodgy and had been water logged. Remember all the water damaged cars that flooded into NZ late 90's early 00's? Tau had a crap-ton of these.

Just be very careful. It is not always fun and games. I am not trying to put you off. Just trying to make you aware that you can still be ripped off. I am also still chasing an agent who owes us money for a non delivered car.

Go through the experienced importers first. Once you learn the process give it a try yourself.

[bimmer boy 21]

Nah you havent put me off, I was actually thinking this same kinda thing last night about cars that are fixed then exported. My first car which was a E30 320i and was a Singapore export and it was the electrics on it that were stuffed it was the fact it was in pretty bad crash presumably while it was still new and was repaired quite badly and things like the suspension mounts in the rear were held in by silicone. A rare case Im sure but its made me very wary of getting a car from overseas virtually blind..

I always assumed the 1-5 grading system was a standardised system all over Japan so I'll keep a eye out for all the things mentioned.

[RvT 9]

This may help ...

USS Auction grade

Grade S under 10,000km A A hardly seen any scratches or dents less than 1 year after the registration

Grade 6 under 30,000km A A hardly seen any scratches or dents engine & suspensions are in good condition

Grade 5 under 60,000km A A some scratches or dents, but doesn't really need to be repaired engine & suspensions are in good condition no exterior has been replaced

Grade 4.5 under 100,000km B B after some minor repair, it can be graded as 5

Grade 4 under 150,000km C C some major scratches, dents, burns or rips, which need to be repaired

Grade 3.5 under 150,000km D D some major damages, which need to be panelbeated or replaced some burns and rips which need to be fixed

Grade 3 E E need fully restored

Grade 2 low value

Grade 1 modified car, damaged car, rally car, dirt trial car, etc...

Grade R repaired car

*** extremely old, replica, classic car, cars which are difficult to grade,

[sp8s 1]

What about importing a wreck/low grade car for parts.

How hard is this to do and is it worth it.

[RvT 9]

What about importing a wreck/low grade car for parts.

How hard is this to do and is it worth it.

Fairly easy as suddenly no compliance issues or costs. Only issue is that transport costs are higher as the $1500 is for roll on roll off ferry (can be driven). A non driveable car needs to go in a container which has extra port charges here. I would budget around $NZ 2500 at a guess.

For best wrecks and bargins shop here ...

http://www.tau-sales.com/defaultMall/sitemap/CSfHome.jsp

I have used them along with others and no issues at all

[bimmer boy 21]

What about importing a wreck/low grade car for parts.

How hard is this to do and is it worth it.

I'd say just from common sense that it would only be worth importing a wreck if your car is really hard to find and new parts were scarily expensive. As you would still need to pay for all the shipping and then probably a tow truck to cart the thing around in Japan and in NZ but I mean if it worked out way cheaper than buying the parts or trying to source second hand parts locally then do it by all means.. but thats just my opinion..