If you want japanimport to take care of everything you unfortunately have to pay us too (^.^)

At first it seems that cars in Japan are extremely cheap at auction (and they are), but the cost of importing adds significantly to the amount you end up paying.  Knowing what these costs are and how much you will have to pay is therefore vital when budgeting for a personal import project or when assessing profitability for a business.

It is possible, and particularly at the moment given the strength of the pound, to save or make a lot of money by importing cars, but this involves you knowing the UK market and prices and knowing the Japanese market and prices and selecting models where the greatest saving is to be found.

The Japanese tend to like new low mileage cars (don't we all!) to a greater extent than the British, by this I mean that a car with 40k or 50k miles on the clock in the UK is a reasonably low mileage, in Japan it's not.  They average less miles a year in their cars, they have a  high speed public transport system via their shinkansen rail network and most cities have subway and bus networks that are the envy of the developed world.  In short, this makes them unaware  of the quality of their own engineering, by which I mean that they would never drive a Toyota until it dies at 300k + odd miles, besides, their MOT (called sha-ken) simply makes it impractical.

Sha-ken is much more stringent than the UK's MOT test and much more expensive which translates into a market where it's not economic to put your car through the test, you're better off buying a new one.  Good for new car sales and good for foreigners like us (^o^)  They are also wise enough to not use highly corrosive salt to thaw frozen roads, they use a form of calcium instead...

 anyway....enough Japanese market information let's understand the costs involved with your import project....

break down....

1.) Cost at USS auction in Japanese Yen see prices for a guide on what to bid...and convert to GBP

2.) FOB costs (98000 yen = roughly £400) is our agents price for ALL vehicles, this includes all Japan side costs to get the vehicle to the ship, after thoroughly checking it out at auction, transporting it to their garages in Chiba, near Tokyo, Japan and conducting rolling road checks etc, they transport it back to port , do the required de registration in Japan, clear it through Japanese customs,  translate documents required by UK agencies etc etc. best guys for the job for the price in our opinion...they reject 20% of what we bid on at USS after they inspect....which we like!  Only quality vehicles pass their tests!

3.) Shipping is usually via "yuwa" shipping line costs $70 / £36 a cubic meter approx.  Is by roll on roll off vessel and takes about 4 or 5 weeks from port to port.  Cars are usually between 8 - 16 cubic meters.  less than £500 usually.  Total loss / theft insurance depends on cost of vehicle average is £30 - 50. 

4.) Vehicle arrives at your port of choice usually Southampton or Liverpool.  Customs and Excise get busy!  They want 10% import duty on all costs so far and then 17.5% on top of everything for VAT.  A shipping agent will usually take care of all the customs paperwork and payments on your behalf for a fee of about £200 and will allow use of their VAT deferment account etc. and send you a bill for everything.  You can do this yourself, but beware of the paperwork, they're perfectionists at HM Customs and Excise!

5.) 10 year old vehicles need just an MOT (easy!) younger vehicles need an ESVA test which requires the renting of a model report which demonstrates your vehicles compliance in comparison with a previously tested vehicle (they must be identical).

 DO NOT IMPORT A CAR WITHOUT A MODEL REPORT!

...unless you want to create a model report from scratch - this is possible but can be very expensive!  Vehicles MUST be unmodified (unfortunately) to pass ESVA, they can be converted to type and then reconverted of course, but the budget needs to be taken into consideration to do this.  For an ESVA test and the renting of a model report budget £800 roughly.  Most vehicles require a rear foglight, CAT 1 immobiliser, fuel nozzle size insert (if unleaded) and KMH to MPH speedo change and recalibration.  Also we recommend getting BIMTA to verify mileage and status of vehicle via Interpol or whatever system it is they use.  

6.) DVLA then need tax, insurance, proof of ID, your ESVA paperwork etc, £38 and around £25 for your number plates and it's happy days....you've just...

a.) saved yourself a lot of money

b.) found a low mileage A1 condition vehicle you couldn't get anywhere else

c.) made yourself a fat profit or

d.) all of the above...   (^.^)

For an import pack contact the DVLA here..