Hi All,
Does anyone have any saving tips on importing car from Japan? Process and site you use to import car? I can see carweb is charging $850 for helping you getting your vehicle to NZ. Is this price reasonable? Can you bypass the middleman like carweb and do it yourself?
Many thanks
My Dad's car was a good example of a smoker car. We had to shampoo his car many times from ceiling to the carpet plus using ozone machine several times to get rid of the 95% smoking smell. Every now and then we had to ozone the car during warm weather.
I've used in ibcjapan / idirect in the past and imported a total of 3 cars.
What was the experience like kiwijunglist?
If you bypass middlemen like Carweb you have to make sure the car you import complies with latest local laws. For example, just a few years ago they made it mandatory that imported cars have electronic stabilisation control (better control of car if you did a sudden swerve to avoid an object). I saw a car for sale on trademe for only 5 grand otherwise it would have cost 15 grand because it was not road worthy as it did not have this feature.
I used importyourcar.co.nz a few years ago. They were good for me. You can prob cut the middleman but at least you have cut out the dealer this way save a few $ and get a better car for the money. There's still risk, but I found the experience good. You browse the Japanese car auctions, set your search criteria and the guys also send you one which they recommend. The ones you are interested in they translate the auction sheet, and as they have people in Japan can get someone to look at it for you. There are some auction houses better than others and more stringent with grading the cars than others. Unless you know what you are doing or have someone you trust in Japan, and know what to do to import it and what to know about to make sure it clears customs in NZ, it looks a tricky business. When I bought mine, they took photos when it was at the port in Japan, all the costs were given up front, no problems with inspection and clearance in NZ. I ended up with a much lower mileage car and better condition than I could have bought from the dealer for the money. There are obviously other companies who can help you import like this.
You are going to want to use some kind of middle man to handle inspection at the Japan auction's.
Fish hooks to watch out for:
My take is, unless you are looking for something rare / unusual, margins at the dealers are narrow enough not to make it worth taking on the risk of doing a car import yourself.
What about Hybrids like Toyota ?
Toyota hybrid are fantastic i got two imported via auctions amazing cars
I have imported 4 cars from Japan 2 via Japanese export agents in Japan and two auction bid and fob via auctions agent in Japan / new zealand but i used office in Pakistan but you have Auckland office choice
I have used sbt Japan for auction buying ie bid for car fyi not the agent stock .
For fright i have blue Mona , but like auto hub
For compliance i have used few but like fast track auto in Christchurch sockburn
Aa for registration
Some cars you can save upto 30 to 40 % if you import it your self .
Some cars may be just 10
In Japanese auction you can buy a car as per your specific requirements as in Japan they have optional extras colors condition like b grade a grade so on i got b grade inside outside . 4 stars rating ..
You should not import car with any accident damage . Make sure it does not have any accident or rust
Car should not have any windscreen damage very small chip is ok
There are many other things you may Google it .
Just some important things
Thanks for your input.
I am looking at the car on SBT Japan for RX450H. I know the car will be compliance in NZ. When i went in to every RX450H listing it show 'out of nz regulation' is this something i need to concern about. Also the NZ price is that includes everything?
That is there stock , auction is what gives you best price with best options , Rx450 h lexus , don't know the specifics of this one but the engine has 3 digit code something and some cars may not be imported in NZ due to environmental pollution.
For auction you will have to register with sbt ask them To set you up for auction they will ask for deposit it will be base 50 k yen or something else i don't know the current charges i paid 50 k yen
There are some other auctions agents in Japan who give you free registration to past sold auction data i use jp - c this gives you price discovery information and range for your deposit and for bid
hi OP, i have been looking at the car market and its dreadful so remembered this post, did you go ahead? im now signed up to carweb so keen to know your experience. :)
looking to import used LEAF or other EV for personal use
You can definitely bypass the middle man but if you're doing it by yourself and you've never imported anything big like a vehicle, you better be ready to get schooled in a whole lot of import regulations, not to mention appropriate cleaning, vanning/devanning processes, insurance, import duties, engineering reports, inspections, etc. Imports are complicated by the likes of brown marmorated stink bugs (Japan is a country of concern), so a special cleaning process is required for all used vehicles and machinery. There are brokers who can handle a lot of this for you, but they will charge a fee. I'd say $850 isn't bad if you're bringing in a ~$15-20k vehicle.
Basically, if you just want a good cheap (-ish) car without the hassle, find an importer who is prepared to cut you a deal. You'll save yourself a ton of time and potentially money (if you get things wrong). The best thing about choosing and importing a vehicle yourself is not the cost saving, it's that the range is so huge that you can get more or less get anything you want. Cost savings are a bonus unless you really know what you're doing.
Another thing you're probably aware of (but you might not care): whether or not the car has been smoked in is a real gamble. That's the one reason I've never imported vehicles (though I have done machinery). I can't stand the smell of smoke which, no matter how good their cleaning and deodorising, will never completely go away, and the Japanese smoke a lot. "A grade" cars are less likely to have been smoked in, but still no guarantee until you open the door after it's been sitting in the hot sun for a week 🤢