Has anyone gone through the process of importing a car from Japan? I was wondering if anyone knows the fees that a registered importer charges as well as federal fees. I have the federal regulations, but that doesn't help me with what it's going to cost.

 

your best buying one thats already been registered. one of my friends has a job doing that, he gets them from europe, where his uncle lives

 

i heard a rumor that sometimes military personnel that are stationed out there bring back cars and motors etc etc onboard the U.S. cargo planes

 

Ok, I did some research, and in my opinion it's not worth it. There are very few petitions out proving that jdm vehicles meet the federal safety standards. Without an existing petition you need to buy two cars. The first will be crashed for the purpose of crash testing. This process will cost $30k. Then it will cost an additional $12k for each additional car to bring it to standard. The vehicle must be thoroughly cleaned, or else it will be turned around at port. There are several duty taxes on top of this. The vehicle must be tested and brought to standard to satisfy the EPA. If the vehicle gets less than 22.5 mpg, there is an additional "gas guzzler" tax. You have one year to make all of this happen, or the vehicle gets shipped back. The work must be done by a registered importer. I contacted a registered importer, and they are the ones that gave me the $30k, and $12k figures. The only thing that is waved for soldiers over seas is the duty tax. That is if they are on tdy orders of four months or more, and the shipping is probably on them, because I have never heard of oconus tdy orders that authorize shipment of a pov.

All in all for the amount of money you will have to spend to ship a $6k integra or civic is about the same as buying a very nice used nsx, or an s2000 with a lot of money left over for upgrades.

 

Check out the websites for EPA, DOT, and NHTSA.

I had to look the information up a long time ago...sorry I didn't bookmark it. One of these gov't agencies has pages of info on the proper procedures on importing cars. They even have a long list of cars that are approved for importing.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hplssone &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> That is if they are on tdy orders of four months or more, and the shipping is probably on them, because I have never heard of oconus tdy orders that authorize shipment of a pov.
</TD></TR></TABLE>military personnel are allowed one free shipment of an owned vehicle to their home/duty station.... i would love to get stationed in oki!

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by i_am_a_black_man &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">your best buying one thats already been registered. one of my friends has a job doing that, he gets them from europe, where his uncle lives</TD></TR></TABLE>
but as stated above ^^^ is your best bet....

 

o i see so there is some truth in the fact that military personnel can ship their cars

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hplssone &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ok, I did some research, and in my opinion it's not worth it. There are very few petitions out proving that jdm vehicles meet the federal safety standards. Without an existing petition you need to buy two cars. The first will be crashed for the purpose of crash testing. This process will cost $30k. Then it will cost an additional $12k for each additional car to bring it to standard. The vehicle must be thoroughly cleaned, or else it will be turned around at port. There are several duty taxes on top of this. The vehicle must be tested and brought to standard to satisfy the EPA. If the vehicle gets less than 22.5 mpg, there is an additional "gas guzzler" tax. You have one year to make all of this happen, or the vehicle gets shipped back. The work must be done by a registered importer. I contacted a registered importer, and they are the ones that gave me the $30k, and $12k figures. The only thing that is waved for soldiers over seas is the duty tax. That is if they are on tdy orders of four months or more, and the shipping is probably on them, because I have never heard of oconus tdy orders that authorize shipment of a pov.

All in all for the amount of money you will have to spend to ship a $6k integra or civic is about the same as buying a very nice used nsx, or an s2000 with a lot of money left over for upgrades. </TD></TR></TABLE>

there are way around this ^^. IMO, it's not worth it though, not on my salary.