im active duty army stationed in germany right now and ive lined up a nice RHD 96 ek4 in japan. getting the car from japan to germany is no problem but the exporting company is saying i cant register the car in the states etc.. when i know you can because there is obviously rhd cars from japan in the states, i know theres an exception for soldiers who purchase a car from their duty station over seas. i will be able to talk to those ppl on monday, but was just wondering what info you guys had on this topic. thanks

 

I've seen several registered legal RHD civics and skylines in GA. It's certainly doable.

 

get to know someone at the dol

 

It's doable, but depending on the state you live in, it will be different for everyone.

For most, it will be a pain in the ***.

 

Just call your state office and ask them, or even your RMV in the state where you would be bringing the rhd to.

 

thanks for the input guys. i guess ill just wait till monday and go talk to the people who take care of shipments of pov's.

 

and also im going back home to Iowa, we dont have emissions test or vehicle inspections so i dont have to worry about that part of it alteast, but im sure it will have to pass some type of inspection once it gets state side though

 

There's a big thread on this somewhere. You don't have the proper emissions on the Japanese vehicle for one and I think the gist of the post was what it is pretty much illegal and/or too cost prohibitive to matter to get it registered.

 

OP, talk to the Travel office, have them point you in the right direction. You may need to get with JAG and find out the legality issues too. But there are numerous people in the military that bring cars home, but emissions, DOT glass, etc. are all factors that will play a role in the state you try and register it in.

It can be done, but the cost to bring the JDM car to US regulations is expensive, so most people decide not to do it when they come home. When I looked into it back in the mid 90's it was going to cost thousands to bring the car to US regulations.

 

Isnt it easy to ship them to Canada! They have RHDs there too for days!

 

Shipping isn't the issue I think. Getting them emissions compliant and registered is what costs so much.

 

main issue is crash testing. since the chassis has already been tested and has a safety designation here in the states as a LHD model you can do it. the states don't care what side drive it is. they car its safe for highway use.head ache is filling out paperwork and you NEED a certificate from japan stating what it is and what its crash test info is.

if you can't get the paperwork from japan you can fill out a ton more paperwork or you can import it as an OFFROAD race car then do a VIN swap it so you can get tags
emissions does not matter for import. its up to you local government to say weather you can drive it, since there is no inspection/emission test no problem..

I swear this is dejavu

for you cali cats.. how do you not pass emissions? my cat-less civic puts out less emission than the maximum allowed amounts for CARB, but it is pretty stock

 

if you import to Canada you have to register it there. you still wouldn't be able to import to the us from Canada without going through the same hoops as if it came strait from Japan. goes on Country of origin not country you import from.

come to think of it they don't care about crash testing if the car is... i think 15 years old. might be 25 years... I'm like 67% sure its 15 years

 

^
hahahah VIN swap :D

 

It is. I just haven't found the thread that explains all of this.

 

Here it is.
https://honda-tech.com/forums/acura-integra-type-r-8/importing-grey-market-vehicle-facts-whats-legal-whats-not-2805656/

 

so even if the state im going to live in doesnt have emissions test or yearly vehicle inspections? im not going to build the motor till i get to the states but i am going to modify suspension etc.

 

good find

 

Shady.

 

Doesn't matter, has to be US compliant, that's why I gave up bringing one home, too much money and paperwork than the car was worth.

 

i mean isnt there some type of program or paperwork i can do since im coming from overseas duty station and in the army? i could have sworn i heard something about bringin cars

 

Like I said, start with the travel office and they may point you to JAG for legality and paperwork. But know that being in the Army doesn't exempt your car from having to be US compliant. I'm retired now, so I can only give you my past experience.

 

Just remeber this... and I'm not saying VIN swapping is a "good" thing. But if you do go this route and happen to get into a wreck... your not going to be covered once the insurance company gets there hands on it.... there is no "good" way to swap the vin on the firewall... they will notice... just something to think about...

 

Good point. It's just not worth the risk. I think I'd rather have an overseas car that was offroad only than have it seized because I swapped the VINs. Not to mention fines and possible jail time.

 

Still sounds shady even after you tried to explain it.