Importing a car from japan? any tips?

agentsmith350 said:
Didn't want to raise a new thread for the sake of a couple days - Im looking at importing using JM-Imports , Is there much in it between them and J.U.C ? I was looking at Jm because it seemed they take care of everything from finding the car to the point i would just be picking the car up and driving it away.... , is it a massive price difference by sorting the car yourself once its in the UK or something ?
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My S15 was imported my Jurgen (JM Imports) some 5 years ago.. Amazing service and amazing work ethinc so personally cant praise or recommend them enough. They do sort everything tho so it can delay the process by a couple of weeks but it basically pay deposit, find car, buy car, wait, get lots of calls and emails and pics updating you about how its all going, wait a bit longer, collect, enjoy :cool: simples.

J.
 
it does cost a lot of money tho, cars are cheaper to buy in japan but by the time u get to drive it here it costs double the price wat u pay for in japan.
 
Does it work out cheaper than buying one thats a UK car/already imported and over here? Or is it just so you can pick the exact one you want?
Is that a stupid question?
 
ATM realistically its no cheaper than buying one from the UK but there is far far more choice in Japan as you would expect
 
I found a Honda Prelude for £1695 in Japan, asked Jurgen for a quote, he said £5000 OTR!!

Also saw a 92 Prelude on autorec via japaneseusedcars.com for £900, asked Torque GT for a quote and was estimated at around 4 grand!!

I would like to just pay to import the car and sort the rest myself, but living 5 hours from the nearest port (Newcastle) means it isn't really an option.
 
nickyboy said:
I found a Honda Prelude for £1695 in Japan, asked Jurgen for a quote, he said £5000 OTR!!

Also saw a 92 Prelude on autorec via japaneseusedcars.com for £900, asked Torque GT for a quote and was estimated at around 4 grand!!

I would like to just pay to import the car and sort the rest myself, but living 5 hours from the nearest port (Newcastle) means it isn't really an option.
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LOL if you were to import a £900 car from japan using japaneseusedcars.com it would cost just around £2200 landed here with the import duty paid, so just reg fee and mot etc on top of that (about £300-£400).
so just goes to show how much the companys that do it all are adding on top for their part, I've just imported a car myself through JUC, it was simple and there's NO WAY i would pay someone an extra £1500-£2000 on top to do it for me, its not hard to do so that sort of fee for doing it for someone is blatant robbery if you ask me.
 
Wow, £2200, that's more like it! I've sent a PM to JUC about the car, hopefully they will 'quote me happy'.

I take it JUC do not offer any service for UK registraion etc?
 
nickyboy said:
Wow, £2200, that's more like it! I've sent a PM to JUC about the car, hopefully they will 'quote me happy'.

I take it JUC do not offer any service for UK registraion etc?
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No they dont but its so simple,

get mot'd and insured
take all documents to local DVLA office, they give you a form to fill in, fill in not much info at all (takes 5 mins) give them form back and pay them £175, wait a few days and receive reg number and a tax disc in the post, go get plates made up, fit plates to your car stick the tax disc in the windscreen then go for a drive :thumbs:
 
Yeah it's the MOT bit I will struggle with, how do I get a car with no UK documents to an MOT station? I suppose I could join the RAC and say I broke down in Japan a few weeks earlier and need a lift!

I guess I would pay a lowloader to transport it. But what docs would I need for the garage to MOT it?

Thanks for the help btw
 
Its perfectly legal to drive the car to an MOT station as long as its insured, thats also how you get it home from the docks with no plates as you're gonna drive it straight from the docks to an MOT station aren't you :nod: ;) ;)

the MOT station dont need any docs they'll mot it on the chassis number.
 
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im with Sky, they're a trader on here.

also A-Plan are good, but any insurer who specialises in imports should be able to help.
 
Cheers Rob. Roughly how long would this process from off the boat to driving home take? I'll be shacking up in a Premier Inn in the meantime.
 
depends on your shipping company and customs clearance agent as to how long it takes to get off the boat and clear customs, mine took bout 2 days I think.

for the mot the only thing you HAVE to add/change is a rear fog light (and obviously be up to a standard any UK car would need to pass an MOT), clocks can remain in KPH its just personal preference if you wish to change to MPH but you dont have to for MOT.
 
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Apparently there is no distance regulation in regards to an MOT station, so I could drive from Southampton to Inverness with no numberplates or tax disc. I'm guessing a few stoppages by the cops though haha
 
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