Importing a car from Japan to UK

G

G33

Member
I'm currently looking at importing a car from Japan to the UK

Does anyone know of the closest port to Scotland (easier for me to get to) that I can get the car shipped to? I'm thinking of going with Kleerfreight as the customs agent however they only cover Southampton, Tilbury, Bristol and Liverpool - any suggestions/recommendations?

Once I pick it up from the dock after customs is all sorted, what happens next in terms of ESVA testing etc? Am I responsible for getting it to a centre? And when it comes to transporting the car to get mot'd and tested etc, can I insure it and drive it or will i need to trailer it?

If anyone from Scotland has imported a car before then please advise! Any help is greatly appreciated as I am clueless when it comes to importing a car as this will be my first!
 
I imported my JZX few years ago. I got it into Liverpool docks and got it transported up to a friends garage in Glasgow to get it MOT ready.

There was a lot of arsing about with customs payments and releasing the car (Partly due to Japan's side of the paperwork!) so it sat in the docks for a week or so I think.
 
Mint is it cheaper to get it transported up here and get it MOT ready or get it all sorted down there and drive up? :)
 
G33 said:
Mint is it cheaper to get it transported up here and get it MOT ready or get it all sorted down there and drive up? :)
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You got any mates with garages and or trailers?

Im trying to think exactly what I did.. I got a dude called Kay to pick it up and deliver it for me. I had paid all the customs charges etc and phoned them up and told them to release the car to Kay.

He then loaded it up and took it to my friends garage. Where it got up on the ramp and checked over etc.
I had already sent off the paperwork prior to register the car in the UK. Its just a form you can get and fill it in.. There's LOADS of information to fill out but I only filled out the most basic of info.. such as engine size, codes etc. Never bothered with all the dimensions and crap.

Sent that off to the DVLA and got my V5. It was then a case of getting the car taxed and insured and I went down and drove it home (I live up near Aberdeen)

The hardest part was getting it out of customs for Kay to collect.. As I said, they dicked me about for almost a week, cost me a good wad of cash too.
 
mint your memory musn't be too good. You need to send the MOT and insurance certificates off with the V55/5 to register it, and this comes back with the tax disc and V5. So long as the car is over 10 years old then yeah you can ignore almost all of the fields on the form. Anything which says it's to come from the EU certificate of conformity you can leave blank.
 
mint said:
You got any mates with garages and or trailers?

Im trying to think exactly what I did.. I got a dude called Kay to pick it up and deliver it for me. I had paid all the customs charges etc and phoned them up and told them to release the car to Kay.

He then loaded it up and took it to my friends garage. Where it got up on the ramp and checked over etc.
I had already sent off the paperwork prior to register the car in the UK. Its just a form you can get and fill it in.. There's LOADS of information to fill out but I only filled out the most basic of info.. such as engine size, codes etc. Never bothered with all the dimensions and crap.

Sent that off to the DVLA and got my V5. It was then a case of getting the car taxed and insured and I went down and drove it home (I live up near Aberdeen)

The hardest part was getting it out of customs for Kay to collect.. As I said, they dicked me about for almost a week, cost me a good wad of cash too.
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Not with a trailer sadly but I'm trying to source someone who does and won't totally rip me off lol

I will get the import pack from dvla aswell and will start from there!

:D

Clark3y said:
mint your memory musn't be too good. You need to send the MOT and insurance certificates off with the V55/5 to register it, and this comes back with the tax disc and V5. So long as the car is over 10 years old then yeah you can ignore almost all of the fields on the form. Anything which says it's to come from the EU certificate of conformity you can leave blank.
Click to expand...

Sweet, cheers mate!
 
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