Shipping a car...

[Kanchou]

I've developed a strange curiosity as to how much it would cost to get my car to/from Japan if for some reason I decided I couldn't live without my baby (if I was going to have or need a car while I was there regardless)...

Yes, I like my car that much. It's very unlikely that I would do this (as I have little cash to do something like that with).

Also, what would I have to do to register in it Japan? Considering the amount of American cars I've seen in Japan, I assume it's not virtually impossible like it is bringing a Japanese domestic market car to America is.

I assume it's at least $2,000 each way...

Still cheaper than buying a new car (...actually, it would cost about the same amount to buy the same kind of car there). At least that way I wouldn't fall in love with a car I couldn't bring home.


Ironically enough, I made a similar post over two years ago reguarding the same kind of car (although mine isn't a turbo).

[Big Booger]

http://www.goo-net.com/used/

[Mr Doricar]

It's a lot of hassle! I wouldn't bother.

My car is a Japanese import in the UK, I wanted to send it back to Japan, re-register it and use it in Japan but it was too much hassle. You have to register it, get it through the shaken, bla bla bla

What car is it?

James

[Kanchou]

89 RX-7 (non-turbo)

I get the feeling I'd probably fail the shaken without some work since I don't know if I could pass an emissions test, and while I've replaced a lot of hoses and stuff in the engine bay, a lot of the fuel hoses and stuff (from the tank) are probably factory parts (although they're not leaking).

[madfuku]

For an RX-7 I wouldn't bother, they are plentiful and inexpensive here.
--- But heres what I did and what it cost ---

I can tell you that both I and another friend did it last year and it is less of a hassle than everyone keeps on saying it is.

At the end it cost me less than 900,000 from street to street. I did do the paperwork mostly myself and took it to the inspection myself and I didn't speak a scrap of Japanese at the time (had a friend however who was not by any means a car person).

Basically, in my case my car was not normally sold in Japan (no dealer network) and when I did find one already in Japan, it was more than double the price to buy in Japan than to buy it overseas. In fact, there where so many markups, fees and taxes it easily exceeded the cost of bringing my car from overseas and streeting it in Japan by 3,500,000 yen.

I then found out that the dealer basically "imported" the car almost the same way I was importing my own car AND even bought the car from the same dealer I bought mine from and there really wasn't anything different other than the fact they practically doubled the price of the car's cost. So even if I sold my car overseas and brought that money over to Japan, I could only pay for perhaps 50% of the car with the cash in hand and that was USED!

With this information in front of me, I was happy to drop 1,000,000 yen on it because the alternative was WAY more expensive and even a nice K car would cost a bit over a million yen (to put things in perspective). It took me about 20 days to get the car on the street after it arrived in Japan and cleared customs (2 days).

Now just a little fact, whether you buy a car in Japan or Import your own you will still need to pay almost exactly the same fees for both AND there really is only three additional fees that are different. A comprehensive emissions test and Registration Approval, shipping costs and an import tax (you can get around this), all other fees would be incurred regardless of its origin and don't let people give you crap like shakken is just so damn expensive, its really overrated - buy what you want.

I just bought a Lexus recently and I was bracing for some crazy shakken and it wasn't much more than my girlfriends K-car (Mitsubishi AI). In fact the shakken difference between a Yellow Plate (K) and White is ridiculously minor IMHO and the only real difference is operational cost (mainly fuel and oil) and the actual cost of the car itself which start at about a million yen difference on average, so up front cost is really what's truly different from my experience I am not factoring parking in because its a full spectrum situtation, sometimes free, sometimes expensive, sometimes cheap, but makes little difference on car unless you drive a Hummer (and I know a few people that do and NOTHING for parking where they live).

AT HOME:
If you can sell or gift the car to a relative and have them sell it and gift it back to you and go to your DMV and pay the sales tax on it or file the appropriate tax exemption forms because J-customs assesses the consumption and import tax of the car on the Bill of Sale + Freight Cost so you can avoid taking a hit on that all together by lowering the value of the car thru making it a gift (from your family) or selling it between family members (non-family looks fishy, though legal). I sold my sister a 1 year old $60,000 car for $1 before coming to Jland and the DMV just made me fill in a form saying it was a gift and sign it in front of them.

This is about how it broke down for me, again if this is a cool car that doesn't exist in Japan it may be worth it for u. If its just some normal car for transportation you are better off with a nice K-car especially the mobile love hotel types

Customs Clearance & Importation 80,000
Pick Up - Customs Bonded Area 15,000
-Inspection for Japanese Homologation Requirements 100,000 (avoid this)
Documentation, Application for New Registration 20,000
Emissions Testing, Emissions Test Report, Registration Approval 250,000
Transport Fees 160,000 (US>JAPAN)
Consumption Tax 5% of Invoice Price of Car from Original Bill of Sale
Jidoshazei (One Year) 30,000
Jyuriyozei (Three Years) 38,000
Compulsory Insurance - Jibaiseki Hoken (Three Years) 42,800

Got these waived:
Shutokuzei 5%
Consumption Tax on Import 5% of Customs Declared Value - Invoice + Shipping
Recycle Tax - don't remember how much but was real cheap

MADFUKU

[Mr Doricar]

Yeah, what the hell man. Its an FC ..... Theres tons of them in Japan and they won't be LHD. Theres NO POINT what so ever in importing your car into Japan. Just sell it to some Cali drift lifestyle guy and buy one in Japan for $2000 for a Turbo model! Come on man think about it

[Big Booger]

[Kanchou]

Yes, but it's MY FC, and that means a hell of a lot to me. I figure if I got the chance to drive Tsukuba Circuit or to take it to the mountains, that would be...well, cool.

Even if I didn't take it with me, I'd probably at least source out an S5 (kouki) engine, transmission, and rear end and ship it home... since it would be cheaper and easier than searching for one in the US.


And Big Booger, an RX-7 (even an uber-sexy 99+ model) with an automatic transmission is like having a wife with male genitalia. No fun at all, and you just feel gay in the end.

Not to mention I'd be wary of any 99 FD that sells for less than 20K...

However, taking my own car would probably be if I was doing some sort of long-term payed internship (which tend to pay the equivalent of about $10 an hour), rather than something that pays a semi-decent salary (ie, 30K for the JET program).

If that was the case I'd probably get a late-model Silvia or a GT-R... or a similar FD (or maybe an 86...hehe).

[Big Booger]

From goo-net the range in prices for an RX-7 were from 1.8K-40K...

http://www.goo-net.com/cgi-bin/goojp/used/select_area_w.cgi?car_cd=10251004&n_body_cd=1&baitai=goo

The one I posted was an automatic, however to drive a manual shift car, you have to have the manual shift endorsement which requires the manual shift drive test, which is a load of shit.

If you already have that license Then take a look at this ride:

http://www.goo-net.com/used/spread/goo/17/0190070201M4000261001.html

Without shakken.

2000 model Rx-7
31,000Km
Manual
Red
Type RB S-package with Aero effects
145万円


Personally I'd go for the automatic that I posted previously due to the nature of driving in Japan (stop and go like a mofo).... and the fact that it had some shakken left, low odometer reading and much lower price

[Kanchou]

Well, it IS true that automatic cars are typically abused far less than manual cars, so they make great cars to put manual transmissions in... but the conversions are typically a pain in the ass.

And I'd more than like do at least a few "soukoukai" if I had a car in Japan (which WILL be a sports car, reguardless... smiles per gallon I say).

Also, automatic third-gen RX-7s are known for being much cheaper (because no one wants them).