Importing motorcycles/cars to japan

[Maths Dude]

Is it possible to import private cars/motorbikes into Japan, and then sell em at a nice profit ?

[Taro Toporific]

Is it possible to import private cars/motorbikes into Japan, and then sell em at a nice profit ?

Well yes but .....your Japanese ablities need to be very good, you need a shop/garage-&-lot, and you need to loooooove grease.
Gray-market imports have dropped 90% in the past 10 years and the classic LEAD-SLED/lowrider boom is over. Japanese who do it are generally rich kids whose families have given them a used import or classic car dealership to make their braindead children "appear" to be gainfully employed.

See the old FG thread: transporting my car to japan..???

[Maths Dude]

The reason I asked is that I just discovered that Honda CB750's from the 1970's sell well over a million yen in Japan. I can get em where I am for about 200,000 yen. There arent many of em but it might give me som pocket money

[maraboutslim]

The reason I asked is that I just discovered that Honda CB750's from the 1970's sell well over a million yen in Japan. I can get em where I am for about 200,000 yen. There arent many of em but it might give me som pocket money

There is money to be made in such a scheme but I suspect the large difference in the two prices you quoted will be in the condition of the motorcycle. The Japanese will want an absolutely perfect and all original bike. Sometimes the level they are looking for is totally imperceptable to westerners: we're just not so damn picky. The Japanese are immensely detail oriented and will notice every damn thing and the difference in price between a 98% correct bike and a 100% correct bike may appear small, but the 100% correct bike may be worth double price.

I imported and sold various items in Japan that I could get for 1/3 price in California. Vintage guitars and surfboards and whatnot. Another problem I had is that there is not the same culture of one individual selling something to another individual like there is in the states and so it was harder to find buyers (even with ads posted in Japanese with my girlfriend or wife's name on them). Yes, there are swap meets and the popularity of yahoo auctions is surely changing attitudes but to really make money selling stuff in Japan, especially something valuable and complex, I think you really need a shop. That costs a lot of money and that's why the prices are much higher.

[Sir Zephyr]

I used to work for a Japanese motorbike company. They'd go to the States every 2 months, buy up every vintage (rare in Japan) good conditioned Japanese motorbike they could get their hands on until they were having trouble finding enough to fill a container in one go. (22 bikes). [long sentence...]

He is now a very rich guy......