Trojanman750

Did a search, couldnt find anything.


Does any one know the laws of exporting US vehicles to other countries? What kind of taxes, shipping rates, etc.

Specifically, im interested in shipping a new chrysler 300c or chevy camaro to Japan for a friend of mine with deep pockets.

I could theoritically buy the car here for $20-25k, ship it for (what im assuming here, around $5,000 for shipping, taxes, fees, customs, exchange rates, etc), and sell it for alot more over there. i know in japan certain american luxury cars like hummers, corvettes, etc have extremely high mark-ups at local dealerships. i could make a nice profit and still save my friend some money.

Anybody with any experiance please share! I'm interested in import/export as a possible career because i have connections in japan. My grandpa was on the board of supervisors at some big japanese export company, unfortunately that they did not deal in cars but foods and stuff.

Trojanman750

i scoured the internet for information but couldnt find anything useful! and please dont put the link to the US Customs page i have already seen that, im looking for personal experiance stories, links to businesses or FAQ pages on this, etc.

thanks

mrmako

Well, the fortunate thing for that specific model is that it is sold here through the Maruki dealerships, so you'll (or the owner that is) will be able to get it worked on. The bad news is the cost to change the car over (just some light related things) is about $3000. But understand your warranty will be zero.

Now for the suck news. Japan will want to collect a HUGE import tariff on the car. Because you are "selling" it to someone with a proper J- license, it will be taxed heavily. It's not worth it, as this tax runs at least 30%, but can be more.

The dealer here charges about $60K for a 300C Hemi. You do the math.

Now if you have a "connection", then let him work it.

mrmako

I don't have any FAQ's or things of that nature. Let me dig around, because the military has car sales on the bases, and they can drive their vehicles (purchased from these dealers) in Japan. They get what is called an E plate, meaning it was an imported car, and only going to be driven by the military folks and not a normal citizen.

If your friend wants to import a vehicle, and he is affiliated with the US Government in some way (contractor, military), it can be done. It may take a few days, let me ask.

Black Tire

I have seen many many Japanese only cars up here in North York/Richmond hill area just north of Toronto. I just saw one of those mini micro vans that your see in Japan 2 nights ago.

Trojanman750

yea i remember cruising the local dealerships for American cars with my friend and seeing that 300c, new mustangs, hummers, were INSANELY high priced.


but with a sale price of 60k the profit should still be somewhat nice even after all the fees.


so your saying on top of the 3000 transfer fee, theres also a 30% tax on my profit? or on the total value of the car in USD or JPY? would they tax the 25k the car is worth or the 60k it sells for?

my friend is a high level executive at japans division of Johnson & Johnson medical division, he currently owns a brand new M5 but really wants an American muscle car because they are so rare over there. i dont think i have connections with gov. officials, etc, id have to ask my gramps. everyone in japan drives BMW, Mercedes, that the typical high class european car is pretty standard/boring. a 300c w/ chrome package would turn MAJOR heads over there, even though a 300c over in the states is considered pretty cheap.

Trojanman750

what about vintage american muscle cars, i remember seeing local tokyo rappers with old cadillacs and stuff, trying to be 'gangsters' etc.

i could buy a nice 69 camaro or chevelle here for under 15k, and it would be worth a shitload more over there. what are the laws on emissions, etc?

blacktsx05

iTrader: (1)

my company policy through Group 1 Automotive is we can only sell new vehicles in the US but thats not always true. we have dealers that will buy cars from us claiming that they are leasing company or fleet companys and they export those vehicles. as for preowned we can sell you a preowned vehicle and you can do w.e you want with it. shit export it to the north pole if you want

Trojanman750

are there any taxes from the US on shipping out of country, or are a majority of the costs from japans side. can i get a breakdown of expenses, etc?

mrmako

A guy I know imported a WRX here. I'll ask what it costs. The rough guestimate is as follows:

$1000 - 2000 to physically ship the car (port fees, the container, etc. ) paid in the US.

$1300 - 1500 to Japan for "conversion" (they recommend what has to be put on it, the work is extra cost).

$700 One time import fee for getting plates and Japanese certification / title

$~700 for Japanese Compulsory Inspection (JCI), paid every 2 years, similar to US registration.

$150 - 300 for road tax (paid every year)

$ unknown - 30% or more tax if this is a new car. And I stress the more part.

A used vehicle will cost less. And an old muscle car would be interesting to have, but a pain to get repaired (even ordering parts from the US gets to be expensive, even JC Whitney will cost a bit through the mail, as Japan will slap import duties on that too).

The way to go is to ship a late model, maybe 2 - 5 years old, that has a supported dealership network. GM is supported through Yanase. So at least he'll be able to get it serviced without a lot of hassle.

Here's the web link to their site:

http://www.yanase.co.jp/

If you poke around, you'll see a 300C hemi lists new for about $68,000. (take any price in yen and divide by 105 and you'll have a close dollar amount) If you are able to ship something, then I would say a Cadillac CTS-V, the first or second year of manufacture should be cheap enough. He would definitely have something not common, and it's not to big for the roads here (something you may not know is the roads are narrow and parking sucks badly.

Trojanman750

yea maybe GM would be better, he likes the CTS-V i'll tell him abuot it.

tokyo is my second home, ive been there more than 25 times for weeks at a time, so im pretty familiar with the roads. parking is terrible too, but my friend always parks his bmws at the expensive paid garages.

i hate those JCI fees, my gramps had a 93 MPV with only 10k that he had to get rid of because it wouldnt pass JCI. it was a clean car that would easily sell here for 3 grand or so, but over in Tokyo its worth nothing. he ended up having to give it to his mechanic for 10,000 yen.

subinf

Export I don't know much about. With importing cars, the DOT has a bunch of regs that need to be followed.

Trojanman750

yea importing is a bitch. if it was easy we would have tons of dope toyota chasers and skylines rolling around everywhere. its soooo hard to import the goodies from japan to america.

mrmako

Don't tell anyone....Shhhhhhhh..This is a secret

You can ship motors back to the US without much of an issue. If shipped as car parts, the import duty is very low, as they would be used.

A vehicle, on the other hand, is different. A working vehicle needs to pass US emissions testing, and crash tests. The crash testing usually involves taking 10 samples of the car (hope your wallet is big) and they crash them and record the data. If it passes, you would be allowed to import it. So, to pay for all of that is in the neighborhood of 10 cars at list price plus the testing (not even funny..$ hundreds of K's).

Now, you can ship a front clip, quarter panels, suspension parts and the like for the shipping cost. Or a rolling chassis that would not ever be made street legal.

And for those asking, I work with people that asked the DOT how to get their Skylines (R32's and R33's) back to the US. Unless its a track queen with no plates, no way. But parts are OK.