Help Me

[buckets]

hello all

i current own a mitsu mirage (pathetic i know lol)

i am looking at importing a r32 gts-t or an r33 gts-t.

from what i know, i can save alot of money from not using an agent and doing it myself.

from what i have read on the RAWS website, a car can be imported as long as it is not manufactured anymore here in australia.

i was wondering if anyone had any tips for me?

price, time, etc

thanks

[baron25]

before you get royal flaming - next time search, or just have a look around.

Skyline FAQ

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Sk...ne-t113261.html

Importing FAQ (in the cunningly titled "Importing" section)

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Im...Faq-t97853.html

And it may be cheaper to do it yourself, but you'll need a good grip of japanese, and be able to wrangle all the additional stuff to actually buying the car (DOI import approval, degassing/regassing the aircon, shipping, insurance, customs taxes, compliancing etc). It may well be worth paying the extra $1500-$3000 of an agent to make sure it gets done once, done right.

'nuff said.

[DNGRUS]

My dads an importer and has been doing it for over 10 years. He knows exactly what he is doing and has formed some very close business partners over in Japan now. When he 1st started off he had so much difficulty doing it. And most the time the cars wouldnt arrive the way we expected them to be.

However now his cars all come in top condition and its because of the people he knows now. They dont stuff him around anymore. For the 1st time again after many years we have just used a new company that we have never delt with before. Because they dont know us and we didnt know them, they dont go through the effort of gettting your car here on time, as in they just see us as another customer instead of a long time customer like the companies. The car from them is the car iv just imported atm. Id never go through a new company again. They stuffed me around so much it wasnt funny. I am picking up the car 2day finally...but it should have been complianced and rego'd by now..

what im tying to say is i guess, that if u have never done it b4, then dont do it. In reality, you dont really save that much you know. Its up to you though, theres alot to learn if you havent done it before and I guess its always an experience. And if you dont do something on time, then you delay your car on other things.

For example, make sure you apply for your vehicle import approval b4 the car is due to arrive to melbourne and have your compliance plate ordered for you aswell.

..and ur taking a risk in importing a car if u havnt done it b4

[carizma]

Honestly, if you're going to be just doing a single import, I'd say go with an agent (like us...but there are tons of reputable ones around, pick one close to you is probably better). Prices are pretty similar for all agents, about $1,100 for finding the car and arranging everything. $550 if you find the car yourself (say off tradecarview.com or something).

Importing is a learning experience, and I can't remember anyone I know who's imported a car the first time without making mistakes. If you do it yourself, you'll either have to find a buyer in Japan, or deal with a dealer in Japan, and most likely they won't have a presence in Australia. Agents do, so if something goes wrong, at least you'll have someone local you can scream at.

We've been working with our buyer in Japan for 10 years. He doesn't send us crap cars, because we buy about 60 cars a year from him. If you have a buyer in Japan looking for a car for you, and he knows you're just going to buy a single car from him, he probably won't take care of you as well. There are good dealers and bad dealers in Japan, so if you buy off tradecarview.com, you're taking a risk. What if it arrives with an intercooler or something that makes it non-compliable? We're one of the few agents that is actually a compliance workshop, so we guarantee compliance on the vehicles we import. What other agent can do that? Much better than accidentally importing a car that needs to be imported or destroyed, right?

Think of using an agent as an insurance against things going wrong. If a car's going to owe you $10,000 when it gets here, you don't think an extra 10% is too much to make sure things go smoothly?

Anyways, do your homework, and if you're in Victoria come see us. We're happy to comply your vehicle anyways whether you import with us or not. We've even got an R33 in our showroom for $12,900 (not rego'd yet however), so come see that car and see the quality of cars we import.

Anyways, others might disagree, but regardless, do lots of research on the subject if you do it yourself. If you're going to be bringing in more than one, do it yourself, but if you're just a one-off'er, I'd go with an agent.

give us a call or visit if you'd like to chat more,

david @ carizma

[7k R32 PLEASE!]

to be honest there are already plenty of r32/33s in australia hence meaning it is pretty easy to pick up a cheaper one. Since the new laws came in, i am really yet to see a r32 worth importing when you are able to pick up a standard one for like 7-11k.

Dont forget the risks of importing, i know id rather see the car before buying it.

[ABuSD]

yeah, buy one already here, buy mine ull save heaps

[carizma]

whoops, didn't notice you were looking for a 32 gts-t. Yeah, definitely buy that in Australia already, no sense in importing one. (or up your budget to a GTR)

r33 gts-t's are still worth importing, though.

[DNGRUS]

Yeah and even the prices of them have dropped so much!!

Edited March 15, 2008 by DNGRUS