Importing Into Vic

[curlyjimbo]

Hey guys,

I know you probably get this alot, but here goes...

My dream car is an r34 Skyline Coupe, and from what I've heard, whatever the FOB price is, you basically double that, and after a few headaches or two the car is registered in AUS. What are you experiences?

So lets say i have $12,000 to spend on a coupe. Is it worth it?

Thanks

[Blipman]

Doubling the price is a little bit simplistic but in the case of a $12,000 car is probably about right, a very rough rundown of the costs involved for a $12,000 landed and complied R34 would be:

Purchase pice of the car: 480,000 yen FOB / $5,900

Service fee of a broker if using one: $1,000

Shipping, customs and wharf costs: $1,900

Import duty: $300

GST: $700

Compliance: $2,200

Total: around $12,000 landed and complied, plux new tyres and registration.

For that sort of money you could probably only afford a non turbo coupe in good condition, a turbo would probably be out of your budget.

[PRIMO]

Hi Curley i wouldnt say you just double the FOB fee there is a few calculations you need to do to work out the landed and complied price

when you say you have $12,000 does this mean complied and landed or landed only?

example

car cost 500,000fob = @ 81 exchange rate $6172.00 AUD add shipping say 1200AUD + duty 10% + Gst 10% + customs and quarentine say allow upto $500 if its reinspected and needs a clean + customs agent fee $150 + transport to compliance $150 + $2500 complaince + tyres + registration costs. also allow a bit extra for things extra transport or repairs for the car at compliance or the change of non standard parts etc.

total landed complied in a rough example in this case would owe you landed and complied say approx $12,571.00 + registration costs.

in my opinion 500,000yen FOB does not buy a nice example ER34 5SPD turbo coupe, it may buy a 5spd non-turbo or an Auto turbo coupe.

hope this helps

regards, Phil

[Blipman]

Import duty is 5% as of January even for MA category Phil

[PRIMO]

yes correct. 5% is from January. but there is still shipping to arrive this year december for us so in this case maybe 10% is applicable still.

[PRIMO]

Wow we must have both been typing at the same time we replied you just beat me BTW J-spec is Australia's #1 Broker service company, Ben will definatly look after you.

great minds think alike and our replies are very similar ... LOL

regards, phil

[Iron Chef]

I heard that!!

[PRIMO]

Wasnt me i can`t smell it yet was it u

[curlyjimbo]

Thanks for you help guys,

As I've mentioned before, the r34 Coupe is a car I would love to own. I read these forums everyday, but I just don't post that much.

I'll be a P-Plater here in Vic, so turbo won't be an option anyway! I could buy something else, but i know I'll just end up kicking myself later.

I think I'll end up importing a car, it's just the risks I'm worried about...

Thanks again,

Jimbo

[curlyjimbo]

I was thinking along the lines of these...

http://www.tradecarview.com/used_car/japan...kyline/1084764/

http://www.tradecarview.com/used_car/japan...skyline/903141/

http://www.tradecarview.com/used_car/japan...ne+coupe/86580/

Most of these cars look pretty stock, and realistically, my budget is 12k, that is 12k to do everything except insurance. Am I dreaming? or is this achievable?

Cheers

[Blipman]

The first and last car of those links are 2.0L models which is why they are so cheap, they are not eligile for import, you can only bring in 2.5L models. The bayside blue car if a good vehicle is VERY good value, you'll usually pay a premium for series 2 and a big premium for that colour, so I would normally expect a car like that to be quite expensive. I would recommend staying away from Trade Carview, 9 times out of 10 the cars are of poor quality, the sellers don't even own them and can't send more pics or info, or other problems. If you're after a cheap car I'd recommend sourcing one from auction as that's where prices will tend to be the best.

$12k for a manual coupe including rego and everything I think is going to be a bit tough, you can do it but the quality of cars might be a bit low at that budget. For a iptronic auto I'd say absolutely no problem.

[PRIMO]

Also the last thing you want to happen is a car to arrive in Australia that has failed Raws compliance so really you need at least a propper Auction grading sheet to determine if it is accident or not. Trade car view sellers cannot inform you this unless the car has a recent legitamite Auction sheet. although we do advertise on Trade car View ourselves thru another company there are some legitmate companys selling there which i can say, but there seems to be a lot of what we call Fishing cars there cars that are listed at cheep prices to attract attention to companies that will sometimes reply and try to get you to buy other stock saying that the original car has sold allready. try to stay away from sellers that only list 2 auction photos and find a japanese company that can physically inspect the car for damage and condition, preferably an Australian that knows how the raws system works. photos alone sometimes dont describe a car very well if they are in low resolution pix.

Option 2 , like ben said buy direct at Auction where the cars are always real and have legitamate Auction sheets.

Whats ur input Kristian ? i know ur reading....

[curlyjimbo]

Okay, so if I were to Import a car, weather it be through a broker or just trying to do it myself, I can only import the 2.5L cars.

Tradecarview.com has always seemed a bit funny, but then again they have at least 100,000 cars on that website. Where do you advise I look then?

I would want the car to preferably be manual, Skylines? Auto Transmission? I wonder what Nissan were thinking....

I think this might be achievable, even if the car has done 140,000Km's+

Thanks again

[PRIMO]

i recomend buying from Auction thru a broker or source in japan that has reputable info. this way you can order a vehicle on the description colour and choice of options and you can be given a very close cost to landing and complied totals.

most decent brokers or exporters can supply you with good quality cars and loads of photos for you to make a good educated buy. unfortunatly buying thru auction you need to trust the exporters experiance and judgement for the right car.

Auctions have over 80,000 car per week go thru but people in Japan cannot be at every single auction in Japan for example we are in Osaka region where there is a lot of Auctions daily for us to go to but sometimes the stock is not presant at auctions we attend daily.

there are some people who will have access to the Auctions web sites and send you the basic information every night prior to Auctions for your consideration also.

cheers Phil

[Iron Chef]

Also the last thing you want to happen is a car to arrive in Australia that has failed Raws compliance so really you need at least a propper Auction grading sheet to determine if it is accident or not. Trade car view sellers cannot inform you this unless the car has a recent legitamite Auction sheet. although we do advertise on Trade car View ourselves thru another company there are some legitmate companys selling there which i can say, but there seems to be a lot of what we call Fishing cars there cars that are listed at cheep prices to attract attention to companies that will sometimes reply and try to get you to buy other stock saying that the original car has sold allready. try to stay away from sellers that only list 2 auction photos and find a japanese company that can physically inspect the car for damage and condition, preferably an Australian that knows how the raws system works. photos alone sometimes dont describe a car very well if they are in low resolution pix.

Option 2 , like ben said buy direct at Auction where the cars are always real and have legitamate Auction sheets.

Whats ur input Kristian ? i know ur reading....

I wasn't actually, but I am now

You're correct though, there are stacks of companies on Tradecarview that will list cars coming up at auction as their own stock, at a price they think they'll sell at, then they'll try and get someone to "buy" the car at that money, then they'll go and have a crack at the car at auction. If they don't buy it, they tell the customer that the car was already sold and that they'll keep the money there to try and find something else for them, dodgy buggers.

Apart from one particular company, I trust most sellers on Tradecarview as far as I can throw them.

[curlyjimbo]

I wasn't actually, but I am now

You're correct though, there are stacks of companies on Tradecarview that will list cars coming up at auction as their own stock, at a price they think they'll sell at, then they'll try and get someone to "buy" the car at that money, then they'll go and have a crack at the car at auction. If they don't buy it, they tell the customer that the car was already sold and that they'll keep the money there to try and find something else for them, dodgy buggers.

Apart from one particular company, I trust most sellers on Tradecarview as far as I can throw them.

So do you think it's a good idea to try and import myself?

Either way I like the idea of having a broker

From you experience, and todays prices from Japan, do you think what I'm after is achievable PRIMO, Blipman & Iron Chef Imports?

Thanks for you help

[PRIMO]

for non turbo 5spd its possible but they are getting hard to find. if you had slightly better budget i would say would get you better car also less than 80,000klm.

cheers, Phil

[curlyjimbo]

for non turbo 5spd its possible but they are getting hard to find. if you had slightly better budget i would say would get you better car also less than 80,000klm.

cheers, Phil

Thanks.

Yeah, 12k would really be my max, but hey, it's worth a shot I guess!

It's still a good 6 months off, so I'll be in contact with one of you guys in 6 months time! glad the Import duty is going from 10% to 5%...

Cheers

[PandaR33]

its not importing that will cost you its the complience. i dought you will be able to get a fresh na 34 for 12k. and you have to watch out most complience places are fair dodgy.

but its worth giving dom a call at holford moters. his costly but his honest.

cheers panda