All about importing. The process...

[druzilla32]

I thought this place would be the best to ask cuz i know a few people here are importing.

So after I buy my 89 gtr in japan.. what happens?

I pay my import company the price of the car.. it then goes into storage until the build month? It is then shipped over? Do I personally go to the port to pick it up from there? What happens once it reaches Australia? It will be shipped to a Brisbane port... I need to know what i have to do after it is put on the ship in japan..

any help would be great

Cheers,

[aybee]

after you buy it you transfer the money to the auction house in japan. i guess with the 89 cars they sit in storage until they are ready to ship. then when it arrives you pay the shipping and tax, etc. i personally picked up my car, so i guess the 15 year cars are the same. with the new system for <15 year cars though i think the importers have to pick it up.

[Serious-Seven]

Here is how the proccess works...

For example you see a good car going for sale onj-spec from japan for 500,000YFOB.

You tell J-spec you want the car, they say ok transfer the money to this account bla bla. You send the money of the car value converted to AUD plus $1,000 to jspec for there flat rate fee ..

OK now after that. Say your car can be eligble to import in September you wait till september then you send the VIA( Victorian Import Approval ) form to DOTARS and then you attach $50 of anykind or pay by credit card...

You also attach the De-Reg form J-spec sends you and also some proof that its the correct chasis number you put on the form.....

OK now the next step.

You wait till you recieve you import approval from DOTARS , then you scan and send everything you got from DOTARS ( forms , there is 3 you get )

Once that is done your car will be put on the next boat AVAILABLE to come to australia.

Insurence for everything in your car is around $600~AUD

All you get is standard insurence on just the car itselF! accesories to the car is optional! - stupid eh! lots of theifs on the fkn ships!

After that your car will land in australia and then it will go threw customs.

Once that is done you tell vicroads you want a temporary car rego to drive your car home ( or to the compliance/engineering centre).....

once that is done you drive your car there wait till its ready and drive straight out to vicroads and get your car rego'd!!

BOOOOO its a long process!

[druzilla32]

the process sounds painfull... Well i am importing with j-spec too.

thanks for the help.. cleared a few things up

[Serious-Seven]

yup ,

drop me a pm if you need more help.

[aybee]

BOOOOO its a long process!

farken oath it is!

even worse when you have to wait 2.5 months for a compliance plate! and the car is just sitting in the drive way begging you to drive it.

[Serious-Seven]

OH boy OH BOY!

It Hurts.. it really hurts.

But atleast you had your in your drive way!sitting in it! starting it up.. moving it around in your drive way! LOL ohhh man i wish i could do that.

I had to wait 2 months just to get the damn car outa the country!now that hurts ...

ohhh what about those poor guys who are buying a R32 GT-R for there first time and they chose a 1990 model because they are cheaper!!!! waiting 1 year is PAINFULL!

[SS8_Gohan]

I bought my car mid June, landed Brisbane17th July, and i still don't have a Import Approval - Import approval under RAWS is different, done via secure server and then mailed out to the compliance workshop. I didn't know it was mailed out and was told it takes 7-10 days to approve. It does, but then Australia Post steps in and f*cking loses my first import approval!!!! another has been sent out, but it is going to be cutting it very close in terms of having to pay for storage at the docks (been a hold up with quarantine)

And like someone said above, gotta wait for a compliance plate too as my R34 is going to be a test car, another 4-6 weeks - I don't know if i'll ever import again, i know i've saved almost $10K on what R34's are going for locally, but it's been a bloody long time. I think i started looking round beginning of April!

- Barely feels like i've bought my dream car at all anymore, been so long.

EDIT: Bring this back on topic First thing, don't send the car if you don't have the import approval! I know this is a very basic thing, and you're thinking, as if i'd do that? Well you may just fall into the trap of, oh it's been processed for 20 days now, car takes 2 weeks to get here, plus quaratine time, it will be ok by the time gets here. That's what i thought, and as you can see, it hasn't work out too well. And this is RAWS as well!! 7-10 days approval, done on the internet. Not like 15 yr stuff, all paper submission. Moral? DON'T TRUST AUSTRALIA POST!!!.

If you're going with J-Spec you'll get shipping insurance with KIWI so that's one less thing to worry about as well.

cheers.

[druzilla32]

I bidded on another gtr today!

it has 56,000kms

Ben said i have a good chance of getting it.

it also has an auction grade of 4

I will let you know how it goes...

sure enough I will have more questions as i go thru the process

[druzilla32]

ok i fully missed out on the car ey.. Ive noticed the price has gone up for 89 gtrs in japan.. they were a bit cheaper 6 months ago when i started looking...

[predator]

price of all 1989 cars has gone up it looks.. and the only ones left are the bodgy looking ones.. THere were never a massive amount to begin with, and the good ones have been snapped up already.

well i am about to purchase mine in japan. Found what i wanted.. which is a 32 in black which is in excellent condition throughout. only downer (for some) is that its auto, but i am planning an rb25det gearbox conversion and then taking the engine out sometime next year anyhow - so this is no worries at all for me. Autos seem to be better condition, less modified, less hacked for the most part.

Apparently as its a September build it goes to the shipping yard pretty much now once i have made the FOB payment. And this is where it sits until early Sept when i apply for an import improval. Once that is approved it can come on the first available ship to Brisbane.

But as i find out more i'll post what i find out I guess

[linxus40]

Just a few interesting facts.

89GRT first made in August so earliers you can import is then.

Canada also has a 15year rule. So it isnt just us Australians looting throught Japan for cars.

So prety much there a lot of people from 2 countries looking for good cars, hence rarity and price rises.

That is all.

[druzilla32]

for anybody interested i have pretty much posted my whole importing experience from when I first started to yesterday. CLICK HERE to read what i have gone through... I am using J-Spec...

[raz0r$harP.UK]

I'll try and sum up what I did for my 15 yo import, after purchasing the car.

- send off to DOTARS for an Import Approval.

- once Approval obtained (about a month later), organise for aircon unit to be degassed in accordance (you need a certificate), and to be shipped.

- Bill of Lading is dispatched to you (usually by broker) a few days after vessel leaves Japan

- from here you can either arrange for an customs agent to look after customs / quarantine, or do it yourself.

- if you do it yourself, you need to:

a) You will receive Arrival Notice from shipping company shortly before arrival. Take that to shipping line and pay the shipping costs, they will give you a 'delivery order' to say you are the owner of the shipment.

B) Once ship has docked in port, take Bill of Lading / degassing cert / delivery order, purchase documents and fill out Customs forms, and pay Customs Duty / GST

c) At the same time, organise with AQIS to inspect your car for quarantined material and pay for that.

d) Await for AQIS to clear your car. if not it may need steam cleaning and re-inspection the following day. You'll need to arrange this yourself. Obtain a quarantine 'entry' for steam cleaning to be able to remove it from the docks and take it to the cleaners.

e) Cleaned, re-inspected, and passed.

(Now those steps a-e, if you use a customs agent they look after that for you)

- You just visit the agent, pay them for doing everything and they give you ALL the documentation necessary to...

- go to the docks, present the paperwork and drive your car out.

- take to compliance workshop (tow it..)

- simmer for about a week

- remove from workshop, arrange rego / etc and it's done!

I'd only recommend doing the paperwork yourself if you have time and patience. I had a few issues along the way, I'll link my previous thread which it. But it all worked out so I'm happy.

/edit - here's the link: It is the issues I faced when trying to organise paperwork myself..

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/sh...ead.php?t=45440