Personal Import, Anyone Done It?

[MaximusSmurf]

I'm going to Japan next week. Hoping to stay for a year. Was also hoping to purchase a car over there and bring it back as a personal import (R34 GTR if i can afford it, if not then GTT).

Has anyone done this before?

Any problems along the way?

Anything in particular I have to do before I leave?

Any hidden costs that often get overlooked?

Anything else I need to know?

Appreciate any and all help. Thanks.

[Iron Chef]

In order...

Yes

Yes - keep every record of purchase and ownership possible.

Yes - get in touch with a buyer (in can help you there) and organise to go to uaction and buy a car as soon as you get there - you need to own and drive it for AT LEAST 12 months.

Yes - on a GT-R, luxury car tax. Other than that it's pretty straightforward.

Not really, just make sure you have access to an account for you money (or put it on VISA).

[DaiOni]

"Any hidden costs that often get overlooked?"

the fact that the govt will charge you GST that includes - the car cost (independantly evaluated for personal imports) + shipping + import tax (so it's a tax on a tax!). Very rude.

the fact that you need a broker in japan - as well as in australia

the fact that customs have fees that you 'might' need to pay (when they say 'might', they mean 'will')

on the plus side - don't get your ac degassed - as you don't need to do that for personal imports. I know people who have been getting it done - obviously dotars isn't telling people the exact rule? Anyway - double check with the EPA

I think most people forget about state registration, green slip, blue slip, insurance etc - don't forget to factor that into your budget

[momo]

The biggest cost over looked so far is the fact that to own a car in japan you have to have a place to park it. If i bought a car and tried to park it where i live it would cost me 50,000 yen 600 dollars a month. you have to have the car in your name for 12 months so do the math. Its important you find somewhere cheap to live if you want a car (japanese suburbia, YUK!).

The law on gas does not change under different car import regulations as it is an environmental law covering any import of banned gas be it a car or a fridge. A r34 sould have newer acceptable gas however.

The tax is 10% gst + 15% duty on the purchase price, as evident on your reciept.

Shaken is also potentially expensive if it needs to be renewed while you own the car. This is a bi-annual (ever 2 years) inspection of your car that usually costs around 2000 to 2500 dollars.

If you come to osaka I can help you buy and ship the car, everything this side covered for 50,000 yen (austion fees customs transport deregisteration etc)

but you will have to park and maintain it for a year, take into account those costs plus 1000 dollars shipping plus whatever your customs agent screws out of you in australia (you can potentially do it your self but alot of reserch involved and talking to retards in burocracy who have no idea what there job is.) tax and a the price of registration in your state. and thats about it.

As an example of the great job that customs agent do in australia, they forgot to tell me two of my cars had arrived and then tried to blame it on me that they'd been sitting at the port for 2 week and hit me with the storage fees which were outragous. In japan it cost me about 2 dollars a day to keep them stored waiting to be shipped and in aus it was about 60 dollars a day. (Acording to the agent)

Go figure

[DaiOni]

"The law on gas does not change under different car import regulations as it is an environmental law covering any import of banned gas be it a car or a fridge. A r34 sould have newer acceptable gas however."

WRONG:

"If you are an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident who is returning to

Australia or you are a Migrant, Tourist or Temporary Resident, you may bring

with you your motor vehicle into Australia as part of your personal effects.

However, if the vehicle is a one-off import for your personal use and that it is

not for trade or commerce, you will not require a licence under the Department

of the Environment and Heritage's Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse

Management Act 1989. Please note, you will only be permitted to import one

vehicle in any licensing period.

You will need to provide to your Shipping Agent/Freight Forwarder or Customs

Broker:-

ｧ A copy of your identification/information page of your passport as well as a

copy of the visa that entitles you for entry to Australia;

ｧ A statement saying that the vehicle is a one-off import that is for personal

use and is not for trade or commerce and that you the importer will not be

bringing in any other vehicles.

Vehicles in the above circumstances can contain HFCs, HCFCs, or CFCs and will

not require degassing/retrofitting prior to coming into Australia.

Your shipping agent/freight forwarder/customs broker will need to provide this

information to the Australian Customs Service who will contact our office for

verification and clearance.

Your shipping agent/ freight forwarder or customs broker can contact our office

directly on either +61 2 6274 1373 or + 61 2 6274 1237 if they have any

questions in relation to the above.

Kind regards,

Fiona Gardner

A/g Licensing Co-ordinator

Ozone and Synthetic Gas Team

Department of the Environment and Heritage

Telephone: + 61 2 6274 1373

Facsimile: + 61 2 6274 1610"

[momo]

Different story to what the b@#ch told me on the phone and through various emails when I spoke to here on comencing import some time ago. My mistake.

Edited February 11, 2006 by momo

[DaiOni]

there was a lot of misinformation when the regulation was initially announced/implemented. Some people are still getting their clients to do it - which is either them making a buck somehow, or just ignorence.

[Intensevil]

Didn't res just bring in 2 cars to australia? his whine red r32 and the q's silvia. Did he actauly own the silvia for a year?

What i'm getting at is, do you actualy have to have owned the car for a year or just have been in japan for a year?

[DaiOni]

silvia was an 88 wasn't it?

[DaiOni]

and yes - you do have to own it for 12 months - more, actually (when you think about it)

[Beer Baron]

tax is like this: GST 10% and import duty 10% as it has been lowered from 15.

and momo is right on the storage thing. i have stored a car in japan and it cost about $60 a month. in aus (sydney) it is $60 per day, which is one good reason to find a customs broker that is on the ball. that is sometimes easier said than done though.

[Rezz]

Didn't res just bring in 2 cars to australia? his whine red r32 and the q's silvia. Did he actauly own the silvia for a year?

What i'm getting at is, do you actualy have to have owned the car for a year or just have been in japan for a year?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah... my Silvia was an '88, so it came under the (newly updated) 15 year ruling, and I only owned it in Japan for a couple of months anyhow. Having said that though, the work required to get it registered in WA sent me back $1,000 which I hadn't bargained on.

The R32 on the other hand was eligable for personal import, but because I had proof of purchase going back to mid 2004, it was eligable for 15 year import under the old scheme aswell. So we opted to import as a 15 year old car. Either way in this case personal or 15 year old import there wasn't much difference.

We didn't de-gas either car, and we devalued both cars... well I tell a lie... the Silvia was *literally* bought for $700, and I ended up paying a grand total of $22 for stamp duty! Eat it Johnny Howard!! Convincing the ladies at the Licensing center was a bit tedious.

[momo]

When I bought my first two cars In I was told by a few people that I could get away with not de-gasing as they thought it wasnt really enforced but the broker told me they were becoming more strict and the consequences for being cought was not worth it for the measly sum it cost to get done. The people ive helped get personal imports have all bought newer cars so the gas has never been an issue. If it had It would neither have been a profit or an inconvenience to have it removed, per car I think it works out to 6000 yen

[DaiOni]

+ regassing cost (and the general hassle of having to do both)

and the new stuff isn't as good as the old stuff

In any case - now that you know, it's one less cost/hassle to deal with

[Intensevil]

Thanks for clearing that up for me

[turbohectics]

If its personal import do u still need compliance , and why do people have to own it for 12 months is this to avoid a tax ?

[allblitz]

Why would you want to bring a car that is under the RAWS scheme for personal import?

I would have thought people would bring down cars that arent under the RAWS scheme as a personal import.

[DaiOni]

Why would you want to bring a car that is under the RAWS scheme for personal import?

I would have thought people would bring down cars that arent under the RAWS scheme as a personal import.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

because not everyone has a financial motive for doing it.

because a personal import doesn't need to be stock

because 'yellow plate compliance' according to dotars regulations (paraphrasing) "do not have to comply to any ADRs, only safety regulations"

because it's marginally cheaper than RAWS (of course, not if you add in ownership costs - but that's a moot point if you actually want or need a car in japan)

"If its personal import do u still need compliance , and why do people have to own it for 12 months is this to avoid a tax ?"

compliance is far less strict - it seems to vary from state to state, and from car to car, but some people seem to get away with only having to do things such as * fuel filler cap * baby capsule anchor point * compliance plate

12month limit is to ensure that people are only bringing back a personal item - not trying to run a commercial enterprise.

[Rezz]

If you sign a declaration saying you are bringing the car in to Australia for personal use only, you don't have to get the car degassed. But you can only do 1 car per person, per year (I think, something like that). So for the one off importer of an older vehicle, de-gassing isn't required. Multiple cars on the other hand would need to be degassed, and thats why that charge is added to all cars from Prestige, Imports 101 etc.

[momo]

Yeh, importing under the personal import rule saves you the cost (approximately 4000$) of getting it complied through a raws. It just has to be regestered simular to a 15 year import, minimal costs.