My Importing Journey

[Beer Baron]

yep that is kiwi for you. car left japan on 28th of may, and the new owner saw it in sydney on the 26th of july. so 2 months to transit from japan to sydney. with mitsui or NYK it's 2 weeks japan-sydney then allow up to 5 days for customs and quarantine clearance. I know which one I prefer.

anyway, I think I've made my shipping preferences clear. time to move on.

edit: we can do a little comparison. my RX7 just left japan on 24/7. let's see when I can lay eyes on it. time to find out if I'm full of it or not! it's coming with mitsui.

[ACTIVE-LSD]

yep that is kiwi for you. car left japan on 28th of may, and the new owner saw it in sydney on the 26th of july. so 2 months to transit from japan to sydney. with mitsui or NYK it's 2 weeks japan-sydney then allow up to 5 days for customs and quarantine clearance. I know which one I prefer.

anyway, I think I've made my shipping preferences clear. time to move on.

edit: we can do a little comparison. my RX7 just left japan on 24/7. let's see when I can lay eyes on it. time to find out if I'm full of it or not! it's coming with mitsui.

Hey Beer baron. My autech s15 is also coming from japan. it should leave Yokohama this week hopefully. i'll ask my importer which ship its taking. lets just hope its not kiwi for the love of god!

[Beer Baron]

cool autech S15 sounds good. I saw an even rarer autech creation come up at auction the other day. A genuine 4 door R33 GTR. It looked pretty tidy, just under 100,000kms. 4B. start price was prety cheap for such a rare car. Once upon a time 4 door GTRs were really sought after and very expensive.

[ACTIVE-LSD]

cool autech S15 sounds good. I saw an even rarer autech creation come up at auction the other day. A genuine 4 door R33 GTR. It looked pretty tidy, just under 100,000kms. 4B. start price was prety cheap for such a rare car. Once upon a time 4 door GTRs were really sought after and very expensive.

WOW 4Door Autech GT-R. Havn't seen these in a while. Yeah these autech gt-r are very very RARE as you said. i've only spotted these once in sydney.

Btw. which auction house do you use? is it japaneseusedcars.com?

[hanyou]

well guys my car should be ready on wednesday/thursday - however compliance workshop said it may be another week ontop as they have to wait for the import plate.

bahhhh almost there

[ACTIVE-LSD]

well guys my car should be ready on wednesday/thursday - however compliance workshop said it may be another week ontop as they have to wait for the import plate.

bahhhh almost there

Hey hanyou, wow. its good to hear that your import process is almost complete. it seems that the journey had nothing but delays. so why does it take them 1.5 weeks to get a freakin import plate???

[hanyou]

i have no idea, probaly the turn around time im assuming!

[Iron Chef]

It goes through a fair few processes before the plate is sent out, they don't just go "yep that one's done" then yell out to a bloke behind them to go make the plate.

For obvious reasons, security is a big issue for compliance plates - if you don't believe me, try asking Canberra for another one because you've wrecked the first one lol (note: this did NOT happen to me!)

[CL11QE]

mines all done! had her now since last tuesday

[ACTIVE-LSD]

mines all done! had her now since last tuesday

Lolz how is it? any dori dori?

[Beer Baron]

WOW 4Door Autech GT-R. Havn't seen these in a while. Yeah these autech gt-r are very very RARE as you said. i've only spotted these once in sydney.

Btw. which auction house do you use? is it japaneseusedcars.com?

I don't think there are any genuine 4 door GTRs in sydney. I believe there is 1 in aus, but none in sydney. I have seen 2 in japan though. it's quite weird. GTR from the front, 4 door from the back.

japaneseusedcars.com is not an auction house. they are just a website listing auction cars and looks like they are an exporter. I use a system that links into USS which is the biggest chain of auction houses in japan. it gives me access to the 58 major japanese auctions each week. it's very good cars are listed fairly early and if you are silly enough you can just bid on-line.

[ACTIVE-LSD]

I don't think there are any genuine 4 door GTRs in sydney. I believe there is 1 in aus, but none in sydney. I have seen 2 in japan though. it's quite weird. GTR from the front, 4 door from the back.

japaneseusedcars.com is not an auction house. they are just a website listing auction cars and looks like they are an exporter. I use a system that links into USS which is the biggest chain of auction houses in japan. it gives me access to the 58 major japanese auctions each week. it's very good cars are listed fairly early and if you are silly enough you can just bid on-line.

hmmm..looks like i saw a 4 door gt-r wannabe.

Is there a website where this auction bidding is done at? i'm just interested in looking at different auction inspection sheets and comparing them.

[Beer Baron]

you have to pay to get the dealer access to the USS auctions. I don't know of any free way to do it for general members of the public. sorry. there may be someone out there though that is reproducing the stuff and distributing for free. but if such a free service exists it would most likely be putting up the cars after the auction is already over.

[hanyou]

mines all done! had her now since last tuesday

are you serious! my shop hasnt even handed in the paper work yet for the import plate LOL. they told me theyre going to do it by Wednesday and hopefully should be ready by end of next week (which is good for me anyway since its pay day )

but my rear seat belts were missing so that may of caused some delays LOL. a good thing i did find out though is i have brand spanking new brembo callipers/pads & rotors

[CL11QE]

haha nice man, i hope u do get it this week! im loving driving my car around, ive already done about 1000k's haha!

[hanyou]

aahha no chance of that, he cant find his stock gtr exhaust

i will just assume it will be ready end of august LOL.

[carizma]

you're joking, right?

aahha no chance of that, he cant find his stock gtr exhaust

i will just assume it will be ready end of august LOL.

[R33GTRKid]

mate I too am experiencing the delays this process can take:

thus far:

1. pay hunting money fee on 19 June

2. car of interest comes up on 28 June 2008 and won at auction for 1,000 yen over authorised FOB price (meh) what's 100 bucks.

3. 30 June 2008 - payfor car, compliance plate deposit and some other crap.

4. 27 July receive email advising car will be shipped from Japan on 29 July 2008 and arrival in approx 2 weeks (mid Aug).

5. I email on 4 August 2008 at about 8.30 am to ascertain/confirm date I need to pay more money (shipping, customs etc) so not to incur unnecessary interest costs by drawing money too soon.

5a no reply that day so on morning of 5 August I call up and ask for confirmation date, get told, sorry car missed boat, trying to find out why, will call you back.

6. 6 hours later I call up and ask WTF happened?? get told he will call you back in 5 mins.

7. 1.5 hours later I call up again and say thanks for the call back, oh sorry, guy is busy, ill put you thought: story is apparently the stevendores at the port in japan thought the car was too low and did not want the to damage it, but there is another ship leaving tomorrow which we are trying to get the car on, will call you tomorrow am and let you know.

8. Wait until 10am the next day (and send email asking for good news??

9. At 3.00 pm still no reply or call so I all up again, no car did definately not make the boat DOHHHH, so what now??? get told next boat leaves on 25 August. Container ship leaves earlier, but more risk of damage, more cost and it actually arrives 2 days after the 25 august RIRO. I ask what will be different next time, get told, agent is going to the port today to jack up Tein adjustable suspension and if still too low, will remove front lip and side skirts....

[Beer Baron]

that sucks it's a weird problem, the car must be crazy low, because the ramps I've seen in use all were able to take pretty much anything that is higher than a snow plow.

my 34 GTR just came in. it's front bar is about 80mm off the ground (see pics) and it came through fine and not even damaged the lip. I would reckon if that can make it, anything can!

[Ry34]

mate I too am experiencing the delays this process can take:

thus far:

1. pay hunting money fee on 19 June

2. car of interest comes up on 28 June 2008 and won at auction for 1,000 yen over authorised FOB price (meh) what's 100 bucks.

3. 30 June 2008 - payfor car, compliance plate deposit and some other crap.

4. 27 July receive email advising car will be shipped from Japan on 29 July 2008 and arrival in approx 2 weeks (mid Aug).

5. I email on 4 August 2008 at about 8.30 am to ascertain/confirm date I need to pay more money (shipping, customs etc) so not to incur unnecessary interest costs by drawing money too soon.

5a no reply that day so on morning of 5 August I call up and ask for confirmation date, get told, sorry car missed boat, trying to find out why, will call you back.

6. 6 hours later I call up and ask WTF happened?? get told he will call you back in 5 mins.

7. 1.5 hours later I call up again and say thanks for the call back, oh sorry, guy is busy, ill put you thought: story is apparently the stevendores at the port in japan thought the car was too low and did not want the to damage it, but there is another ship leaving tomorrow which we are trying to get the car on, will call you tomorrow am and let you know.

8. Wait until 10am the next day (and send email asking for good news??

9. At 3.00 pm still no reply or call so I all up again, no car did definately not make the boat DOHHHH, so what now??? get told next boat leaves on 25 August. Container ship leaves earlier, but more risk of damage, more cost and it actually arrives 2 days after the 25 august RIRO. I ask what will be different next time, get told, agent is going to the port today to jack up Tein adjustable suspension and if still too low, will remove front lip and side skirts....

Dont worry, I'm in the same boat (no pun intended)..

16th July - Found the car I wanted on a Thursday

17th July - Won the auction and made this thread

18th July - Paid deposit for plates + compliance

21st July - Paid for the car plus the fee of finding/inspecting the car

I was told the car might make it on this months (July) shipment.

..it didnt

4th August - still wondering, had a bit of a moan here

6th August - was told by email it might make it on the ship in the next 2 weeks. *crosses fingers*

(at this rate I might be lucky to see the car in October)