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32 coupe? best option is buy one here. my rule of thumb is any car that sells for less than about $15K here (used to be $20K but i've mellowed) is not worth importing. simply because there are fixed costs associated with importing. FOB costs are around 80,000 to as high as 150,000 regardless of whether the car costs 100,000yen or 10,000,000yen. Shipping and port charges will still cost you $1500-$2,000 again with no bearing on value of the car (only is size in cubic meters affects this). your broker fee will also still be $800 to $1500 again regardless of car cost. Cleaning will still cost you $250 regardless of.... towing still costs whatever it costs.... compliance will still cost $2500...... etc.

the only costs really affected by car value is importy duty (5%) and GST (10%) and potentially LCT (if car value over $57,000).

so basically even if you buy a car for $100 by the time you import and comply it you'll be close enough to $10K invested in it.

based on car worth about $100 I easily get to $7250 just in FOB costs, broker fee, shipping, customs clearance, 1 tow, AQIS steam clean and compliance. Car still needs rego (around $1,000 and given it was a $100 car it most probably needs new tyres, brake pads, service, and possibly other bits). and after all that it's still a $100 car and even in japan cars that cost $100 are going to be shit.

if it's an early R32 add even more to this as it'll need intrusion bars or a new set of late model doors fitted.

the only way this is worthwhile is if you wanted a really immaculate or special car. but given you said 'cheap' i'm guessing that's not the case.

but by all means contact iron chef. if you are set on importing then go for it. just be aware of what you are doing.

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32 coupe? best option is buy one here. my rule of thumb is any car that sells for less than about $15K here (used to be $20K but i've mellowed) is not worth importing. simply because there are fixed costs associated with importing. FOB costs are around 80,000 to as high as 150,000 regardless of whether the car costs 100,000yen or 10,000,000yen. Shipping and port charges will still cost you $1500-$2,000 again with no bearing on value of the car (only is size in cubic meters affects this). your broker fee will also still be $800 to $1500 again regardless of car cost. Cleaning will still cost you $250 regardless of.... towing still costs whatever it costs.... compliance will still cost $2500...... etc.

the only costs really affected by car value is importy duty (5%) and GST (10%) and potentially LCT (if car value over $57,000).

so basically even if you buy a car for $100 by the time you import and comply it you'll be close enough to $10K invested in it.

based on car worth about $100 I easily get to $7250 just in FOB costs, broker fee, shipping, customs clearance, 1 tow, AQIS steam clean and compliance. Car still needs rego (around $1,000 and given it was a $100 car it most probably needs new tyres, brake pads, service, and possibly other bits). and after all that it's still a $100 car and even in japan cars that cost $100 are going to be shit.

if it's an early R32 add even more to this as it'll need intrusion bars or a new set of late model doors fitted.

the only way this is worthwhile is if you wanted a really immaculate or special car. but given you said 'cheap' i'm guessing that's not the case.

but by all means contact iron chef. if you are set on importing then go for it. just be aware of what you are doing.

thanks heaps for the advice guys i appriciate it alot. i didnt realise there were all those costs beer baron, thanks for letting me know. so do u think my best option is to try and find one on the sau forum? as i have no doubt i will sooner or later.. sorry i guess this was a stupid question but as i said i didnt know lol. thanks for advising the dumb ass newbie lol

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it's ok, there are no stupid questions, only stupid people. lol. jk. :)

but yeah as I said the problem is with cheap cars the 'associated costs' with importing become a much higher portion of the total cost of the car. so you end up spending $8K on a $1K car without actually adding any 'value' to it (you've basically just moved it to a new country and re-registered it). on a car that's worth $30K the import costs might still be 20-30%, but for a $10K car they might be more like 80%.

the only way it's worth it is if you were after a level of car that is not readily available here in aus (something really original, or something really heavily modded, or something rare). but if cost is your main motive then getting one here will probably be cheaper in the long run.

I'm sure even guys like Iron Chef would agree if he wanted to buy a 32 GTST or a S13 SR20 silvia he'd probably buy here. and he doesn't have to pay the broker fee, and probably can get a mates rates FOB of 80K yen or less, cheap compliance, do his own customs clearance etc but even still it's not worth it. It's the same for me and the last S13 silvia I bought was in aus. so as a retail customer it's even less worth it.

and yeah check out the SAU forum, check out ebay, check our carsales and even gumtree. you'll find something nice and cheap sooner or later.

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Cheap and Import are probably two words that should not go together, not because it is expensive to import but because any car from Japan that is really cheap, has more than likely been flogged, wound back, flogged again, wound back again, rebuilt, flogged, modified, flogged, crashed, repaired, brought back to stock and then put up for auction. In that order!

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Cheap and Import are probably two words that should not go together, not because it is expensive to import but because any car from Japan that is really cheap, has more than likely been flogged, wound back, flogged again, wound back again, rebuilt, flogged, modified, flogged, crashed, repaired, brought back to stock and then put up for auction. In that order!

thanks for the advice guys. ive decided to just keep saving for a while and i will get the right one when it comes up. i get what you mean about the really cheap ones too alkatraz, thanks for that heads up

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm also looking at getting an R32 GTS-T coupe.

My problem is all the cars I have seen locally are for sale are a bit scrappy and/or too heavily modified. I havn't really seen any R32 gtst's at import yards either, the only yard I did see one at has since sold and after speaking with him again he said it was unlikely he'd be bringing over any more R32s.

I currently have 12k to play with, possibly could stretch that to 13k if I need to and ideally i want one that is stock and in all round good condition. Would it be feasible to import one at this price? or do I keep looking at the local R32's and hope that i strike it lucky one day. It seems most sellers here want 8-9k for something in scrappy condition with 170,000kms on the clock

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I'm also looking at getting an R32 GTS-T coupe.

My problem is all the cars I have seen locally are for sale are a bit scrappy and/or too heavily modified. I havn't really seen any R32 gtst's at import yards either, the only yard I did see one at has since sold and after speaking with him again he said it was unlikely he'd be bringing over any more R32s.

I currently have 12k to play with, possibly could stretch that to 13k if I need to and ideally i want one that is stock and in all round good condition. Would it be feasible to import one at this price? or do I keep looking at the local R32's and hope that i strike it lucky one day. It seems most sellers here want 8-9k for something in scrappy condition with 170,000kms on the clock

yeah I reckon with $13K you should consider looking to import too. that gives you around 400-500,000FOB to play with so it's worth looking. but if you want something dead standard it may be hard to find one dead standard AND well looked after. most of the guys in japan who really loved and looked after their GTSTS by now will have modified them. many of the ones that are bone standard are actually not well looked after as they were just a daily/hack car for a guy who couldn't afford anything better (remember they are only worth about $3-$5K in japan and have been that cheap for years). so just be wary of the dead standard ones and try for something with some kind of service history/log books. it's a different story with GTRs are they are worth more than double a GTST and there are many preserved standard ones owned by collectors and enthusiasts. sadly it's not really the story with GTSTs. but there will be one out there for you, and with $13K you should have your pick of all the nicest ones in aus and some good ones in japan too.

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Hey guys check out www.j-spec.com.au Im looking for a stock 32 GTS-T to turn into a play car, if you look at the adverage auction price for them they for from 7-9k landed and complied normaly for a stock one with around 100,000-150,000 KM on the clock, the one linked below was one i was looking at buying

http://www.j-spec.co...ne-5726078.html

I also found this

http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?R=11328575&keywords=R32&__Ntk=CarAll&__Nne=15&__Dx=mode matchany&__No=30&__D=R32&silo=1011&seot=1&__sid=130DCB311D90&__N=1216 1246 1247 1252 1282 4294963593 4294963846&__Ns=pCar_RankSort_Int32|1||pCar_PriceSort_Decimal|1||pCar_Make_String|0||pCar_Model_String|0&__Ntx=mode matchallpartial&Cr=8&__Ntt=R32&trecs=93&__Qpb=1

It says that it does not have an intercooler this raises alarms to me as they come with a stock one (as far as i know) this could mean it has had a turbo conversion crash or the owner has taken it out for some reason.

Edited by T4NK
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