Importing A 32

[Soli93]

I'm going over to Japan at the end of this year/start of next year and i'm hoping to pick myself up a 32gtr, I already have a 34 as my daily and love it, but would like to spend money modifying the 32 and keeping my 34 reasonably stock.

I've done lots of research and most of the info i've found is for buying the car from over in Australia, how would I go about purchasing one in Japan (privately or through a car yard etc) and then getting it sent back here? Has anyone done something similar or know of some freighting company that wont rip me off?

Cheers.

[Duncan]

The 2nd import I bought I did a lot of that myself. While you won't need a agent to buy the car you will still need one for shipping as they deal with all the customs and quarantine. You could either use one of the usual agents on here like Iron Chef (who I'm sure could reduce their overall fee) or find a car shipping agent.

[Soli93]

Thats what I was thinking, I'm just a bit too scared to let someone bring it in for me without seeing it/driving it first

Plus i'll get to fill it up with stuff before it comes back that I dont have to bring back on the plane with me

I'll start having a suss through the agents, do you (or anyone else) have opinions on who's good to go with?

[GH05T]

be carefull that the stuff you put in the car is not guaranteed to be in it when it arrives.

[Jordy32]

Iron Chef has a great rep, steer clear of Edward Lee's (lol)

Ship stuff back to yourself, you never know what people might steal from the car during the import process.. sad but true

[Soli93]

Yeah true, fair enough i suppose, was just planning to grab an extra set of wheels or something alone those lines, but makes sense.

I'll look into iron chef (Y)

[Sikahalv]

be carefull that the stuff you put in the car is not guaranteed to be in it when it arrives.

Exactly, 2 out of the 3 cars I've imported so far have been 'cherry picked' of some of their fruit... at first I was angry... the next time I was frustrated... and now I just accept it to be a part of the process.

Expect your floor mats to arrive... any cool JDM attachments to just up and 'disappear', along with that rare emergency flare... if you're lucky - your car will arrive with it's gear shift knob... opposed to nothing at all (typically happens on higher spec vehicles like Crown's, etc)....

Aside from this - it's all smooth sailing and nothing that would prevent you from wanting to import to Australia for the first time (or again)...