Thinking of importing or buying a Japanese sports car?
These facts, links and opinions may help.
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Thinking of importing or buying a Japanese sports car?These facts, links and opinions may help. |
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If you want to buy a used Japanese sports car, you have four options:
If you want to buy from a private seller or a dealer you can find them in the local newspaper, national newspapers like the Trading Post, specialist magazines such as High Performance Imports (see below) and Unique Cars, or on car sale websites.
Because there are many nice cars out there, and buying from private sellers is normally cheaper than buying from dealers. People import cars or buy them here, and decide to sell them because their finances, tastes or needs change. Some people drastically overcapitalise cars and are then forced to sell. If you are careful, there is an opportunity to pick up a nice car with lots of improvements already done to it and with the problems sorted out.
Because there could be expensive problems that the seller wants to pass to someone else, and because there is no warranty. Ask yourself why the seller is selling. Buyer Beware!
By going through a dealer you will get a warranty and can be in control of the process. There is the opportunity to thoroughly inspect the vehicles in the car yard, and to be able to find out exactly how much they will cost. If the vehicles do not suit you, or cannot afford them, there is always the next car yard. There is also a theoretical 'good will' factor, where a dealer may help the customer with problems so that the reputation of the dealers yard is maintained.
A dealer also does all the waiting and hard work for you. You can decide to buy a Japanese import and drive away with a car the same day. You spend more money, but get a warranty and more certainty, and save time and effort.
A dealer imports multiple cars, and spreads risk over all of them. If one ends up being a problem, the dealer has to make enough money from the rest of the cars to cover the loss on the problem car and still make a profit overall. A dealer is not there to be a public service. The intention is to make money, but there are staff to pay, a yard to maintain, taxes, and a list of costs that go on and on. A good business tries to buy cheaply and sell at the highest price the market will bear (hopefully much higher than the buy price plus costs). However, it is possible for you to buy at around the same price as the dealer, so the money to support the car yard and that goes into the dealers pocket could stay in yours. There's a big caveat though. Remember that you may end up importing a problem car, and you have no ability to spread the risk (and see the other caveats below).
A dealer can only offer what he has on the lot. Around 50,000 used vehicles are auctioned at 30 major auctions each week in Japan, so there is a huge range available if you are willing to wait, and to take the risk. If you go through an agent, you have a better chance of getting exactly what you want.
If you want to buy from a Japanese agent, I cannot offer much advice, but start by looking at John Williams site and follow the "import cars" link on the left. Also ask questions on aus.cars and on the forums listed below. They are fantastic resources (and much more current than this page). Don't forget to search the forums for previous answers. Your question has probably been asked before.
The main (only?) advantage is that you save the $1000 or more that you would otherwise pay to the Australian agent. Of course, you have to find the car, have it inspected, organise the Japanese agent (who may help find the car), organise the money, the transport within Japan, the shipping to Australia, and you have to wade through the Customs process. All of which is possible, but which I paid the Australian agent to do, and I think it was a bargain!
Australian agents are not used-car dealers. They never own the car. They act as a broker between you and a buyer, dealer or used car yard in Japan, and organise everything up to the delivery of the car to Australia. If you want to use an Australian agent to organise the car for you, the three biggest companies that I know of are:
These companies import vehicles as their primary business. There are many other companies that can organise the importation of a Japanese car, but it is likely to be a sideline.
A Sydney company did a good job compliancing my car. They are really friendly and helpful, and have a particular soft spot for R33s. They also import cars. They are:
Want to find a local compliance shop? Here's a link to a search facility on the DOTARS site:
A tough question. It depends if everything goes well. I importing a 1989 R32 Nissan Skyline GTR which was delivered in January 2005, after the customs rates fell, but while the old 15-year rule was in place. My all-up total cost was around $23,000 on the road. I estimate I saved $2,000 by importing it myself. A work colleague has a Nissan Skyline that lost power occasionally, and it cost $4,000 (and many weeks off the road) to track down the problem. That was only one problem, so there is a risk that problems will wipe out any savings and leave you far worse off than if you had gone through a dealer. You should also put a value on the 'grief factor'. Some people do not consider it to be a problem if repairs take weeks and require an open chequebook. Most do.
Finally, now that the 15-year rule has changed to a '1988 and before' rule, the compliance costs would be much higher for my car. My compliance cost $1,200. If I imported it now it would cost around $4,500, but older cars (1988 and earlier) can still get compliance for around $1,200.
June 2005 update: The market has lots of cheap Skylines available. There are lots of sellers and few buyers. It's a good time to grab a bargain, and a bad time to sell. For instance, it's a bit scary seeing the first R32 GTR with SEVS compliance only getting a bit over $20,000 bid on it on ebay. I guess that means I'm not saving as much as I hoped, but hey - I'm having a ball driving mine, and it will take a while for the market to flush out the last of the 15 year old imports and for the prices to normalise.
July 2005 update: I've found another good example, there's a Queenslander advertising his car on the Skylines Australia forum (see link below) who is advertising an R32 GTR with lots of nice gear and having real trouble getting the money he is asking. He's down to $26,000 which is cheap for the mods. Hey - welcome to the world of reselling imports in a slow market. But I feel his pain. He must be losing lots on this sale. Check out the specs and weep. This isn't a plug for the car, just an example of what's available.
I had an agent buy the car for me. My actual rounded costs were:
| When | What | How Much |
|---|---|---|
| Before Purchase | Pay Australian agents fee for finding the car | $ 1,000 |
| Soon after Purchase | Pay Australian agent for car ($10,000) and Japanese buyers fee ($1,000) | $11,000 |
| On Delivery | Pay agent for shipping | $ 1,000 |
| Pay for Customs (10%), GST (10%) and various import fees | $ 3,300 | |
| Pay compliance workshop | $ 1,200 | |
| cost for fixing problems found, major service, tune, detailing, air conditioning re-gas etc | $ 2,500 | |
| Before taking on the road | Registration and 3% stamp duty | $ 1,500 |
| Before getting it insured | a reasonable immobiliser / alarm | $ 500 |
| Insurance | $ 1,000 | |
| Total | $23,000 approx |
For perspective, the car was sold for just under $10,000 in Japan.
In early 2005 it was possible (with a lot of haggling) to buy an equivalent quality car either privately or from a dealer with 12 months registration for $24,000 and pay $1,000 for insurance. That is only $2,000 more than I paid. That's not a huge difference. Think of it as half the cost of a reasonably big problem (or as the cost of a good set of mags, or a stupidly expensive sound system).
June 2005 update: If you take advantage of the local prices currently available, you will be well ahead of me. The prices should recover though - I hope. Also, the compliance on my car would have risen from the pre-SEVS $1200. A correspondent tells me R32 compliance is hard to get in Sydney as there is currently only one workshop that can SEVS compliance them, and prices have risen to near $5,000. Ouch!! That would have taken my on-the-road cost to around $27,000.
You may well be asking whether you should import a Japanese sports car. As with most things in life, there are plusses and minuses.
I've shifted all the case studies into their own page. They were taking over the site - but they're well worth reading, In My Humble Opinion.
The modified rules on the importing of 15 year old cars were gazetted in mid May 2005. My crystal ball says that the prices of 15 year old vehicles will rise for the rest of 2005 because of pent-up demand and reduced overseas supply. Then there will be a long term drop in their value because of competition from HSVs and turbo XR6s that will be getting older and will be becoming more affordable. They will take away a lot of the market that is looking for a relatively cheap but high performance vehicle. They will be easier to insure and repair too.
Update June 2005: I must have been looking through the wrong side of my crystal ball! Local prices seem to be going down, not up. Let's see what happens when the stock overhang is absorbed though.
Another prediction: There will be a change in the mindset of people buying cars sight unseen from Japan. People will first look at the large number of imported vehicles that are already here. The reason? Because something strange is happening with prices. Many second hand prices are equal to or lower than the cost of importing a car, but buyers are choosing to import without even bothering to check out the local market. That's a strange mindset, considering that the buyer can have the local cars fully checked out before purchase. If it's a dud, they can walk away. If they import and have a problem, they've already paid for it.
Cars built after 1988 have to be put through SEVS, and have to be brought back to stock condition. Those people importing cars under the modified 15 year rule can keep the often obscenely expensive mods, unless they affect the registerability of the vehicle. If you get a good car, you may get a couple of thousand dollars worth of boost controllers, gauges, body kit and modifications. This is, in my opinion, a major advantage to bringing in 15+ year old vehicles, or buying one here that has already been imported. However (and how many times have I said THAT on this page), there are some down-sides. You may get a vehicle where the modifications do not work well together, or where the modifications have caused premature wear to the engine or chassis. The insurance companies get very nervous about insuring modified vehicles and, if you can get insurance, it is likely to cost more. Finally, don't forget that many modified imports have worse fuel economy than the V8 monsters of the 1970s. Try less than 400km to a $80 tank of petrol. It can be quite a shock to the wallet.
There are four ways to get an imported Japanese car, and I have obviously biased this page to people considering purchasing through an Australian agent or a dealer. If you are risk averse or do not have the time or money to cover problems, buy from a dealer and get a good warranty. If you do not mind risk and can afford to fix the car if something goes wrong, do your research and get into it! Remember to talk to others who have done it, and learn from their mistakes.
I originally set up this page to help people decide on how to buy a Japanese import, based around my experience importing a 1989 R32 Nissan Skyline GTR. Now I'm gathering some facts and opinions that may be useful. For instance, I'm trying to create a list of Oxygen Sensors for all Nissan imports, and identifying generic parts that can be bought from your local spare parts shop. Note: It's up to you to check that they are suitable. I'm just gathering opinions from the web and, as you should know, practically everyone on the web is an expert, but many have trouble doing basic research before going into print. And Google never forgets....
Here is my Oxygen Sensor and parts page. Remember, it's a work in progress. If you can help fill in the gaps, let me know!"
Here is my tyre replacement calculator page. If the speed shown on your speedometer is not right, you can correct it by fitting the right size rim and tyre combination.
Sadly, my car was written off in mid 2009. The accelerator jammed open while a friend was driving it. The brakes couldn't stop the car while the accelerator was wide open, and the car only stopped when it hit the gutter and forced itself under one of those cables they put up beside the road to slice and dice motorcyclists. The cable pushed the driver side front pillar back until it hit my friend's shoulder. Another inch or two and it would have been a very bloody disaster. As it was, I only lost the car. I have to give Shannons Insurance a big thumbs-up. They paid quickly, and gave me the option of buying the wreck.
Comments? Problems? Bad links? Sites I should have linked to? Good case studies? Contact me at email GTaaargh!
Last updated on 19th December 2009 - added a comment about my car being written off. Minor update 16 Oct 2010 to remove some old links.
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