Anyone into Importing?

Welp, I went and bought a car from a dealer in Japan. I got a 1991 Honda ACTY Kei truck. I started my own import/export company. Just a side project right now to supplement some income. Ive sold a couple cars so far, but this is my first true import. I am all kinds of excited and worried about what I am getting into. Has anyone had a Kei car/ or truck or importing experience?

In reply to TyGistics:

We have a couple members here who have done it.

kanaric detailed his experience here. that's probably the most well known one as it was also featured on Jalopnik.

One of the other members is importing or has setup to import an AZ-1 and there's a few others.

In reply to The0retical: Nice find! I read the issues that Kanaric was having with hidden costs. That is a worry of mine too. I am using a dealership in Japan that offers a dealer-port service and adds in the transport cost to the price of the vehicle. I know that doesn't cover customs fee's/taxes and if I use a broker. I plan on doing as much as possible myself. I just got my TWIC (Transportation workers identification card) so I have access to US ports and can just go in and load it up. I want to concentrate on European vehicles because the Mid-east-coast market has dealers like Duncan Imports and Japanese Classic that have a ton of selection and infrastructure. I figure that Japan is one of the more difficult countries to import from with a language barrier and non 17 digit VINs and so far between the cost of the truck and transport to the US, I am still in at just under 2K.

I would strongly recommend to hire a customs broker unless you assign a negative dollar value to your own time. It's not that expensive (IIRC to clear my stuff it cost something like $250-275) and there's a reason that even the pros use brokers. Basically these people do nothing but clear stuff through customs all day long so they know exactly what paperwork needs to be done and are usually extremely efficient.

One thing to keep in mind re port access - storage fees at ports tend to be horrendous, so you really want to pick up your car as quickly as possible. Like, 5 seconds after it clears customs quickly. Also make sure that you know exactly which customs paperwork you need to register the vehicle as that's changed since I imported my motorcycles. IIRC that's a fairly recent change and while the customs website has the correct information on it, there are a bunch of web resources that don't. Don't be like me who now gets to trailer two motorcycles back to a port to let customs fill in a newly required form. Yeah, I should've titled them a few years ago...

I'd also see if there is a DMV/BMV near you that has some experience with titling and registering imports. Dealing with someone who knows the ropes makes a big difference.

Last but not least, expect some damage to the vehicle from the shipment. A friend of mine used to import JDM vehicles into the UK and IIRC about a third of them had some damage they hadn't when they arrived at the port in Japan.

Seeing these threads makes me want an Autozam AZ-1 even more.

In reply to BoxheadTim:

Very good point about the broker and storage fees. I think that I am up to date on the EPA form and NTHSB form, and yeah my local DMV would think that I was smuggling in a bomb. Ill have to use the main hub in downtown Raleigh. Not terribly worried about damage. The truck is far from mint and this is kinda a practice run, so I can get a feel for everything that can go wrong.

TyGistics said:

In reply to BoxheadTim:

Very good point about the broker and storage fees. I think that I am up to date on the EPA form and NTHSB form, and yeah my local DMV would think that I was smuggling in a bomb. Ill have to use the main hub in downtown Raleigh. Not terribly worried about damage. The truck is far from mint and this is kinda a practice run, so I can get a feel for everything that can go wrong.

Good on you TyGistics. I was stationed in Japan from 93-2000 and always thought I would LOVE to nickel and dime on the Importing business. 

I have a few dealers/friends in Japan that visit the auctions and export to other countries from there, but never tagged along. Now I have my own little "side-gig" as a Car Dealer/Broker here in GA. My dream is to fly out to Japan and reconnect with some friends and see where that takes me.

Good Luck!

TyGistics said:

In reply to BoxheadTim:

Very good point about the broker and storage fees. I think that I am up to date on the EPA form and NTHSB form, and yeah my local DMV would think that I was smuggling in a bomb. Ill have to use the main hub in downtown Raleigh. Not terribly worried about damage. The truck is far from mint and this is kinda a practice run, so I can get a feel for everything that can go wrong.

NTHSB, you mean NHTSA?

https://icsw.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/import/

NHTSA also has a hotline at (202) 366-5291 

If its over 25 years you are in pretty good shape with NHTSA. I wholeheartedly second the suggestion on working with a customs broker though. 

M3Loco said:

TyGistics said:

In reply to BoxheadTim:

Very good point about the broker and storage fees. I think that I am up to date on the EPA form and NTHSB form, and yeah my local DMV would think that I was smuggling in a bomb. Ill have to use the main hub in downtown Raleigh. Not terribly worried about damage. The truck is far from mint and this is kinda a practice run, so I can get a feel for everything that can go wrong.

Good on you TyGistics. I was stationed in Japan from 93-2000 and always thought I would LOVE to nickel and dime on the Importing business. 

I have a few dealers/friends in Japan that visit the auctions and export to other countries from there, but never tagged along. Now I have my own little "side-gig" as a Car Dealer/Broker here in GA. My dream is to fly out to Japan and reconnect with some friends and see where that takes me.

Good Luck!

I was actually a bit surprised at how difficult it is to find a decent quality broker to get things like classic wheels, various bits of aero, or other random accessories off Yahoo auctions or an equivalent then actually get the parts to the US.

You'd think things like older wheels and NLA JDM only go fast bits would be easier to get than they are. I suspect that has to do with the price and volume that would need to be moved. 

In reply to Apexcarver :

Yep!  Good catch!