Is there an import to USA thread with costs?

[jatree]

If not, any interest in one?

I see 1990-92 diesel cruisers for sale in the $15-20k range here in the US or in Canada and have always wondered what it would take to get one over here from Japan directly. My limited initial research indicates that these might be overpriced but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything.

Has anyone imported on their own through an auction house? I'm slightly uncomfortable bidding from overseas on something I can't see but I've read good things about Pacific JDM and some other places. However, personal experience matters more.

How was your experience? Can you breakdown your costs across the board including once you received the truck in the US?

 

[tlaporte]

Not Japan, but in 2007 I brought my HJ47 from Australia (Brisbane port) to the US (Port of Long Beach). Did the import paperwork myself. Total cost for the shipping, etc. was right around $3K USD. Since I live in SoCal I took the metro down to Long Beach, walked to the port and picked it up myself, so no shipping fees inside the US.

The general breakdown looked about like this:

Overland transport in Australia: $250 AUD
Roll-on Roll-Off Shipping from Brisbane to Long Beach: $3200 AUD
Port fees: $150 USD
US Import Duties: $60 USD

 

[Dork]

While also not specifically what you are looking into, I imported mine to Canada from Japan through a broker, and here's how my process went. I'm currently avoiding doing any actual work at work today, which should explain why I'm going into such detail.

All these prices are CAD circa 2016 for a 1995 HDJ81 with 120,000kms.

Broker - $1000
Shipping - $2634
Customs - $2016
Vehicle - $1,014,000 Yen / $12k or so, depending on current exchange
OPI (not counting parts) - $250
Registration - $85
Total - $18,000-ish.

Extra stuff (fuel, fluids, birfs, wheels, tires, rotors/pads, stereo) - $4-5k.

There was a $1000 broker fee at the beginning to a company here in Edmonton called JDM Connection. This covered his costs in arranging all paperwork relating to shipping and customs, as well as helping with the searching process, and having contacts on site in Japan to do the purchasing on site. I would browse the auction listings on the Japanese sites daily, and if I saw a vehicle that I was interested in, I would let him know. He would provide a rough translation of the inspection sheet, have a guy on site look at the vehicle in person and then tell me what kind of obvious things he noticed when doing a quick visual inspection, if it was smoked in, if something looked like it was leaking, etc. They would tell me that information, and if I was interested I would give him a maximum bid amount. That happened a couple times until I noticed what vehicles were floating through the system with absurd reserve prices, and then I won the bid on a vehicle.

I then paid the auction house for the vehicle using a wire transfer. There was a small commission on that service that the wire transfer company builds into their exchange rate.

Shipping costs were $2634 for the use of a roll on roll off ship. That was kind of fun because there are actually ship tracking websites so once they give you the name of the ship, you can see exactly where it is and watch the ship stop at a bunch of different ports on the way to Vancouver in my case. Since my truck was lifted already, shipping costs were significantly higher than they would have been for a smaller vehicle, and the weight of a Cruiser doesn't help anything. Cars are usually in the $1000-$1200 range.

Customs/Duty/GST/Border Fees/Whateverelsetheychargedmefor was a big one here in Canada, came to $2016.

At this point the vehicle was mine. I used my Aeroplan miles to get a one way first class ticket to Vancouver, that would normally be $300 or so. Got a $40 taxi ride to the port from the airport. Marvelled at the largest parking lot I've ever seen. Bought 3 tanks of fuel on the way home, worth around $200.

Out of province inspection required that I replace rear shocks (leaking), rear brake calipers (small leak), replace suspension bushing ($60), and I had to redo the birfs ($400 I think). My headlights were already DOT approved, I just modified the projectors to make the beam pattern shine the right way, otherwise they would need to be replaced.

Then, I did some extra work before getting it on the road. but it wasn't totally necessary.

Couple of things of note:

-Don't buy around the end of May. That's Golden Week in Japan and nobody works, so that adds about 2 weeks to the moving of a vehicle there.
-Pick your vehicle up yourself and drive it home. It makes for a fun adventure.
-Spend a month or two watching auction sites. If you see the same vehicle pop up multiple times, or be sold and show up again, it's got a crazy reserve price and will be floating through the system for a long time moving from auction house to auction house. Don't even bother with those ones.
-Don't remove any Japanese stickers. I hate putting stickers or decals on my vehicles, but the Japanese ones are kooky and fun to leave.
-If you are driving it home, bring a stereo. The Japanese ones won't play our radio stations here. Mine luckily had a hard drive in it loaded with music, so I spent a 13 hour drive listening to J-Pop.

 

[MonsterCruiser]

I see 1990-92 diesel cruisers for sale in the $15-20k range here in the US or in Canada and have always wondered what it would take to get one over here from Japan directly. My limited initial research indicates that these might be overpriced but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything.

Bear in mind that importing a vehicle is a risk and can be more so depending on the exporter you use. If someone has imported a vehicle from Japan, and have it for sale in North America, they have eliminated a lot of the risk for a potential buyer. With it landed in NA the buyer is free to have it taken to a shop and have an inspection/compression test and all that done. If you are close enough, you also have the option of going to look at it rather than basing the condition on an auction sheet from Japan with two very low quality photos.

So, maybe people think these rigs are overpriced when they are for sale in NA, but people either don't realize or don't think about the risks associated with importing. @Dork has also done a good job of outlining the process and additional expenses that, again, people don't really think about or realize how much they add up with it all gets totaled together. That said, it looks to me like Dork got a really good price on his truck. Usually trucks with kms like that will sell for 1.2-1.5 million JPY when they are in good shape.

*Edit. I can't see many sold prices these days, but here's an example of what I can see:

Yes, pretty much all of those are below the sold price I've indicated above, but you also don't want to buy any of those trucks except for the one that sold for 1.2 million. The two that are 3.5 are really beat up and one has a note about engine noise. The interior is also a 'D' grade which means it's terrible.

 

[Dork]

To put it into perspective, the vehicle that I ended up with was graded a 3.5 and had an interior rating of C. I'll try to find a copy of the inspection forms to put on here to give people an idea of what those look like. If you look at my story thread over at https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/the-imposing-immigrant-a-new-hdj81-story.941859/ you can get an idea of what that kind of grading gets you.

A C interior in my case meant that it had been smoked in, the darkened edges that comes with a smoked in vehicle, and headliner has some tiny little holes in it from a roof rack or set of christmas lights or some other janky Japanese wiring junk installed on it. Original floor mats were still in awesome shape though, all plastic and trim is in good shape, no cracking dashboard, and seats are good although the stuffing could be replenished.

3.5 exterior meant there are a couple very minor nicks and scratches around the truck, but almost invisible. I have a couple VERY VERY small points of rust that seem to be starting to appear inside the back doors and on the rocker, but EXTREMELY minor. As in, I might do something about them a year from now minor. Underside is pretty good for mostly rust free, the only bits looking to be tough to work with are the rear lower shock mounts, but they get hit with so much road crap that's pretty much unavoidable, right? Windshield is utterly flawless and still has the brown sunblocker at the top. I'm afraid for my first inevitable rock chip.

All this being said, I was willing to take the additional risk for a couple reasons:

1- This was not going to be my primary vehicle. We have another household vehicle that is great for regular booting around, and I get a work truck that I drive to and from work every day. If something went wrong with it, or was unexpected when it showed up, I can fix it at my leisure and not worry about it.

2- I'm determined to do as much work on it as possible myself. I could never afford paying a shop to do any of the repairs along the way, personally. Especially not the absolutely outrageous costs that a shop that specializes in importing, modifying and selling vehicles charges.

3- Vehicles that showed up for sale here with the things that I wanted were asking in the $25,000 range for something with 300k on it. The extra effort and worry still saved me money in the end.

4- I wanted to have a better story about the vehicle than just "I saw an ad and bought it".

 

[MonsterCruiser]

LOL! Just saw this...buy it!

Sorry...a bit OT . Going through tonight.

 

[jatree]

While also not specifically what you are looking into, I imported mine to Canada from Japan through a broker, and here's how my process went. I'm currently avoiding doing any actual work at work today, which should explain why I'm going into such detail.

All these prices are CAD circa 2016 for a 1995 HDJ81 with 120,000kms.

Broker - $1000
Shipping - $2634
Customs - $2016
Vehicle - $1,014,000 Yen / $12k or so, depending on current exchange
OPI (not counting parts) - $250
Registration - $85
Total - $18,000-ish.

...

Ha I can definitely relate to avoiding work but luckily for the board, that was a fun read!

Thanks for sharing your experience in such detail. The tips about Golden Week and studying the auction sites are especially helpful to newbies like me.

Hope you're enjoying your cruiser!

Bear in mind that importing a vehicle is a risk and can be more so depending on the exporter you use. If someone has imported a vehicle from Japan, and have it for sale in North America, they have eliminated a lot of the risk for a potential buyer. With it landed in NA the buyer is free to have it taken to a shop and have an inspection/compression test and all that done. If you are close enough, you also have the option of going to look at it rather than basing the condition on an auction sheet from Japan with two very low quality photos.

So, maybe people think these rigs are overpriced when they are for sale in NA, but people either don't realize or don't think about the risks associated with importing. @Dork has also done a good job of outlining the process and additional expenses that, again, people don't really think about or realize how much they add up with it all gets totaled together. That said, it looks to me like Dork got a really good price on his truck. Usually trucks with kms like that will sell for 1.2-1.5 million JPY when they are in good shape.

...

Great points about risk and the unknown. Did you buy a JDM truck that was already in Canada?

It sounds like the most important thing I need to do is familiarize myself on the link between inspection reports, interior/exterior grades, and the actual quality of the vehicle. I am hoping that this is where an experienced importer will be helpful. (I thank @Dork once again for his second post and link, which I plan to go read, detailing what information he had before buying a cruiser sight unseen from Japan.)

I am looking in the 3.5-4 range and don't mind up to say 200km on an import - I am still learning about these trucks and engines so perhaps that is ignorant. But my point is that the reason I am exploring the option is that it seemed like some nice trucks were going for 700-750 JPY which when factoring in the other costs seems like a great deal compared to what is available to me here in the US.

Clearly I have some more homework to do though!

 

[MonsterCruiser]

Great points about risk and the unknown. Did you buy a JDM truck that was already in Canada?

Nope, I'm in the risk taker camp. However, part of this is when I'm looking for a vehicle I usually have some specific requirements that I want and searching the auctions in Japan gives a lot more variety than looking in your local classifieds. However, I did buy my wife's car locally and it's an import from Japan. I know the previous owner made some money on it, but it was what we were looking for and i wasn't finding anything in Japan at the time. As I previously mentioned, I also had the advantage of going to look at the car, driving it, looking at the local safety inspection and seeing receipts for work the owner had done since the car landed.

 

[jatree]

Nope, I'm in the risk taker camp. However, part of this is when I'm looking for a vehicle I usually have some specific requirements that I want and searching the auctions in Japan gives a lot more variety than looking in your local classifieds. However, I did buy my wife's car locally and it's an import from Japan. I know the previous owner made some money on it, but it was what we were looking for and i wasn't finding anything in Japan at the time. As I previously mentioned, I also had the advantage of going to look at the car, driving it, looking at the local safety inspection and seeing receipts for work the owner had done since the car landed.

You guys are lucky up there (I've been in Burnaby once btw, nice place) to be able to get newer diesels. Although I'm also in the risk-taker camp, not knowing what the PO's maintenance was like does make me nervous. But you're definitely right about the local classifieds just not having the same level of variety.

Good luck in your search. I've seen a couple different shops recommended. This is the one I'm currently looking into: Welcome | Pacific Coast Auto Imports. They also have a pretty active YouTube channel showing a lot of their cars: PacificCoastAuto

 

[MonsterCruiser]

Derek at Pacific Coast is good. I use Mark at Brave Auto:

Auction Agent & Exporter of Japanese JDM, European & US Vehicles Direct From Japan.

He's one of the best over there. I purchased my HDJ81 from him plus about 10 other vehicles over the years. @IanB and @ForealBoreal also bought their cruisers through Mark. I actually just made my first purchase in about three years about 5 minutes ago! Not from the cruiser family though.

 

[IanB]

I've imported 4 vehicles through Mark @ Brave Auto now, nothing but good things to say about him. Of those 4, only my car didn't exceed expectations, it's been a lot of trouble and was way behind on maintenance. A lot of time and money later and it's a pretty solid car, but you are definitely taking a risk when buying from halfway around the world with nothing but pics and an auction assessment to go from. Using a good exporter is very important.

The other 3 were all Toyota diesels:
'96 Hilux Surf SSR-G, '91 HDJ81, and now my '93 HDJ81, and all were solid trucks with no issues.

 

[Mighty690]

Mine is arriving in a couple hours, literally. I'll post up once I see what I've got. Purchased sight unseen.

 

[jpsfj60]

Mine is arriving in a couple hours, literally. I'll post up once I see what I've got. Purchased sight unseen.

So how long did it take to get here after you purchased it?

 

[Mighty690]

It came across country in 10 days.
Update: It was dark by the time the transport guy dropped it. Michael Hein and I went over it carefully with flashlights while on the trailer. The body and chassis looks great. In fact, the chassis and (OEM) exhaust looked fresher/better than any other 80 I've come across. I'll get a better look once I get it up on the lift. The 1hd-t fired up instantly and idled perfectly. Drove it around briefly (with 4 people) and everything felt good including tranny shifting. I'll post up photos in a new thread once I get my feet wet.

 

[absalom]

Got mine from Osaka -- total time from browsing auctions until it landed in Long Beach, about 2.5 months. Broker fee roughly $1,400, shipping about $1,600, various other fees $600, truck was $5,900. What this doesn't take into account is the ridiculous amount of labor involved. I was shocked. By the time it's all said and done, there is no way I'd let it go for less than $18k. I fail to see how importers make much, if any, money off these. Overall, the experience was 50% stress & 50% fun.

 

[jatree]

Derek at Pacific Coast is good. I use Mark at Brave Auto:

Auction Agent & Exporter of Japanese JDM, European & US Vehicles Direct From Japan.

He's one of the best over there. I purchased my HDJ81 from him plus about 10 other vehicles over the years. @IanB and @ForealBoreal also bought their cruisers through Mark. I actually just made my first purchase in about three years about 5 minutes ago! Not from the cruiser family though.

What'd you get?

Thanks for the positive reviews about Mark @ Brave Auto.

Mine is arriving in a couple hours, literally. I'll post up once I see what I've got. Purchased sight unseen.

It came across country in 10 days.
Update: It was dark by the time the transport guy dropped it. Michael Hein and I went over it carefully with flashlights while on the trailer. The body and chassis looks great. In fact, the chassis and (OEM) exhaust looked fresher/better than any other 80 I've come across. I'll get a better look once I get it up on the lift. The 1hd-t fired up instantly and idled perfectly. Drove it around briefly (with 4 people) and everything felt good including tranny shifting. I'll post up photos in a new thread once I get my feet wet.

Awesome - what's the story of how you found, where you got it from? Look forward to your thread.

Got mine from Osaka -- total time from browsing auctions until it landed in Long Beach, about 2.5 months. Broker fee roughly $1,400, shipping about $1,600, various other fees $600, truck was $5,900. What this doesn't take into account is the ridiculous amount of labor involved. I was shocked. By the time it's all said and done, there is no way I'd let it go for less than $18k. I fail to see how importers make much, if any, money off these. Overall, the experience was 50% stress & 50% fun.

That's a pretty quick turnaround. Who did you use? Your experience helps explain why I see listings as high as I do in my area. Are the details of all the labor involved in your build thread?

 

[absalom]

Eh, not really. 2.5 months seems quick?? Lol, it felt like the single longest period of time to ever elapse in my life.

There was just a lot of work with importation. Your broker does a lot, but if I had a full-time job back then, it would have been nearly impossible to pull off. For the record, I brought in a 90' 81.

 

[onemanarmy]

Got mine from Osaka -- total time from browsing auctions until it landed in Long Beach, about 2.5 months. Broker fee roughly $1,400, shipping about $1,600, various other fees $600, truck was $5,900. What this doesn't take into account is the ridiculous amount of labor involved. I was shocked. By the time it's all said and done, there is no way I'd let it go for less than $18k. I fail to see how importers make much, if any, money off these. Overall, the experience was 50% stress & 50% fun.

the importers make money off the scale of the operation. Move 2-3 trucks at a time. They also have already made the contacts and know the paperwork involved...quite a bit less labor and stress for them (once they are up and running)

I can believe doing it for the first time would be super stressful.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

I just bought a super clean 1988 70 series from Steve Jackson at Land Cruisers Direct. My cost was less out the door than several trucks seems to be costing when people walk their own truck through the process, and I would never do it any other way in future. It sailed through local emissions and was titled and registered effortlessly here, and my local government can be a real PITA. It came with a clean Missouri title and all the possible paperwork you could imagine. I don't see why anyone would try to import their own vehicle when there are several ethical services that do a great job.

 

[GreaseMonkeyJP]

I imported my 70 series with Brave Auto, and had a great experience. However I was in Japan at the time so I had a chance to go and see some of the vehicles. I also had ~2hr per day commuting on the train to search, and started looking ~10 months before I came home and only barely got one in time.

During the same time Land Cruisers Direct brought in a few 70 series that looked really nice. I thought that I was looking at every auction and listing in Japan, but somehow they were finding great vehicles that I never saw. So I would definitely say that if you are in the US then getting one through them or another well known importer would be the way to go unless you really want a story.