Evaluating the Costs of Importing yourself

[Ryanr317]

I'm considering importing a car using an exporter like Sastrad. I haven't been able to find a solid list itemizing the costs likely to be incurred going this route as it pertains to importing to the USA. I've attempted to put together a list but having not gone through the process, i'm not sure if i'm missing anything or possibly have too many items.

• Deposit
• Vehicle Cost
• Exporter Service Fee
• Shipping
• Customs Fees
• Customs Broker
• Duty
• Port Fees
• Entry Fee

[Kuma]

This is all based for Canada, you should contact the exporter you want to use and ask him about USA importing. Check which port it will arrive in and call that port to ask your questions.

Deposit - Depends on the exporter
Vehicle cost - Depends on the vehicle
Exporter Service Fee - Depends on the exporter
Shipping - Add 250,000 JPY on the vehicle cost and that's a rough estimate of the CIF for the vehicle
Customs fees and customs broker (Al Thompson) - $810 (approximately the total customs fee and broker for Canada)
Duty - 6.1%
Tax - 5%
Port fees - Part of the customs fees excluding extra things like extra storage days or cleaning vehicle for debris
Entry fee - Not sure what this is, sorry.

I think you should evaluate how much shipping would be to bring it to your state, as well as, calculate how much it will cost for you to get it on the road. Registration, inspection, and all those good things. Also, you're going to want to budget for services like oil change and things like that. There really isn't much anyone can do but yea.

[Sastrad]

Deposit - Depends on the exporter
Vehicle cost - Depends on the vehicle
Exporter Service Fee - Depends on the exporter
Shipping - Add 250,000 JPY on the vehicle cost and that's a rough estimate of the CIF for the vehicle
Customs fees and customs broker (Al Thompson) - $810 (approximately the total customs fee and broker for Canada)
Duty - 6.1%
Tax - 5%
Port fees - Part of the customs fees excluding extra things like extra storage days or cleaning vehicle for debris
Entry fee - Not sure what this is, sorry.

The deposit is consumable, so its not a true cost.

Shipping to the US is about 80USD/m3, so his car will be no more than about 960USD for ocean freight. The cost of the shipping agent depends on the size of the vehicle and destination. I would budget 16,000 yen.

Customs brokers are about the same cost as in Canada. This is what I am told.

I will ask my clients about the duty and tax amounts. Also consider any state tax that may be applicable when registering a car from out of state.

[jdmvip]

I think you've got it right for the most part Ryan. The biggest thing that I'd worry about is the process on the US side of clearing, picking up and registering your car. We have some member's in this process but no one has documented it so far. Please keep us updated with your experience and good luck.

[Ryanr317]

Thanks for the replies. I too am concerned with the clearing process but hopefully a customs broker will be able to guide me through it. I'm not too concerned about registration since Florida is pretty lax.

[rpk2012]

Please view my post in this section, tax rate is too high. Also, you have duplicates for the fees, just using different names... Like Entry fee, and duty....

Aside from the cost of the bonds (difficult to arrange if your not a regular shipper/receiver, the total taxes I paid were at 2.9714% and that includes harbor maint. fees and import duties tax.

Also, one thing I wish I had known when I started is that to go get your car from port, you need a TWIC card to even get to the office on the pier. $145~ fee every 4 years and it can take 2 months aprox to get approved.

[Kuma]

Total tax / duties and all those maintenance fees at 2.9714%? I would like that.

[rpk2012]

Now, I did pay registration taxes in my home state, but that was not needed for just the importation side. Now, if you import a truck you will be spending big bucks on taxes.

[airbats801]

Cost depends on what and how long it could possibly end up in the wonderful american crooked customs companies.

If you ship a container of cars, be sure absolutely everything is documented. I had an extra radio in the back of one car, and the exporter had used a set of wheels for dunnage in the 40ft container I had shipped over. Needless to say, a month later I finally got my stuff out of customs here in oregon.


I will probably not be shipping a container to the port of portland again though and opt for a better port in the future.

Also keep in mind damage that can occur wehn these cars are unloaded by idiots in a private company that is used for inspection. I lost a 1500 dollar bumper and there was nothing I could do about it.


I think I had 10 or 11000 into the shipping of the container after a month of customs hold up. Keep in mind I had to pay transport costs of the container, and storage fees for that entire time. I believe after it was all said and done the hold up in customs cost me about..... 5 or 6000 dollars. The shipping itself wasnt actually that bad.

Now roll on roll off should be a better bet, but again ensure there is absolutely nothing loose in the car.

You will be a % fee, I'd have to look at my paperwork, but I imported 3 lncer ex1800s and a minicab van, frankly I only had 6k or so into the cars so tax wasnt real bad. Most people wont be importing a bunch of cars though.

Frankly right now, I am looking into importing from canada, as I suspect it may be cheaper, and at least you can go up and inspect the cars. You will find old japanese cars often have a lot of rust.