Interesting fact about Japanese used vehicles.

Considering how reliable Jap cars are that's doesn;t make any sence, but who knows???

I bet GM, Chrysler, and most of all Ford would absolutly love this kind of law since their crap can't even last the US minimum 3 year warenty

 

Since the steering wheel is on the "wrong" side of the car for the U.S., there's no market for such used Japanese cars here. What in fact happens is that the used cars are re-conditioned and sold in countries such as India where one drives on the left.

 

yep its true not sure why. They do often end up overseas there is an entire industry here in aus for bringing them over

 

Where do you think all the replacement Japanese motors come from? Check out the Little Nickle sometime. Gauranteed used (note: not rebuilt!!) motors need to be very low miles!!

 

William
Your information is correct. Because of high taxes and other regulations it is very expensive to keep older Japanese cars on the road. These used cars are sold in large parts to 3rd world countries.

I respectfully disagree. There are some F chatters, that make a very lucrative living (trust me) being in this business, and selling such cars in the United States. You would be surprised at the profit margins. RHD/LHD has nothing to do with if you can sell the cars in the US or not. It is a huge business, and if done right, is very profitable.

 

A quick question for you:

I am seeing lots of RHD imports from Japan that definately do not meet the 30 yr old (?) exemption rule. They are mostly recent Honda products, like Civics as well as Silvias and such. This is pretty surprising, as here in socal, DMV laws seem to be more strict compared to other states.

(pretty funny trend, as people in Japan used to by US spec. Lexus and 300Zs, just to have a LHD car in Japan as having LHD is/was a status symbol of sorts...)

So, is there any legal way to federalize recent Japanese spec. cars for use in the US? Or all of these dudes running around with the help of "hook-ups" in the DMV or something shady like like swapping vins from a US car?

For anything desirable (like maybe a previous gen. civic type-r), it would seem impossible to have it legalized, with it having engines different from their US brethern.

Thanks!

 

I personally supply lots of the cars in So cal, and all over the west coast. Currently the easiest place to register the newer cars are in FL. But that is another story.

To answer your question, no these RHD cars do not meet the 30 year old exemption rule. The s14s/s15s we do or all the DA, or EG cars we sell, we sell them as show cars. We do bill of laden, and it is the responsibility of the owner to register them. It is similar to how the shops sell you clear corners and tell you that "it is for off road use only."

So how do these cars get titled? Well different customers use different tactics. I am unaware as to specifics to my customers but in an industry general there are few ways of doing it.

1) Use out of state plates. This is very common, and some of our F chatters use this method as well. You will see F40s licensed in Oregon/Alaska/Montana you name it. So you go to a state that has less restrictions and you register your RHD there. LEGAL

2) Dmv hookups like you said are very common. For certain amount of $$, I hear anything can be registered. ILLEGAL to pay DMV worker $$ LEGAL after you get paperwork

3) Vin Swapping is common in the industry as well. Get a salvaged car from junkyard, swap vin, walah, you have a salvage car. Cop pull you over on RHD, well its salvaged. ILLEGAL

4) Using Dealer plates. I do this, and plenty of others do. This way, you can put your dealer plates on any car, and drive it around. Hopefully you have nice insurance coverage. LEGAL

5) To legally federalize and get dot approval, you have to meet impact crash standards of the year or newer of the car you have. Because Japanese cars are manufactured with different standards, meeting these standards in the US is hard. That is why Motorex charges 95K for a car, we can get for 35K. They spend the money crash testing the cars, and paying the $$ dot and making it legal. Most guys don't do this, because they have barely enough money to pay for the car, and thus can't afford the extra money to federalize. LEGAL

6) No plates. This is common. If you go to HIN or places like that, you will see full show cars that are trailered in and out. Many of my customers do this. These cars tend to be company sponsored, or owned by people who have many cars, and this is a hobby, and they can afford not to drive them daily. LEGAL

7) There are few other ways I know of, from using registering as kit cars to different engine sizes and various others. It will get very complicated and take me forever to write them down here. We usually cater to our clientele's needs and their budgets, and do what is is best for them. Lots of people also keep them as parts car.

Hope that answers some of your questions. If you have any further ones, don't hesitate to ask. Lastly, nothing is impossible in this world, given you have patience and $.

 

Thanks LAfun2!

Now that's what I call a thorough answer!

Looks like the registration process can be a bit of a hassle, and not exactly time/cost effective for my needs. Still, it is great to know, as this is somethinig I have always wondered... (uh, thanks to f-chat as well)

So, newer cars seem to be a bit of a pain. How complicated is it to import and register the 30+yr old exempted cars? It is simply a matter of taking the car down to the DMV and getting it registered?

Also, as a ball park figure, how much does it cost to get a car from, say Japan or the UK for that matter, into Socal?

(thanks a bunch!)

 

That has to be one of 'straight to the point' posts by LAfun2! I enjoyed that one

( How about driving a car month-to-month via temp permits? )

 

Only recently did countries like Russia, India & Pakistan start buying used cars from Japan and they mainly take the older cars. Prior to that New Zealand was the largest importer, we've been importing them since 1985 in fact more than 80% of the vehicle fleet in NZ are used Japanese imports, mostly midrange with a few higher end cars. In the mid 90's the UK started the trade, and took a lot of the higher end cars, forcing the price up , Australia takes only a small percentage due to their protectionist import laws.

I've given up looking at the auctions now as I have too many cars as it is, but I was constantly amazed by what turned up at the weekly auctions were anything up to 50,000 are for sale at any time. Most Eurpoean cars are LHD and well below the cost of purchasing elsewhere in the world, seems strange as the Japanese seem to value LHD as a status symbol, but don't like buying used cars in Japan, they would rather import another one.

It's no more expensive to keep an old car on the road in Japan, taxes and such are the same regardless of age, however the inspectors, often associated with the repair company, have a habit of finding something wrong with the car which could cost the owners more than they are prepared to pay to fix. So they sell it and buy a new one. Also it's more a culture thing to have a new car, The econoboxes get turned over more frequently than the likes of GTR Skylines, Supras, MR2s Soarers (Lexus) & NSX's.

 

Thank you. I am usually to the point on my posts, especially if it is an area of my expertise or my business interests.

Registration is a hassle depending on how bad you want a car. I have many friends, who only buy RHD cars from me, and refuse to drive anything else. Their wives/moms/kids all drive RHD cars. Living in LA, I am sure you are well aware every car is a dime a dozen. It is hard to stand out in the crowd. Heck there are a dozen 360s every time I am in westwood, and handful of 550s.

30 year old cars [or cars that can be shown to be thirty yeras old (entirely different matter)] are easy to register. I also do RHD minis and they are a breeze to register, especially with a bill of laden. You run into problems if you find older cars with no paperwork. But like I said, for every rule there is, there is a human figuring a way around it.

As far as your last question, bringing one car can be costly, depending on if the car has a motor in it or not. If you are bringing as a whole car or "parts car." I only bring cars in 40 footers, and few containers a month, so I pay a flat fee. It is rare (almost 2 years) since I have had any space in my container for someone else's car. If there is something that you are extremely serious about buying, I can call around, and see if anyone is willing to rent a space for you in their container.

I don't deal with UK. I deal with Japan and Australia only. However, you can Pm Faisal (TVRFREAK on this board) who regularly imports from UK, as he will have a better handle of things. I do it as a business, so for me volume is everything. I don't have enough customers demanding cars from the UK. However, Faisal is an expert in this field, and can help you on the side of the Atlantic.

Glad you enjoyed it. Month to month? LOL, yeah thats done as well, but thats ghetto. LOL. Then again you are in the Sac town area I was just up there last week (elk grove).

Heck there are times, when I am in different parts of the country with a car, and have driven with no plates, much less temp permits! Being pulled over in South Dakota in a RHD car with crazy "japanese badges" (cops word) and no plates is fun.

William, you are very welcome. It is not difficult to bring them into the TExas market. I actually have a lot of customers in the Houston area (sugarland/riveroaks/nw houston) and 2 in Dallas currently.

Honestly, I am going to be getting out of the business this year. I have been doing it for about 7 years, and it has been very very good to me. However, with every 15 year old getting into the same business, competition is fierce, and thus profit margin is low. Whereas I could sell a RHD glasstop CRX siR for about 12K (when my cost was about 900), nowadays they are fetching 9K and falling fast. I did well while I was in it. The business is good, over head low (space rental in ports, and few employees when you are moving more than 30 cars a month). You always get repeat business, and it is mostly word of mouth, granted you are willing to go the extra distance (delivering cars for new years presents/xmas). But with the falling profits, and the manufacturers seeing American demand and bringing the right cars over (Sti, Evo, upcoming Skyline), the market for cars you can't get here is on a decline.

In my business estimation, this business will still be hot for a few more years. But I want to get out while the downward cycle has just begun, thus minimizing hassle. I am not willing to sell cars for 1500$ profit. Just not worth the hassle with the time.

If you do get into it, and need contacts in Aus or Japan to get you cars, let me know. I would be happy to pass on some of the good connections I have made over the years.

Good luck.



-Ryan

I will respectfully disagree with you. The south east asian countries you mention did not recently start importing re-conditioned japanese cars. I know Russia has problems with cost as far as maintenance goes, and Lada is their best friend. However, Russia aside, I am very well aware of the American/Australian/European/Japanese market, especially spending considerable time in many of these parts of the world. I have no doubt that New Zealand might be the largest importer, but the South East Indian continent have been importing these Japanese cars from late 60s, early 70s, if my memory serves me correctly. At the current time, there is so much of an influx of money in the SE Asian countries, that you can constantly see brand new Range Rovers, BMWs, Porsches (yup), Benzs and Lexus' galore. Before in SE Asian countries, having a car was enough (whether it was 78 beat up starlet, nobody cared). Now the poor have the 1999 Toyota Corolla and the rich have Range Rover HSE. Don't believe everything you read in the papers about this country. Once you visit, you will see what I mean.

Lastly, though you are correct that the econo boxes get turned over in greater numbers, but the Skylines and Soarers also get turned over often. I have shipments of them all the time. I personally have posted pics of my 600hp Soarer few times at the request of poster Auraraptor.

 

No, you misunderstood my post, NZ was the biggest importer through the late 80's early 90's, it no longer is, we only take about 20% of the exported vehicles, slightly more than Russia, but those figures are hard to find because a lot of them are exported strapped to the deck of fishing boats.

Pakistan & India may have imported cars since the 60's but it was only in the 90's that the volume became large, I know this because at the time I was associated with the import industry and car dealers were complaining that the supply of cheaper vehicles was drying up because of them, then the UK started taking the higher end vehicles, giving them more to moan about. Also our turnover dropped from 150-200 vehicles per week to around 100 as they were forced to purchase later model cars which required less work to be bought up to the compliance standards. The current situation is probably best summed up in this quote from The Japan Times Article

As to the supply of Skylines etc, while you find quite a few available, my point, which I failed to make clearly was that there are a lot of newer econoboxes, but when it comes to the older cars there are more Skylines etc as the Japanese seem to hold onto them longer.