Importing cars from Japan has been popular for some time and there’s many reasons for this. First is the price, cars there are cheap, secondly, you can get performance models that may not be available in the US.
Why are the cars at Japanese car auctions so cheap? Japan has laws that make it very expensive to keep cars on the road as they age so most vehicles may only get to 60,000 to 100,000 klms before being retired. So, for most of them there is still plenty of life left in them. But it’s not just cars, importing machinery and trucks from Japan is also popular.
In most cases you’ll need the support of a buyers agent, and there is many to choose from. An agent will be able to purchase the car you choose at the auction in Japan and arrange all shipment paperwork, transfer to the docks and even shipping to to your country. Different agents offer different levels of service, some will offer visual pre-auction inspection services whereas others will simply supply the auction evaluation sheet issued by the auctioneers. Discuss all the details in regards to inspection, paperwork, shipping, etc. prior to auction day and be very clear about the whole process and who does what.
A quick search on the web will find you many auction agents and Japanese car exporters such as www.everycar.jp or www.auto.co.jp.
http://jpctrade.com/howtobuy/videos/ has several videos covering the details of buying used cars at auction in Japan.
The next consideration is import duties and regulations in your country. Japanese cars are right hand drive, so you need to consider whether you are buying the car for parts to transfer into a LHD drive vehicle or whether you are going to do the conversion. Some vehicles are allowed to be registered as RHD. You should check up on all the laws and regulations relating to vehicle imports www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/import/
Outside of the US countries such as Australia where the vehicles are RHD have less concerns when importing used cars from Japan. Although there is no need to do a driving side conversion there are still several regulations pertaining to importing vehicles into Australia. Mostly they are centered around meeting road safety standards plus many vehicles are restricted from being imported to protect the local car industry. For more about import laws in Australia see www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/… and http://www.customs.gov.au/.. plus your relevant state governments registration laws.
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