importing a gtr

[devin16]

i live in alberta and in my area there are a few people who import cars but i think they over charge alittle so i went in search of how to import a car myself and came across j-spec imports.has anyone on the site dealed with this organization before? and the gtrs on the site have considerably lower prices then the ones around here. found some very nice cars for 13000, 14000 dollors landed price.just curious to what else will need to be calculated into that.GST ect

any help is appreciated

[JZ]

Yeah we know J-spec (hint: look up a few inches^^).

Do a search, there's a few threads dealing with seller feedback and J-spec in particular.

[J-Spec Ben]

Hi Devin,

our landed estimates include:
- purchase of the vehicle in Japan
- FOB (which includes auction fees where applicable, deregistration, in land transportation, customs in Japan and anything else to basically get the car on a ship going to Canada)
- shipping of the car to Vancouver
- customs and quarantine clearance in Canada and related wharf fees
- import duty and GST
- our service fee

what the landed estimate does not include:
- transportation from Vancouver to where ever you are if necessary
- inspection and registration of the car (prices vary between provinces) as well as any work which may be necessary to get it to pass inspection (e.g. may need new tyres, suspension bushes or whatever, obviously we try and have as much of this info on hand prior to purchase of the car in Japan, but there can be things missed).

The reason our prices are probably cheaper than those you've seen elsewhere is that they don't include those above, but more likely because unlike dealers we only charge a $1,000 service fee, we don't make any more profit on a car than that, and everything else is essentially at cost and is completely transparent... you'll know exactly what things are costing, no hidden markups etc. I'd also like to think given the range of cars we have access to is a lot larger than most (if not all) in our trade that there are more better priced cars for us to choose from.

If you've got more questions shoot me an email (ben@j-specimports.ca) or fire away here.

[devin16]

is it possiable to have the car fully inspected in japan so i know what im getting and what is the difference from buying from a dealer or auction. im just looking for a mint condition skyline as stock as i can get it with maybe minor upgrades like exauhst or intake.

[Konkman]

This should be an option for most cars (depending on location). I had mine inspected, test driven and looked over before we bought it. I got about 100 pics of the engine, interior, exterior, undercarrage, suspension etc.

It costs about $250 or so, but it was washed when I bought the car.

[devin16]

so when i purchas the car and it lands in vancover what all need to be done. i have heard people talk about brokers and such and have no idea what thier talking about. also does anyone here know anything about shipping cars trought the contry because vancover is about 15 hours away. i live in lethbridge alberta if that helps.

[CanadianGTR]

There are a few good shipping companies (do a search) for the inland shipping.

Most of the time you hear of "broker" its either:
a) Import broker... that finds the car and takes care of everything for you (Like J-Spec, JNS, IC, etc..)

b) Customs broker... this is a company that takes care of all the customs documentation and nonsense that is a pain to do by yourself (it's not HARD just annoying).

If you bring over a car yourself you would need a customs broker unless you wanted to do the customs work by yourself.

[devin16]

im looking for a good reliable gtr. is it possiable to get one for around 14000$ landed. thiers a bunch of them selling for around that price and i dont know what to excpect. i know this is kind of kind of personal but if anyone would like to state a ballpark estamite on what they spent and what they got as in did u have to spend a bunch of money fixing them up. cus i cant really afford a 20 000$ car right now. if u have spent around 14 000 can u tell me what sort of problems u ran into and stuff i can exspect.

[CanadianGTR]

It's just like buying any other car..

there's a benchmark for mint ones.. usually $18-20,000 these days (higher when they first were legal).. and then you work your way UP or DOWN depending on the condition compared to the benchmark.

For example... say a Z32's benchmark is like... $14,000 for a mint one with decent KM (just a random number). You can get SUPER mint ones for $16,000.. or average ones for $12,000... go down to $10,000 and you are looking at minor issues like high mileage etc...

I can't fully BASH cheap GTRs because I have not personally seen one or know anyone personally who owns one... but IMO you get what you pay for... and if mint ones are going for 18-20,000... a 14,000 GTR is going to have it's flaws.

[devin16]

ic does anyone know what sort of things i sould be looking for before buying a cheaper gtr. im going to get it fully inspected but anything in particular that causes problems. thanks