Importing your own VR4 - My experiences.

[White Lightning]

Whats' the best site (or sites) for viewing cars coming up/going through the Jap auction houses?

[AncientOfMu]

there are a few.

Directly accesible include

www.bonsaicars.com
www.japaneseusedcars.com
If you register at www.autoadvan.co.uk then you get access to ASNET.
Also try www.goo-net.com if you are looking for a dealer car.

as well as the usual import specialists try also..

www.ironchefimports.com

and

www.j-spec.com.au

[Kieran]

Have you stopped bouncing off the walls yet?!

Congratulations!

When's it arrive? I bet it'll need a real good polishing!

[White Lightning]

there are a few.

Directly accesible include

www.bonsaicars.com
www.japaneseusedcars.com
If you register at www.autoadvan.co.uk then you get access to ASNET.
Also try www.goo-net.com if you are looking for a dealer car.

as well as the usual import specialists try also..

www.ironchefimports.com

and

www.j-spec.com.au

Thanks Don ...

[AncientOfMu]

Have you stopped bouncing off the walls yet?!

Congratulations!

When's it arrive? I bet it'll need a real good polishing!

Nope still

and yeah gonna need a bit of tlc.

Should arrive 15/16th August.

Recieved the invoice by mail today so ill update the thread later tnight.

[bradc]

I will be interested to see what condition the rubber strips are in that go around the wheel arches and what you do to get them back to body colour

[WildCards]

Not many manual Legnums around at the minute are there?

[ianturbo]

Not many manual Legnums around at the minute are there?

Yep i have one !!
ian

[AncientOfMu]

Well after swinging from yayyyy to 'oh my god what have i done' I've now firmly come down on the side of yayyyyy .

The other half is cool, a bit confused about how this is going to be our 'other' family car but hey...

Been pre-empting people about possible bits should I need them.

Made the decision to do the minimum amount of work to her to get her into an MOT. If she passes great. If she doesnt then I'll make the decision on what to do then.

Had my confirmation e-mail from BonsaiCars today also.

This includes my own personal clients page. Username and Password.

Also a breakdown of costs that I must pay now.

An estimate of how much this is all going to cost me by the end.

First off is Bonsai Cars fee. I opted for option 1 which is they just act as the agent but I deal with everything else, registartion mot etc.

Their fee for this is £500 + Vat. So £587.50
I need to pay this before they will ship the car.

Also I need to pay Japan for the vehicle itself.

This equates too 324000 Yen FOB (Approx £1525.53 depending on exchange rate).

A bit more than I was expecting due to the charges for moving it being higher as it is a bit low .

Total so far..2113.03.

I will be paying both amounts tomorrow lunchtime.

I'm also going to shoot BonsaiCars a mail to request photos to be taken of all the damage, condition of paint, door shuts, underneath etc.

Any suggestions of what else I should ask for?

[AncientOfMu]

Have you stopped bouncing off the walls yet?!

Congratulations!

When's it arrive? I bet it'll need a real good polishing!

You know you are MORE than welcome to come help polish her

Should be arriving on the 15th/16th August. Funnily enough I have the last two weeks of august booked off work as holiday

ALthough I AM supposed to be taking the family away somewhere.....

[AncientOfMu]

OK I've been analysing this photo.



Blown it up to 200% so its a bit clearer.

This Super appears to have had the rear skirt trimmed so its only on the corners and not all the way across.

See here





Now I know the rear end has been repaired. However has the skirt been cut because of the exhaust...? Is it actually aftermarket as Nick suggested or just the standard ralliart....

Thoughts? opinions?

edit* maybe its just the lighting on second thoughts....

[bradc]

hard to tell, ask for better pics

[AncientOfMu]

hard to tell, ask for better pics

I have but i'm impatient

Should get better pics by monday at the latest.

[Kieran]

I think it's a trick of the light Don. It looks complete to me.

[elnevio]

I think it's a trick of the light Don. It looks complete to me.

I was thinking that. I think you're letting your enthusiasm and imagination run wild!

[AncientOfMu]

I was thinking that. I think you're letting your enthusiasm and imagination run wild!

Well yeah but hell why not

I'm sure I'll calm down by mid August

[White Lightning]

I agree it's hard to tell ... better pics will reveal all I am sure

[WildCards]

Looks like a standard SVR4 back box to me. Mine had the rolled inward finished on the tip, which is what yours looks like.


Do you know what tyres are on the car Don? The wheels look aftermarket to me, so you may find decent rubber on there which will save a few pennies come MOT time.

You could also ask for under bonnet pics and find out the condition of the side skirts, mine had hangers missing so they weren't that strong, if yours are the same you may find a skirt in the boot by the time you collect it.

[phosty]

You're not going to forget the extra costs:

Shipping ~ £450 (possibly more with the extra bunker fuel supplements currently)
Shipping agent fee ~ £150
Import Duty ~ £200
VAT ~ £380

Total £1180 ish still to pay.

I also wanted to comment on Autoadvan - I have imported both my Legnums via them. The first time was great - I told them my limit in yen and they came in under - 267,000 Yen which turned into £3135 after all costs UK Landed which I was very happy with.

The second time they took a different appraoch - Tony looked at eBay and said they are going for circa £4k (manual). He then asked me for a UK landed price I was prepared to pay (as opposed to a Yen auction limit). Needless to say, he brought it in for exactly the amount I said I was prepared to pay.

So, the first time I felt a got a bargain. The second time I felt Autoadvan made quite a bit of money out of me.

I believe Autoadvan also have 'contacts' at the auction houses / shipping yards where the deregistration docs are prepared - the declared value falls way short on the forms. This allows them to bid higher at the auctions because you pay less import/VAT for the same total amount. I tried to get details from them but they were only prepared to speak over the phone about their methods.

Needless to say I won't be using them again.

[pitslayer]

ive seen qaurter rear corners before for sale