Anyone imported a car direct from Japan thru an online company? I have been looking at vehicles & realize Gst is payable on purchase price, plus about $1000 to vin, rego & wof. Keen to hear from anyone who has done their own import via an auction or sales site, thanks.
mals69,
Apr 9, 7:34am
Was considering doing the same - but what websites offer wholesale prices - all sites I have come across seem to be retail - round same prices as cars sitting on a yard in NZ ?
mals69,
Apr 9, 9:10am
Cheers for the info - guess car dealers not telling a lie when they say not much profit per car all about turnover - that company you mention prob take a grand or two ?
monaro17,
Apr 9, 9:45am
No. Less than that
unideck,
Apr 9, 9:54am
Less than a grand per car, yeh right. Overheads, yard, finance, valeting cost, etc etc, thats one of the funniest things iv seen/read on here regarding dealers!
tgray,
Apr 9, 10:18am
When you see a mid year 2000 car at a car yard that is a fresh import and the price is $4500, how much profit do you really think a dealer is making, taking into account all associated costs? ie/ purchase price, importing costs, GST, compliance and REG, etc.
monaro17,
Apr 9, 10:33am
I have an excell spreadsheet of the costs. They charge a small commission. look at their website and read through the details. I have the facts here on my computer. You will be eating your words
oliver6,
Apr 9, 10:44am
He did very well then at that sort of discount. I was a buyer in Japan from 89 until 2004. Retail used to average around $1700 per car and wholesale maybe $500.
monaro17,
Apr 9, 10:51am
it was a little bit of luck to be fair. The auction house changed the closing time of the auction and it worked in our favour. That alone probably saved $2000
monaro17,
Apr 9, 10:54am
With this company you pay all costs such as auction price, de reg in japan, shipping, gst in nz, compliance, ORC etc and then the company's commission on top. (And yes the prices of all the above are laid out and none are exorbadent)
nesta129,
Apr 9, 12:15pm
Check out carweb too.I have registered with them and it looks so simple.Check out their reputation too.Think they only charge a $800 fee and everything else you pay but they sort it all out right down to having the car registered,you just pick it up.
gemini11,
Apr 9, 3:38pm
Remember GST is paid on the price of the car plus the shipping cost.When I looked at doing it saving was between 1 to 2k if everything was straight forward. Ended buying off the lot here where I could take the car for a drive ,check out the interior ect have all the fluids changed out and new tyres all round with 20k less on the clock than what I had been looking at in auction and 6 months free warranty for $900 more than importing.
kimbo88,
Apr 9, 9:17pm
You do of course save money by buying direct from the auctions in Japan, but the one thing people don't seem to realise, even when told, is that you have to pay for all the costs of compliance. This may be anything from nothing at all other than the cost of the check right through to anything from tyres to brakes etc. The higher the mileage the cars are, generally speaking the more there will need to be done, unless you strike it lucky and the guy selling it over there has done it shortly before selling it (rare). Most compliance costs are reasonable, but there are some unexpecteds that can come up, and those are unknown until the car is on the hoist here in NZ. A large percentage of Euros also require disc rotors to be replaced as well as pads. Some cars require suspension bushes, the odd shock absorber here and there, etc. Yes, it's well worth "taking a punt" but please don't think that compliance is a fixed cost, it's not, and you won't know the actual cost until the car is here and been inspected. It's generally better to pay a bit more for a lower mileage one with a good auction grade than to "save" money by buying one not so good and pay on arrival here anyway. I've seen 2 similar cars arrive at the same time, and the dearer one at purchase was on the road for a cheaper price than was the cheaper one at purchase, due to compliance costs.
mals69,
Apr 9, 9:39pm
$4500 cars did not even enter my head - who would bother ? $1000 tops if you bringing in a March that they have paid $500 Max for ? Real money is in bringing say a 2013 vette from the states
kazbanz,
Apr 11, 8:30am
Sometimes you can get very VERY lucky. equally you can get badly burned. If you are prepared to take the risk then heck why not. A STRONG recommendation to your son if he's bid in Yen is to pay the YEN and agents fee NOW. The yen is weak against the NZ right now. But if the dollar tanks even from the current 90 down to the more normal 80 then it could cost him a fair chunk of the amount he thinks he's saved. Also do be aware that there is NO comeback if the car goes bang
monaro17,
Apr 11, 8:40am
He has imported through a company. And the money for the auction company was payed immediately. It isn't a private import, it is actually through a company
mals69,
Apr 14, 8:42pm
If car delivery is proportional to speed of email reply guess I will never see the car. Emailed them last week as they request to do so with enquiries, looks to be common complaint them not replying. They could be doing way better for themselves.
kazbanz,
Apr 14, 8:56pm
PLEASE forgive my cynical view here. -I hope you know me well enough to know its nothing to do with my not wanting competition. Your son is placing a LOT of financial trust in the importer actually doing as they said they would. That's a fair chunk of coin to outlay on someones word. You probably don't recall the several cases like this where the importer steals from peter to pay paul. To explain.A lot of dealers only pay for the cars about when the ships due to dock in NZ. That's sensible finance as long as you have the funds to cover it in your account or in a jap account. Not so good is if you use a new customers money to pay for a car paid for a month ago and just arrived. it works for awhile till everything catches up and you have cars arrived but not paid for and no money to pay for em--then you have very unhappy customers. I would be needing to see proof of payment for the specific car to Japan/Europe etc before I was happy. also keep in mind again-if its effectively your son importing the car and the importer facilitated the import there is zero cover if anything goes wrong.
mals69,
Apr 14, 9:03pm
Good chance of it happening too when they show no respect to a potential customers time from the get go. Crikey service everything in business !
labbhen,
Sep 15, 2:56am
Hi all, I have just said no to a very tempting saab with confirmed VERY low km. I said no thanks when I realised it was imported from Singapore. All of the advice told me to say no, and stay away from most eurocars imported from Singapore. Now I'm looking at a eurocar imported from Japan. Any experience? Any good advice? Thanks
kazbanz,
Sep 15, 3:52am
personally I wouldn't buy a Saab from japan (or anywhaere) sight unseen. I would be wanting to do a full and complete pre purchase inspection before outlaying my money. That you can't do with a car that isn't in NZ I
tgray,
Sep 15, 4:06am
Not a C6 2013. I'm sure you meant a C7 2014. To answer your question, there WAS real money in doing it, but not at 63cNZ/USA now. Don't believe me? Well, one would cost you approx $55k USA dollars, then convert to NZ dollars and add approx $20K to that. See what I mean? Your well over $100k to land it now. It worked when the dollar was in the 80c range,but not in the low 60's.
robotnik,
Sep 15, 4:06am
What is the parts situation like for old Saabs these days anyone know?
timbo69,
Sep 15, 4:41am
What overheads? a phone and a PC? why would you need a yard? who said finance was required? valeting does not necessary need to be paid by dealer. Not funny at all - I would say a clever business It would be hard to see how it would involve more than a days work and could easily be done in spare time, just need a couple of agents in the right places. Say $750 profit per car - do one a day for a year and you have yourself a $200k income.
tgray,
Sep 15, 5:15am
To do one a day, you are going to need space to park them.
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