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Hello again,
finally got the chance to write a bit about my experience of importing my Surf direct from Japan.
The obvious problem with doing this is that you only see pictures of the car before purchase, also you don't get a warranty but in my experience they don't mean that much anyway !!
Luckily I have a freind who has a couple of reliable contacts in Japan so I was off to a good start. I picked my surf from their web site which gave photo's and a really detailed description of the vehicle and all its lumps and bumps all of which proved to be accurate when it arrived. They arranged the shipment for me and cost of car & shipping and insurance to Southampton was £2500 !!
They contacted me by e mail to let me know which boat it was on and its expected date of arrival in the UK. I had to pay half of the money up front (By bank transfer) and then the rest when it was well on its way. They sent the documents for the car including the vital de registration document by dhl so that I could arrange customs clearance. I contacted customs at Southampton to get the name of a good clearance agent and let them deal with the paperwork side (Cost £90) and they calculated the import charges for me (about £800) which I sent to them when the car arrived (2 days early). They did the customs clearance which took a couple of days. Once it was cleared I went down to Southampton and collected papers for release from the docks which took about 10 minutes. I then went to the pick up point (agent tells you where it is ) and they bring your vehicle to you. It was very dirty (been on the boat for 6 weeks) and windscreen covered in Jap writing but otherwise beautiful !! I drove it home to Dover minus reg plates with no problem. (there were hundreds of Surfs on the quayside in every colour imaginable all waiting to be collected by dealers @ prices marked up by about 2 grand !!)
Only had to fit rear fog lamp for MOT & passed straight away ( I know it is more complicated if you have to get SVA). Registered it with DVLA and got it on the road for a total cost of about £3500. Its a '93 L reg 2.4 SSRX with about 73000 kms on the clock. It has a few little scratches and minor dent on bumper which I already knew about and I think I got a good deal as I bought it to be a work horse & not to polish every day !!
Hope this helps if someone wants to do the same thing.
My friend has done a few imports for other people if they want help and I can put you on to him if you would like to import but would rather someone else did the complicated stuff. If you want me to put you in touch with him, please contact me by e mail. He doesn't cost much !!!!
Sorry this has been so long !!
Good luck if you go for it !!
RIVERKARA
finally got the chance to write a bit about my experience of importing my Surf direct from Japan.
The obvious problem with doing this is that you only see pictures of the car before purchase, also you don't get a warranty but in my experience they don't mean that much anyway !!
Luckily I have a freind who has a couple of reliable contacts in Japan so I was off to a good start. I picked my surf from their web site which gave photo's and a really detailed description of the vehicle and all its lumps and bumps all of which proved to be accurate when it arrived. They arranged the shipment for me and cost of car & shipping and insurance to Southampton was £2500 !!
They contacted me by e mail to let me know which boat it was on and its expected date of arrival in the UK. I had to pay half of the money up front (By bank transfer) and then the rest when it was well on its way. They sent the documents for the car including the vital de registration document by dhl so that I could arrange customs clearance. I contacted customs at Southampton to get the name of a good clearance agent and let them deal with the paperwork side (Cost £90) and they calculated the import charges for me (about £800) which I sent to them when the car arrived (2 days early). They did the customs clearance which took a couple of days. Once it was cleared I went down to Southampton and collected papers for release from the docks which took about 10 minutes. I then went to the pick up point (agent tells you where it is ) and they bring your vehicle to you. It was very dirty (been on the boat for 6 weeks) and windscreen covered in Jap writing but otherwise beautiful !! I drove it home to Dover minus reg plates with no problem. (there were hundreds of Surfs on the quayside in every colour imaginable all waiting to be collected by dealers @ prices marked up by about 2 grand !!)
Only had to fit rear fog lamp for MOT & passed straight away ( I know it is more complicated if you have to get SVA). Registered it with DVLA and got it on the road for a total cost of about £3500. Its a '93 L reg 2.4 SSRX with about 73000 kms on the clock. It has a few little scratches and minor dent on bumper which I already knew about and I think I got a good deal as I bought it to be a work horse & not to polish every day !!
Hope this helps if someone wants to do the same thing.
My friend has done a few imports for other people if they want help and I can put you on to him if you would like to import but would rather someone else did the complicated stuff. If you want me to put you in touch with him, please contact me by e mail. He doesn't cost much !!!!
Sorry this has been so long !!
Good luck if you go for it !!
RIVERKARA
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