Used surfs from Japan

[ubdai]

Would be grateful if anyone could shed some light on the pros & cons of buying a used car from Japan.(and for shipment to Kenya) ie buying a car wothout seeing it and taking the companies used car grading as a guide.

If anyone has used any of the myriad of websites that do this, any that are recommended would be appreciated.

Thanks
ubdai

[stormforce]

There has been a couple of guys that used to import trucks themselves.
Give Hilux Bob a shout on here and he will be able to give you decent companies to deal with

[ubdai]

Bump.

Any advice from anyone? Please

ubdai

[timholmes61]

I have imported a couple of cars direct from Japan (not done a surf though) and I actually found it pretty straight forward. Both times I used a company called Best Car Japan who were great but I'm not sure if they're still going.

You can buy from their stock and they will put it on a ship for you but this will cost a fair bit. Or you can get them to buy one from auction on your behalf. You have to pay for this service but you get a wider choice from the whole market. They will send you the dealer reports and the gradings and you say which one you want.

I'd say the gradings are really good and I wish they did it here. I was only looking at the top end of the market at 4.0 and above but you can get a fairly tidy example for 3.5. Most of the import dealers in the UK only buy the cheaper grades and flog them for much more than they're worth. But there are plenty of very well cared for cars in Japan for little money if you look yourself.

The only work you have to do in in the UK really. Just pay the duty and VAT and get it MOT'd and converted for UK roads. There are companies at the ports who can do all this. They will register it and then you just pick it up!

But at the moment the exchange rate is so bad that for me buying from Japan isn't worth it financially. Unless you're getting something rare to keep. As an example a couple of years ago when the exchange rate was better I bought a 1997 subaru forester t/tb for about £800 in Japan. Then will shipping and the fee for the company buying it. Then all UK costs I paid around £3500. Still a good buy I think.

I can't help you with shipping to Kenya though!