What you described (bringing the car in in pieces) is essentially committing fraud by lying about the purpose the parts are being brought in for, and your intentions on how to use those parts. The car is still illegal, and subject to seizure and/or destruction, and you (even if you're just a buyer) are STILL subject to criminal prosecution, especially a felony, which carries mandatory jail time. All you did is describe how to lie and sneak past Customs, that's all.

 

xD xD xD Nice Ramy xD

The only real way is to just pay the import/legalization fees and get your JDM car. But after the money spent and the time wasted, it would have been far wiser just to buy a USDM car.

After watching the process my friends Skyline went through, and even working with the DOT for him, i know what a pain in the *** it is. Best to just go USDM, or do what im planning (YES I KNOW IM CRAZY) convert the car to RHD using a JDM front clip.

 

I know, Ramy, I was just kiddin' with ya...
Not sure where he pulled that figure from (I could think of one often-used body part), but I think that's a quite a bit short.
You mentioned "crash testing" in one post. This is part of the NHTSA/DOT process for approval of an automobile for public road usage in the U.S. Ever see those car commercials on TV where they show multiple crash tests of a single car? It's not just one test you have to pass; there are several. And guess who has to foot the bill for the cars used in these tests, as well as the testing itself?
Your buddy with the GTR had the advantage of an importer in SoCal who went through the considerable hassle and expense of obtaining the necessary documentation and testing for that particular car, so it was already in the NHTSA/DOT/EPA databanks. He got off comparatively easy; for someone looking to do the same with a non-compliant FD, it won't even be close.

 

why would you swap RHD? RHD sucks, imo. It will just make you look like some wanna-be initial-D driver or something. I got mine imported from japan because I'm not fortunate enough to afford one from canada or the US. (even if the canadian dollar is now worth 99.78 U.S muahahaha). honestly, I would trade it for an american / canadian rx-7 at any time. Being different is not so cool. And people just keep asking "OMG WHY IS TEH STEERING ON THE RIGHT? IS THE CAR FROM ENGLAND??!?!111one). Plus the police officers always think your car is illegal, even if it's perfectly street legal here in Canada,and that's annoying. Imagine in the US... it would be even worse.

 

thats the quote the laywer gave me *shrugs*

as for my buddy, yeah i know hes "lucky". he payed 15k for the legalization.

 

Buy a RHD car from Canada and leave it insured/registered in Canada. Hell, I'll import a RHD FD and sell it you and leave it registered/insured in my name (3rd party only).

For a small mark up of course. RHD cars in Japan are sold pennies on the dollar. Or register it in Florida, they register anything there.

 

'92 FD in good condition costs about 4000-5000$ US in japan. After importing and paying all the fees and shipping, its about 10-11k$ here for a JDM FD in good condition

 

That's called 'getting jacked by the importer'.

Shipping is around 2K, what is the other 4-5K for?

 

shipping, usually around 1500-2000$, taxes, anywhere from 1000$ to 4000$ depending on how much you paid for the car, parts to get it legalized, then legalization itself. a new set of tires can run up to 700$ installed, new lights around 150-200$ depending on where you get them, new suspension parts are usually needed which can be around 100-500.

I've paid around 7500 - 8000 for mine so far and I haven't even put new tires on it, nor have I paid for PST and inspection yet. And some fucktard broke into it trying to steal it and caused me to have to pay 300$ insurance deductible.

 

viper2020cobra // you can import an fd to the states its how you get it done that will depend on how you save money. i live in nj and will be importing an fd from japan with in the year how the company that imports jdm engines and other items. does the cars is they have thier contact that finds good running cars the owner flys to japan inspects the cars drives them to make sure then they disasemble the car into parts load it in the contaner and when it gets to the shop they reasemble the car. why you ask so when the gov. checks the container
they see parts not a whole car thus they dont pay more money on shipping charges. it cost more money to ship a whole car than a container full of pieces. then you register the car as a kit car. by doing this you are exempt from all saftey and emissions,although you must have a working speedo for millage you are only allowed an x amount of miles per year. your in washington not far from cali. check out shops that import jdm motors,etc. get in good with them. and find out about kit car registration for your state, over here in nj its gona cost me about 3,000. to register. and the car will cost me about 7,000. and it will be modified due to the fact its almost impossible to find a near stock fd in japan. good luck

 

Shipping from vancouver to montreal is 980$. You have a 21% taxes to pay when the car gets to Canada. Pay for custom fees. You have to pay the person / company who buys the car for you in japan, inspects it and that brings it to the shipping company. You need to pay for the inspection here too. There are some other fees that I don't remember too.

do the math...

 

"Save money" and "importing an FD from Japan" are two contradictory statements.

What about the cost of shipping and customs/tariff fees? What about the cost of disassembling the car in Japan, and then reassembling it here?

But before you even get near the car to reassemble it, there's the looming specter of U.S. Customs' wary eye on the car body, and what exactly you're going to do with it, especially if there's a raft of parts coming along with it. They're going to demand some serious documentation, and it's not like the body (and probably the other parts) will sail through the Customs labyrinth smoothly and quickly. If there is any suspicion that you're trying to circumvent DOT/EPA laws, you can bet the components will sit in some warehouse for a very long time.

Then there is each state's definition of a "kit car". While NJ and some others may be lax in their requirements, others are not. When they run the VIN number and see that it was a mass production car built for foreign road use, red flags will immediately go up.

And from what I've seen for most states, the mileage limitations for kit cars are pretty small, as in 2500-3500 miles/year. My FD is by nowhere near a DD, and because of my job, I don't even get to drive it every weekend. Yet I've put well over that mileage in most years of my 11 years of ownership.

Basically, A LOT OF TROUBLE to go through just for attention's sake...

 

thats totally wrong, I have acces to dealers auctions from all over japan, and there are about 100-150 different FDs for sale every week. About 20-30% of them are modified

 

Sorry benji but if you've never been to the auctions yourself you're being mislead, almost no rx7's in japan are stock. they almost all have intake and exhaust mods, as well as non stock wheels. most also have boost gauges installed with varying degrees of competence.

 

Well I thought you were talking about "near stock" rx-7. a lot of them are near stock... changed wheels and air filters... I consider that pretty much near stock !

 

You're gonna get jacked. Either sooner or later, but you'll get jacked because 1) buying used FDs is dicey enough as it is, 2) that process is completely illegal, and 3) it's hard enough to get insurance in NJ for a radio flyer, much less an illegally imported sports car.

But I'm not cool enough for RHD I guess.

Dave

 

"In Newark, New Jersey, an earthquake caused $1,000,000 in improvements."
~Craig Kilborn on The Late Late Show

Definitely not

 

I just felt like showing you some pics of an FD I'm importing for less than 10$ (all fees, taxes, customs and ***** included) to canada... its one of the many stock rx7 I've seen in the japanese auctions

 

wtf, it won't let me edit??

Well, I meant "a little more than 10K" instead of "under 10k" but anyways its not a big difference

 

Has a turbo timer it looks to be yes?

 

i get all mine for around 10k, not a bad price considering the mileage is lower than usdm ones, and they are usually in better condition

 

This was hard enough to read as is. Geez.
But after deciphering your words of wisdom...

So...from what you're saying...

The owner of said illegal importing company will personally fly out to Japan to inspect a car. A SINGLE car. A SINGLE car that is WAITING for a buyer.

So the car is sold for $4k - $5k in Japan. That is $4k - $5 just sitting in Japan waiting for a buyer.

Must be nice for someone to have a few thousand dollars worth of inventory sitting around waiting for a buyer, not needing to push them out very fast.

The owner of said illegal importing company will drive the vehicle. Assuming he really does fly to Japan to look at your car. What does he do? Turn the key in the ignition? Drive it around the parking lot? Drive it around the block? Take it to a trusted mechanic? Heck, take it to Amemiya-san himself?

I'm glad you believe the bull$hit about the owner himself flying out to Japan to inspect your car. On Travelocity, a single roundtrip ticket from LAX to Tokyo is anywhere between $1,400 - $2,500+. The price will not vary all that much if you choose another airport.

So $4k for your JDM car. $2,000 for owner's personal inspection. That leaves $1,000 left from your $7k estimate. But that leaves your $3k kit car registration fee. You're now $2k in the hole. Do you think the owner will eat the cost of his plane trip or swallow part of it (and not pass it along to you) while he is there trying to fill the container w/ more JDM parts? If you think so...wear his shoes fior a minute and tell me if you want to eat a part of the cost.

Oh wait. Why don't we write off the entire plane trip as a business expense? That leaves...$4k gets you a basic car in Japan. And $3k is for your "kit car registration"...what is the amount of income for the owner of said illegal importing company?

Re-read the garbage you've been fed and see if it makes sense. If you still believe it, look at the basic math I presented.

Good luck finding a near stock FD. Just because it appears stock, doesn't mean that it wasn't ever modified either. If you can turn a wrench,...so can they.

This math lesson has been fun.