My JDM >> USA?
 

Hiya

I'm currently applying for jobs in the new york area. If I'm successful I'd like to ship my Jap import rx as I've spend a lot of time / money on her... and I wanna bring her. Got PFC, after market clutch, kakimoto, HKS power flow race induction + all c-west kitted.

My questions are (if anyone knows):

would I have a big problem with emissions etc?
would it be a crapper insuring it with my mods?
are there companies that insure imports?
would it just be easier (though I don't want to) to get another one in the US and forget my baby?

thanks for any help in advance :)

Unfortunately the answer to your last question supercedes all the other questions, and that answer is: yes..it would be MUCH easier to get another one here.

yes it will be easier to get another one. Unless you are in the military then you can bring her over.

1) I don't know about NY, but if it's anything like California, the answer is yes.
2) Shouldn't be.
3) They all do.
4) That might be your only option. Out of the tens of thousands of members here, I don't know of anyone that's successfully imported an FD from another country. It requires going through a LOT of prohibitive 'red tape'. What year is your car, BTW?

Sadly importing just about anything into the US that has 4 wheels can become a ludicrous task.

I belive all (or maybe most) of the japanese FD's were missing the side impact door thing, and of course the pointless pre cat.

new york has no inspections and neither does penn. The problem is with the federal regulations like the doors and precat. If what Rhode Dog said is true than some US doors would do just fine. The problem is getting it through customs. Takes for ever and I'm in the military.

i imported a car to the us... from canada :)

but that's left hand drive... Not Illegal like the right hand drive.

rhd isnt illegal? the main problem is customs, if its the same as the skyline u ahve to pay alot for the permit to be able to bring one over,and then alot to legalize it, and customs can hold ur car up to 6 months

RHD cars are not illegal in the US, nor is their importation.

What is an issue is getting a car EPA/DOT certified.

Is is not impossible (Motorex.com imports RHD Skylines, for example) but is very expensive. You would have to amortize the certification cost over quite a few cars for it to make sense.

yes it takes for ever. I think customs can hold it longer than that too but not sure.

There are certain cercumstances where it is alowed. If you are working temporarily in the USA you can apply for a temporary pass( not the technical/legal wording) for the vehicle. This is just to give you an idea of what to look for in the DOT laws. You have( more the car)has to leave after the time alloted on the pass, usually around 1 year or so.

In the end it is easier to just get another one here.

I have the legal documentation in a file somewhere when i thought of doing importatiion.( 5 years ago or so) Then reality struck and showed her ugly ass!! :D

How does the military make it any different? Just curious.

Just say it's gonna work for the post office, than your legal.

It's not much easier. It's easy to import an american car overseas, but still very difficult to import an import to the us. I currently have a relative in Germany who was in the raq for a year and finally came back. He had his wife buy a bemmer while he was deployed, and there having a hell of a time and gave up all hope trying to get it imported to the U.S. It just isn't a-specs and that is the problem, rhd, lower standards of safety, emissions, ect.ect.

thanks for all the replies guys, much help!!

Dam that sucks a bit, though I didn't suspect that was the case. Arg..just really don't wanna sell her! Mind you.. I guess I could rebuild the look as kits etc are good prices int he US hehe.

The cars a 1993..It's running no cats at the moment either.

When you say it would be expensive to get her EPA/DOT certified, what you reckon the ball-park figure would be? We talking $1000s? as if it's $100's sod it, i'd do it :)

ooh and just another thought.. I could get a stick shift in the US couldn't I? (not a big fan on autos)

Are you living here permanently? or temporary? I will look up the info i have later tonight and PM you with the exemption laws

At the moment I'm thinking of two or so years. If I like it i'll stay longer (sure I will like it)

That info would be great if you have it to hand :)

I dont' care if it needs to get a EPA/DOT certified...
If we are talking about California, then FD RHD sure is illegal.

I really, really wouldn't get your hopes up. Unless that temporary status rule works for you (and that there are no strings attached,re: emissions), you have no chance in hell.

As for the side impact bars that someone mentioned: they were introduced to the JDM in the last production run (late 2000 - type VI) - no idea whether they would comply to US regs.

don't spend any more time thinking of this. i've been trying to export my folks car to Portugal and learned some of the regs for import/export.

either put it in your family's garage and have them start or drive it once a month or sell it.

you can buy a car here no problem

if you are moving into NYC, you will not need or want a car. you probably won't believe me, but its true - i live here

you could always buy a cheap fire damaged or severely wrecked fd and switch the VIN tags :)

The fire damaged or wrecked car would be left hand drive, while his car would be RHD. Someone would notice. Plus it's HIGHLY illegal to switch VIN's.

Its not even a felony. People do it all the time and never get caught. If someone catches you, say you bought the car out of the news paper from a guy who said he lost the title. Apply for the lost title exemption, switch the vins, and live a happy life behind the wheel of a RHD 7. You can even file for a lost title through the mail. Theres no way they would ever see the car.

Umm...maybe I'm mistaken, but isn't it *considerably* easier (to the point that it's feasible) to import a car the same model/year that it was available here in the US?? Isn't there some regulation about how if you establish it's similarity to the production versions in the US (since it's a 93, he could do that), the regulations for making it street legal are a lot easier?

Hmmmm....lol

On that note, however, isn't the VIN # in quite a few places on the car? In the dash, on the firewall, and I'd imagine at least 2 other places? What do you do, cut up the firewall and switch them? lol. I'd think you'd easily see a lot of weld work...

Hmmm.. I've heard of stories like this before. But instead of Right Hand Drive vehicle, they would do it to a Honda.

Nobody was talking about California - the guy is moving to NY.

Your original statment that RHD cars are illegal in the US was false. Do you have evidence to back up your current assertion that they 'sure' are illegal in CA. I know that RHD Skylines can be bought from Motorex and registered in CA, which would tend to suggest otherwise.

Ive heard you can import the car to Canada drive it acorss the border and thats thats. They dont check you there or anything.

hehe don't think I would want to do some VIN changing thanks haha sounds a lot of effort and I don't wanna get thrown out the country as soon as I get there :D

I would want a car, don't aim to be working in Manhattan or anything, wanna go for long island.. very aware the traffics crap there but it is in the UK too.. I anticipate getting to work real early so I free reign of the highway haha (what I have to do here also hehe)

To be honest, I had a flick through the for sale section last night and there's a few I liked in there, so if the time comes I guess I'd just get a US one.

Got another question. I'm gonna be 25 with 6 years no claims on my insurance.. what are the insurance prices like for a modded 7.. not talking single turbo.. just few bits n bobs (ecu, clutch, induction, exhaust blah blah) for someone of my age you think? I pay about £1300 now which is good (so what about $2000)

mmm now that sounds good :D

would I insure as a canadian import?

Unless you go to work at 2am, you will not have 'free reign' on any highway within 200 miles of Long Island. The place is congested and the roads are of very poor quality.

Also, NY has possibly the most strict speed enforcement of any state in the US, and particularly on Long Island. When I lived in NY I just gave up on the idea of speeding very much - you will lose your license in weeks if you speed a lot.

Assuming it's that easy, ok so you make it over the border. Then what? You can't title the car w/o a VIN, and no title = no registration = no insurance = no plates = jail + impounded car lol. Not trying to shoot down the idea, but how would you take care of that angle?

Oh and I'm real curious if the US Border Patrol will let a RHD car thru?? The FD attracts enough attention...them seeing a US citizen driving in a RHD car... eh... I'd think they'd give you some flack, if not put you under a microscope for a few...

Umm...unless I'm wrong, you have NO insurance and NO history when you come to the US. The ONLY thing you'll have going for you is that you're 25 (if you're anything under 25, insurance can be prohibitively expensive). But my point is, it doesn't matter how your record was in Europe, since you're getting a US license. In fact, in most cases, it doesn't even matter what your record is like in other states, so long that you get a new license, and THAT license is the one reported to your insurance company...cuz that's the driving record they look up.

So you will have a higher rate cuz you're a new driver, and cuz it's your first time getting insurance under your name (in the US). Also, my suggesstion would be, work on getting insurance for the FD as a stock car, cuz it's gonna be expensive as it is. It's considered a high performance vehicle by many insurance companies, further increasing your premium. And to add to that, you're gonna be in NY, which is a VERY accident prone state to live in (simply due to the huge population, lots of cars, city driving, high likelihood of getting your car hit, etc etc). Also, not just where you live, but exactly what kind of place you live in makes a diff (if you own a home, if the car is garage kept or street parked, etc). If after ALL that, you think the premium isn't that bad, go ahead and find out the policy your insurance company has for modified cars. Some will cover them, others will kick you out of their policy lol. Do your research, and ask ppl on the forum. Ppl here have quite a bit of experience in this area, since we all gotta deal w/ it...

Are you intending to retain the RHD? It is somewhat awkward to use RHD in a LHD country. If you want to do this it can be done, several responses above are not entirely accurate. However a 1993 RX-7 is not very rare and you can easily buy one in the US.

:rolleyes: The stench of bullshit in this thread is overwhelming. SEARCH for "DomFD3S" threads. He knows everything about this crap.

HMMMM thats funny...I guess I've always just got my car inspected for my own enjoyment. About you trying to insure the car with all the "go fast" mods, it makes absolutely no difference if your car is bone stock or 700 hp...your insurance rates will be the same. I like the idea of buying a totalled shell and switching the VINs. I don't see any way you could get caught doing this. Oh the car is RHD...guess what, you switched it. Absolutely no one checks for this stuff.

insurance shouldnt be that bad, mine is about a 1000/year and im only 19. mods only make a difference usually if you want them to cover them. err...and certain companies dont like to insure cars that are modded...but most of them dont care

Be creative? :D ..and careful! :cool:

I'll wager you would have more trouble trying to get the car BACK over the border into Cananda or the UK. :)

Having a "new" licence is a good thing, whereas lack of previous insurance is bad. Generally speaking most companies do have a "prior insurance" discount, which is in effect a penalty for not having insurance previously or not switching companies.. When I first moved to the US, my insurance agent accepted my policy from the the other country as evidence of prior insurance. He took my word on years of driving experience, which is another rating factor. They should have discretion to make their own decision on those matters. If you get a bad deal, shop elsewhere and try a different agent or company. Insurance rates in the US are all over the board. The location the car is garaged makes a huge difference, for example 40% between a suburban area and a rural county 100 miles away.

Interestingly, I brought several cars into the US (through various loopholes), and drove one of them on foreign plates for..(a very very long time)... Once in a while some cop got a little curious, but there was not much they could do; it even averted a few speeding tickets.

Maybe I'm real dense, but how on EARTH do you switch all the VINs, including the one on the firewall???

Oh and "go fast" mods *absolutely* make a difference in your insurance rates -- if you have them covered under insurance, as does body work. My assumption about him asking the question is that he wants the mods covered.

LOL c'mon now...it can't be THAT simple. What...you're hinting at using fake plates? That's asking for a beating if a cop pulls you over for ANYTHING, which, given that you're driving an FD, is inevitable.

How on earth did you manage that?? I thought you have to immedately switch over to US tags! What did you tell the cop?? You're in VA too?! Me and you NEED to talk lol.

the easiest thing to do would be to register your car as a "kit car" that way you can drive it, but theress more to it and i dont know what it is...all i know is i got a friend who imported an S15 Silvia from japan and registered it as a kit car, and he drives it every day...

Yea I heard of the same thing, but I'd imagine you need a nice hookup to do that, cuz kit cars have to be inspected...thoroughly.