Oppo QOTD: What Are Your Country's Import Laws?

"Justin Young" (jus1029) 01/02/2014 at 14:24 • Filed to: Oppo QOTD, QOTD, Question of the Day, imports

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Just today, we have discovered !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . It is a big celebration for every American Skyline fanatics that they can have a taste of Godzilla. Meanwhile above the land of the free, Canada has allowed importation of the R34. (some news that would please the late Paul Walker) Now I'm wondering, what are the importation laws of your home country?

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Let's bring America's and Canada's laws out of our minds because they are what everyone knows. How about Brazil's, Australia's or Europe's? I'll explain Philippine's laws. It can be any car as long as it is left-hand-drive. I don't know why they have came to that point.

Nowadays, you get to see Japanese surplus (that were converted to right-hand-drive) and—for sturdier quality—US and Dubai marketed vehicles. So most of the exotics in Manila have either have the USDM orange markers on the sides or the letter B at the beginning of the license plate (signifying Subic, Zambales, the place of imports/exports and registration).

Examples:

Now, Oppo, tell me what's going on at your country's freeport zones.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > Justin Young 01/02/2014 at 14:45

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Here in Norway we can import almost anything as long as it's been available somewhere in Europe (there are some exceptions, but not many), cars from the US or let's say Japan would be everything from a tiny bit harder to frigging impossible. LHD or RHD doesn't matter. Pay the taxes and the fees and it can be done (mostly), some cars must be registered as a historical vehicle though, but we've got rather lenient rules when it comes to importing cars.

Disclaimer: It also depends rather much on who you talk to when you're trying to get the car registered.

Bird > Justin Young 01/02/2014 at 14:52

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I believe the GT-R in the US from that article is not technically legal. I'd like to hear how it is, but the 25 year rule goes by date of manufacture. R32 GT-R production started in August.

http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/imp…

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Justin Young 01/02/2014 at 14:53

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in Australia there are three ways to import a vehicle, either you own and drive the car for 12 months overseas before bringing it over.

It is possibly to buy a vehicle and have it shipped over immediately if it is built prior to 1989 or if it is on the SEVS index, a list of pre-approved 'enthusiast' vehicles, which includes Skylines, Ferrari's, motorcycles and a collection of campervans, limousines etc. SEVS

All vehicles being imported have to comply with their relevant safety laws of that era, such as side intrusion beams and self ratcheting seatbelts. I believe any LHD car built after 1989 will need to be converted to RHD unless is has a special exemption.

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Justin Young 01/02/2014 at 15:02

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In Indonesia..

You can import anything. But it'll be taxed quite massively.
You can also import them as a parts, then register your car as a kit car. It's much cheaper, but a bit grey.
Or, you can register them as a commercial vehicle, just like my friend's M3 there. It's imported from japan as a "Commercial Vehicle". But the waiting list is very long because every month there's only allowed 50 of them.

Justin Young > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 01/02/2014 at 15:07

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Oh, was that the E30Camino?
http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/my-friends-new…

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Justin Young 01/02/2014 at 15:13

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No, That space supposedly to show a silver E46 M3.

The E30Camino is based on 318i.

Goshen, formerly Darkcode > Justin Young 01/02/2014 at 15:13

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Practically any car can be imported into Portugal as long as it's not a basket case and it respects both emission and sound pollution laws. Nonetheless they will have to pay taxes over displacement and emissions, and if they're not from an EU country, VAT (for some retarded reason). The latter can make cars quite expensive, especially if the cylinder count is equal or higher than six. Taxing exemptions are only allowed for NGOs and disabled people.

Justin Young > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 01/02/2014 at 15:15

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Wait? How the hell did your friend get away with that?!

I mean they can definitely see that a two-door performance coupe is not a commercial vehicle!

My hovercraft is full of eels > Justin Young 01/02/2014 at 15:20

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Here in Hungary, importing is practically unrestricted. You can import and register a RHD vehicle without any problem whatsoever. Of course, the car has to comply with Hungarian road safety regulations, etc. (old timers are exempt from these restrictions). There's registration tax, the sum of which depends on the age, engine displacement and environmental category.

The registration tax used to be very high, which made it virtually impossible to import old gas guzzlers (the tax could easily amount to 3 or 4 times the value of the car), but was decreased siginificantly about 2 years ago.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > Justin Young 01/02/2014 at 15:44

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In Brazil, it's nearly impossible due to the government's protectionist measures and staggering amount of bureaucracy and taxes. First of all, a vehicle can only be imported to the country if it's either brand new, or over 30 years old. Anything between those age figures is automatically vetoed because fuck you, that's why. Second, in order to import the vehicle of your choice, you have to fill out more paperwork than what it takes to open a small company in many countries:

1) A pro-Invoice, which is a document containing all the minute details of the vehicle in question, including proof of purchase of every part and service that's ever been done to the car in order to prove you're not smuggling parts into the country.

2) An LCVM or LCM, which is kind of an "environmental waive" required by the IBAMA to account for the extra pollution spewed into the poor, poor atmosphere by a foreign car. This document can take up to 90 days to be processed.

3) A CAT, which is a document to atest that the foreign car is roadworthy. This process can take up to 40 days.

4) LI, or importing license, which requires all of the above documents to be emitted. In order to get the LI you also have to discard the car's tires and fluids, even if they're in good condition. This process is a little quicker, taking up to two days, depending on quickly you can dispose of the aforementioned items.

5) An insurance policy to cover eventual damage or loss of the vehicle during transit. You're not the policy holder, by the way, the government is, so if your car falls off a boat and sink into the ocean, the government gets paid.

6) Still with me? Good, now we'll finally buy the vehicle (assuming it's even available at this point), not through a straight up purchase, oh no, but through an officer from Banco do Brasil who's legally allowed to transfer the money. There's all kinds of illogical rules to the payment process, and a small slip here will send the whole process down the drain, along with the money you already spent getting all those documents.

7) Shipping and handling have their own set of labyrinthine rules regarding what containers can be used, how many cars per container, seal numbers, in short, a motherfucking mess. Don't even try doing this by yourself, hiring someone who does this for a living is a must, and these guys come at a steep premium.

8) After the vehicle has been shipped, but before it has arrived, the seller will have to send to the importing agent 5 original copies of each of the documents mentioned above.

9) Once both the documents and the vehicle are in Brazil, the importing agent has to declare the importing registry, which can take up to another 60 days, and the vehicle will be unloaded and inspected, which can take up to god knows how long, since the customs office will charge you for everyday the car is kept in their premises.

Now, I could list separately all the duties and taxes you have to pay along the process, but most professionals of the area agree that it's much easier to five or six fold the car's original value when determining its price in reais. A 5 thousand dollar car, for example, will cost 25~30 thousand reais in Brazil.

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Justin Young 01/02/2014 at 15:48

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I don't know.

But it's registered as a commercial vehicle, just like a small truck like Isuzu NPR.

Maybe the police are a bit too stupid.

Klaus Schmoll > Justin Young 01/02/2014 at 16:49

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If the car comes from a EU country, it's easy. You just go to DMV and have it registered in your name. (This includes the UK, and as they are RHD they got some sweet JDM that mainland Europe never got. So Skylines and rare STIs or Evos are no problem.)

If the car comes from outside the EU it's a bit more hassle but still solvable. You have to pay VAT (Value Added Tax, 19% in Germany right now) at the port and you are free to go. If it's over 30 years old, it's eligible for historic plates. This means that the car should be in good condition, and close to stock or sporting only period correct modifications. (No historic plates for a '69 Stang with a Coyote crate engine. A chopped '32 Ford Hot-Rod with an engine from the 60s or 70s would be fine though.)

If the car comes from outside the EU and is younger than 30 years, it's even more of a hassle but it's still in the realms of "doable". The rules are pretty much the same as registering a heavily modified car. If you have all the right paperwork, it's no biggie. For US cars, this obviously means some modifications to the rear lights, as they need to have amber turn signals, brake lights, and rear lights all separate, not one bulb doing it all.

On paper, all glass parts should have a little EU safety logo. But that depends on the leniency of the TÜV inspector in question.

I remember a company importing brand new VW Kombis to Germany. They had to change the light lenses for new ones, which came from the same factory, but sported the EU logo. VW had at that time out-sourced all production for T2 lenses to Brazil. At least they didn't have to change all the windows.

Some TÜV guys follow the law to every single letter, some just want safe cars on their roads. You just have to find the right one, and the system let's you shop around.

TA4K > Justin Young 01/03/2014 at 16:56

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In NZ it is pretty darn easy. Buy your mint JDM ride in japan, get it put in a container then shipped here, go to the AA and fill out the ONE registration form, get your plates mailed to you, go and get a WOF and then you are done! However usually vehicles are imported because they are cheaper, not for rarity. We get most of that JDM goodness here from the dealer anyway.

Did you know they sold all generations of GTR from the dealership here? And all of the STI's, and there was one or two 22B's sold here, and all the Evo's you could ever want! (really the Evo, especially the earlier models, is rather plentiful. mate of mine got an Evo 3 for his first car.)

SpeedSix > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 01/03/2014 at 21:31

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Will trying to import 20 Mercedes-Benz 240Ds of similar condition and vintage be cheaper per unit than importing one then?

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > SpeedSix 01/03/2014 at 21:40

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Maybe... you'd save on the agent's fees, and maybe a little on shipping, but that would also be illegal, since the amount of cars would constitute intention to sell, and that's automatically veoted...

SpeedSix > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 01/03/2014 at 23:50

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I could say that I'm a rich landowner bringing a fleet of 240Ds for my estate...

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > SpeedSix 01/04/2014 at 00:15

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I suppose, but it's still illegal. You can't bring 20 at once, and you can't bring 20, one at a time, on a regular basis, either...

Lahay > Justin Young 01/14/2014 at 04:41

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In Pakistan, you are allowed to import cars, provided they are less than 5 years old. I'm not sure about the law for really old cars (20+ years), although I have occasionally seen them on the road, so there must be some way round that law (see: bribery). Duties are ridiculous though. Costs around 10 million PKR to get a new Camry/Accord here, which is almost the equivalent of $100,000.