Whenever you contact me about potentially importing a vehicle from Japan, I will provide you with a quote showing you a breakdown for all of the costs and an estimate of what the total cost would be to import the vehicle of your choosing.

If the quote looks good to you, I’ll then send an invoice for my import fee and a deposit receipt for the total landed cost. Both are fully refundable if you dont love the vehicle you choose after the PPI.

If you would like to potentially move forward with whatever vehicle you’re inquiring about, then we will request a car history report on it which will tell you that specific vehicles specs as well as if the odometer has been rolled back, if it’s ever been in an accident and what kind of accident, if it’s ever been exposed to a contamination zone, how many owners it’s had, if it had any recalls, and if it has been auctioned off in the past. If it has been auctioned off in the past, it will have auction sheets attached to it which I can have translated that way you can see a 3rd party inspectors notes on it.

If you would like to continue on with that vehicle, I will then give you the option to hire an inspector in Japan go look over the vehicle for you. The inspector provides you with 90-120 pictures, 20-30 minutes worth of videos, and you can even videochat with him so you can see every little scratch it has before purchasing it. 

As long as everything still looks good, we will arrange the payment with Japanese seller and schedule shipping to port. Once we have the vehicle purchased we can schedule frieght shipping which usually takes 1-2 weeks to get on the schedule and 4-5 weeks to ship to the Baltimore port.

Once it arrives at port, it takes 1-2 business days for them to unload it off the ship and 1-3 days for customs to clear it. After customs clears it, I will go down to port to pick it up and transport it back to Williamsport to have the vin inspected/verified for the title paperwork.

If the vehicle is being purchased with a US title, it takes roughly 3-5 weeks for the title to come in but the plate comes in 1-2 weeks so you can start driving it right away.

If the vehicle is being purchased with just import paperwork than you’re welcome to meet me at port to pick up the vehicle. I’m a certified TWIC agent and can escort anyone into port if needed.

The entire import process for Japanese imports only takes roughly 6-8 weeks. Payment can be made in one of two ways:

•The first is you sign and notarize a bill of sale and refundable sales contract as well as pay the total landed cost upfront

•The second is you sign and notarize a sales contract where you pay the FOB (Car purchase price), RoRo shipping, exporter/transport to port fee, and ppi fee. You then have one week from the day it lands at port to pay the remaining balance owed so you can pickup the car.