How to Import a Car from Japan — Complete Process Guide

Importing a Japanese domestic market (JDM) car runs through four stages: finding and buying the vehicle in Japan, exporting it through Japanese customs, shipping it across the ocean, and clearing it through the destination country's import and registration system. Each stage has its own paperwork, costs, and failure modes, and the rules differ sharply by destination — the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom each run a separate framework.

This guide walks through all four stages, then breaks down the import rules country by country. It links out to the deeper reference pages for the topics detailed enough to stand alone: the 25-year import rule, Japanese auction grading, RoRo versus container shipping, avoiding import scams, and verifying a car's real mileage.

First-time importers are commonly advised to use a licensed customs broker in the destination country. Entry-documentation errors lead to bonded-storage charges, penalties, or — in the worst case — refusal of the vehicle at the port.

There is no single JDM marketplace. Cars reach overseas buyers through several channels, and the channel you choose determines how much you pay in fees, how much you can verify before buying, and how much risk you carry. The five routes below are the common ones.

If you buy through the auction network, the process below is roughly what happens. It runs through a Japanese auction agent — the agent holds the membership account, reads the Japanese condition sheets, and places bids on your instruction.

Before a car can leave Japan it must be deregistered from the Japanese vehicle register (抹消登録, massho touroku). Deregistration produces the export certificate — the single most important document in the process — which states the chassis number, the registration history, and the build date. The build date matters: destination-country age rules are calculated from it, not from the model year.

The exporter lodges an export declaration with Japan Customs, moves the car to one of the main export ports (Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe or Moji), and books it onto a vessel. You receive a set of documents that destination customs will require:

• Export certificate (deregistration certificate) — proves ownership and shows the build date and chassis number.
• Bill of Lading (B/L) — issued by the shipping line; the title document for the cargo, exchanged for the car at the destination port.
• Commercial invoice — shows the price paid; destination customs uses it to assess duty and tax.
• Auction sheet or inspection report — not always required by customs, but useful for registration and resale, and the basis for any later mileage check. If mileage is a concern, the export stage is the point to request an independent JEVIC export inspection.

Cars travel from Japan one of two ways. Roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) means the car is driven aboard a dedicated vehicle carrier and parked in the hold. Container shipping seals the car inside a steel shipping container, alone or shared with other cargo. RoRo is cheaper; container shipping protects better. Whichever you use, the freight quote is not the landed cost — port handling, customs brokerage, duty, tax and inland transport are all added at the destination. The dedicated RoRo vs container guide goes deeper; the table below covers the practical differences.

The United States is the largest destination for JDM imports, and its rules are the strictest about vehicle age. The federal gate is the 25-year rule, and the full sequence — CBP entry, duty, and per-state title and registration — is walked step by step in the US JDM import process guide.

Canada's age rule is more permissive than the US rule, with one significant catch. A vehicle 15 or more years old (measured to the month of manufacture) is exempt from the Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV) program and from Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard conformance — so cars not yet legal in the US can already be road-legal in most of Canada. The catch is provincial: Quebec's SAAQ will not register a vehicle until it is 25 years old, regardless of federal admissibility.

Cars under 15 years old must appear on Transport Canada's List of Admissible Vehicles and pass RIV inspection plus any required modifications — most JDM imports are bought precisely because they clear the 15-year line and skip that. Cars from the 1990 model year or newer are expected to have daytime running lights to Canadian standard, an inexpensive retrofit. Plan for these border costs:

• Import duty — 6.1% of value for passenger vehicles not manufactured in North America.
• GST at 5%, plus provincial sales tax depending on the province of registration.
• Air-conditioning excise tax — a flat $100 if the car is air-conditioned.
• Documents — the Japanese export/deregistration certificate showing the build date, Bill of Lading, commercial invoice, and the CBSA vehicle-import form processed at the border.

Australia regulates vehicle imports under the Road Vehicle Standards Act 2018 (RVSA), administered by the Department of Infrastructure. Every imported road vehicle needs import approval before it arrives — landing a car without it is the costliest mistake on this route. There are three common pathways:

• The 25-year rule — a car 25 or more years old does not need to be on the SEVS register and does not have to meet current Australian Design Rules. It still has to be made roadworthy and registered in a state or territory. This is the simplest pathway, and the one most JDM enthusiast imports use.
• SEVS (Specialist and Enthusiast Vehicle Scheme) — for newer cars never sold new in Australia that are listed on the SEVS Register on performance, rarity or specialist grounds. SEVS cars must be complied by a Registered Automotive Workshop, typically AUD $3,000–$8,000 in modifications.
• Personal import — available if you owned and used the car overseas for at least 12 continuous months immediately before moving to Australia.

The UK is a long-established JDM destination, and its process centres on three steps once the car lands. First, NOVA (Notification of Vehicle Arrival) tells HMRC the car has permanently entered the UK — it must be filed within 14 days of arrival, and missing the deadline brings penalties. Second, the car needs type approval: an Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) test for vehicles under ten years old, or a standard MOT for cars over ten years old. Age here is counted from first registration in Japan. IVA commonly requires modest changes — an mph or dual-marked speedometer, a compliant rear fog lamp, and headlamps that meet the UK beam pattern. Third, the car is registered with the DVLA on form V55/5, which returns a UK plate; DVLA processing typically takes several weeks.

On cost: the UK–Japan trade agreement (CEPA) has phased the passenger-car tariff down toward zero, but the preferential rate is not automatic — the exporter must supply a statement on origin for the car to qualify. VAT at 20% on the cost-insurance-freight value still applies regardless.

Across all four countries the cost of a JDM import is the car plus a stack of fees that routinely adds 40–80% to the auction or dealer price. A realistic budget includes:

• Vehicle price, plus auction and agent fees if bought at auction.
• Domestic transport in Japan to the export port, and Japanese export processing.
• Ocean freight — RoRo or container — and marine insurance.
• Destination duty and tax (rates vary by country — see the sections above).
• Customs brokerage, port handling and any storage charges.
• Inspection, compliance and modification costs where the destination requires them.
• Inland transport from the arrival port, and state or provincial registration.