Im not going to lie, i have very minimal knowledge of importing cars.
With that out of the way i have recently been trying to research the topic.
Im on the market for a new car with a total budget around 26k and initially not many cars that were in my price range grabed my attention locally.
Then i began looking at imports and have become quite excited at the prospect of importing a V35 coupe.

Iv checked multipule sites including J-Spec (Much talked about on these forums) Imports101, Prestige Motorsport ect ect
Prestige motorsport seem to generally be giving lower prices for a landed and complied v35. With many examples between 20 - 22k.
Can anyone advise me if they are reputable company or not? Would they be giving lower quotes for a bad reason?

These are a couple of recent examples they have showed me:
http://www.prestigemotorsport.com.au/modul...hp?StockID=4675
http://www.prestigemotorsport.com.au/modul...hp?StockID=4673

Both of these cars are estimated at under 21k landed + complied.

Im bassically wanting to know if Prestige are a reputable company?
Also if anyone has managed to recently import a v35 for 25k or less landed and complied?
Does 26k seem like a budget that can get this done? or am i dreaming?

I really appreciated any you guys can offer me.
Regards.

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Please note that if two brokers are charging near enough to the same service fee then their landed and complied prices will be the same assuming they are quoting realistic prices with accurate exchange rates, shipping costs and compliance rates ... just to clarify, we under estimate the exchange rate because no banks give you the full wholesale rate advertised, we over alll slightly for shipping and don't list the absolute cheapest compliance price usually so there is a very good chance of it costing slightly less than the estimate as long as rates don't change heaps or any unexpected costs pop up ... also keep in mind that we have many customers looking for these cars who are signed up with deposits in place, so the best deals are always gone before they make it onto the website anyway.

With regards to your desired car, a budget of around $25,000 landed and complied should be very simple to get a good V35 these days, you should be able to fairly easily get one for around $20,000 to $24,000 as long as you are not looking for a 2006 model in black with 6 speed manual and Brembo brakes or a limited edition 70th Anniversary model ... the examples you showed above are fairly typical of what you can get from auction these days if you are an active client and bidding on cars, we have had a number around this price but as noted above they are all sold before hitting the mailing list.

I would be happy to also show you examples if necessary or actually help you find a car if you are ready to buy?

I'm currently going through Prestige Motorsport for my import, Geoff has been extremely helpful and informative. I'd highly recommend him based on my experience so far.

That being said, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against J-Spec. I've heard good things about Craig from friends who have been through the same process. It was just unfortunate that when I was ready to buy, J-Spec were going through a busy patch and couldn't get back to my query in time so I decided to go through Prestige.

I think with both of these companies, they'll be quoting realistic prices as it's not in their best interest to underquote. They gain their reputation through customer experiences and feedback and the only way to keep a customer happy is to be as helpful and accurate as possible.

Craig i really appreciate your detailed response. I am currently in the process of moving residence so i will be waiting a month or two before starting the process. Although i can say once i am ready to get the ball rolling you will be on the top of my list to contact.

UnCo thanks also for your informative and genuine post. Much appreciated.



Kile

Oh, sh*t, too late...umm....

Please note that if two brokers are charging near enough to the same service fee then their landed and complied prices will be the same assuming they are quoting realistic prices with accurate exchange rates, shipping costs and compliance rates ... just to clarify, we under estimate the exchange rate because no banks give you the full wholesale rate advertised, we over alll slightly for shipping and don't list the absolute cheapest compliance price usually so there is a very good chance of it costing slightly less than the estimate as long as rates don't change heaps or any unexpected costs pop up ... also keep in mind that we have many customers looking for these cars who are signed up with deposits in place, so the best deals are always gone before they make it onto the website anyway.

With regards to your desired car, a budget of around $25,000 landed and complied should be very simple to get a good V35 these days, you should be able to fairly easily get one for around $20,000 to $24,000 as long as you are not looking for a 2006 model in black with 6 speed manual and Brembo brakes or a limited edition 70th Anniversary model ... the examples you showed above are fairly typical of what you can get from auction these days if you are an active client and bidding on cars, we have had a number around this price but as noted above they are all sold before hitting the mailing list.

I would be happy to also show you examples if necessary or actually help you find a car if you are ready to buy?

He's so reputable, even his reputation has a good reputation.

also, ditto to what Iron Chef and J-Spec said.

My only advice would be bid at auction. That stock shown is usually sitting in a car yard, so the dealer has already bought the car at auction, put a mark up on it - then sold it to you.

For my next car - i'm going to Japan to find it.

This is true most of the time, but there are some dealers (well more export agents) who buy from auction and put only the standard FOB fee on top that you would be paying if purchased from auction anyway - this effectively saves you the time and hassle of checking dozens of cars to find a good one and then try to buy it cheap. They check out cars and bid low amount all day every day so the ones they get are the better cars at the better prices which are often better than you will normally get from auction ... this is only the case for the "good" agents but obviously these are far outnumbered by the dodgy ones who just want to make huge $$$

Also there are such things as wholesale dealers who offer us cars at below market value and then move them to auction if they aren't sold within a few days. These cars are normally cheap enough that about 75% or more of them will sell for more than the wholesale price if they end up at auction. This is just one more way that you can get a better deal without going to auction.

The reason I mention this is that there are a LOT of people out there who just don't want to buy from auctions, either they don't want to make a decision about bidding and budgets within hours of first seeing it with only a few photos on which to base that decision, or just want/need more information than can be obtained from auction cars in a given time ... these people really need to buy from dealers or other agents so they can get more photos and details and take a few days to decide on the purchase, so there are different options for different people depending on with they require to make them comfortable with the process.



This would also work if you are not looking for anything too specific, but if you are looking for a less common vehicle or combination of colours & features then you may not find it by restricting yourself to one city or region of Japan by being there in person ... often you can find the car you want more easily, faster and sometimes cheaper by being able to cover ALL auctions and dealers around all regions of Japan at once which can be done just as easily from your computer here in Australia as it can by being in Japan in person.

Another vote for Geoff. He helped me with my Stagea and I am going back to him for a V35 Sedan for my wife.

No problems for any of the cars I brought in through Geoff, or the dozen or so mates have brought in.

geoff at prestige is the man he helped me for 5 months to find the right 1971 kgc10 skyline...it was worth the wait. he had around 30-40 cars inspected for me and scored me a gem. Help me thw whole way through the process. I still email him now for a chat.

When going through one of these companies are they able to get the car inspected like here in Australia like the old NRMA checks??