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Bring Japanese car to America?

I presume so as I've seen them here before. Not to mention, an old professor of mine shipped his benz to London when he was going to be there for a year. It happened to be somehow cheaper to do that then anything else.
 
You can, but between inspections, licensing, customs, etc., etc., it's almost not worth it unless it's a model that is just too cool to leave behind. An RHD Eunos Roadster, I'd do it for. Generic Toyotas & Hondas, I wouldn't bother.
 
JohnNotBeatle said:
You can, but between inspections, licensing, customs, etc., etc., it's almost not worth it unless it's a model that is just too cool to leave behind. An RHD Eunos Roadster, I'd do it for. Generic Toyotas & Hondas, I wouldn't bother.
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Wow, I never knew it was possible. Thats really neat!
 
JohnNotBeatle said:
You can, but between inspections, licensing, customs, etc., etc., it's almost not worth it unless it's a model that is just too cool to leave behind. An RHD Eunos Roadster, I'd do it for. Generic Toyotas & Hondas, I wouldn't bother.
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Oh I see. America just does not have many of those cool box cars. 😛
 
SuperCompu2 said:
No no, the whole "having a right-side steering vehicle in the US" thing. I thought only garbage men and Mail men got away with that...
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Nope. A guy I used to work with had an old right hand drive 1960-something Mini. Fully legal and licensed in the US...he used it as his daily driver and never had any trouble
 
You might want to check the emissions laws of your state, and how they compare to those of Japan.
 
http://www.foreignborn.com/visas_imm/entering_us/7importingyourcar.htm

Its not gonna be free:

Dutiable Entry

Foreign-made vehicles imported into the U.S., whether new or used, either for personal use or for sale, are generally dutiable at the following rates:
Autos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5%
Trucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25%
Motorcycles. . . . . . . . . . 3% or 3.4%

Duty rates are based on price paid or payable.
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Federal Tax

Certain imported automobiles may be subject to the "gas-guzzler" tax. The amount of the tax is based on a combined urban/highway fuel-economy (miles per gallon) rating assigned by the EPA for gas-guzzler tax purposes. This EPA rating may be different from fuel-economy ratings indicated by the manufacturer.

If the EPA has not assigned a gas-guzzler fuel-economy rating for the model automobile you import, a rating must be independently determined. No tax is imposed on automobiles that have a combined fuel-economy rating of at least 22.5 miles per gallon.
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Yes it can be done. You will need to pay fees, and have certain things changed on the cars to meet US specs.

But I always wonder why folks do that? I know some here in Japan who drive BMW and Benz type cars with the steering wheel on the wrong side. It's easy to get the correct side steering.

Personally, I want the steering wheel to be on the correct side for the country I am driving in. Safer that way as well.

To each his own. 🙂
 
I agree, but here the split is about 50-50 left and right. It is very odd as you often look for the driver (on whichever side of the car) and they are often on the other side.
 
sushi said:
Yes it can be done. You will need to pay fees, and have certain things changed on the cars to meet US specs.

But I always wonder why folks do that? I know some here in Japan who drive BMW and Benz type cars with the steering wheel on the wrong side. It's easy to get the correct side steering.

Personally, I want the steering wheel to be on the correct side for the country I am driving in. Safer that way as well.

To each his own. 🙂
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I would think in big cities like NY, Detroit etc that having a right hand drive vehicle would be safer. If you have to park somewhere on a busy street, wouldnt you rather be getting out of the vehicle on the sidewalk wide instead of the street side?

just a thought.
 
A company called Motorex, based in California, used to import R32, R33, and R34 Nissan Skylines into the US. They actually went through the full process of importing and federalizing the car; they kept them right hand drive and added US emissions equipment to make them 100% road-legal.

They've since stopped doing it, and I heard that they fell foul of the law on some stupid technicalities. Apparently, when you go through the process of federalizing a car, you get approved to convert car model X, and only car model X. Even a different trim level of the same car requires its own federalizing process, which costs a fortune. Motorex sold a variety of trim levels when they apparently had a permit to convert only a certain trim level or something like that. A shame.

There are a lot of rules, and anything less than 25 years old must comply with the full set of USDOT standards in place when the car was built. Emissions regulations are retroactively applied to some vehicles stretching back into the 60's.

There are some loopholes. Race cars are exempt from most of the BS, since they are not road-legal anyway. Cars older than 25 years are easier to import. There is a "show and display" category whereby you can import cars deemed technologically or historically significant (but non-compliant with USDOT standards) and drive them on the road so long as they clock less than 2500 miles per year.

I think it's all stupid, in the sense that Europe, Japan and the US all have sensible safety/environmental standards, but none of the countries recognizes those of the others.

The list of cars I'd want to import is endless...Lancias, Alfas, Euro-spec BMWs and Mercs, TVRs, the Lotus Carlton, Alpines....ugh. Better not to think about it.
 
OscarTheGrouch said:
I would think in big cities like NY, Detroit etc that having a right hand drive vehicle would be safer. If you have to park somewhere on a busy street, wouldnt you rather be getting out of the vehicle on the sidewalk wide instead of the street side?

just a thought.
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And don't forget head-on collisions would be safer too.
 
So I am guessing its really not worth it in a couple of years...

However I don't understand why people would want to bring cars you can buy in both countries. In japan there are so many cars I have not been able to find in US...even something as simple as the lil Nissan March/Cube.
 
OscarTheGrouch said:
I would think in big cities like NY, Detroit etc that having a right hand drive vehicle would be safer. If you have to park somewhere on a busy street, wouldnt you rather be getting out of the vehicle on the sidewalk wide instead of the street side?
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It's safer to get out of the car on the footpath side, but it is more dangerous parking and getting out of a park from the footpath side, because there is a much larger blind spot on the passenger side of the car.


Tom B. said:
And don't forget head-on collisions would be safer too.
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you might need to explain this...
 
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