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Importing a zero mileage car directly from dealership in Japan


mikey

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Hello everyone, 

I wish to import a 0 mileage car from Japan (Toyota Corolla Axio preferably) . So I have few questions regarding it. I hope you could help me in this. 

1) Is it safe to buy a low mileage car from auction or should I buy directly from the dealership? 

2) When I buy from dealership, the car has to be registered (and other costs like shaken..) and then deregistered. Is it worth the price? 

3)In a dealership website the price of Toyota Axio has been specified as 1650000 Yen. (Which is lower compared to auction prices.). So how could I calculate the final CIF of this car if I decide to import this? Any ideas would be appreciated. ?

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Two points before answering your question.

First, you cannot buy a normal Corolla Axio from Toyota anymore. The only Corolla Axio Toyota dealers sell is the business car version. The business car version does not have all the bells and whistles of the standard version X, G and WXB grades. Also...most dealerships will not sell the business version unless you are a business and buying a fleet. 

So if you want a brand new one from a Toyota dealership, you need to go with a Corolla sedan (which might not work for you considering the tax structure in SL). 

Secondly, YOU, as a citizen of Sri Lanka CANNOT buy a car at a manufacturer's dealership in Japan (even if you go there on a holiday to buy a car). You will need a friend or a Japanese car dealer who exports cars (most honest Japanese owned ones do not send cars to Sri Lanka) or a car dealership in Japan that is Sri Lankan owned (typically) who may or may not have offices in Sri Lanka.

1. It is safe to buy a low mileage car from a Japanese Auction as much as it is safe to buy a "0" mileage car from a Toyota Dealership in Japan. 

The issue is the agent/car dealer you use. Yes..the Sri Lankan car importers have offices in Japan staffed by rather questionable Sri Lankans  living in Japan. Those are the guys who cannot be trusted. That risk remains irrespective of whether you buy a car from auction or a car from a Toyota dealer....

These bad car dealers buy low mileage accident cars or high mileage cars from auction. The original auction documents will indicate the actual condition of the car. However, these bad dealers fix the car up or roll back the mileage and then sell it to you with forged documents. So the documents you see indicate that the car is low mileage and of a high auction grade in really good condition.

When you are buying a car from a Toyota dealership in Japan....well..you can't. Car dealerships in Japan are by law allowed to sell only to Japanese based customers. Thus, the dealership needs to register the car under you car dealer's name in Japan, then you car dealer needs to deregister it. So you do not get brand new cars from Japan (or any other country) through grey importers...they are always reconditioned/used. This is where the issue is. Your agent can easily buy a cheap new car from auction....fix it up..show the de-registration certificate etc...and sell it to you as a new car that he bought from the Toyota dealership. Sometimes these damaged cars are available at the dealerships themselves (eg. accident damaged Toyota rental cars, leases, etc...).

So...you need to find a trust worthy, transparent car importer who will let you see everything they do...they will let you pick the car from the auction site, etc...so if you find a dealer like that...you are safe and it really does not matter if you buy at auction or "0" mileage from the Toyota dealer.

2. & 3.

Brand new cars from the Toyota dealership does not require shaken. When a manufacturer releases the car from its production line it has a certificate of compliance from the manufacturer. This states that the car is compliant to all emissions and safety standards set forth by the Japanese government and is road worthy; which is what the shaken tests for anyway. Thus, a shaken in not needed.  Brand new cars do not need a shaken for the first three years of its life.

The value on the website indicates base price with and without tax. When you add accessories and delivery charges the price increases. Plus, there will be a registration charge and then road tax. When you de-register a car for export, you have to pay a de-registration fee and then you get a refund on the road taxes. So at the end of the the day your "0" mileage car from the dealership actually costs more or less the same as a "0" mileage car at auction (you do get those at auction). A slightly used one will be a bit cheaper because of depreciation but it still has registration and deregistration fees anyway....

Whether that is worth it for you or not depends on you.

You cannot calculate the CIF price by yourself. You need to find a car importer and get quotes....you can get a rough idea by looking at what the freight and insurance charges for similar cars are....but it won't be very specific as you will not be able to calculate inland transport charges in Japan. Also, your car dealer would  keep a profit, and then there might be wharf charges in Japan involved as well.

If you are looking at a Corolla Axio...I am guessing the Corolla sedan will not work for you because it will be over budget due to the tax structure...so your only option is to buy a Corolla Axio at auction because a Toyota dealer might not sell you a business model car (but some car dealers/exporters have inside contacts who might be able to pull it off...but it still won;t be as nice as what you can get at auction in terms of accessories and features for the same price...).

 

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52 minutes ago, iRage said:

Two points before answering your question.

First, you cannot buy a normal Corolla Axio from Toyota anymore. The only Corolla Axio Toyota dealers sell is the business car version. The business car version does not have all the bells and whistles of the standard version X, G and WXB grades. Also...most dealerships will not sell the business version unless you are a business and buying a fleet. 

So if you want a brand new one from a Toyota dealership, you need to go with a Corolla sedan (which might not work for you considering the tax structure in SL). 

Secondly, YOU, as a citizen of Sri Lanka CANNOT buy a car at a manufacturer's dealership in Japan (even if you go there on a holiday to buy a car). You will need a friend or a Japanese car dealer who exports cars (most honest Japanese owned ones do not send cars to Sri Lanka) or a car dealership in Japan that is Sri Lankan owned (typically) who may or may not have offices in Sri Lanka.

1. It is safe to buy a low mileage car from a Japanese Auction as much as it is safe to buy a "0" mileage car from a Toyota Dealership in Japan. 

The issue is the agent/car dealer you use. Yes..the Sri Lankan car importers have offices in Japan staffed by rather questionable Sri Lankans  living in Japan. Those are the guys who cannot be trusted. That risk remains irrespective of whether you buy a car from auction or a car from a Toyota dealer....

These bad car dealers buy low mileage accident cars or high mileage cars from auction. The original auction documents will indicate the actual condition of the car. However, these bad dealers fix the car up or roll back the mileage and then sell it to you with forged documents. So the documents you see indicate that the car is low mileage and of a high auction grade in really good condition.

When you are buying a car from a Toyota dealership in Japan....well..you can't. Car dealerships in Japan are by law allowed to sell only to Japanese based customers. Thus, the dealership needs to register the car under you car dealer's name in Japan, then you car dealer needs to deregister it. So you do not get brand new cars from Japan (or any other country) through grey importers...they are always reconditioned/used. This is where the issue is. Your agent can easily buy a cheap new car from auction....fix it up..show the de-registration certificate etc...and sell it to you as a new car that he bought from the Toyota dealership. Sometimes these damaged cars are available at the dealerships themselves (eg. accident damaged Toyota rental cars, leases, etc...).

So...you need to find a trust worthy, transparent car importer who will let you see everything they do...they will let you pick the car from the auction site, etc...so if you find a dealer like that...you are safe and it really does not matter if you buy at auction or "0" mileage from the Toyota dealer.

2. & 3.

Brand new cars from the Toyota dealership does not require shaken. When a manufacturer releases the car from its production line it has a certificate of compliance from the manufacturer. This states that the car is compliant to all emissions and safety standards set forth by the Japanese government and is road worthy; which is what the shaken tests for anyway. Thus, a shaken in not needed.  Brand new cars do not need a shaken for the first three years of its life.

The value on the website indicates base price with and without tax. When you add accessories and delivery charges the price increases. Plus, there will be a registration charge and then road tax. When you de-register a car for export, you have to pay a de-registration fee and then you get a refund on the road taxes. So at the end of the the day your "0" mileage car from the dealership actually costs more or less the same as a "0" mileage car at auction (you do get those at auction). A slightly used one will be a bit cheaper because of depreciation but it still has registration and deregistration fees anyway....

Whether that is worth it for you or not depends on you.

You cannot calculate the CIF price by yourself. You need to find a car importer and get quotes....you can get a rough idea by looking at what the freight and insurance charges for similar cars are....but it won't be very specific as you will not be able to calculate inland transport charges in Japan. Also, your car dealer would  keep a profit, and then there might be wharf charges in Japan involved as well.

If you are looking at a Corolla Axio...I am guessing the Corolla sedan will not work for you because it will be over budget due to the tax structure...so your only option is to buy a Corolla Axio at auction because a Toyota dealer might not sell you a business model car (but some car dealers/exporters have inside contacts who might be able to pull it off...but it still won;t be as nice as what you can get at auction in terms of accessories and features for the same price...).

 

Thank you iRage. 

By Axio business model, do you mean "Toyota Corolla Ex"? Because that's the grade I saw in the website. (Not G, X grades) 

 

And so it seems that my only option is to buy from the auction. So a 0 mileage car from auction is safe and the problem lies with the importer? Can I be 100% sure that the auction documents are always original? (Not forged) 

 

Thank you for explaining all of this. ?

Edited by mikey
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1 hour ago, mikey said:

Thank you iRage. 

By Axio business model, do you mean "Toyota Corolla Ex"? Because that's the grade I saw in the website. (Not G, X grades) 

 

And so it seems that my only option is to buy from the auction. So a 0 mileage car from auction is safe and the problem lies with the importer? Can I be 100% sure that the auction documents are always original? (Not forged) 

 

Thank you for explaining all of this. ?

Yes...that is what the business model grade is now. In the past the business model had a X and G grade with cut down feaures and some added features useful for fleets, roadies, etc...

Well...I don't believe you will find any "0" mileage Axios in auction anymore...even if it was bought from the Toyota dealer yesteray it would have about 40-100kms on it...but since the Axio stocks were sold out a few months ago..it is highly unlikely that the 0 mileage ones are still lying around. But you should be able to find low mileage ones around still.

If your importer is good..they will give you access to the Japanese auction house website where you can see the cars that are coming on to the auction block. The documents you will see on these sites can be trusted. Better yet...see if you can check the same car from different auction sites...You can pick the cars you want to bid on and they will do it for you. You cannot trust the documents when you don't have this access.

 

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7 hours ago, iRage said:

Yes...that is what the business model grade is now. In the past the business model had a X and G grade with cut down feaures and some added features useful for fleets, roadies, etc...

Well...I don't believe you will find any "0" mileage Axios in auction anymore...even if it was bought from the Toyota dealer yesteray it would have about 40-100kms on it...but since the Axio stocks were sold out a few months ago..it is highly unlikely that the 0 mileage ones are still lying around. But you should be able to find low mileage ones around still.

If your importer is good..they will give you access to the Japanese auction house website where you can see the cars that are coming on to the auction block. The documents you will see on these sites can be trusted. Better yet...see if you can check the same car from different auction sites...You can pick the cars you want to bid on and they will do it for you. You cannot trust the documents when you don't have this access.

 

Thank you iRage. 

Since I have a car permit I have to import it anyway. Any car(non hybrid) suggestions for about 5 million rupees budget? (Since Corolla Sedan is 1.2L it doesn't give the full advantage of permit.) 

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For a budget of 5 million assuming you have the 3.6 million permit, you can go for a zero milage 1.2 T CHR or the 1.2T corolla manual transmission. The 1.2 gives the best value for the permit as the tax comes to around 3.85 million so you end up paying only 250000 as taxes out of pocket. The other options are hybrids such as Vessel , Axio hybrid.  

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6 minutes ago, CNX said:

For a budget of 5 million assuming you have the 3.6 million permit, you can go for a zero milage 1.2 T CHR or the 1.2T corolla manual transmission. The 1.2 gives the best value for the permit as the tax comes to around 3.85 million so you end up paying only 250000 as taxes out of pocket. The other options are hybrids such as Vessel , Axio hybrid.  

Yes. It's a 3.6 million permit. So the total of 8.6 million. But I don't think I get the whole 3.6 million of the permit for a 1.2 L car. That's why I'm looking for 1.5 L car. (I'm not looking for hybrids since they don't have a good second hand market.) 

Anyway Thank you for replying. ?

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Uhh..based on CNX's reply don't you think the 1.2L option is actually pretty good ? You would have used the full value of your permit and out of pocket you have to put only 250,000LKR. For a 1.5L car you would have to put the permit plus a lot more money towards the tax. With the 1.2 you can have more money for the car.

The 1.5L engine is getting phased out by many manufacturers. In fact in the class of vehicle you are looking at, the only manufacturer who has a 1.5L engine is Honda.

The other options are look for a Premio/Allion at auction ?

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48 minutes ago, iRage said:

Uhh..based on CNX's reply don't you think the 1.2L option is actually pretty good ? You would have used the full value of your permit and out of pocket you have to put only 250,000LKR. For a 1.5L car you would have to put the permit plus a lot more money towards the tax. With the 1.2 you can have more money for the car.

The 1.5L engine is getting phased out by many manufacturers. In fact in the class of vehicle you are looking at, the only manufacturer who has a 1.5L engine is Honda.

The other options are look for a Premio/Allion at auction ?

Yes. The other option is either Honda or Premio/Allion (which exceeds my budget). So I'll consider 1.2 L options. ??

Thank you to both of you.

 

But the problem is Toyota Corolla 1.2L permit price is around 5 million (because I don't get the total 3.6 million advantage of permit). And also I can buy a low mileage Toyota Axio from the auction for the same price. Are my calculations right? 

?

Edited by mikey
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Well..how much your Axio will be at auction will depend on the car you are looking at itself....

But...the new Corolla sedan is a much nicer car to drive and has much nicer features. Also, the seats and such a much nicer to sit in. Only think I do not like is that in the rear it was a bit dark and felt a bit claustrophobic. The old Axio with its boxy top half "feels" more roomier..

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With a 1.2 you get the full value for your permit as the tax is 3.85 million and the permit is only 3.6 million. If you go for a 1.5 gasoline Axio the tax will be very high and not worth it. There was a 1.3 gasoline Axio but it is not as good to drive, not that economical and probably has a lower 2nd hand market. 

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39 minutes ago, iRage said:

Well..how much your Axio will be at auction will depend on the car you are looking at itself....

But...the new Corolla sedan is a much nicer car to drive and has much nicer features. Also, the seats and such a much nicer to sit in. Only think I do not like is that in the rear it was a bit dark and felt a bit claustrophobic. The old Axio with its boxy top half "feels" more roomier..

Thank you for the review and explanation. It helps a lot. ??

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25 minutes ago, CNX said:

With a 1.2 you get the full value for your permit as the tax is 3.85 million and the permit is only 3.6 million. If you go for a 1.5 gasoline Axio the tax will be very high and not worth it. There was a 1.3 gasoline Axio but it is not as good to drive, not that economical and probably has a lower 2nd hand market. 

Are you sure that I can get the full value of permit for 1.2 L cars? I saw in an importer website listed New Toyota Corolla 1.2 L for 4.7 million for permit holders and 6.8 million for non permit. So the difference is 2.1 million for the permit? 

And the tax was also increased to 4.16 million, right? 

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This is just an idea after reading the thread. If you are ok with a crossover, you can consider nissan qashqai. I saw an advertisement from the Nissan agent for nissan qashqai, as I remember permit price was arounf 5.8M with 3 year warranty. This is a brand new car.

The risk is minimum than the Axio or Corolla 1.2T, since Axio and Corolla are grey imports

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5 hours ago, mikey said:

Are you sure that I can get the full value of permit for 1.2 L cars? I saw in an importer website listed New Toyota Corolla 1.2 L for 4.7 million for permit holders and 6.8 million for non permit. So the difference is 2.1 million for the permit? 

And the tax was also increased to 4.16 million, right? 

That price difference as someone else mentioned is probably for the purchase of a permit (so essentially the car will be brought down under a permit if the person does not have one). Do the math....

A 1.2L WXB is going to be about 2.5mil yen without any fancy equipment which is about 4.1..CIF would be about 4.3mil....if you add what you claim is to be the taxes, 4.16 mil..then don't you think the car should be 8.4 mil atleast ? or under the old taxes where it was 3.7 mil or something....8mil in total if you import it without any special permit. So the 6.8mil should be a car imported under a special permit.

You keep on saying "not using full value of the permit", but I do not think you understand that the above prices are there because the permit was used to its full value.

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18 hours ago, iRage said:

That price difference as someone else mentioned is probably for the purchase of a permit (so essentially the car will be brought down under a permit if the person does not have one). Do the math....

A 1.2L WXB is going to be about 2.5mil yen without any fancy equipment which is about 4.1..CIF would be about 4.3mil....if you add what you claim is to be the taxes, 4.16 mil..then don't you think the car should be 8.4 mil atleast ? or under the old taxes where it was 3.7 mil or something....8mil in total if you import it without any special permit. So the 6.8mil should be a car imported under a special permit.

You keep on saying "not using full value of the permit", but I do not think you understand that the above prices are there because the permit was used to its full value.

Ahh. Yes I did the math. According to Toyota Corolla CIF is about 4 million. So you're correct. The permit price of 3.6 million has been used and so the permit price of Corolla is about 4.7 million. 

Thank you for helping me to understand. 

But Toyota Corolla only comes with Manual transmission(According to manufacturer website) . So it's not an option. So I can go to a CHR or Low mileage Axio. 

Could you please tell me your preference? 

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2 hours ago, mikey said:

Ahh. Yes I did the math. According to Toyota Corolla CIF is about 4 million. So you're correct. The permit price of 3.6 million has been used and so the permit price of Corolla is about 4.7 million. 

Thank you for helping me to understand. 

But Toyota Corolla only comes with Manual transmission(According to manufacturer website) . So it's not an option. So I can go to a CHR or Low mileage Axio. 

Could you please tell me your preference? 

The 1.2L sedan and touring (wagon comes with only a MT.  Whether you go for an Axio or a CHR is up to you. Decide which car suits/fits your purpose better. First on foremost you need to figure that out....resale, etc...comes later on....it is pointless buying a car with really good resale value if it does not meet you usage requirements.

The CHR is a nicer car to drive and be in (atleast in front). The back is a bit dark and the usage space is not very practical. The Axio..well....the Axio is an Axio....it is as utilitarian as a donkey is (i.e. it is good for a sedan) 

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  • 1 month later...
On 12/9/2019 at 6:24 AM, CNX said:

For a budget of 5 million assuming you have the 3.6 million permit, you can go for a zero milage 1.2 T CHR or the 1.2T corolla manual transmission. The 1.2 gives the best value for the permit as the tax comes to around 3.85 million so you end up paying only 250000 as taxes out of pocket. The other options are hybrids such as Vessel , Axio hybrid.  

Thank you for your suggestion and I went for a Toyota CHR. (S/A auction grade). It's still on the way. I really appreciate all of you guys for helping me to buy my car. 

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It's a pleasure mate. Good choice. CHR is probably the best value for the permit and a much nicer car than the regular Toyotas with a nice interior and great handling. Gives decent gas mileage too as long as you keep the revs down. Happy motoring!

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1 hour ago, CNX said:

It's a pleasure mate. Good choice. CHR is probably the best value for the permit and a much nicer car than the regular Toyotas with a nice interior and great handling. Gives decent gas mileage too as long as you keep the revs down. Happy motoring!

Regular Toyotas that have been coming all this time. The new Corolla and the Yaris are unbeleivably classy for its category/class. The last time the Corolla felt this nice was in the 90s and the E100 series.

Congrats on the purchase @mikey. Is it an AWD or 2WD ? So you did buy a new one at an auction....

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1 minute ago, iRage said:

Regular Toyotas that have been coming all this time. The new Corolla and the Yaris are unbeleivably classy for its category/class. The last time the Corolla felt this nice was in the 90s and the E100 series.

Congrats on the purchase @mikey. Is it an AWD or 2WD ? So you did buy a new one at an auction....

It's a 2WD. Its mileage is around 700km. But the exterior grade is S and interior grade is A. So it's not basically brand new. But that's good enough for me. 

And thank you very much. You have given very detailed information for all of my questions. ??

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