Import questions

[hayashi]

These were my costs about 6 years ago, so prices may have gone up/down depending on the market value. Prices are in AUD. I used J-spec imports.

Cost of car: ~$9000
For a car with minimal rust, expect to pay at least this much. For pristine condition cars, they're around the 13 to 20k mark. In retrospect, I should have saved up a bit more to get a car with less rust. Bear in mind engine condition as well, most 86's have been thrashed if they've been alive this long.

Cost of shipping: ~$4000
There are 3 costs associated here. There's a base charge that's calculated on the volume & weight of the car, and a percentage of how much you bought the car for. You will also be charged import duties & quarrantine charges when the car lands at the dock, which will also include degassing of A/C units if your car is equipped with one.

Cost of compliance: ~$1000-$2000
You won't need to un-modify any mods because of the 15yr import rule, but you will need to add safety features such as pretensioning seatbelts for front & rear seats, parker lights etc. How many features that must be added will be dependent on your state's rules. Seatbelts are the killer here, because JDM 86's came with no pretensioners, and only lap sash belts in the rear. Expect to have some parts of your interior panels cut to make the rear belts fit. grrrrr!

Cost of registration: ~$1000-$2000
There's the cost of registration, but to get there you need to have the car in a roadworthy condition. This is usually seperate to compliancing, cause they only give you an engineers report, not a roadworthy. Some of the roadblocks in obtaining a roadworthy are:
Ride height of car, suspension not working, fluid leaks, exhaust noise, excessive rust etc. This will be heavily dependent on how strict your state's rules are, and how strict the mechanic you go to is with their roadworthys.

[gone0-60mph]

Thanks for that very helpful reply hayashi!! I have imported cars to Ireland before so I know the costs of buying and shipping etc. Pretty sure from my contact in Japan that I could have a decent ae86 bought an shipped to Australia for a lot less than 13k. I was just unsure as to what other charges there may be once the car arrives in Oz. For instance when it arrives at the port do I have to pay port fees, quarentine etc etc.... I highly doubt I can just rock up an collect the car? Who would I have to get to comply the car? Rwc and rego I understand what has to be done. As a person with no import licence can I just purchase a car in Japan and have my contact ship it to Melbourne and go from there or do I have to go through some of the importers? Once again thanks for the help.