Importing/Purchasing Japanese car

It all started in last December when I decided to finally sell 89 model Swift and get a new car. I had around 13 lacs of budget and various options I evaluated at time are mentioned in Purchasing Car (JDM or local)
 post. I finally decided to go for JDM but the big decision for me was how to choose and import car. After evaluating different cars, I chose Toyota Passo. The reasons of choosing Passo were:

• Car should be at least 1000 CC as I have to travel out of city almost every week.
• Car should be common in Lahore as that helps in resale and parts availability.
• Car should be of Honda, Toyota or Diahatsu brand as that also helps in resale.

Import Process

 I must say import process is made to look to complex and I noticed a lot of myths about Japenese cars and import process. It is is not as complex as it is made to look by local car vendors. If you are importing your first car, it will be good if you can take service of some good and reliable importer.

Step 1: Short-list cars for bidding

Everyone can see list of cars in auction from http://www.japan-partner.com/car-auction/list.html. You can search for cars on particular days and also on the basis of Lot number given on auction sheet. Click on Respective day for which you want to look. For example, I have selected Monday in below screen. You can also choose Maker, Model and some advanced fields to include only relevant cars.

Some importers also have their own sites providing access to list of cars in auction. I consulted http://auc.mycar.pk/_home for this. I visited them and also met Omar, the guy running this business. He is a nice guy and helped me a lot.

Step 2: Bidding for Car

If you have taken services of importer, you can send him list of cars you have selected and can also discuss each of them with him. You can tell him your bidding price for these cars. Some importers also bid for cars and then send list of cars that they have purchased. In that case, you can ask them for auction sheet and verify it on Japan-Partners website.

Step 3: Reading Auction Sheet

One thing you need to keep in mind is that it is very easy to create a fake auction sheet and it is very common practice in local market to use fake auction sheets to sell cars. Most of the importers import accidented cars, repair them and then sell them as good grade cars. If you are purchasing/importing a Japanese car, also ask for online-verifiable auction sheets. Auctions sheets are available online for 3 months but can also be verified after that. Some people have access to auction data. You can easily search for them on Pakwheels. Omar of Mycar.pk also has access to auction data and can also help in this regard. To verify an auction sheet from Japan partners website, note the Lot ID from auction sheet. It is normally written on top left corner of auction sheet. Complete procedure is explained at http://www.pakwheels.com/forums/passo/262209-jdm-time-passo-2012-a-21

Step 4. Car Payment Details

Car payments normally include following:

• Japan Car Price
• Japan Freight Charges
• Japan Bank transfer charges
• Shipment charges (JPN to Karachi)
• Custom Duty (on car arrival at Karachi port)
• Custom clearance charges
• Inland Shipment charges
• Importer's charges

Below is breakdown of my car (Toyota Pass 2013 model)

Step 5: Tracking car

Almost all shipment companies provide tracking mechanism to track car shipment from Japan to Karachi. If you are importing through importer, you can ask for container details and then track it. I used http://oolu.container-tracking.org/ for tracking mine.

Purchasing car from dealer

 Importing a car is a difficult procedure and requires some patience as it takes around 2.5 months to get car. You can also purchase car from local market but you need to be extra careful. You need to take an oath that you will not listen to dealer and only consider those that have online-verifiable auction sheets. You only need a cell phone with good Internet connection and follow these steps:

1. Visit the showroom
2. Select car(s)
3. Ask for auction sheet. Most of the dealers will not be able to provide and try to convince you that auction sheet has no value. But remember the oath you took. Ask for auction sheet.
4. If you get auction sheet, verify it from Japan-partners website. If it is more than three months old, request pakwheelers who have access to database. In that case, you can take a picture of auction sheet.
5. DO NOT PAY ANY TOKEN MONEY before verifying auction sheet.
6. Match chasis number on auction sheet with car's chasis number.
7. If everything goes well, grab the car.

Recommended Importers

1.  I took services of Dr. Usman. His wordpress website is www.jdmtime.wordpress.com. You can contact him on pakwheels at http://www.pakwheels.com/forums/user/drusmannawaz
2. I also had good discussions with Omar of Mycar.pk. Their showroom is near main market Gulberg. You can visit him as well.