Silvia Club of NSW

Hi i was wondering if someone can help me.
I'm getting a 180sx 94 model or later, i have a friend who imports cars and he can import me a nice 180sx for a good price, i'm not worried about him finding me a good car, i'm more concern about the laws with bringing it in.. it wont be heavily modified or anything, just the basic stuff.
I heard 180sx are easy to get compliance for but i'm just worried and got this feeling that he will find the perfect car and once it gets here i wont be able to comply it or register it... can anyone put my mind at ease? or should i just buy one locally?? is there anything really that can stop me from bringin my 180sx in?? anything i should know about or be aware of?
i justdont want to get my car in and then lose all my money!!. or maybe i'm just paranoid.. if anyone can help it would be much appreciated or if u imported b4 or had any problems
thanks again

umm well as far as i knew all 180's are imports at one time or another in there australian lives, which means that all the ones u have seen have been complied. If you were gonna comply it your self u may have a little trouble but definetly not impossible. Well it shouldnt be anyway
Anyone else agree???

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To be old and wise you must first be young and stupid.
If we aren't supposed to eat animals why are they made of meat?

All 180s are imports and all have to be complied to ADR's to be road registered! this means every 180SX you see on the roads will have a green compliance plate.(to be changed next year, cream i think???)

I know of a few nice ones in the country at the moment with more tastey ones arriving soon!

its up to you if buy one locally through private sale or dealer or if your mate does it, who will know the operation to go about it legally, e.g. import approval, letter of compliance, etc, then of course blue slip, rego etc.'

I had heaps of problems with myne but they sorted themselves out over a 5 month period..hah

For real:
94'type X'
54kms
ApexI enhanced!
Dorifto Special

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"www.v-opt.co.jp"

thanks to all who replied, yeah i know they are all imports i'm talking about importing one myself or buying one thats already hear, i mean once the car arrives hear eg i get the import approval etc, then will i have any problems with compliance or registration or any other procedure that may stop me from getting the car.. i dont want to import it to find out something goes wrong and i lose the car plus my money.
purple*1-8 did you import yourself or did you go through someone? and what were some of your problems?? why did it take soo long?
thanks again

Yeah, if the car does not have import approval buy the time it arrives in sydney, or very soon after it will be conficated by customs and shipped back or destroyed at the buyers cost!

You wont have any subsequent problems as long as you have relevant documentation.

Myne was a personel import that I did through a dealer I know.

Some of my problems were, time wasted in getting an invoice
payment to the wrong people, then corrected, the car being shipped to Brisbane instead of sydney,import approval being denied then approved (paperwork error), the car waiting for custom release, transport to sydney, waiting for a flat bed truck(car way too low), and finally compliance!!,

just a few of my problems

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"www.v-opt.co.jp"

Hi,
Thanks for replyin, but usually dont you bid for the car then if successful buy it then, you can only get approval for it once you bought the car,
so once you buy the car then apply for approval isnt the car already on the ship by then?, or do they wait until you get approval first then put it on the ship. how long does approval take? and what happens if you buy FOB the money over for the car and then dont get your import approval approved do you get your money back for the car?
thanks for helping me out i really appreciate it
look forward to some responses.
cheers

It all really depends who you buy the car from.

usually a dealer or broker buys cars from auction to specific requests or for his own dealership in Japan.

I had chosen my car, from a Japanese dealer, who sent a invoice, which in turn is used to gain import approval. I.A. depends on who is applying for it, as dealers get it processed faster than members of the public.

Buying or choosing the car is one thing but it takes time for the money to be be transfered. (T.T.) A dealer or broker will not release a car until it is paid for, after that it is in the shipping holders hands and some cars placed in holding patterns on the docks can be there for up to a week. Myne was a week and a half.(container). In this time however, import approval should be passed, and once it lands in Australia usually 3 weeks (syd.Bris) customs inspections occur where all relevant documents are throughly looked over. No import approval means no car! i.e. the government takes the car and ships it back or destroys it!
Myne was inspected twice, and was onm the docks for a little over 2 weeks. time on the docks means storage fees and others aswell.

It is not an easy operation thats why dealers hike up the prices due to unforseen cost that arise.I had to pay extra and I was getting the car for cost!
But is it all worth it. Dam straight

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"www.v-opt.co.jp"

HEy yeah thanks again for replyin
i only got a budget of $15000 for everything so if it goes a lot above that price then i'm screwed, so hopefully it wont be too high.. but my mate reckons that i should be able to get a decent 180 no worries as he is cahrging me cost as well...
yeah i'm just a bit concerned about the car landing here b4 it actually gets approved.. how come you approval thing got declined.. i hope i dont have any problems like that.. he says he hasnt had any problems with his clients!!, i'm prolly just being paranoid!!!
but i been told as long as i got the import approval there's nothing they can do to take the car away from me... so i gotta make sure i get that.
how much extra did it actually cost ya, than you expected???
i hope i dont get too many nasty surprises...
thanks again for all you help
cheers

yeah you should be well covered with that amount.

Myne aproval was held up cause the invoice had a error on it it had Nissan Skyline instead of Nissan 180SX.

It didnt cost that much more, but since they put it in a container instead of "roll on" roll off the cost went up. and this pushed customs prices up, that and storage fees and transport to Sydney.Make sure they ship to the right port!

No worries!

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"www.v-opt.co.jp"

yeah i agree with purple .. i imported my car from Japan too .. and i had mine on a ship on its way over here before they gave me the import aprooval .. and ive never heard of anyone that has been denied yet !!
But it is a slow process and shitloads of paperwork .. but in the end its definately worth it .. much cheaper too

hi thanx guys for replying i feel a whole lot better now about importing.
i think i'm just being paranoid. hehehehe
thanks for all your help guys, I'llpost up some of the specs when i find the right car and let you guys know how i go.
Auctions in Japan this weekend so hopefully i'll find something there and have my car in a month or 2...
thanks again *purple and shpeedie i really appreciate it...

good luck!

take your time and find a real nice one!


94' 180SX
Midnight purple
Apexi Ni adj sus.
HKS Hiper exhaust
HKS front pipe
& blah,blah,blah,etc

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"www.v-opt.co.jp"

If you do not have an import approval by the time the ship the car is on first arrives in Australia (In other words if the ship is going Japan, Brisbane, Sydney and you car is getting off in Sydney it is the date the ship arrives in Brisbane that is used for Customs regulations) then either car must be either exported, destroyed or you can pay $12,000 additional duty to clear the car and then get the Import approval. I know of lots of cars that have been shipped to NZ and back because they got here to quick from Japan and it is cheaper to pay for the car to go the NZ and back that pay $12,000 extra duty.
Dealers seem to get better treatment from the Dept of Transport and Road Safety (DOTRS) so I bought mine in using and Import Broker to get the paper work as quick as possible. Customs staff I have talked to hate DOTRS as they make up stupid rules like the $12,000 which Customs have to administer and it is the poor Customs Officer who has to deal with the public, not the idoit in DOTRS who made up the dumb rule in the first place.

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Convertibles Rule

yeah i definately agree with you .. i remember all that time consuming paperwork .. and trying to get import aprooval whilst the car sat on the docks and waited .. !!!

how much could you import a 91 SR20DET 180Sx in good condition, with not too many mods, eg, zorst and airfilter/BOV..........into WA???
i have been considering importing but dont actually know how 'good' the car will be......but if i go through a reliable importer it should all be alright!!!!!!!!!!!

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I love the smell of SR20 in the morning