School me on importing vehicles

[Z71paramedic]

As most of you know, my wife and I are stationed in Germany for the next couple of years. I'm bored to tears and soon my wife is getting deployed, so it's only going to get worse. Obviously there are some sweet cars over here, and I'm considering getting something to build up and drive really fast on ze autobahn I don't want to buy a car that I can't bring back with us though, so I was curious if anybody knew the ins and outs of importing a vehicle to the US? The car I'm thinking about mostly is a Japan spec twin turbo supra mkIV. You can pick them up for under 20 all day long over here.

If it seems like it'll be too much of a PITA to import one, I told the Mrs that she'd return from deployment and find her wrx with 500hp...

 

[scotto0609]

Cant help you on the info you need,but i vote for a Audi rs6. If i remember correctly it was a twin turbo v10 station wagon when ungoverned is capable of 200 mph!!

 

[Jessie James]

People import cars all the time, so I am sure you can do it.

However, you MUST purchase a car that meets US safety standards. Things like the bumpers must meet DOT standards. A lot of German and Japanese cars don't meet those standards, and thus cannot be imported unless you bring it up to spec (and doing so is a major cost).

 

[byggyns]

Or, the vehicle must be over 25 years old to be exempt from the safety standards. For example, Land Rover Defenders can't be imported- no air bags, unless they are old enough.

 

[Greg72]

People import cars all the time, so I am sure you can do it.

However, you MUST purchase a car that meets US safety standards. Things like the bumpers must meet DOT standards. A lot of German and Japanese cars don't meet those standards, and thus cannot be imported unless you bring it up to spec (and doing so is a major cost).

There are a couple of loopholes that might make the process easier.

One was a 20 or 25 year exemption on the crash testing requirement (IIRC)... This allowed the original Porsche 959s to eventually get to the US legally.

There was also a new law exempting cars of "significant historical significance" or something to that effect. Low production cars, and other oddball cars can now get to the US without all the usual DOT mandates. I think this is paving the way for the original Nissan Skylines to get here now as well.

I am not sure what restrictions the cars would have once they arrive it he US though.... They may not be legal for road use,, maybe only for display or parade-type events? Definitely need to search and get the real story on that before you buy and dump money into an RoW car.

BTW -> I just got an ECU tune on my E55 recently..... The 155MPH top speed limiter magically "disappeared" somehow in that process.





-G

 

[Z71paramedic]

There are a couple of loopholes that might make the process easier.

One was a 20 or 25 year exemption on the crash testing requirement (IIRC)... This allowed the original Porsche 959s to eventually get to the US legally.

There was also a new law exempting cars of "significant historical significance" or something to that effect. Low production cars, and other oddball cars can now get to the US without all the usual DOT mandates. I think this is paving the way for the original Nissan Skylines to get here now as well.

I am not sure what restrictions the cars would have once they arrive it he US though.... They may not be legal for road use,, maybe only for display or parade-type events? Definitely need to search and get the real story on that before you buy and dump money into an RoW car.

BTW -> I just got an ECU tune on my E55 recently..... The 155MPH top speed limiter magically "disappeared" somehow in that process.





-G

I was trying to talk the Mrs into getting a lightly used SLS AMG, and pass the subie on to me... She hasn't agreed yet, but I'm hopeful.

I will be doing some research, but haven't yet just because it takes 5 minutes to open a damn webpage from my house...

 

[Deuling]

You don't import boat car. Boat car import you.

 

[n4xplay]

I was stationed in Italy for 3.5 years and just recently returned. the hard knocks that i learned on the 25 year exemption after I had put a lot of time and cash in to a project (87 tin top Suzuki samurai) was that they don’t just look at the year of manufacture, they break it down to the month in that year so if you PCS in May but the car does not technically turn 25 till July you will have issues. The shipping company the GOV uses will not take the vehicle even though by the time you receive it it will be July. They will not ship it from country till July nor will they hold it till that time.

My advice is do your home work before you drop cash that you can not recoup from the project if sold to another American. i know in Italy we could buy from the locals but could not easily sell back to them. I don’t know if it’s the same in Germany.

Search the web there are companies in Seattle WA that i looked up that will make cars US compliant but you will have to pay the shipping plus whatever they charge to get the job done. They pick it up from port and do not release the car till it is compliant but expect to pay import tax on it.

if you decide To pay out of pocket for shipping my advice is drive the vehicle to the port you can knock off close to $1000 by not having it trucked down.

 

[kellyjohn]

Insurance companies have a hand in it too.

The government sets rules based on feedback from safety engineers that are normally sanctioned by insurance companies.

I have a friend (Andrew Combrie Picard) who races Rally cars and wanted an early Mitsubishi Lancer Evo .

Turned out it failed the "not to exceed, front end impact repair estimate" due to the placement and possible Replacement cost of the intercooler...??!!

He did end up getting the car here but it could never be plated as a road legal ride...

There are many things to look into before shelling out...

 

[dyeager535]

I remember people looking into importing cars from mexico years back (and these were just Monte Carlo SS's from the 80's) and it was prohibitively expensive to get them legal here. I don't recall the ins and outs (although the crash test stuff has already been mentioned) but it was not worth it unfortunately.

 

[ekajkrats]

Did you check this out:
http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/import/

 

[Z71paramedic]

I haven't, but thanks for posting it here. I'll check it out.

 

[cwn anwyn]

Yep, 25 years and older= not to bad. Pretty much anything can come over. Newer than 25 years = serious a$$ pain. Dealt with that when I wanted to bring my GTR home. You have to look it up on the NHTSA website and then go through a Registered Importer who brings those cars in. It gets expensive and is a headache.

You definitily do not want to do the significant/historical thing with a car. Its so restrictive on how many miles you can legally drive that it isnt worth it. I looked into that again with the Skyline and didn't see why anyone would want to do that for a car. Why have something that you can't enjoy driving.

Z

 

[Z71paramedic]

I couldn't agree more, I'm not paying for a car I can't drive. It just sucks that government bs makes it so hard to have a cool car in the US.

 

[herkdriver007]

You could find a 25+ yr old Porsche.... Or a US spec E46 M3 can be had, especially given the DoD presence in Europe.

If you want cool factor, Porsche, all out speed the M will not let you down. Ask me how I know