Pricing Explained

Cost Details
The prices quoted on the site include the following:

• Purchase price of the vehicle in Japan
• All related export fees (exporters fee, shipping to port in Japan, Japanese customs clearance, English translation of export documents, etc.)
• Radiation checks at Japan port
• Bank fees for the international wire transfers to Japan
• Shipping from Japan to Canadian port (point of entry to Canada is Vancouver, BC)
• Fire and marine insurance ( in case of total loss )
• Customs clearance fees that are handled by a professional customs brokerage firm
• Canadian border services agency (CBSA) inspection fee
• Air conditioning tax (if applicable)
• Canadian port service charges
• 5% Goods and service tax (GST)
• 6.1% Duty
• Documents for your provincial registries office and courier charges
• JDM Connection service fee

One of the main questions we get is, how are the vehicles so cheap? Unfortunately in this day and age we are so used to expecting hidden costs in everything that we buy that this leads to a natural skepticism of prices. However, we at JDM do not believe in hidden costs.

The prices really are as good as they appear and we hope that the following information will help you understand why Japanese vehicles are priced so low:

A car that is only five years old in Japan is worth only 30% of its original value on the domestic market, and a car 7 years old is worth a mere 16%! This is why the opportunity for us exists to import cars.

So why is it this way?

Well, in Japan cars are sold to their owners with ‘shaken’, a combination of safety inspection, compulsory insurance, proof of parking space, weight tax and vehicle tax that is valid for three years. To renew ’shaken’ is costly (an average of about 2000 dollars) and is also time consuming. It involves putting the car through meticulous inspection process as well as having to replace even slightly worn parts and prove things such as proof of parking permit (because space is limited) etc. This lasts you 2 years, then it’s the same again until you buy a new car…

For the owner, ’shaken’ and government taxes make regular new cars an economical proposition and in the competitive Japanese market dealerships provide customers with further incentives to return their current cars as trade ins. So, when the ’shaken’ expires after 3, 5, 7 or 9 years most cars are traded. The lack of domestic demand for second hand, leaves dealers holding a lot good quality second hand cars. Low demand & a high endless supply, force these cars to be sold cheaply at auction – in fact very cheaply.

Now that we understand why the vehicles are so cheap to buy in Japan, here are the reasons why our “landed cost” is so low:

We have years of experience in the industry and have learned the most cost effective routes for shipping, customs clearance, port fees, documentation fees, etc.

We are not a dealer, but only a import consultant and charge a small one off service fee. This means that there are no large dealer mark ups and strange middle man costs.

Further to this article, you can read about our $999.00 service fee pays for itself here.