How to import a car from Japan, step by step

This is the whole process in order, from the first eligibility check to the day you register the car. Each step links to the page that goes deeper. If you are brand new, read the eligibility and cost steps twice, because those two decide whether the rest is worth doing.

Step 1: Confirm the car is eligible

Every import starts with the age of the car, and the two exemptions do not use the same date. Under the US 25-year rule, a motor vehicle that is 25 years old or older by its date of manufacture is exempt from the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. The EPA emissions exemption for a vehicle 21 years old or older is based on the vehicle's original production year, and applies only to vehicles in their original configuration, not modified from the manufacturer's original design. Confirm current requirements with the EPA and NHTSA, and see the EPA's official vehicle-import guidance. For a car from Japan, that pair of age exemptions is what makes a straightforward import possible.

What matters is the date each exemption uses, not the model year advertised by a seller. If the car is younger than 25, it generally has to go through a registered importer and a compliance process. That is a real route, but it is not the beginner's route.

Step 2: Work out the landed cost

The landed cost is the purchase price plus everything needed to put the car on your driveway. Build it from these buckets:

• the purchase price, from a dealer or an auction;
• fees in Japan: auction or dealer fees and inland transport to the port;
• ocean freight to a US port, plus marine insurance;
• US customs duty on the declared value, customs fees, and usually a bond and broker;
• state taxes, title and registration once the car is here.

No one can give you a dependable total without knowing the car and the route. Ask a seller or broker for an itemised quote, and compare the line items rather than the headline number.

Step 3: Find the car and inspect it

You can buy from a dealer or exporter in Japan, or bid at an auction through a broker. Auctions are where many good cars first appear, and the Japan car auction guide explains how the sheets, grading and bidding work. Whichever route you take, read the condition report and, for a car you are serious about, pay for an independent inspection before you commit. Photos hide rust and accident repair.

Step 4: Arrange export from Japan

The Japanese seller or exporter handles the domestic side: deregistration, the export certificate, and booking the vehicle onto a ship. Make sure the documents match the car — chassis number, engine number and description — because mismatches cause trouble at US customs later.

Step 5: Ship the car

Vehicles cross the Pacific either on a roll-on/roll-off ship, where they are driven on and off, or inside a container. Each has trade-offs for cost, protection and the ports served. Marine insurance is worth carrying: the voyage is long, and a car is a large, mobile object on a moving deck.

Step 6: Clear US customs

At the US port, an entry is filed with US Customs and Border Protection, duty and fees are paid, and the car is presented. This is where the EPA and DOT paperwork comes in: EPA Form 3520-1 for emissions and DOT Form HS-7 for safety, both used to declare the age exemption. Most first-time importers use a customs broker and a customs bond for this stage.

Step 7: Register the car in your state

Federal clearance does not register the car. That is a state process. Take the CBP entry summary, the EPA and DOT forms, the Japanese export documents, and proof of ownership to your state motor vehicle agency, and follow its rules for a foreign-origin vehicle. State requirements, including anything to do with emissions, differ, so check before you buy rather than after.

Related guides

• Japan car auctions — houses, sheets, grading and bidding, because buying at auction is a step of importing.
• EPA and DOT import paperwork— the two forms that are a step of the process.
• The 25-year import rule — how the age exemption decides what you can bring in.
• Import a car from Japan — back to the beginner's guide hub.

General information only — not legal, customs or tax advice. Rules can change. Confirm current requirements with US Customs and Border Protection, NHTSA, the EPA, and your state motor vehicle agency before importing.