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Importing a vehicle using SUPERCAMPER as an "agent" - The process explained. How to custom import a vehicle using us as an "Agent/Import Agent"
Cherry picking the perfect Japanese performance vehicle for yourself! SUPERCAMPER Imported Japanese Camper Van and Motorhome Sales
Here is a brief rundown on how it will work.
1. Get in touch with us
You get in touch, whether it be via email, phone or msn, tell us what you are looking for, then we will get a few details from you, namely your phone number, email etc. If you don't want to speak to us yet then don't feel you have to, just send a quick and simple email and let us know if you would like calling back, or maybe you just want to be emailed back, we will reply as soon as possible.
Contact Details:
Email: agent@import-service.supercamper.co.uk
MSN Live Messenger (realtime chat): bodleyhenley@hotmail.com
Telephone:0845 527 8793 (Option 2)
Website: SUPERCAMPER Imported Japanese Camper Van and Motorhome Sales
You will receive an explaination from us regarding the selection and import process and we will go away and scour the auction listings for vehicles going through the auctions in the next 3 days. Any vehicle we see which we think would be of interested to you, will be saved ready for sending via email. We will save images of the vehicle, a copy of the auction report and a brief summary of each vehicle.
2. You receive vehicles of interest to you going through in the next two days of auctions
We will begin sending you the vehicles that we see that may interest you via email and we will give you and idea of what we think each vehicle will go for at auction. We will also send you the results of what they sell for and give you a general idea of the on the road costs would be plus the agent fee.
Now were almost ready to begin bidding!
3. Pay £500 deposit
You then decide whether to go ahead a little further and start bidding. Before we can bid for you, we ask that you pay a refundable 500 pound deposit.
This is **FULLY REFUNDABLE** and only there as security, just in case you make us bid on something that we win, and then you decide you don’t want it! Generally if you are bidding under 1 million yen then the deposit will be 500 pounds. If over 1 million yen then the deposit will be slightly more.
If we fail to find a vehicle that meets your requirements or we fail to win any vehicles, or just dont fancy continuing bidding anymore (maybe you have found something in the UK?), then we will refund the deposit after a written letter or email from yourselves.
There are TWO ways to pay the deposit:
1. Pay using our secure payment gateway on our website (Protx) Protx is totally secure and is quick and easy. Also you can use any debit or credit card, so you are totally protected for piece of mind. The only downside to this method is that we charge are small surcharge of around 3% which is only there to cover the amount that Protx charge us for using their services.
2. The cheaper way to pay, is for you to transfer the £500 deposit via bank transfer to our bank account directly. This will usually clear either in 2 hours to 1 working day. This is obviously free for you to do as there are no bank charges for transferring money between UK bank accounts. We can supply our bank account number and sort code over phone or email.
4. More Vehicles and Information
We will then continue to send vehicles to you via email and get in contact to discuss the options, then at the end of the day if you wish us to place a bid, we will now do this. Also now if you wish, we can get reports translated if you are seriously thinking of bidding on a vehicle. The normal costs for translation is 300 Yen per report, (about £2), but I will try and absorb this cost myself so long as the number of translation is kept to a sensible number.
5. **BIDDING**
We will try and give you an idea of what we “think” the right price for a vehicle will be, we have been adding vehicles to a local database, that slowly but surely is building up a good picture of the average prices for certain types of cars depending on age, mileage etc... so using this as a tool, we will help you. We will give you a price to bid, say if you want a bargain, or if you just want a car asap and you don’t mind paying normal prices or slightly over, and if you really want to win it we will give you a price which will probably win the auction. At the end of the day even if you get a vehicle slightly over the average price, it usually means your getting a GOOD one that EVERYONE wants, and you are going to be saving hundreds or if probably THOUSANDS on buying from most vehicle dealerships anyway.
As soon as we find out the auction results we will notify you whether you won the vehicle at auction or not, hopefully you did win!!
In my experience, Jap auctions are not like Ebay, where you have daft bidding wars, and a car will go for silly money, generally the car will go for what it's worth and thats it. So most of the time if you make a bid and win, you get the car for a fair bit less than your maximum bid!
Pre-bidding inspection
Some of the auction houses offer a pre-biddding inspection service (basically as second inspection), there is a charge however for this service of 10,000 yen. Which is about £8. Note that not all auction houses offer this. I have personally never bothered with it so far, but for some cars it may be worth it just for peace of mind.
6.Pay the finish price + FOB.
**£350 of the Deposit will now be refunded and the rest will be kept as the "agent fee" (£150)
Then it is just a case of us sending you an invoice for the rest of payment, which is the total cost of the vehicle at Japanese port (FOB = free on board cost) + the import service agent fee of 150 pounds. You will not need to actually make the payment of 150 because you paid the deposit anyway, so we just retain 150 pounds worth of the deposit now as our agent fee.
**Free on board cost is the price the vehicle went for at auction + the auction house fee and internal logistics charge. Usually it is around 400 to 600 pounds on top of the finish price (around 80,000 to 110,000 yen depending on finish price)
Initially you will pay the £500 deposit to us, by UK bank transfer or via our website using ProtX, then the remaining vehicle costs will be paid directly into our bank account via bank transfer. We will freeze an exchange rate using a currency exchanger then come up with the exact figure you have to pay. We will then ask you which port you want the vehicle shipped too, and give you an idea of when it is coming into port. Generally Liverpool, Southampton, Bristol and Newcastle are the main shipping ports but it may be possible to get the vehicle shipped elsewhere... even other countries.
The remaining costs of the vehicle can also be paid by Protx, although there may be a slight delay in it clearing through to our account and there will be a surcharge of 3 percent on the total.
7. Shipping and Logistics
Shipping prices for a typical Nissan Skyline of about 11.5 Cubic Metres is around 460 to 500 pounds. Shipping times are from 4 to 7 weeks depending on when the ship leaves. If you are lucky you will get it on the ship within a week and the shipping time will be slashed. The old word “missed the boat” springs to mind!
Then close to the time of arrival you will receive the export documents for the vehicle and any handbooks, and you will receive an invoice for the total shipping amount from the shipping company.
8. Pay Shipping Costs and Duty/VAT
When the vehicle lands you pay the shipping amount, generally to the shipping agent, e.g YA autotrade for Liverpool docks. Once that is paid, they release it and you will get another invoice from the Liverpool docks authority (alan cavanan’s) who are a customs clearance agent. They will charge around 50 pounds to clear it through customs and send you an invoice for total for DUTY and VAT. Doesn’t worry, we all pay it!!
So it will be the ((FOB price + Shipping) + 10%)+17.5%) Then you are able to drive your vehicle away! Albeit insured on the chassis number as the vehicle still needs to be MOT’d, registered with the DVLA and taxed. Generally MOT is 60 pounds and it should sail through so long as you have gotten a 10 pound fog light fitted. Registration is 55 pounds and tax is 99 through 185 depending on whether you want a year or six months worth. Remember, the Japanese MOT (Shaken) is very strict and it often costs thousands to put an old car through it.
9. MOT/Registration and extras
Now you just need some 20 pound number plates and your good to go!
It would also be an idea converting the speedo to MPH, but it is a bit of a grey area. I have had a few cars myself that were not converted, and there were no problems. Then we also had one camper that was randomly inspected by VOSA and we changed it to MPH using replacement faceplates for the speedo (£15).
Thanks for you time!
Jon @ Supercamper.
__________________
Jon
Supercamper Import Agent - Japanese Camper Vans and other vehicles
Tel: 0845 527 8793 - Opening Hours, 11:30am to 20:45pm
Agent E-mail: agent@import-service.supercamper.co.uk
General E-mail: sales@supercamper.co.uk
MSN/Live Messenger: bodleyhenley@hotmail.com
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Originally Posted by Bubble 
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