Importing a JDM Cars - Some FAQ's

The Land of the Rising Sun! Japan is still exotic, still far away and mysterious. Quietly engineering some of the most desirable cars in the world, they have come to dominate almost every motor sports series...except Formula 1. Here the Europeans have a stronghold both in design and in engineering. Personally, I think it's the Japanese penchant for “Muda” (not wanting to waste) that holds there F1 competitor just a few tenths back of the pack but I digress.

Today I’d like to give you a few answers to our most common frequently asked question here at Japan Partner Inc. These should to help you get to grips with the industry lingo.

Here is Part I. (Next week I'll post Part II)

1. What is the Car Price?

Now I know this sounds obvious, but we are exporters and there are three things that we charge for, one is Car Price. This is the only part of the transaction that can be negotiated. FOB and Ocean Freight charges are fixed costs with little or no margin as they cover a third parties cost. You won't be able to negotiate the FOB charges and definitely not the Ocean Freight charges especially with rising fuel costs!

2. What is FOB?

FOB is the abbreviation of "Free on Board". The FOB cost applies to all cars exported from Japan. FOB price includes export arrangements such as export and customs documents, document translations, delivery of the vehicle from the dealer to port and loading onto the ship. FOB price does not include the car shipping cost to your port. Often vehicle prices are posted with FOB included. For example: 3500 USD FOB. This means the car price and FOB total 3500 US Dollars.

3. What is Ocean Freight?

This is the cost to have your vehicle delivered to your nearest port. Basically the port to port cost. This is what the ship company charges for delivery. If RORO is available to your port it is usually cheaper than shipping by container. The reason for this is the car freight is charged on the cubic meter volume of the car, so is the container, the container being larger is more expensive. FOB for containers is also more expensive. FOB charges on a 20 ft. container are around 1300 USD and for the 40 ft. 2000 USD.

4. What is RORO shipping?

RORO stands for Roll On/Roll Off in industry lingo. It's a car ferry you can drive they drive your vehicle onto, park and on arrival to your port, drive it off! Many of these ships sail the Seven Seas but most are used by the world’s manufacturers and on occasion space can be limited.

5. How many cars can I load?

RORO ships can carry in excess of 4000 units. That said they don't exactly have fixed schedules unless it is a major route i.e. Japan to the USA. With RORO you can load as many as you like depending on the availability of space. A 20ft. containers dimensions generally allow for loading of say 1 SUV but you can fit two smaller cars that have a low profile say less than 150 cm high. With the advent of the 40ft. High cube our company is now able to load 4 standard size vehicles or 3 SUV's. In some cases we have even loaded 7 mini trucks with a few parts thrown in for good measure.

Thank you for reading...I'll post Part II of our FAQ next week! Have a great day.

Japan Partner Inc. Mr. D. Cadre
Sales & Marketing Manager
info@japan-partner.com
http://www.japan-partner.com/