Hello Everyone,

New to the forums.

I have been researching importing a GTR for quite while and wish I was able to secure one 6-12 months ago to get a better price and selection.

Recently sold my 93' Corvette and 07' Suzuki GSXR to clear up funds and room in the garage.

I am currently talking with Dave W. from The GTR Shop in UK on a 90' GTR.

I am all good on the documentation I need from Dave and the forms to fill out for Customs. Not sure if I will use a Broker to deal with the Customs filing and paperwork yet.

I did some searching and everyone seems to have nothing but good things to say about the GTR Shop.

My question is has anyone from this forum/USA actually dealt with them to buy/import a GTR?

Just wanted get feedback on your experience and how the process went.

Couldn't find much using the search.

Thanks!!

Can you link the car you're considering purchasing? I just bought a '90 GTR from Dave, too. I'll give you my full thoughts and experience when I get into the office tonight and can properly frame a response. I can tell you that you'll most likely need a customs broker as obtaining a bond cheaply and doing an ISF filing isn't really something you can do on your own.

Its not your car. I wanted the car you got listed on his website.

He told me it is going to Texas and your from Texas lol.

It is a June 1990 that is still in Japan.

Derp, I just realized that I implied that Dave might have been scamming us. Sorry for the wording, that is NOT what I meant at all. I was curious to see what yours looked like and if it was one of the other ones that GTR Shop had for sale at the time I bought mine.

Anyways, Dave was very helpful answering all my questions and even posted a pic of all the accompanying documentation and service records for the vehicle. We negotiated a shipped-to-port price and I sent him funds in GBP (£) via Paypal. FYI, sending currency internationally is not cheap as any bank or wire transfer services will charge above the current market rate and they'll add a small service fee on top. Despite that, Paypal was the cheapest way to send him payment with my bank coming in second and Western Union being the most expensive by far. GTR Shop will then use RoRo (roll-on, roll-off) shipping to the States. In your case, I'm assuming he's sending it to Long Beach in California since that'd be the cheapest way to do it from Japan. He was going to ship my car to FL and use Rivsu to handle the paperwork and titling but I declined and decided to handle it myself and have my car sent to Houston or Galveston. I don't see how you can avoid using a customs broker as you'll need the following to clear customs from port:

Express Mail and Money order THD
ISF Filing
Bond and Surety Fee (might require a bond for 3x value of vehicle)
2.5 % Tariff
0.3464 Processing Fee
Customs Entry Fee

^-- borrowed the above from International Vehicle Importers (Sean Morris' company) website. Plus the cost of shipping it to your door.

The car I am looking at is not on the web yet.

I inquired about your car and he told me a Texan bought it already lol.

He told me he had another one incoming to the UK. From what I gather it is already on the water to his shop. Dave said included in the sale they would go through the car and perform fluid changes as well as plugs and belts.

I live in Philadelphia so the car would get shipped RoRo to Baltimore or Newark.

Send me an email and I can send you the photobucket link of the car Dave sent me before it left Japan.

[email protected]

are you getting a TX customs broker to help you with everything?

I've sent email inquiries to a couple here in Dallas but haven't gotten a response. I'm going to start calling around tomorrow and hopefully I'll get some movement that way. If it's a no go locally, I'll ask if IVI or Rivsu can do it.

kabob wrote:I've sent email inquiries to a couple here in Dallas but haven't gotten a response. I'm going to start calling around tomorrow and hopefully I'll get some movement that way. If it's a no go locally, I'll ask if IVI or Rivsu can do it.

Horizon Auto Shipping is the most reputable broker down here in Houston, $350 flat rate. I talked to a guy from Land Rover club, and he had brought in a couple old Defenders through them without any problem. They are slow to answer their emails, but fairly quick over the phone.

Thanks a million that's exactly what I needed! $350 would be cheaper than most.

Anyone know a reputable customs broker for autos in the North East/Mid Atlantic region.

My car would need to come through Baltimore or Newark.

justonebar wrote:Anyone know a reputable customs broker for autos in the North East/Mid Atlantic region.

My car would need to come through Baltimore or Newark.

Not trying to scare you, but the guy from Land Rover Club I talked to warned me about importing through Baltimore. He said Baltimore has the most strict customs, and he had a car held there and swore to never go through there again.

Give Horizon a call. All the paperworks are handled remotely anyway, it's not like you will need to visit the broker's office or the broker needs to be physically at the port or customs.

From what I've learned if you get a broker in the local area of the port you can get a single entry bond which is considerable less that a continuous bond. Just a little information for you if you did not know. Unless you plan on importing another within a 365 day period single entry is the way to go. If you choose a broker not on site you will be required to get a continuous bond which is 10% of total shipped value but not less than 50k so no less than $500. Single entry bond is 10% of total value shipped goods plus tax and duties not less than $100.

Since you live in Houston, do you recommend shipping to Houston Sea Port or Galveston? I know either way I have to go to Houston to the CBP office there and do the paperwork there but I'm willing to deal with the extra drive if it means Galveston is easier to clear customs.

Question for you.

I've recently moved back to the U.S. after 10 years in Japan, the last 6 of which I owned a Midnight Purple 33-R. Since I can't import the car to the U.S. til 2020, I've been trying to sell the car. Seems no one in Japan wants to pay for it. I'm not asking a lot of money for it, but I'm also not letting it go for cheap. I'm trying to possibly sell it to someone in a country that can import it now.

Is there any chance you could send me the contact info for Dave in the U.K. so I can see if he has any customers there that may be interested in my car.

Thanks in advance.

kabob wrote:Since you live in Houston, do you recommend shipping to Houston Sea Port or Galveston? I know either way I have to go to Houston to the CBP office there and do the paperwork there but I'm willing to deal with the extra drive if it means Galveston is easier to clear customs.

Since your car is sourced through the GTR Shop, I am not sure where it is coming from. If it is from UK, I believe Galveston is the only choice. If it is from Japan, I believe most ships still dock at Galveston, with a few exceptions in Houston. Galveston will be my recommendation, since the customs officers are more used to seeing old foreign cars come through.

Thanks for all the info.

Made the deal with Dave at GTR shop for a 6/90 GTR!!!!!!

Looks like I got 8 months to work on my Customs paperwork lol

Wildtraveler wrote:From what I've learned if you get a broker in the local area of the port you can get a single entry bond which is considerable less that a continuous bond. Just a little information for you if you did not know. Unless you plan on importing another within a 365 day period single entry is the way to go. If you choose a broker not on site you will be required to get a continuous bond which is 10% of total shipped value but not less than 50k so no less than $500. Single entry bond is 10% of total value shipped goods plus tax and duties not less than $100.

Continuous bond is for businesses that are constantly importing/exporting goods. I haven't read anything that says that you have to use "local" brokers to obtain a single entry bond. Also, bonds are based at a fixed dollar amount per thousand dollars of imported good value with a set minimum. If you have links saying different I'd like to read them.

So if I use this broker from Texas to file remotely and he is $350.

I know about the 2.5% duty on the price of the car.

What are the costs for bond, entry fee and processing? Anyone who has done the process has hard numbers?

When do I need to get this paperwork rolling if the car is being shipped June 2015?

I'll call Horizon Auto Shipping in the morning to get exact costs and let you guys know. I've got a fee breakdown from one of the local Dallas customs brokers that they list right on their site that I'll link in a minute, as well.

As for the actual brokerage itself, I'd have everything prepared at least a week ahead of shipment and ready to go. Just in case, I'm aiming for getting everything settled and rolling a month before. The ISF 10+2 filing must be done 24 hrs before the ship leaves port of origin.

Excuse me, no later than 24 hours before your ship is laden aboard i.e. loaded onto the vessel destined for a US port:

http://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/ ... arry_3.pdf

Hey guys...heard from Dave at GTR Shop and sounds like my car made it from Japan to UK.

Currently waiting to arrive at the shop.


Here is a link to some photos before it boarded the ship in Japan.

http://s1314.photobucket.com/user/engle ... line%20GTR

How much did that car cost you?

First thing I'd do is rip those wheels off. *BARF* Otherwise, sick car.

Yea the wheels are terrible.

They are legit Volk Racing 3 spoke wheels. Will probably sell them to some drifter kid for a few bucks to offset new wheels/tires.

Other than that all it has is an HKS Super Dragger exhaust, HKS pod filters, greddy boost gauge and boost controller.

133k Km and is a grade 4 car. Pretty clean and unmolested.

justonebar wrote:Hey guys...heard from Dave at GTR Shop and sounds like my car made it from Japan to UK.

Currently waiting to arrive at the shop.

I am just curious, why didn't you have Dave W. ship your car directly from Japan?

It is a 6/90 GTR...cant be shipped to USA until June 2015.

Dave is going to service and store the car until it can be legally imported in 6 months.

Those Wheels are volk Ultra C's. They are some of the uglist wheels Volk has made IMO, but they are popular with the drift crowd. I'm sure if the specs are 1/2 decent you will have no trouble getting rid of them for a decent price.

M35Squirrel wrote:

justonebar wrote:Hey guys...heard from Dave at GTR Shop and sounds like my car made it from Japan to UK.

Currently waiting to arrive at the shop.

I am just curious, why didn't you have Dave W. ship your car directly from Japan?

I'd venture to guess that there's no feasible way to store it in Japan and it'd ultimately be cheaper to ship it to the UK first.

kabob wrote: I'd venture to guess that there's no feasible way to store it in Japan and it'd ultimately be cheaper to ship it to the UK first.

there aren't a whole lot of friendly or easy routes to England from Japan, You would think exporting out of there to the states would be a ton easier. Even if you had to rent out a storage unit or w/e.... Least I would think. No idea what it would take to get to England, Short.

After a quick google search I did come up with this........



Looks like there is a route by Yemen through the red sea if I had to guess. less he goes through panama and then to England...



Never thought I would be using geography anymore, certainly not that kind of stuff....

Still looks like the transpacific route is the easier and shorter, but maybe he wants to go over the car 100% before he exports it.

Good news this morning.

Dave has received my GTR at his shop.

Dave confirmed it is an amazing grade 4 car with full service history.

Waiting for more pictures and a video once Dave gets the car cleaned up.

Will post the new photos when i get them!

Dave forwarded me the Japanese auction sheet.

Uploaded that to my photo bucket page.

Link is above.

Still waiting for additional pics and a video from Dave