Hey all,

i just have some questions about the import process, i got the thumbs up from the people that ship all of our (military personnel) stuff back to the states they said they can ship it but it has to pass the import inspection checklist or something like that...i've just never dealt with anything like this before and i'm curious if ANYBODY can shed some light on the situation. like what i would have to do to make it pass or whatever in the states? i dunno but if i cant find an answer within the next week i have to sell it unfortunately...

here's an updated picture of it

Has to be older than 25 years but it IS possible but there are multiple fees, guidelines, rules, all these things you have to comply with. IT is probably not worth the effort. Canada it is 15 years and your car is 15 years old. Start with getting it to Canada and then its probably MUCH easier to get it in the states

Leave it in Japan,purchase another one{q45} already here in the USA, not worth the hassle and expense to get it cleared for USA usage. Kinda like bringing sand to the beach. There are plenty of clean low mile 99-01 Q45 {Cima} models here to choose from,and can be had all day for $4000-5000 USA dollars

yeah talked to a guy that has in importing business and he said it would cost me upwards of 10K to make it registerable in the states soo looks like i'm gunna have to sell it here.. fun car while it lasted!!!

if you chop it up into a few pieces I can ship it here for MAYBE around 1200-2000$ (freight wise) And you can reassemble it here. You would just need to locate a Y33 Q45 here to use the frame since you would be cutting your car up. You can even have a RHD "cima" badged car with a USDM vin #. BUTTTTTTT if you gather a bunch of JDM parts to go with it you can make money ( I and others will buy) off of bringing a chopped up cima (or any other JDM car) over here.

If you want to make it happen it can happen

Steveo

Take off whatever you can off the car before you sell it....Once you get to the states you can find a decent replacement for a car of that era easily so that isn't a worry. It would have been cool to have the right-driver Cima here for sure, but not worth the expense.

Lots of misinformation here..

It's actually not that hard. All you need is a letter of conformity for Nissan. That's it. Weather or not they will give it to you is another story. I've done this a few times now with no issues (with Subaru). Give Nissan USA a call and request the letter. There are other wayS to do it which arn't exactly all together legal.

You will also have to pay duty on the car once it arrives as it was not originally sold in the US and is a dutable item (although with military this may not be the case?).

Speaking of the military, you may not even NEED the letter. Although I can't tell you what you would need. A neighbor of mine has a '01 Nissan Gloria, which he imported via military and I seriously doubt he received a letter of conformity. I'm sure the military has their own inspection the car would go through. I would call U.S. Customs at the port the car will be entering and speak with them, or whatever part of the military is in charge of importing cars.

G50 Q wrote:Lots of misinformation here..

It's actually not that hard. All you need is a letter of conformity for Nissan. That's it. Weather or not they will give it to you is another story. I've done this a few times now with no issues (with Subaru). Give Nissan USA a call and request the letter. There are other wayS to do it which arn't exactly all together legal.

You will also have to pay duty on the car once it arrives as it was not originally sold in the US and is a dutable item (although with military this may not be the case?).

Speaking of the military, you may not even NEED the letter. Although I can't tell you what you would need. A neighbor of mine has a '01 Nissan Gloria, which he imported via military and I seriously doubt he received a letter of conformity. I'm sure the military has their own inspection the car would go through. I would call U.S. Customs at the port the car will be entering and speak with them, or whatever part of the military is in charge of importing cars.

Sorry, but you are the one dishing out misinformation......to get the car legally tagged and road worthy, you must jump through some huge obstacles at considerate expense......see here for just a small taste of the process http://stnw.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/import/

Hve you done it before? Because I have. Infact I did a STI 2 weeks ago. I've also owned a S15 and Soarer.

So, thanks for the link but been there done that, already know how to do it.

Why is it such a common thing for members here to pretend they know what they are talking about yet have no expereince doing it. When you've improted a car into the US, then you can post. Otherwise you have no idea what the process involves. If you have a letter of conformity then there are no "hoops" to junmp through or fees to pay other than duty. I know this because I have done it, if you actually read that link you posted you would also know it.

This I why I directed him to start there. I have no idea if Y33's are conforming or not. Being RHD has NOTHING to do with a vehicles conformity.

Its not most of the members. It is a very small amount that pretend to know everything, have to chime in with their opinions, as well as take ANY info they can take from a search engine or wikipedia. They will NOT accept the opinion of anyone else and in their mind they cannot be proven wrong. Half the reason why this forum has little to no daily traffic are from this individuals that. So why would anyone want to post. qship has no experience with importing anything but he does know what google and wikipedia are.

LOL I just realized he's the same kid from the headlight thread.. haha

btw qship- my "cosmetic toy" jdm headlights have better light output than usdm, and a better lhd cutoff line than usdm headlights. But you're right JDM headlights are complete junk right? If you devoted 1/2 as much time into being productive and doing something with your car, as you do googling s***, you might actually have something worthwhile to post.

Ah, you young 20 somethings have a lot to learn........FYI my friend/neighbor was a grey market auto importer for decades,and the original grey market importer/reseller of the Smart Car in the entire USA before they officially were marketed here by their own manufacturer.trust me, it is not a "easy" , inexpensive, or quick process to legally import and more importantly get proper clearance to actually tag vehicles this way, quite the opposite......emissions,safety equipment,bumper standards,crash standards,etc are just the few obstacles that must conform to get it registered.

By the way BCC93qt......since you had to chime in with your post, I might as well point out your gross inaccuracies regarding the Cima "frame" you made in your earlier post in this thread,telling the poster to locate a "frame" to replace his, since he would be "chopping his up" to send it here in pieces.......hold on, you ready for this??? The Cima/Q45 is a UNIBODY car,no separate "frame" to replace....good god both you guys are just spewing out complete inaccurate information at every level.

qship96 wrote:Ah, you young 20 somethings have a lot to learn........FYI my friend/neighbor was a grey market auto importer for decades,and the original grey market importer/reseller of the Smart Car in the entire USA before they officially were marketed here by their own manufacturer.trust me, it is not a "easy" , inexpensive, or quick process to legally import and more importantly get proper clearance to actually tag vehicles this way, quite the opposite......emissions,safety equipment,bumper standards,crash standards,etc are just the few obstacles that must conform to get it registered.

By the way BCC93qt......since you had to chime in with your post, I might as well point out your gross inaccuracies regarding the Cima "frame" you made in your earlier post in this thread,telling the poster to locate a "frame" to replace his, since he would be "chopping his up" to send it here in pieces.......hold on, you ready for this??? The Cima/Q45 is a UNIBODY car,no separate "frame" to replace....good god both you guys are just spewing out complete inaccurate information at every level.

I am the one who is inaccurate, yet of the two of us I am the only one who has done it? Haha.. Keep trolling google for bad info kid.

You have NO EXPERIENCE doing it. I do. You searched "google" I have delt DIRECTLY with U.S. Customs. Grow up and get over youself, you're making yourself look more pathetic with each post.

Hhaha "I had a friend who imported cars... blah blah blah" Contrats, you're a moron. I have imported cars myself, on more than one occasion.

You're like a stupid parrot, just regurgitating information you read online. Get a life and some real experience and maybe then you can play with the big kids.

I {and I am sure anyone else remotely familiar with the process} dont believe for a second you have imported and legally registered a bicycle, let alone a car......my neighbor/importer laughed his head off when I sent him your posts explaining the process.No google search, my neighbor led me directly to the proper websites to hand to you.Why I even waste my time trying to help you kids is beyond me, better to let you remain clueless.....from now on,enjoy, you are on your own!

My neighbor... My neighbor... Ignorance is bliss.

Ok man, whatever you say. If you actually read the link "he" sent you, you would realize if you have a letter of conformity from the manufacturer, that means THE CAR comforms to US standards. That means there is no "process" or "hoops" to jump through.

If you really did have a "neighbor" who imported cars he would confirm this. I could care less what you believe. If you would like to see import docs I'll post them.. lol I also have some pics of my S15 if you wanna see that too. I have pictures of it in Japan and in the US. Improting a car that was NEVER manufactured here (I.E. A stupid a** smart car) obviously is much harder to do. The Y33 was sold in the US which is why i suggested the letter, which truely is all that would be needed if Nissan will give it to him. Would you also like me to post the letter of conformity I have from subaru with my name on it for the STI? hahaha

s***, call U.S. Customs and ask them if you don't believe me.. stop believeing everything you read on the internet, it makes you look like a f*** moron.

You're a tool spouting infomation out like a parrot. You have no experience doing this or any knowledge of how to do it, so please let the big kids have a civil discussion and keep your uneducated ignorant opinion to yourself from now on.

qship96 wrote:By the way BCC93qt......since you had to chime in with your post, I might as well point out your gross inaccuracies regarding the Cima "frame" you made in your earlier post in this thread,telling the poster to locate a "frame" to replace his, since he would be "chopping his up" to send it here in pieces.......hold on, you ready for this??? The Cima/Q45 is a UNIBODY car,no separate "frame" to replace....good god both you guys are just spewing out complete inaccurate information at every level.

qship, I wasn't referring to the actual "FRAME" that the car sits on. I was referring to the body... He can put his parts from a cima on the USDM Q. (RHD, engine, badging, grille, interior & options) Regardless if its a unibody or not. The bodies are identical. I was referring to him having a RHD car here and he can load up all his cima parts on it. Thats what i was getting at with the "chopping" it up.

Now your going to play the age card now eh?
The fact is, we have a lot to learn because you idiot old folks are stuck in your own ways and have been trying to prevent any "change". You are stuck on a one way road. We are supposed to do things the way YOU did it when you were our age right?

a 1996 nissan cima is equivalent to what year infiniti Q45?

Ooops.. I just realized this thread was started 3 years ago... I posted a long reply. I'm such a tard.