Quote:
Originally Posted by InJapan
First of all I was quoted a price of around $55K military sales base price for a coupe... but that was 2 months ago.
And to answer the above question.
If you can get the military to ship it for you it is a bit easier.
Here is how you do it.
1. Ship the car to the nearest port.
2. Get the personal property / shipping guys to write you a letter that allows you to import a car for personal use.
3. Pay the customs guy around $800 to open the container in a bonded area... it also has to be shipped from the dock to the area by a flat bed. You can probably skip this if your car is shipped by the military.
4. Get the car inspected on base.
5. Get insurance
6. Get the car offically weighed and emissions tested... 2 days and $2000.
7. Pay all the taxes... junking tax, road tax, weight tax... luckily no VAT or automobile acquisition tax.
8. Get some more insurance... because it will take you about a month to get it cleared through all the hurdles... and your JCI will be one month short by the time the process it over.
9. Of course then you have to go to the LTO to get a tag and then back to base to get your base tag.
10. That is not including all the trips to the temporary tag office or trips to the base vehicle registration office.
Needless to say it is VERY painful. Expect a month and lots of headaches. Also about $4000. But I figure if you don't have to pay gas guzzler or state tax (shipped directly from elsewhere) or pay the 5% VAT and 5% Automobile aquisition tax (if buying from a Japanese dealer), it's worth it.
Sorry to go off topic but this thread seems to be populated mostly by military folks.
BTW, I think I drive the only non Gray market E46 M3 Convertible in Japan. The Japanese dealer still services my car.
One final thing... were you looking at the M5 that they have on the lot in Germany? $69.9K for a 2008 model? I would be driving that thing if it wasn't a manual tranny.
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Dude I love ya..in Manly way....I will get back at you cause dude looks like I'm buying a car for delivery to Japan..one question i just want to be clear on..your M3 drop top is U.S. spec....
