I take it FOB and CIF are added together….what other fees are there?
FOB (free on board) is the cost to you of buying the car and getting it on the ship in Japan and you pay and arrange for the shipping yourself
Mainly used by larger import dealers who ship larger volumes and have preferential rates with different shipping lines
Also sometimes used if the buyer wishes to use a container rather than roro
CIF ( cost insurance freight) is the total cost of the car and delivery to the port of your choice in the export country including delivery to the ship in Japan
There is also the option for C&F (cost and freight) which does not include insurance
Either your agent if buying at auction or in this case the dealer who is selling the car will arrange your choice of these
If you use an agent you will only pay the shipping cost charged by the shipping company but I suspect if you buy from a dealer they will charge more for the shipping than what it will cost them
The FOB and CIF COSTS ARE NOT ADDED TOGETHER, You pay only one of these dependent on what you have chosen.
If they were added together you would be paying for the car twice as the car price is included in the FOB price and also the CIF price
I would think that the cost of this car from the dealer in Japan is approx £2800, everything else is paperwork, transport to the docks in Japan, shipping to the UK, taxes. duty etc.
Vat and import duty is charged on the one you have chosen NOT BOTH although if you have chosen FOB you will also have to pay vat and import duty on the cost of shipping and insurance that has been paid direct to the shipping company.
Part of the cost of the FOB or CIF charge is the cost of deregistering the car in Japan and obtaining the Export certificate that you will need to register the car here with the DVLA.
Assuming you opted for the C&F price on the japan car trade site and then added insurance through the dealer to Bristol docks the price you would pay to the dealer would be £4700 which would be he total cost of buying the car getting it on the boat in Japan, doing the paperwork and shipping to Bristol including insurance on the car up to that point
You will now have to pay 20% vat on the total cost of the car and getting it here (the C&F plus insurance cost) so £940 making a new total of £5640 You will now have to pay import duty at 10% on top of this so another £564 so a total of £6204 plus on top of this will be port fees/custom fees of about £80 making a grand total for this car about £6300 landed cost
It now needs to be registered with the DLVA, fog lights fitted and a mot done plus then whatever else such as cats, underseal etc.
I self imported my Elgrand 6 years ago and would do it again for the right car although would be more inclined to buy at auction rather than a Japanese dealer as I think this offers better value but more work as the car will not have been prepped for resale as this car has been done.
Strangely enough when I imported mine it was about £450 less to have it delivered to Newcastle than to Bristol so by the time vat and import duty was added on top about £550 more even though it came on a ship that docked in Bristol 4 days before it docked in Newcastle. I then paid £250 for it to be delivered to me on a car trailer which was only about £150 more than it would have been from Bristol so saving me a few hundred pounds so if you are thinking about importing well worth while looking at the different port options.
I used a Port agent at Newcastle docks who did all the paperwork and were recommended on the forum and were really good and they sorted all the paperwork out for me and all my delivery driver had to do was pick up the paperwork and the car keys from there office on the dockside and load up my Elgrand on his trailer. I found the delivery driver on Shipley and he had picked up plenty of cars from the docks before so knew the score and was even prepared with a battery pack just in case my Elgrand had a flat battery from being on the boat.