Import guides

How importing a car from Japan works for each country we serve — rules, costs and sources.

• United States

  Cars at least 25 years old — counted from the month of manufacture — can be imported without meeting US safety (FMVSS) standards. Younger Japanese-market cars are, in practice, not importable.

• Canada

  Vehicles 15 years or older, counted from the date of manufacture, can be imported from Japan outside the RIV program. Quebec does not register right-hand-drive cars under 25 years old.

• United Kingdom

  There is no age ban. Cars under 10 years old need an IVA test (and possibly modifications); older cars need an MOT and DVLA registration. Most verdicts are therefore “conditional”.

• Australia

  Vehicles built more than 25 years ago can be imported under the “older vehicles” pathway. Younger vehicles are only possible through the SEVS register and a Registered Automotive Workshop.

• New Zealand

  Eligibility depends on frontal-impact and exhaust-emissions standards by model code. MOTORAVI shows a conditional verdict with a checklist until model-code rules are added.

• Hong Kong

  Hong Kong drives on the left and takes right-hand-drive Japanese cars, but used imports must meet its emission and noise standards — in practice recent cars — and pay a steep first registration tax.

• UAE (re-export via Dubai)

  The UAE does not register right-hand-drive cars, so MOTORAVI treats Dubai as a trade hub: traders buy Japanese cars into a Jebel Ali free zone and re-export them, mainly to Africa and Central Asia.

• Kenya

  Kenya's 8-year rule admits only right-hand-drive cars first registered within the last 8 years, after a pre-export inspection in Japan. Taxes are high and are assessed on KRA's own retail-price schedule.

• Tanzania

  Tanzania has no age limit for right-hand-drive cars, but excise duty rises steeply for cars 8 years and older.

• Uganda

  Uganda bans cars 15 or more years old and charges an environmental levy from 8 years. Cars land at Mombasa and travel inland to Kampala.

• Zambia

  Zambia has no age limit for right-hand-drive cars, but adds a surtax on cars older than 5 years and a carbon emission surtax. Cars usually land at Dar es Salaam and are trucked to Lusaka.