How to IMPORT a JDM car into the USA in under 15 minutes

[@jayte7139]

Congrats on your Altezza, I was looking into getting one but ended up with a Subaru STi. This is possibly one of the most informative videos on this subject. Thanks for being very thorough with the information, adding photos and steps. Extremely valuable information.

[@PapaFreedom]

this is an absolute service to future importers! thank you for this

[@icepickhonda33]

Awesome pic, I’m actually doing my research on a 99-2000 altezza as well. Just need to save more cash, until then I will dream of the day I have to stress out. Thank you so much for the brain gold.

[@ball8558]

Rare find in Colorado! Cool video to watch

[@BNR-Ant]

great video. I'm about to pick up my s15 in a few weeks from Long Beach and bring it back to The Springs. Did they tell you anywhere you could park with a trailer for the customs office in LA after picking up the car? Google Street View is looking like it will be a pain.

[@UptopPerformanceImports]

Great video !!!! What was the shipping cost from Japan to the USA ?!!

[@FrontRangeGarage]

So in my case the shipping was just factored into the price of the car by the seller, but I would expect about $1500 to $2000.

[@fanjin]

How about services and maintenance? Is it easy to find auto services that can do Japanese imported cars?

[@FrontRangeGarage]

I would say it heavily depends on the car and how many parts are shared with U.S. cars. The Altezza shares many parts with different Toyotas that were sold in the U.S., and I do all of my maintenance and service myself, but I would expect most performance oriented shops to be willing to work on it as long as they can find the parts or you can.

[@Nihon77]

Great info. Thanks a lot 🙏. There’s no problem about left / right hand car drive Handles in USA 🇺🇸. Also can you explain. Can import more new cars from japan or other countries. Thanks appreciate your useful work.

[@cmotown1]

Cars must be atleast 25 years old to import into the US.

[@FrontRangeGarage]

In the U.S. we have a law that all imported cars have to be over 25 years old. Once a car is over 25 years old it is exempt from both DOT and EPA regulations. There are some special scenarios where you can bypass this law, but it usually involves making some serious modifications to the car and potentially even importing a second one to have crash tested. It's best to not even try to get around the 25 year rule honestly.

[@Nihon77]

Thanks for your reply with unique info. What I understand is that you can import car from japan which is only domestic model for japan. And should be 25 years old and can be more old .