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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ย. 2024
- R32 GTR. RHD RX7. Nissan S15. Importing a JDM ride sounds like a dream come true, but it can turn into a real nightmare. Nobody wants to import their dream car just to find out it's a rusty mess with a blown engine. So how do you protect yourself? We'll tell ya how.
Check out Kalvin Malli's channel: / kalvinmalli
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Appreciate the shout out 🤙🏽 restoration is coming along. Slowly. But coming along lol.
Waiting for news Kalvin!
Hope you are hanging in there! Looking forward to seeing it all finished
"Rust is to a minimal" 😅
you ever need jdm RHD windshields im your guy.
I KNEW I WOULD SEE U HERE!!!
"There are shady people out there who have no problem exploiting your nostalgia and enthusiasm for these cars in pursuit of profit."
~WHEELHOUSE.
I'm pretty sure this comment and all the replies are bots
@@tombstonejones9581 not the comment, but all the replies are s3x scammers, they're a real dent on your search history if you know what I mean
@@charliechaplin852
Sex scammer, don't censor yourself. It's not a "bad word". It's funny how slow TH-cam is to get rid of the endless bots that are easy to spot, but censor actual people for opinions real quick.
Oh, what, you mean virtually every private car seller and dealership out there? My #1 piece of advice? Find a mechanic, make friends, and tell any seller (with the ride here of course) "I will pay your full asking price if, on my own dime, you take it to this mechanic for an inspection". If they say no, walk away. Cannot tell you how many times this has saved my arse.
@@Jungles_of_Lustria if all your experiences are bad with private sellers of dealerships you might consider the problem lies with you. All those bad sellers normally have one thing in common, the cars they are selling are cheap or too cheap. So don’t blame all sellers, blame your own greedy ass.
Big up my guys at team free spirit, always highlighting the scammers and giving tips for what to look for etc, really doing good for everyone
Big up to the bots on TH-cam!
I was going to say ! they do an amazing job
luke puts in work
Please just report the bots if you see this, they really annoying
@@dxrk5528 just mass report them that's what i do ive probably got over 100 taken down just by myself its to the point that these bots dont even reply to me anymore
I am stationed in Japan and let me tell you the things I have seen here is just apauling. There are dealerships here that won't sell their cars to local japanese people, all they ever want to do I sell them to foreigners. I have even seen guys cut a chaser in half and weld it to another chaser frame and sold it as a clean car. It is infuriating the level of greed that is out here
Wouldn’t it also be the other way around? Especially with their like honor system?
@@matthew_natividad Yes, but a lot of people also have absolutely no problem with ripping off foreigners.
So you a US army that’s protecting a country that was a WW2 enemy? Got it
And also reading the part where they split a car in half and welding the same car and calling it clean is actually really really sad
That’s kiddy stuff, you would not know the stuff me or collegeas in the business did with cars that were intended to sell to Africa or eastern europe.
- rust? No problem. fill the hole with newspapers, some bondo and paint and good to go.
- gearbox noise? Grind some inner tube of a bicycle wheel in it.
- dashboard lights? Just pull the cluster and put some seam sealer on the led
- broken wheel bolts? As long as it has 2 you can glue the other ones
- worn camshafts? Just pour some ATF in
- broken windscreen? Just put the “for sale” sign in front of it
And the list goes on and on. But what do you expect when they want to buy 5k cars on a 2k budget. You can’t buy normal good cars for those prices, it’s just not possible. They get what they deserve (and to honest I’m not even ashamed of it)
@@Mark-vn7et your a genius but only for 9 secs
Honestly I don't understand why some people thinks that importing a car is an easy thing, it's kinda risky especially when you can't check the car in person
Cause is not hard to bid a car, but not easy to buy a car you really want for the right price, people can't get understand before they do it, sometimes you want this thing so bad then you ignore something
Someone can check it for you, once you research it’s easy
Why are there bots in all the replies trying to sell s3x
@@charliechaplin852 I just flagged them for unwanted spam
@@patrickracer43 they need to run that program LTT was showing off a couple days ago lol
I work on a lot JDM cars after they leave the Importer’s lot and the customer wants to know the status. 9/10 the engine is in need of major maintenance, if not a full rebuild. It’s actually disgusting how these importers just do an oil change and throw on a quick coat of paint, then charge $40k+ for a 30yr old car that spent the last 15yrs sitting in a shed/backyard.
Customers then get mad at me when I tell them it needs another $10k in maintenance to make it reliable.
That’s why nissans make shit cars lmao. People say they are bulletproof but that’s not true lmao. Idk why people love a Nissan. I’m gonna say it rn, I love the Hyundai Elantra N, AMGs, and BMW E46 M3 and E39 M5, Audi RS6 avant, and also Porsche. I say that because I want to piss off Japanese car fanboys for good
Edit: man I got a ratio by 12 year old JDM peasants. God damn. I don’t drive a car but there are people who loves veloster N. Yeah say that shit on Hyundai forums if you have the balls. Not saying that I’m a Hyundai guy, but I’m speaking fax just to trigger the circlejerk of Japanese Domestic Market fangirl stans. Don’t ever believe what that liar Scotty Kilmer says. He is a disgrace and a menace to society.
@@yungboicontigo9278 hmmm im not trying to defend the Nissan kids, but you come along here and tryin to say an elantra historically is more reliable than a sentra?
@@yungboicontigo9278 ngl your kinda toxic, nissan cars are decent, its true than cars from 1998-2011 era arent too good, but before that they were hella reliable, now they're raising up the ranks in reliability.
@@yungboicontigo9278 Korean cars are shit and that's facts.
Note: I'm not a Nissan fanboy that's just the truth fam
@@backup-jj9ed Sure, if you're stuck in 2001.
I import as part of my business. 8 out of 10 cars get here as advertised, the others... well lets just say they are candy coated turds. The key is to be able to absorb those losses and not pass them onto a customer. I have been importing the 4x4 diesels lately and we got bamboozled on a Landcruiser. We wont make a dime after it gets pulled apart and rebuilt but we will have a very happy customer in the end.
Any tips on good places to look... Looking for a Mitsubishi gto mr
I'll take one of those "candy coated turds" I like cars with issues rust isn't a issue
How do I get in contact with you?
I've got a skyline r33 with 20k original miles if that's any interest to you?
@@dannoke7393 how much yo asking?
Seen some other comments, but also pointing out something important: R rating does not necessarily mean the worst, it means there was a large repair or panel replacement. If the repair was done well, or if you're buying a heavily modified or front-end swapped car for example, it could get an R rating. I've had JDM cars here in Canada since 2007, and imported several myself. If you're serious about importing: research, research, research.
Very true. My suzuki cappuccino that I imported last year was a R grade... In all reality it's more like a 3.5 but since it has a aero kit on it its now R. Is it perfect, no. But it's a very solid car with no rust or any signs of an accident... And if there was it was fixed very very well. Got it for a very cheap price because of the grade but it's definitely a gamble if you don't have it looked at first
02 civic R championship white for sale. Brandon mb. Crx is the new toy.
@@johnvernon1729 what? I also ever drove the tuned cappucino before. In GT5 Prologue that is. It may only have 153bhp but the handling can easily beat the cars that have double the horsepower.
@@GMA2023 hi Matthew B.
@@purwantiallan5089 good day
Also shoutout to Rhd specialties in Kent Washington for being the shadiest importer in the entire country. 10/10 would not recommend.
I agree
This comment made my day
They were the scum of the PNW when I lived there. An absolute joke to locals in the know, and yet smoothbrains would buy from them all the time
5:24 There's some misinformation here. 5 isn't concours. There are two levels above 5. They're also missing 3.5, which is average. 2 and 1 are the worst grades. R is NOT the worst grade - it effectively masks whatever grade the car is. They really should grade it like R (3) or R (3.5). R indicates repair or replacement. Should it still get inspected? Yes! But it's definitely not "the worst grade".
Up this!
Yeah, R grade can be anything from looking like it just rolled out of the factory just with a single fender replaced or a straight up deathtrap, you pretty much need to see the car in person or know someone that can check it for you to know what's truly going on with it.
Though even the grading isn't 100% trustworthy sometimes, while walking around the auction lots I've seen some highly graded cars with crazy rust and hidden damage, there's a lot of shady tricks that people pull off.
Agreed. R means "repaired". So it was in an accident at some point, but that accident could have literally been a 2mph fender bender. I bought an R grade Daihatsu Mira and it's definitely closer to a 3.5.
@@wishfuldrifter R does NOT mean it was in an accident though. It could be from rust repair on a classic, or also from an irreversible install of a full body kit. Or also repaired from an accident.
He quite honestly states at 6:23 that anything minor is already given an R. Thus adding to the confusion of which is a good car.
Whatever you do don't comment about asking for auction sheets or about rusty resprays to RHD specialties or Japanese classics... total scumbags they will literally just block you on their social media pages. Team_Free_Spirit is doing the community a service by warning us enthusiasts who are blinded by the JDM hype the unfortunate part is some of these sleazy importers have sold a lot of great cars but also screwed over people with bad ones so they have "decent" reputations on the surface but you gotta dig to find the people they screwed, me personally I'd never support a business that screws other enthusiasts especially in the JDM community. Be careful guys and always do your research! Lots of importers just purely want your money and could care less about the customers/enthusiasts.
I was so happy to find that page. It definitely made me look at the market with way less idealisitc lenses. Though there are some JDM cars I want super bad that are still a little underrated so im hoping I can get a good one of those imported. At this point I'd rather want a newer BMW or Audi despite unreliability and maintainence. Would probably still cost me less than an import and I will be less likely to deal with scammers.
@@GN-xh1bn same here I'm happy with my MR2 Supercharged and I'm saving towards a first gen NSX. I wanted a JDM car for so long but unless I can find the time to go to Japan and buy one myself or at least have friends there Inspect one for me I don't see it being worth the risk with how much the cost is on some of these models now.
Why would some shitbag across an ocean care about someone they will never see, and easily ignore. Like talking shit on COD. It's all words. Nobody will roll up on your house with their crew.
It is also possible there's an organized crime aspect to the businesses selling the cars. When I lived in Okinawa, that was how business got done. I had to meet a low level gangster to prove my worth to buy a radio (off the base) for the Civic I was driving. The store owner told he'd get beaten up and charged more money if he sold to a Gaijin. I had to give the jerk $200 to be "approved."
That racism is in the open in Japan. They have signs on the door saying "NO GAIJIN NO COCOJIN" (No whites, no blacks) This mentality could be in play as well. For real. 40% loved Americans. 40% HATED us. 10% didn't care and just wanted to go about their lives. Sad.
@@RetroMotiveAdventures first gen has been a dream too, honestly one of the most beautiful sports cars ever made. But yeah, go inspect it there. I don't even buy pants online so no way I would do the same for a car. A shitbox at that. I really want a TT 3rd gen toyota soarer. I have such a weird love for the car despite me loving cars with totally different styles. Rn auto ones are somewhat ok price, manual being more expensive makes sense at least. Tho they might go up once supra fanboys get tired of chasers and supra prices.
@@UncleRayRayGarageEmporium Okinawa is way different than mainland, can't really compare. And, I think you were easily scammed out of 200 lol
As much as the JDM fanboy in me will always love these cars, I’ll never pay the inflated market values for them. So many great cars with potential in the states, there’s simply no reason to.
I love Skylines, and I work on several for work, but the prices are absolutely absurd. I have driven several exceptional examples and not a single one has been worth $100k+. It is a $30-50k car and has all the squeaks, rattles, and other such downsides of a vehicle in that price range. Nostalgia will never double the car's value in my opinion.
Things you any when you can't afford
@@cheeseontoastbrah things you say when you haven't driven one to understand exactly how pedestrian (albeit a fast pedestrian) the car really is. I'm not saying they aren't great cars, I'm saying they are absolutely not six-figure cars.
@@deciplesteve currently owning 2 supras and having owned multiple s chassis, mr2, ae86s, soarers, im sure I have more experience here to comment on the matter. Are the prices high sure but the current cars offer less in the way of driving experience then today's over tech'd with safety upon safety resulted in a dulled down drive. Prices reflect there are less now then there was 5 years ago and they are making anymore.
@@cheeseontoastbrah still not a six-figure driving experience. An equivalent age Porsche 911? Yes, because even by today's standards, it is built premium. A Skyline is not. Again, I am a huge fan of Skylines and an R33 (like my customer's Motorex R33, especially) is in my top 3 bucket list cars, but they are not a six-figure car. Anything is worth what someone will pay, sure. I will be holding onto my money. If the prices never come back to reality, then I just won't own one.
As someone who owns an imported car here is my best advice... Go to a reputable importer that offers a limited warranty, many of them do this. Choose from what is in their inventory already in the state that can at least be inspected by a third party. Its worth the couple thousand dollars extra to not go through all the headache
That seems to be the way to do it. If you don't mind me asking, did you go to one of the larger importers or did you search around for something local?
That is the problem. People don't want to spend money on an inspection up front then they get stuck.
Bought mine as an R status, but since I went through a great importer (B-Pro), I got plenty of detailed inspection photos and a translation of what had been repaired. Picked it up and immediately drove 1000 miles flawlessly 👍
I was wondering if anybody here would mention Brian! I've always had great interactions with him.
I had imported my R32 GTR many many years before hearing about B-Pro, and I ended to getting a pretty rough car.
I wish Brian was in the business back then. I'd 100% support him.
The Derek Allen Banks scandal has been going on the skyline community. Lots of people have been screwed over by shady practices and just straight up lies by his company, SimplyRB. They claim to be Skyline Specialists but have proven themselves to be nothing but a complete con. I would love to see you cover this topic sometime in the near future, Nolan! Love this show!!
Nozilla has already covered it well enough
@@wheeler32_ I’ll check his video out! I found out about this from a skyline for sale group on fb
donut doesnt really try to bash any specific companies though because of how big their following is. thats a good way to get sued for defamation, regardless of if the claims are true lol. they seem to always try to be as neutral as possible
@@kylewise3111 True that and the only way to be when you have this many ears and eyes on what you say. Your info could wind up being bad and you bash a guy/business that had no reason to be bashed on to potential millions, could really hurt the wrong people. Best thing to do is just not participate in the flinging of dookie.
Their loss though... Too much fun to be had.
@@danielnelson4881 I agree completely, would be a ton of fun to see them join the fight. But then again, donut not being sued out of existence is cool too lol
I got my Z32 TT for $15k, had about 80k miles. Basically flawless condition. I've since put just as much money into restoring various bits and pieces and I love everything about it.
such an amazing car !
A sex bot posted your exact comment and got a ton of thumbs up. They're evolving.
so, it was $15k for the car, how much else you spent for shipping, taxes, documents and etc? Another 15k ?
@@RaphaelDDL He probably means 15k imported. They sell below 10k on their own.
Here in Germany most jdm cars for example with 80k miles (about 128.000km) are at around 20 to 25k €. I feel like people in the US still have it more easy to buy a jdm car for cheap money
Two of my friends and I imported three JDM 300zxs in 2005 in college. Two were twin turbo around $3500CAD and one of them was NA around $2000CAD. Mine was the most expensive, and needed the most work but was in the best condition. $2500 each to ship them from Hokkaido on the Hatsu Eagle ship, $500 in tax and $200 in importation fee, each and about 10 trips to the customs office downtown and a lot of work to find a Provincial inspection licensed shop to sign the VIN over to our VIN without having changed all the lights to say DOT approved on them. 300zx uses Lamborghini Diablo headlights, $1400 each, YEAH RIGHT. So we found a local Nissan club and found a shop, and the rest was history 450whp later, like a jet. Until it was stolen.
correction: lambo diablo uses headlights from 300zx
As the other user said, the Z32 headlights were Nissan parts, the headlights on Diablo's have a little trim piece that goes over the top of the housing to hide the Nissan logo.
Did you ever find it again?
All that money and work just to get it stolen. That sucks
“300zx uses Lamborghini Diablo headlights” actually that’s the other way around. The Diablo used pop up headlights. The 6.0 used the Nissan headlights.
And quick question, why would you import a RHD Japanese version of a car that’s already sold in North America
Kevin 100% deserves the shoutout. The work hes putting into his rebuild is insane, definitely worth following if you like things done right.
I've bought 6 cars from Japan. All were good. Always get your car independently inspected in Japan! Generally I buy Grade 4 cars, but "R" grade cars can be a bargain. They are not all bad and the grading is very inconsistent. Read the auction sheet to see why it's "R". In my case it was due to the car having been modified by Top Secret and having had a small front impact poorly repaired so the carbon fibre bonnet needed replacing. A few months later and not a lot of work I had a R34 V.Spec II Nür in mint condition.
God thats amazing
I agree with you. I too import JDM vehicles, around two every year. I have resorted to looking at R-grade because 3.5 and 4 are getting to expensive to import. My recent import was a Subaru Legacy twin turbo with slight damage that I has repaired once I got it stateside. I don't look at nissan or mitsubishi because of their common tendency to be rust buckets. I just purchased a Toyota Chaser JZX100 (NA) that was R-grade. I had a report done and the defects that was on the auction report was not found on the car. It's like they wrote down another vehicle inspection on mine. This worked out for me because I got a clean JZX100 for cheap.
Sure you did, buddy.
This is why if I buy a jdm car I’d buy one that’d already in the US. There’s no hassle with shady import companies and auction houses or to somehow look up the vin number to see the history of the car
Same if I were to buy something like an R32 but I ain’t buying a Japanese cuz I’m more of an V8 muscle car fanboy 🇺🇸
yeah good luck dealing with Japanese Classics LLC
So dumb to said stuff like thatwhy don't they said it to nissan nismo is royal to japan
If I lived in Washington or any Canada bordering states I'd want one that's been in North America for 10 years if they buy it as soon as it hits the 25 year mark. Canada has a 15 year old mark. Atleast it will have a Vin that could be history checked and also the ability to check the car out in person.
That's so true actually there's a lot of scam when there's a lot of money involved. Many Japanese cars got ruined by weather, coastal places near sea water and disasters the last 30 years and many have lots of rust all over. Best way, even if it sounds hard for most, is always to go there and buy especially from private owners and not dealers or agencies.
Yeah that's literally an extra couple grand alone. Don't tell people not to use dealers or agencies. Not everyone is a terrible exporter. It's on YOU to do the research. You act like you can't just ask for more pictures and do your due diligence. Anyways people can still scam you in person, that doesn't really change much
@@aleks2912 at the end of the day, if you’re paying $70k for a car, surely you’d pay $3k extra to have the piece of mind that it’s not a lemon. I could understand not travelling for a cheap car, but not $70k
@@nicholasgunson2945 If you’re paying 70k for a car and it comes as a rust bucket that’s literally all on you for not doing your due diligence, not hard to ask for more pictures. But if you have money to waste do it I guess
@@aleks2912 By living and working in Asia I can tell you that by 80% of dealers and agents will probably cheat you by buying straight from them without anyone there to see it himself. Kalvin had several photos and videos of R32 but the same car he got was terrible. NOTHING can be compared by going there in person, pay and bring your own mechanics and check it by yourself. Except if you are in this dealership business and you are trying to protect your work then I can understand what you said. You just CANT be scammed in person especially by private sellers. And if you have 40-60k to spend for a car you won't mind a couple of thousand bucks to go there and see it yourself.
@@gcntech9071 If you get burnt by someone, and didn’t do the proper research, it’s kinda on you. But you’re right if you’re gonna spend 50k+ might as well take a mini vacation, but a lot of people buying cars don’t have that type of money, since most people with that type of money just buy the car stateside. They don’t feel like going through the hassle of importing. I know if I had the money I def wouldn’t have gone through the process multiple times.
9:24 fun fact! this is Hoonigan's giveaway R33! they didn't do any checks, it was bought through RHD Specialties (AVOID AT ALL COSTS!) so basically, whoever wins/won that comp, yes it may be a gtr but it may be best to have a look at the chassis...
Yeah I recognize the car
@@yungboicontigo9278 i also recognized it.
a bit incorrect, they bought it through toprank
I got fucked over by RHD Specialities, and their paint guy is a scam artist
@@JuanNugraha71 ah, my mistake. they aren't any better though
This is one of the best channels because it’s completely see through
It’s not trying to only talk about one thing and actually gives advice
Good on ya donut
Thank you so much for this video. Can't even count how many people were getting screwed over buying gtrs while I was stationed in Japan. Luckily got mine before things started getting crazy.
You guys are the best part of my mornings I really appreciate your efforts I watch on my way to work everyday keep it up
And also Monday’s after I come home from school. Waking up on a Monday morning is a pain in the ass, since Friday night and weekends are golden af. And so to hype myself for Friday’s I remember the wheelhouse episode.
Thats why I look at importers here in my area who has been around for awhile and has imported dozens of vehicles that have really good ratings. they usually get the best of the best resulting in expensive cars but they dont BS around. and if a car has problems they will tell you outright what the issues are before you buy it. and they make sure to price it accordingly.
We need more guys like that to trust.
Or stick to big names like top rank
Pretty easy to keep your 5 star ratings when you delete/block previous customers that call you out. Not gonna give out dealers that do, but it unfortunately happens.
@@tylerschwoerer9855 the one I trust I actually know the owner. It's not a oh I check reviews type thing. I know these guys IRL.
The one North of me been around since 1996 doing this and has a good track record also
That turbo in the intro 😫
Here is also the story: I live in Russia. Since we also don't get some parts and cars in our region, we can import some of them with the help of closer countries. As example - through Armenia. I can't even count how many cars we have with Armenian plates. Chasers, Skylines, Camaros, Challengers, Corvettes. Low taxes for Armenia and lower prices to get them for Russia. But with a low price comes higher risk that somewhere on the border of Mexico and Texas your "new" Challenger Hellcat was totaled. As a personal example: I have Tahoe 6.2 426hp with 8AT. I want a supercharged Whipple. I order one, but not from Whipple, but from LLC, who ship them to Russia. I send money and they buy them for me, recieve in their shop in New York and then send to me in Moscow. They are responsible for delivery, taxes, shipment. That's why instead of (example) buying some Borla exhaust for 1300$, I end up paying 2100$ including delivery, shipment, container, taxes. And that's with any stuff if you want it across the ocean. The only downside (apart from price and taxes) is that there are a lot of scammers too.
Day 276 of asking Donut to bring old B2B back
This needs to happen my guy
That would be nice wouldn't it?
I imported an R32 in 2017 through an importer in Japan. They were great. I was patient and got a really great car. I was very fortunate.
No wonder prices were below 20k. Hype kills everything
You guys *NEVER REALLY FAIL TO ENTERTAIN US!!!*
Thanks for producing high quality content on wheelhouse. You never miss and you respect our time!
This GI bought his car(R32 GT-R) in Okinawa when I lived there and it still had rust and blown turbos. Thankfully, I only paid ¥770,000 about $8,000 US. I’ve been fixing it up for the last 9 years and it’s finally a good car.
Ya I think people assume they will get an almost new car when they buy these, but in reality they are over 25 years old now and need tons of work, no matter the condition. Even the most flawless cars might need an entire engine/trans reseal. When I got mine JDM car, i planned on fixing it up anyways, which I did over many years and now the car is solid and so fun to drive. I recommend if you are getting any JDM car you have the skillset to work on your own cars. If you cant replace brake rotors/pads on any car, stay away from these.
@@tunanocrust2642 the situation for most is being promised a minimal to no rust and recieving a vehicle a rust bucket equivalent of swiss cheese. This is bad business. Companies that operate solely to make profit from bamboozling customers don't deserve to operate. They should be stripped of their licensing.
As somebody who has an imported rhd 96 legacy GT-B, i really appreciate this video alot. I was lucky and found a good dealer in the states that handles the leg work so i was able to completely check out the vehicle in and out before purchasing.
My R32 got a R rating (didnt look into it until after I bought the car) (I was also the third owner in the US.) But I found out it was because mine had not only a engine swap but also a built motor, and lots of body and interior modification. I found no bondo or rust anywhere in the car and it has a decent rust protection coating on the bottom. Only big issue I've had with mine so far is the motor kinda blew but after pulling it out and tearing it down we found that the motor was built sometime around the 1990''s due to what parts where in the motor and the condition everything was in. I'm still in the middle of the build and I'm moving to japan soon and the car will be coming with me.
Going back to it’s homeland
90s performance parts, that thing must'ove been one heck of a beast when new.
I’m in California and just found out why they are illegal. Japanese use different fuel. So when the cars come to California they don’t meet the smog! cost about 8 to 12 thousand to have it all changed over to meet the California standards.. top rank told me that my rx7 32k would be around 42k to have it Registered and legal in California.. also just a FYI highway patrol has a task force that Strictly and only stop outta state license plates cars! and those cops know imports
That's only in Commiefornia. They don't need to be converted in any other state aside from CARB states.
Thanks for doing this video and dealing with whatever pushback you might get from local importers. There is alot of shady shit happening, but to me its even worse when they knowingly buy a garbage car for dirt cheap, bring it to the us, do low quality bodywork, make it look pretty, and sell it for premium prices. Theres dozens of stories like this, from a few dealers in particular, all on the teamfreespirit ig page. One thing is restoring a car, but these guys take all the shortcuts. Theres a right and wrong way to do it, and ive never seen one that was repaired correctly because it takes alot of time and money. All these dealers care about is making a crazy profit, so your rust is getting bondo slapped over it, a quick spray and boom "rust is to a minimum." +25k markup, and when the paint and filler falls off in a year than too bad. At this point I feel like its better to buy a visibly junky car yourself for cheap and fix it, at least you wont pay a premium and can spend the extra money on quality work.
Glad to see a video like this, i looked all around whenever i was in the market for a RHD, got lucky and found a 91 Cedric Gran Turismo, one of my dream cars, with only just shy of 16.5k miles whenever i picked it up
Thank you for bringing this to attention. It's so sad how much these importers take advantage of these people. But honestly something that's always confused me is how they can have these really blurry and low quality pictures of the cars in this day and age. I'm hoping to bring home a GT4 someday so I can't imagine having this happen to anyone and having it become a nightmare.
I actually just bought a 96 factory twin turbo Subaru Legacy that was imported from Japan. Literally almost showroom condition with only 40k miles. Only paid 12k for it. Wasn't hard to get a tag for considering the guy already had it tagged in Washington through an import company he works with. I've been driving it ever since. Super happy I didn't have to deal with any of these nightmares.
recently imported a FD using pacificcoast auto. nothing but positive things to say about them and their company.
Thanks Tory!
I bought and imported a Hilux Surf with an R grade, which meant the car has been involved into an accident in the past but was well repaired and it doesn’t have a salvage title (a fender and the hood was resprayed by instance). The truck was in a mint condition without a single sign of rust around it and the undercarriage was almost brand new including the frame. I’ve seen 3 to 5 grades cars and everything above 3.5 is beyond mint and has nothing to do with the condition of USDM vehicles and doesn’t necessarily need major repairs
‘R’ can also mean ‘Repair’ if it’s been in a minor accident that’s had panel work. Doesn’t always mean that ‘R’ is terrible. Always needs a thorough inspection.
Just got the green light for a future JDM Car purchase for myself. This video is perfectly timed.
I remember watching the videos of his white skyline that he imported... And I was thinking "fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck"
And then thought... "Some huge TH-cam channel needs to shine the light on this to get the word out to more car people".
So happy that you guys did a video on this. I hope it shakes these shady dealers to the core and they rust out 😂🤙
That video gave me anxiety lol
I remember being up here in Canada, seeing r32's for about 10k on kijiji and they were actually clean cars, just owners couldn't afford the insurance. Yeah, now they go for prices and it's a risk if it's just someone ditching their problem onto you.
Diito, I remember seeing a mint R32 GTR Nismo on Kijiji for like $12k back in 2009 or so. Wish I had the money then :(
Same as in australia 15 years ago r32 gtrs for 15g
Good thing your pointing this out it'll be surely appreciated by the people who import the cars
I got a JDM import from Japanese Classics. They were honest about the unverified mileage. They said the rear calipers were new which they weren't but cut me a check to get them replaced. There were some problems they didn't mention but that's what you get buying 25+ year old car. All in all a positive experience and I still have the SUV.
What you're importing also plays a big factor, in Canada we can import cars when they're 15 years old, so we're currently on 2007 cars, I needed a reliable economy car for commuting so I imported a BMW 116i wagon, it was given an auction grade 4.5 and I can tell you it definitely is a 4.5, it's still smells new inside and only has 38,000 km on the odometer
It isn't just jdm cars, its the used car market period, often car lots in the south and midwest are stocked with cars from up north where the salt on the icy road rust them from the bottom up, I've seen cars just a few years old with less than 20k miles have wholes big as a basketball on the fenders. The car lots take them cars stuff, bondo, and paint over the rust and undercarriage. It'll look right for about 6 months at most, ya know enuff time to sell it
Ya and with the JDM cars, we are talking OVER 25 years old. Have people seen USDM cars after 25 years old? They are total SHIT without needing major work. Not saying 25 year old cars cant be fixed up and run great, but ANY 25 year old car needs massive work usually, no matter the country.
I finally saved up enough money and for the past two weeks I’ve been looking at JDM cars to buy. I couldn’t thank Donut for a more perfectly timed upload!!! ❤️❤️❤️
What car you looking at buying?
sammit does a really good job showing the auction lots and stuff i love watching his content
I would like to say, it USED to be really hard to import jdm cars into Hawaii and get them registered and all good, but recently its gotten a lot easier, mainly due to a few smaller auto lots starting their own import divisions. My friend works at one of these and they regularly import and register jdm cars. Its changed so quickly that, where last year you couldn't find any import cars on Facebook marketplace, now I see a new import car every day.
In the UK Japanese cars of all ages are very easy to important due to lack of restrictions and same steering side
Thanks for blessing me with this Knowledge
you and your people are standup guys
Was talking to my dad about this the other day, auctions are the biggest scammers
Not every auction
So glad Kalvin Malli got some recognition, he deserves it!
Every Texan just cringed hard at how you pronounced Seguin 🤣🤣🤣
seh-gwen lmao
Yea
Came here just for this hahaha! I had to fight myself to not be “that guy” and write out the proper pronunciation… it’s a small town though so I guess we have to give it a pass! Lol
This was a genuinly helpful video. Thank you for such a concise and help explanation of the process and advice of where to best start.
Seeing Japanese Classics call out post made me laugh. They have sold some fckd up cars. They are local to me and I’ve heard some horror stories
bro same. i few regs at my work have bought cars from them and have said some really suspect things
I've got a lovely JDM Tommy kaira M20b, based on the WRX wagon.
It's the only one in New Zealand - of about 350 ever made.
JDMs are so easy to get in NZ, because that's what we import in the 2nd hand market.
I remember when a friend decided to import a r32 to the U.S. From the sellers pictures, it had no rust or damages, but when it finally arrived we were horrified. Rust everywhere, rear bumper damage, the wing it had was literally hanging on by some string. That said, he should've at least did a face time call to see the car before it was imported. :')
Here in Belgium we have a guy that imports the car you want BUT he has a contact in Japan who will go and inspect the car top to bottom to avoid these situations.
Very honest and knowledgeable guy, but I opted to buy a mint condition Golf 6 Gti Ed.35 instead, saving a lot of money in every way.
I do still dream about importing a more modern VIP Jdm car, maybe one day.
imagine how our miserable lifes would've been with out Donut Media™ to entertain and guide us .....
And keep us informed on all things automotive
Losers
I have an R32 GTR myself that makes 903 WHP built my alamo auto sports. Now I have buddies who live in Japan so I physically went to Japan to check out the car and bought one that was a grade 4. My wife works for a shipping company called Hyundai Merchant Marine and hooked me up with very cheap shipping.
Y’all are just finding this out now? We, in Africa, majorly import from Japan. We’ve been shafted ENOUGH times to kinda expect it. It’s always a question of how much damage you can deal with & not if there’s no damage, as long as it’s not zero mileage. Join the Japanese hits club 😂.
New shirt looks rad. I’m glad I saw this video, I was thinking about importing
Getting an rx7 is getting more and more scarier for me now
Worst time to get one. You could easily get one for 5000 USD in 2013. Now they are 40K in the same condition. It's all about hype.
@@fraided88 that's another reason why
Yall need to do an episode on MG or something, that would be super cool, its such an obscure topic yet filled with history
The fact that a car as amazing as a Skyline even ends up in a state like this is beyond me. I would be too scared to even drive it down the street.
Well, you say that now. Consider how old it is, how cheap it once was, and imagine you buy one, cant afford to repair but want to make your money back, this line this happen
This can happen to literally any car
It's a 90s Nissan, it's not a particularly valuable car.
Here in Guam USA, it is so easy to import JDM cars that they are now filing the roads. Like the little K-Truck seen has exploded that used car lots now all have them. A friend loads a container with 3 cars and ships them in for only $2k. Sells them to military, who then bring them stateside. Last set he brought in was an RX7FD, Chaser and Delica.
As a JDM lover, it's good to be in NZ, where a large amount of cars on the road are imported from Japan, and shopping for a Chaser or Skyline is just a short drive to the dealership
I bought a JDM engine like 4 years ago. It threw a rod 2 weeks after I got it installed and running. Always check your torque.
I'm so confused... if you have the money to spent $80k+ on a 30 year old car, how do you not have the means to fly yourself to Japan and check it out in person before locking in the deal?
Taking out a fat ass 80k loan from a few different sources and mortgaging your house 😭
100% this. I could understand if you were spending less than $10k on a Kei car or something and decide to roll the dice, but with the prices that cars like an R34 command, you betcha I'd be in Japan in person with a trusted independent inspector waiting for me.
Not once have I bought a car where the seller was remotely honest. As crazy as it sounds I have always been 100% honest with the cars I sell. They usually incomplete running projects I hope to see completed. Just not by me.
Just a side note: Seguin is pronounced, “seh-gee-n”
This is very hard to combat, it's one of the reasons import/exporting is so profitable to begin with. You can sell cars with little value in the home market to for high dollar in a market due to scarcity of the product. I used to have a neighbor who would buy newer model flooded/salvage cars in FL, fix them up, and then export them to the Caribbean islands cause he claimed he could sell them there for nearly full price without the "salvage" distinction.
I would just avoid JDM cars entirely, with the exception of Sportbikes. Scotty would beg to differ though.
Back in 2005 to 2010 I used to import JDM cars here in Canada where I live. I knew that the grading system in japan was iffy but in that point in time there was more good condition cars vs junkers. I've only bought cars that were mint and not afraid to keeping them if they didn't sell. The other guy that I knew who imported cars too, bought everything that was cheap and sold it to buyers knowing and unknowing that they were crappy cars. So buyers beware!!!
Thank you for the entertainment as always Nolan 💚
As someone who makes a living importing cars from Europe, I'm always excited to see videos scaring people out of the importing market.
JDM is also a big thing with fishing & watches. Casio, Citizen, Seiko, Shimano, Daiwa, Gamakatsu, and Yo-Zuri all have JDM exclusives that were never distributed Stateside. Although, it’s a helluva lot easier to import a fishing reel or wristwatch than a car.
As much as I love JDM cars as much as anyone else does, the hard reality of things is that most of them are approaching 30 years old, and a lot can happen with any car 30 years old. Worse yet, the later you get into the market the more expensive it's going to get, as more cars are gradually bought up and more people want them. That, or like this video describes you might pay very little for the car you want but end up having to pay 2x or more the value of the car to bring it up to spec.
Also something for the people living in europe. A lot of jdm cars, which are sold from the netherlands were stolen from people in japan and shipped to europe. They often offer somewhat cheaper prices to get rid of them fast and it sadly works.
One of the best i heard was TOP RANK imports for importing jdm
That, is absolutely true.
I've dealings in the 2nd hand car dealership business for a while and we do help people sort out specialized cars that they want over in Japan and we've seen a far share of nonsensical things dealers get to boost up their prices to their buyers by using underhanded tactics by these evaluators. Also, thanks for promoting Team Free Spirit. They indeed did great work for people outside of Japan that wanna buy JDMs but don't know the conditions of their purchases.
So let's backtrack a bit. For people that don't know, you don't need to definitely sell your car on the lot to get it evaluated. You can simply send a car there to get evaluated and not put it on the block. I've literally seen shady dealers who takes cars there, gets it evaluated beyond it's actual condition status after some apparent botched job and then rip off their potential buyers due to shoddy checking practices. Also, the rating system can be slightly broken as certain evaluators that's from those auction houses don't run through checks and they just give it a run-through and declare it how they see it without running thru the mechanical issues ie: engines running, knocking from parts, test driving etc etc (Sounds like Carmax in the US aye?) thus like you said, sometimes, even in a small shunt, the car would just get an R rating for nothing.
I had that happened once 3 years back. Buyer wanted a A31 Cefiro/Laurel and I went to an auction house USS Yokohama and found a relatively dusty but good conditioned RB20DET and some aftermarket lip spoiler and some bodykit. There's definitely some chip on the door and flaky paint but for a car that's 20-odd years old, it's expected but it's not in a poor condition. Keys were in the ignition and the engine and gearbox were all clearly running, being able to slot into gears and engine sounds fine. However, the rating was utterly terrible and they gave it an xxx (Using 3 "x"'s to replace 3 "*"'s used by the auction house) rating (That means that the car was totally undrivable and smashed beyond belief. Worse than "R" rating) which confused us alot. We got it hella cheap as no one wanted it and when we got it delivered back to where we were, it ran well and just after some tiny bodywork repair and a full respray, we sold it out to the customer for 3x the price we paid for the car.
Buying JDMs in Japan thru auction websites and 3rd-party dealers "sight unseen" without going down to take a look at the condition and read into the ratings to see if it's as bad/good as it is is hella dangerous. ALWAYS spend some cash to take a look at the product you wanna buy or get someone like Team Free Spirit to assist you in checking on whether its a sound purchase or not. Don't go in blindly or NEVER go in blind. You'll definitely get scammed.
To be honest, that guy bought a GTR for (quoting him from one of his videos) "a price he could barely buy a GTST for".
That alone would (for me at least) be enough proof that that GTR is in extremely poor shape, no matter what rating the auction house gives it.
Hey Nolan! Just a Texan fan going on record here… it’s pronounced Suh-geen. Not seg-win. Love the show guys! Keep em coming! 🤘🏻
I wanted to import cars in like 2007. Used to be able to get them for dirt cheap. Reality is trend followers are highly overpaying for regular old passenger cars. That's just what it is. Luckily I got my head screwed on straight. LHD rules. There are ways to satisfy the itch for what is virtually a JDM car, if you know your shit.
Currently importing an RX-7 fd into Switzerland. We don't only have to deal with this, but also making it fully street legal and pass inspection here, which is often easier said than done (and sometimes can't even be done at all for certain cars). The process of getting it inspected and homologated is about $10k-$20k.
About a year ago I was looking into buying a Suzuki Alto Works. Dealer wanted $6500 so I figured it was a good deal, as it only had 79,000km on it. Had a good once over at a shop up the highway and the chassis was so rotted and rusty it was falling apart in our hands. Turns out that dealer sells loads of the imported vehicles, mostly Land Cruiser Prados and Suzuki Jimnys that are rusted beyond repair.
Got my 91 GTS-t through Fed Legal Imports. The importer was amazing. He sent me every picture everywhere on the car including some I asked for that I wanted to see including scoping the engine. When I received it, there were no surprises. I bought it in 2016. Did the oil pump and timing in 2017. Been driving and autocrossing it all summer ever since. Never a big issue. Things been pretty flawless. I bought an auto cause those have a less chance of being beat up and it's a 4 door.
Currently doing a 5 Speed swap in it. Just waiting to have a driveshaft made and it's finished.
This is common issue at our domestic auctions too.
Best & most useful Donut video in a while!
I used Team Free Spirit and they checked my 97 Stagea for me and help with my documents. They are worth the money. Thanks Donut for doing the shout out. The honest work they do saves people wallets from getting scammed.
Im in the UK. We have been importing these cars for 25 years. Unless you get a genuine low miles car, (say 40,000) your going to be buying a restoration project. 5 years ago you could get an r32 gtr for £7000 in the UK. We would only pay £7000 for them for a reason.
Best video yet! Thank you for the information!!!
Big facts! I was lucky and found my R32 stateside and all of the hard work done ✔️
I have a 34 year old jdm with full documentation!!!! I'm also a collision tech and completely stripped it down to bare metal. It only has a aftermarket front bumper, even all the seam sealers along the fender edges have never been touched.
Speaking from experience. I had purchased a RHD Nissan Z32 in 2019. I went through The Import Guys and the experience went well. Also help a close friend was working with the company so he was making sure I wasn't getting screwed over. It also helped I was able to visit Japan in 2020(Car wasn't 25 years old till August 2020) to see the car in person. Now for the future, I plan to go to the auction personally to bid for my next RHD and inspect it in person. For anyone thinking about buying an import, Make sure to do a ton of research and think about the pro's and con's in every aspect.