The hammer price is roughly 60% of what leaves your bank.
Everything else stacks on top of it, in order, and most buyers see the stack for the first time on an invoice. Move the numbers below and watch it build.
¥159.07 / $1 · read 2026-08-27 10:36 UTC
Every damage mark in our codes library carries a dollar range. Add them up and put the figure here.
¥159.07 / $1 · read 2026-08-27 10:36 UTC
Landed cost build-up
Hammer is 61% of it
You bid ¥1,800,000. You pay $18,611. The gap is the part nobody translates, and it is the reason a Verdict states a maximum bid rather than a price.
The repairs the sheet already disclosed
A W2 on a quarter panel is $900 to $2,400 of paint and bodywork. It was written on the sheet before you bid, and no import calculator has ever included it.
The exporter or proxy fee
This varies more than anything else on the list, from about ¥60,000 to well over ¥200,000, and it is often quoted after you have committed.
Marine insurance
Roughly 1.5% of the value of the car. Skipping it is a decision, not a saving.
The month it becomes legal
A car eleven months short of the 25-year rule has to be stored in Japan, and storage is charged by the month.
Roll-on roll-off freight from Japan, then terminal charges and typical inland delivery. West coast entry is cheaper on freight and usually dearer on inland transport if you live east of Denver.
| Port | Freight | Port fees | Inland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long Beach or Los AngelesCalifornia and the south-west | $1,450 | $385 | $550 |
| Tacoma or SeattleThe Pacific north-west | $1,380 | $360 | $520 |
| HoustonTexas and the Gulf | $2,150 | $420 | $640 |
| JacksonvilleFlorida and the south-east | $2,280 | $430 | $690 |
| Baltimore or NewarkThe north-east | $2,340 | $455 | $610 |
Working estimates at mid-2026 rates, for a car on a roll-on vessel. Real invoices vary by exporter, vessel, week and state. We would rather be visibly approximate than invisibly wrong.
Cars are dutiable at 2.5%. Trucks are 25%.
That difference has decided more import plans than any auction grade. A Delica or a Hilux Surf classified as a truck carries ten times the duty of a Skyline.
A vehicle over 25 years old is exempt from federal motor vehicle safety standards, and the EPA exempts vehicles over 21 years old from its emissions requirements. Both still require a form at entry, filed with the customs entry by your broker.
At the port, in your name
- HS-7 — the NHTSA declaration, box 1 for a vehicle over 25 years old.
- EPA 3520-1 — the emissions declaration, code E for a vehicle over 21 years old.
- CBP 7501 — the entry summary your broker files, carrying the 2.5% duty.
- ISF — filed before the vessel sails, not after it arrives.
- The Japanese export certificate and its English translation, which your state will want before it will title the car.
This is reference reading, not customs advice. Your broker files the entry and the rules are theirs to apply.
Before you bid
Check the car is legal to import yet
Chassis by chassis, to the month, against the 25-year rule.
And then
Price the marks on the sheet
Each damage code with a dollar range you can add to the total above.
Night Line
Be told when the yen moves your way
A 4% move in the yen is $700 on a $18,000 car. Leave an address and we will write when the rate moves more than 3% in your favour, and once when the free Decode opens.