In Zambia, there has been over the past few years a noticeable increase in the number of people importing vehicles directly from Japan. It is estimated that more than 2,500 units are being imported into Zambia from Japan every month, which is equal to more than 30,000 units every year.
There is usually a cause behind every effect, and the cause in this case is the appearance of websites that are run by various Japanese car export companies, through which you can browse and purchase your ideal used cars from Japan.
Many used to purchase their vehicles through friends or local car-dealers, but the advent of internet and appearance of these used car websites meant that it became very easy to search and import your ideal vehicles from Japan.
There are many benefits of importing vehicles directly from Japan, but the below three in particular tend to be cited very often.
1. Low prices
These imported Japanese used vehicles can actually be found and purchased via your local city dealers, but the prices are often more expensive compared to what you’d pay via direct import.
The points below outline what is often included in the local dealers’ car prices.
– Car cost
– Freight cost from Japan
– JEVIC inspection (mandatory inspection required by Zambian government)
– Marine Insurance
– Port clearance charge
– Freight cost from port to Zambia
– Car duty/registration fee
They will then add their own profit margins on top of all the above costs, and then you have the car prices as displayed in the shop windows. How much profit they’re making is kept a secret for obvious reasons.
All the charges as outlined above are of course still payable even if you import vehicles yourself, but you will be able to see on the websites you purchase from, how much everything costs, such as car price (referred to as FOB), freight and marine insurance, or the total cost payable to the exporting company (referred to as CIF price).
You will also be in control of how much you pay for port clearance fee and freight charges from the port to Zambia, so you will know exactly how much the true and precise cost was of importing the vehicles from Japan.
How much you save by doing the import yourself will of course differ from case to case, but people tend to save on average between $1,500 – $3,000.
2. You can purchase “fresh” vehicles
Your car dealers will very often sell you vehicles claiming the vehicles are freshly imported, having just arrived from Japan. But can you be certain that this is really true? Can you be sure that you’re not being sold a vehicle that someone else from the same city was driving until a few days ago? Or could it be that it was just transferred from another driver from South Africa or Zimbabwe?
You won’t have to worry about any of the above if you import your vehicle directly from Japan, as you can be 100% sure that it is really a fresh import.
Any vehicles that are driven in Japan must also go through a rigorous and stringent inspection every two years to make sure that they conform to the very high standard of quality and condition check set by the Japanese government. This adds to the reason why so many Japanese import vehicles are in such good condition.
3. You can choose from a huge range of vehicles.
The number of units and ranges offered by your local dealers pale in comparison to the enormous variety and the sheer numbers you will find available on websites. Some websites even have more than several thousand units on display. If for example you’re searching for a Corolla, you will be able to choose from color, mileage, condition, price, among many other features, thereby making it ideal for finding exactly what’s right for you.
As such, there are many advantages in importing vehicles directly from Japan.
However, the process isn’t without disadvantages, and it is worth going through at this stage some of its drawbacks.
One of the most obvious disadvantages is the length of time you will need to wait before you finally see your vehicle.
On average, vehicles you order via websites are loaded on ships a week or two after the transfer of the funds is completed. It then takes around 4 weeks for the ship to get to the designated ports, and a further one or two weeks to get the vehicle delivered to your doors, including the time at customs clearance.
Hence, it will be between a month and a half to two months before you finally get to drive the vehicle you ordered via a website. This doesn’t make it ideal if you need a vehicle for immediate use, such as for business or emergency.
You may also wire your precious funds in good faith for your purchase, and while the vast majority of companies are legitimate and trustworthy, there is a minority who will disappear as soon as they’ve received your payment, or send you a completely different unit to the one you ordered. Be especially wary of any offers that seem too good to be true. Many fraud transactions are reported out of offers that were much lower than the market price, or those that were done with an unknown company.
To those of you that are considering importing vehicles for the first time from Japan, I would like to introduce to you two points you would do very well to remember.
1. Compare by total price (CIF)
Every website will have its own rate for freight, insurance and JEVIC inspection. One website might charge for example $100 for insurance, while another might charge $150. JEVIC inspection might cost $300 on one site, while another might cost $400. It really depends on one website to another.
A vehicle which appears to have a price tag of $100 might look very appealing, but the total price could end up as high as $2,000 once you add up freight, insurance, and JEVIC inspection. It would therefore make much more sense to not compare by just car price (FOB), but by all-inclusive-price, or CIF price, when comparing prices.
2. Price of a vehicle is indicative of its condition
Most Japanese car-exporting companies source their vehicles from car auctions houses in Japan. There are more than fifty of the houses, and more than a thousand to ten thousand units are listed, bid, and sold every day.
All Japanese car exporters make bids, purchase, and source their vehicles from these auctions houses, so how much they are sold for varies according to the condition of these units.
There are of course, much the same with everything else, market prices for all the vehicles. A vehicle that has engine problems, very high mileage (e.g. more than 200,000km), or accident-history will bring the price right down, so those vehicles that are being offered at prices much lower than those of other companies’ could very well have any of the above issues.
A trusted car exporter might still choose to purchase these kinds of vehicles, but they will thoroughly refurbish these themselves in their garage before putting them out for sale, although this will obviously mark up the prices due to the cost of refurbishment.
They might alternatively choose to list the vehicles as they are, but with the information about the conditions on full show to their customers for the most transparent purchase.
What we need to be very wary of are those companies that attract their customers with very low prices, while hiding the information about the bad condition of the vehicles. If the purchase is being done under the full knowledge of the problem points of the vehicles, it shouldn’t leave any sour tastes in anyone’s mouths, but there are some companies that purposefully don’t show these points to their customers, or rewind the mileage before selling the units.
We seek everyday for the best possible deals, not just for vehicles, but for everything else, because it makes financial sense. But it is just not possible for any car exporting companies to source vehicles at exceedingly low prices, so please don’t be tricked into any cheap deals without asking questions, because it could lead to a big disappointment.
Now that we’ve looked at the process of sourcing and exporting vehicles, I would like to suggest where you might like to consider to purchasing your vehicles from.
There are many car exporting companies that are worthy of mention, but I would like to introduce to you one in particular that stands out, CardealPage.
CardealPage is a well-known Japanese company, and they are increasingly being recognized through their volume of export to Zambia, as well as the quality of their vehicles and service they provide to their customers.
Below are the three of the main reasons that make them so recommendable.
1. Huge range and variety of units to choose from
On CardealPage, you will find thousands of vehicles listed by several big-name car exporters, so you really shouldn’t have any troubles finding the right car for yourself. Going to other sites for comparison becomes unnecessary because so many of the vehicles are listed on this site already.
2. You can compare by all-inclusive price, CIF
You can see every vehicle listed in its all-inclusive CIF price, so price comparison becomes easy and extremely convenient. Every company might have its own rates for JEVIC inspection, insurance, and freight, but you can compare by all-inclusive price, CIF price, so price comparison becomes hassle-free.
3. You can purchase vehicles directly from local car dealers in Japan
CardealPage also offers you opportunities to purchase directly from local car dealers in Japan, with CardealPage acting as agents.
Drivers in Japan sell their vehicles to local car dealers, these vehicles are then listed on auctions, and they are then sold to the winning bids by various car exporters.
However, some local car dealers choose to list them on CardealPage instead of putting them out on auction, so you could be driving a vehicle that was being driven in Japan only until yesterday.
Many local dealers lack the ability to communicate in English, or the knowledge in export, so they ask CardealPage to sell on their behalf. They could list their vehicles on auction houses, but you have factor in the expenses of transporting the vehicles to the auction sites, administration charges, and commission fee. It makes more financial sense for them sometimes to have CardealPage sell the vehicles, and CardealPage are in turn able to offer these to their customers at lower prices.
So why not go to CardealPage to choose your vehicle? It is packed with exciting features that aren’t found on any other sites, and your dream car can be just a few clicks away!