What will a car from Japan cost once it's landed? A duty and tax estimator

The price on a Japanese listing is the price of the car in Japan. By the time it's yours, freight, insurance, customs duty and VAT or GST have been added, and in some countries a registration tax as well. This page adds the parts that come from published government rates, so you can compare a car in Japan with one at home on the same footing. Photos show less than you think, and so does a listing price.

How to use it

1. Choose the country the car is going to.
2. Put in the car's price in yen. On an export site that's normally the FOB price: the car delivered onto a ship in Japan. On a Japanese dealer's own listing, the vehicle price and the total price are figures for registering the car in Japan, so ask the dealer or your exporter for an export price.
3. Put in your own freight and insurance quotes. We don't fill these in, because they depend on the port, the ship and the shipper. Leave them blank and the total will come out too low, and the page says so.
4. Tick the Japan rate only if your customs agent or broker says it applies. The UK, Ireland, Australia and Canada have a lower or zero duty rate for cars that count as Japanese-originating, but only with the right paperwork.
5. Add an exchange rate if you want your own currency. Use your bank's rate or one you trust. We don't supply one.

Nothing you type leaves the page. It isn't sent to us or stored.

Why the listing price isn't the number to compare

On 4 October 2026 we found the same car listed on Goo-net, the Japanese site, and on Goo-net Exchange, its English export site, under the same listing number. The export site's FOB price was a little above the Japanese vehicle price, and above the Japanese total price too (the comparison). Neither figure was what the car would cost on your drive. That's why this page starts from whichever price you're actually being quoted and builds up from there.

The rates it uses, and the estimator

Choose a country and put in your figures; the estimate appears under the table. If the estimator doesn't load, the rates are all in the table and the worked examples below show how they add up.

The duty rates are for a used petrol car of the common engine sizes; your car's exact tariff code can change them. Each country guide explains how its tax is worked out. Every estimate ends with the same line: this is an estimate from published rates, and the customs authority in your country decides what you actually pay.

Worked examples

The same sums our country guides use, for a car priced at ¥1,000,000 with freight and insurance left at zero so the government's part shows on its own:

Country	Japan rate	Duty	VAT or GST	Car plus duty and tax
United Kingdom	No	¥100,000	¥220,000	¥1,320,000
United Kingdom	Yes	¥0	¥200,000	¥1,200,000
Ireland	No	¥100,000	¥253,000	¥1,353,000 (before VRT)
Australia	Yes	¥0	¥100,000	¥1,100,000 (before any luxury car tax)
Canada	No	¥61,000	¥53,050	¥1,114,050 (plus C$100 if the car has air conditioning)
New Zealand	Not applicable	¥0	¥150,000	¥1,150,000
United States	Not applicable	¥25,000	None	¥1,025,000 (before customs fees)

With real freight and insurance added, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand figures rise by more than the freight itself, because their tax is charged on it too.

The total only holds if the car is what the listing says. Before you add shipping to the sum, send us the listing and we'll tell you what can be checked at the dealer, in person or by phone.

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What it doesn't work out

These depend on the car, on documents or on your own choices, so the estimator lists them instead of guessing:

• Ireland's VRT, which is a percentage of Revenue's own valuation of the car, set by CO2 band, with a flat €200 for cars more than 30 years old at registration. Use Revenue's VRT calculator.
• Australia's luxury car tax on cars above the threshold, and the cost of the import approval and inspections.
• Canada's provincial tax, paid when you license the car, the Green Levy on some cars and the luxury tax above C$100,000.
• US customs fees, the gas-guzzler tax on some cars, and state taxes and registration.
• Registration, vehicle tax, inspections and approvals everywhere, and your customs agent's or broker's fees.
• Whether the car can come in at all. The age rules (10 years for the UK's approval exemption, 15 for Canada, 20 for New Zealand's exemptions, 25 for Australia's older vehicle pathway and for the USA) and what counts as the car's age are in each country guide. This page doesn't decide that.

And no estimate tells you about the car itself. A low landed cost on a rusty car isn't a bargain.

Not covered here: other EU countries, the Channel Islands and anywhere else we don't have a country guide for yet. Rather than guess at rates we haven't checked, we've left them out.

Written by Yoshiaki Sagara, a paintless dent repair and detailing technician in Japan. He looks at cars for overseas buyers through Ninja Desk Japan. About us

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