I had to do a bank wire for the purchase of the vehicle, but I was able to paypal money for the deposit and needed parts/repairs before it got on the boat.
Thanks again for the information. Called the trucking place and it was closed. Heard back from Be Forward and they only mentioned the funds transfer, not the paypal.
I am getting an itch to hit the buy button. My friend where I keep all my rusty gold has approved my purchase. So it would be picking "the one". See some whit real low mileage and wonder if they rolled over? Could that be possible that the mileage is incorrect? The one I am really interested in says that the speedometer unit has been changed. Have to wonder if that means the mileage is incorrect? And like the one I have most admired shows pictures under the car and other do not, wonder if they are hiding something or just don't think people care about that? And like one interesting one has some checked panels or a wrap or something on it and wonder if that is hiding like a hole or something? Don't see a good way to get answers. I did send an email to their email address and get answers, but not to my question. They did suggest a broker. And like I saw one with real low miles for a good price, but no underneath pictures and I did see one dent and one rust spot on the body. Another thing. see some don't have spare tires. See some have some nice hard case covering the spare. Is that the sort of thing one can order from somewhere?
speedo unit being changed means it has a different speedo/ odo and miles is unknown.. If you know the chassis number you could do some emailing and investigative digging to find the last reported mile before it was flipped.. The odometer on the Jimny is usually 6 digit, so unlikely it's rolled over, but if it did, it would be over 200k kilometers or 124k miles The vehicles in Japan go thru an inspection where the odometer is recorded and kept as record regardless of vehicle age.. Just find one that shows the most in pictures, and the inspection sheet and auction sheet look good. Be Forward will translate the auction sheet if you ask them too. Any one of them will need a little work and have a surprise or 2. The hard case spare was a special edition for them. mine came with an uncovered spare, and Be Forward has covers with their name on some. These are what most of them came with, or a version with another font. https://www.ebay.com/itm/JDM-OEM-SU...oft-BLACK-TURBO-A-GENUINE-JAPAN-/153443469843 remember that a kilometer is .8 of a mile, and Japan is really small. 200k kilometers is a ton for Japan but really, that's 124k mikes.
So how does one get them to translate the inspection sheet? Don't see any link on the pages with each vehcile. Do I just email the general email address? And another question, just read that trucks are dutiable at 25% and cars at 2.5%. Was that what you experienced? Is the Jimny considered a car or a truck? Would a mini truck be taxed at 25%?
Called my insurance company to ask if they insured the trucks. had called a few weeks ago and asked about a Carry and was told no problem. This time I was asked if I was considering buying a right hand drive vehicle and was told no. What insurance are you guys using? I spoke with the trucking company and was told that they only do the customs paperwork if they do the shipping overseas.
I use State farm. zero issues.. create an account and then an inquiry. you can then talk to a sales rep at Be Forward and get an auction translation. The Jimny is dutiable at 2.5% because it has a back seat and therefor is not a cargo vehicle. Mine was even titled in Japan as cargo but they still did the duty at 2.5%
No, I used Japan car direct. I did use state farm for insurance and had no issues once I provided what they asked for.
That is interesting. Will be getting with State Farm. Worth a try. What the guy I spoke with today said that he spoke with the underwriter for my state and was told no. Might end up with new house insurance. Regarding the cargo vehicle, the state vehicle licensing butt head said that all kei trucks were agricultural. When I was watching a bunch of mini truck videos the other night, the guy mentioned the trucks being classified as cargo vehicles going to the US. He also seemed to say that kei was a classification for tax purposes if I understood correctly. So hope State Farm save the effort. I had a Jimny picked out, spoke with the trucking company, checked with a broker.
I,m knew to mini's and this forum but thought I'd respond. I have a 1990 HiJet and a Subaru Sambar. I've only owned these for a couple of months. From my many hours on the internet searching information, I seems the Diahatsu HiJet and the Suzuki Carry are the more popular ones. Seems lift kits and parts are more prevelant. The Sambar is a nice truck for the street but make sure it's a 1990 or newer. Mine is 1988 and seems like very few parts are listed for it. I switched whells to 14" aftermarket and 175x65x14 street tires. That helped highway speeds around 55=60 without the 550cc engine screaming. Good luck on your venture into mini's. Read all the info you can find. Wish I had done that before I bought.
Trucks going to the USA are dutiable 25% because of the 'chicken tax'.. Basically if it has 2 seats and a bed, it's 25% through customs. A work van would also qualify for that.The Jimny is a 4 passenger vehicle, but you find many of them were/ are registered as cargo in Japan which I think makes registration cheaper. They should always be 2.5% As far as what Kei means, it just means light vehicle, but it is a registration qualification in Japan. They are limited to about 10' long and 50" wide, 660cc/64hp max, but they can park anywhere. 'normal' vehicles in Japan have to register their parking space with the police department... The licensing agent your dealing with, just can't get it out of his head.. If the DOT FMVSS says it's legal, and the EPA says it's legal, than according to Kentucky import law dated 1986, they are legal.. I would still recomend a Jimny though, or one of the larger than kei cabover trucks
Yup, I am not finished asking questions. So I see some Jimnys on Be forward in the 1990 to 1995 range show a 650 engine or a 660 engine. I see that the 650 engine shows the F6A engine code and the 660 shows no code. But is the 660 the best one? Are they all turbocharged as I see one called a Turbo Van (but is a Jimny) and saw another had 'Turbo" on the seats. Emailed with the State Farm agent today. Not totally sure if he is certain on his answer as it was like, "I can't see any reason why we couldn't insure it as long as it meets emissions standards". Why an insurance company would care about emissions standards is beyond my understanding of insurance. The last we emailed, I told him that the over 25 yr vehicles were imported as historic and didn't need to meet the current emissions standards and then he started writing about historic vehicle insurance, which is not the issue. Sooooo, gotta work on that. I also need to figure out how one gets the transportation company to go get the truck as soon as it arrives and how I guess I should get a broker to deal with it and have it ready for the transportation company???? Sure don't want to pay a bunch of storage fee money because the thing is stuck waiting for some customs problem or a trucking company not being ready to get it. And the one I wanted is now back on the list. And I know nobody cares, but I went to a killer Alice Cooper concert tonight. But to make it in context with the truck subject, spect you can't get good stereo sound in a mini truck, but sure could in a Jimny. Surround sound like I have in my 1965 GMC panel truck.
The trucks listed as 650 or 660cc are all F6A engines. It's actually 657cc, just a listing difference.. And all Jimny's except the Sierra are turbocharged. you can tell by the hoodscoop. That is where the intercooler gets it's fresh air. There won't be a storage fee until it clears customs.. I just had the transport company basically on standby until I knew the address of where it was to be picked up, and they got it the next day. I think my storage fee was $35
I talked with the trucking company mentioned here and I would just need to send them (assume email) the documents. I talked with the brokerage company suggested by Be Forward and they said if I would like, they could arrange the transport. Would need to see the cost, but letting the broker arrange the shipping would put the problem on them if there was some problem with the documents or the transport arriving at the right time. I never heard back from the first State Farm agent I emailed with regarding insuring one of these import vehicles. I emailed another State farm agent and got no response so far. I read some articles that spoke of having trouble getting insurance for right hand drive vehicles and the likelihood of the cost of the insurance to be high with the idea that the right hand drive vehicles might not be as safe as those meant for the good ol USA. If anyone knows other companies to look at for insurance, I would be interested. Wondering if one could get away with calling a Jimny a Samurai, but spect the companies could figure out that what I want insurance on is not the US vehicle and tell me no, as from the VIN number. I have been looking for Samurais on fleabay and Craigs List. So far, see none on fleabay, just parts. I saw one Samurai a coupe hours drive from me and it had significant rust in the wheel wells. After seeing nicely kept Jimnys on Be Forward, hard to want to buy a USA rust bucket. Well I did see a couple of Samurais on Craigs list that had been very modified for off road use, one that was just a pipe frame vehicle.
Yeah, I would call it a Samurai on insurance. Mine is, and my Carry was listed as a swift although they modified the insurance term for it.. Both vehicles, I walked into the insurance office with the original import paperwork including the export cert, so they knew exactly what they actually were.. Beforward sends your original import documents via DHL in a nice folder in a week or so. But you get the PDF copies very quickly, within days
I would not misrepresent what it is. They will use it against you when you need it. Just be honest. I know you want the end result, but insurance is more valuable than just getting a tag. Now if your agent recommends it then get it in writing that they consider it to be the vehicle they are covering.
For the insurance company mafia that robs me for protection money on my house, Safeco, right off when I mentioned it was a Japanese import, was asked about right hand drive and when I said yes, they said no, but did check with the underwriters and said no again. Said that the Japanese domestic vehicles would not be safe enough. Not sure if I should start calling different insurance companies or if it would be a waste of time. But seeing the vehicles on Be Forward, would much rather have those then the beat up trucks from around here. Wonder if Flo or the General would turn me down?
I would call. I think that some companies are open to them. If they say no, then you can call the General or JJ. Hightail, they don't turn down anyone's money!
I emailed another State Farm agent and got no response. I had kind of given up on hope, but maybe you guys have lifted my spirits. Will keep trying and hope the one I want doesn't sell. So does the paperwork from Japan tell what model the vehicle is, like say Jimny on it? I spect it would, but if it didn't, I think I would say it is a Samurai as it almost is.
Thought i would tell my new mini truck friends that I called the "General" today. Was told by the guy that he looked at his guidelines and saw nothing that would prohibit him from selling insurance for a right hand drive Japanese import vehicle. He wanted to make me a quote and I needed to be gone out the door, so will do that soon. Hopefully that puts me back in the game. I did get an email from Be Forward telling me that the Jimny I was ready to buy had sold and was given the sage advice to next time just go ahead and buy one when I see one I like.
I had no trouble convincing Progressive to add my Sambar to my existing insurance (liability only), but it did take a phone call and I had to speak to a couple of reps before finally getting transferred to the person who knew what they were doing.
I plan on getting a more firm answer from an insurance company before hitting the buy button, like get an actual quote on an example vehicle. Will the engine for the Samurai bolt into the Jimny? How about the transmission and the differential? Looking at Be Forward, seems most of the Jimnys I have looked at lately don't have the inspection sheet. I do see where one can pay for an inspection that is kind of like buying a guarantee. Seems most also don't show pictures of the underside of the vehicles, but I did send an email about the one I wanted to buy asking about the underside and they added several pictures to the listing. Predicting the prices of the vehicles seems tough as some with really low mileage are cheaper than some with higher mileage, but I know part has to do with the features of each vehicle, but some with low miles would seem to be worth more to me. And After seeing the one with the replaced speedometer that showed low miles, makes me wonder about other low mileage vehicles. I want to buy a good one.
Yeah, if you had an engine faliure or wanted more power. You could swap in a G13 or G16 out of a Samurai or a Tracker/ Sidekick with the right mounts. Pretty sure you need the Samurai transmission. I'll have to look and see if the Jimny shares bolt pattern. The Differentials are different ( wider track width ), but it could be made to work. You might need end links and stuff for a JDM Sierra. The only hangup to this is because of the RHD. The SJ413 uses the same axles and is pretty easy to get parts for as they came to Canada.. Most BF vehicles have the inspection sheet, but some do not have the link button for the PDF version. You will find the sheet as a picture in one of the last pictures shown. It's almost always there unless the vehicle is so new there is only auction pictures.
regarding the inspection sheet and choosing one to buy, I received an email from Be Forward in response to my questions that said something about getting a better vehicle with a "BF' versus a "BG" vehicle. Was that some sort of typing mistake on BF verses BF causing me to misunderstand what the guy was saying? If it was no mistake, what is the difference and how do I know a BF from a BG? Happy Thanksgiving fellers. To celebrate the day off, go cruise in your cool machine before the traffic gets too bad with crazed shoppers. Over the river and through the hills to Cracker Barrel or IHOP we go. I read an article that supposedly told the origin of "Black Friday". Some people said in the past that the name had to do with a day of high profits. This article claimed that the name was put on the day by the New York City police due to a day of heavy traffic and many accidents. Might want to leave your baby in the garage on that day.
I used to work retail. 'Black Friday' was created to put profits in the 'black' or profitable.. I've never heard of a BG vehicle so I'm not sure
I do wonder if the BG was a typing error as G is next to F on the keyboard. And I suspect whoever answers their questions doesn't speak English as a first language as some response I have received on a few questions I did not understand. An example, was told on one that had a replaced speedometer that it was probably "clocked". I have no idea what that means, assume maybe that it had gone as far as it could so it was replaced or that it had gone passed the full range of the odometer and had started from zero and the mileage was much greater than shown???? Always heard that called "rolled over".
