Serving All of Ireland
Buying a car directly from a dealer or exporter in Japan, such as BE FORWARD, is straightforward up to the point where the car leaves Japan. You pay the dealer, they book the sailing, and a courier envelope arrives with the paperwork. Then the car docks in Dublin and a different set of people takes over, none of whom the dealer introduced you to.
This guide walks through what happens from that point, in the order it happens, and what each step costs. We are not connected to any Japanese dealer. We are the customs agent many of their Irish customers use, so this is the sequence we see every week.
The short version
Your car passes through five sets of hands between the dealer's yard and your driveway. You pay two of them directly and the State through a third.
| Who | What they do | What you pay them |
|---|---|---|
| The dealer in Japan (for example BE FORWARD) | Ship the car and courier you the export certificate, invoice and original bill of lading | Already paid when you bought the car |
| The shipping agent in Ireland (for RoRo, usually Celtic or Conway) | Tell you the arrival date, unload the car, hold it at the port and release it | Offloading charges, around €175 |
| Your customs agent (us) | Check your documents, lodge the import declaration, pay duty and VAT for you and send the release to the agent | €120 for clearance |
| Revenue | Charge customs duty and import VAT, and later VRT | Through us, at cost |
| The NCTS | Inspect the car and register it on Irish plates | VRT, paid at the appointment |
Step by step, from purchase to keys
1 and 2. You buy, and the documents come by courier
Once you have paid, the dealer books the car onto a ship and sends you the paperwork by DHL. Three documents matter in Ireland:
- The export certificate, which proves the car has been deregistered in Japan. Revenue keeps the original at VRT registration.
- The invoice, which shows what you paid. Customs duty and import VAT are worked out from it.
- The original bill of lading, which is the shipping line's receipt for the car and, in effect, its title document while at sea. The shipping agent will want the original.
Do not post any of them anywhere until you know who needs which. Scan them first.
3 and 4. The car sails, and the shipping agent gets in touch
A roll-on, roll-off sailing from Japan to Dublin takes roughly four to six weeks. Shortly before arrival you will get an email from the shipping agent that handles the vessel in Ireland. For RoRo cars this is usually Celtic or Conway. The email typically does three things:
- gives you the expected arrival date;
- invoices the offloading charges, which come to around €175 and are paid to the agent directly, not to us;
- asks you to post the original bill of lading, and asks who your customs clearance agent is.
If you are using us, reply naming Auto Atlantic as your customs agent and copy in info@autoatlantic.ie. From then on we are copied into the agent's notifications about your car.
A container is different. If your car came in a shared container rather than on a RoRo ship, the agent is whoever handles that container, and unloading happens at their depot. The steps are the same; you give us the container number and the agent's name instead.
5. You order clearance online
Our customs clearance page takes about ten minutes. You enter the car, the invoice total and the shipping agent, choose the services you want, sign the authority that lets us act for you with customs, and upload the documents. For clearance on its own we need:
| Document | Clearance only | With VRT on your behalf |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase invoice | Yes | Yes |
| Bank statement showing the payment to the dealer | Yes | Yes |
| Screenshot of the dealer's listing for the car | Yes | Yes |
| Export certificate (scan) | Yes | Yes, and the original later |
| Bill of lading (scan) | Yes | Yes |
| PPS card | Yes | Yes |
| Utility bill and bank statement, last 3 months | No | Yes, as two proofs of address |
| CO2 and NOx figures | No | No — we find them |
Each upload is checked automatically as it arrives: whether the chassis number is on it, whether your name matches, whether a bill is recent enough. If something looks wrong you see it straight away, rather than days later.
6 and 7. We check, invoice, and clear
A person checks every document, usually the same working day. If one needs replacing we tell you why, and you upload a new copy from your order page. When everything is in order we send one invoice covering our fee, the customs duty and the import VAT. You pay it by bank transfer and we lodge the import declaration with Revenue as your direct representative.
The duty and VAT are worked out like this:
- Customs duty is 0% for a car built in Japan, under the EU–Japan trade agreement, and 10% for a car built anywhere else, even if you bought it in Japan.
- Import VAT is 23% of the customs value plus any duty.
- The customs value is the invoice total before any points discount. Some dealers, BE FORWARD among them, let you pay part of the price with loyalty points. Customs treats the points as part of the price you paid, so VAT is charged on the full total.
8. Release, and three free days
When Revenue releases the car, we send the release straight to the shipping agent and email you a clearance notification. If you are collecting the car yourself, that email includes the collection instructions: where to go, what to bring and who to ask for.
From the release, the car is usually free to stay at the port for three days. After that the agent charges storage by the day. Their email will give the rate; ask them if it does not.
9. Collect it yourself, or let us finish the job
This is where the two routes split.
If you collect it yourself, you need the car insured and a way to get it home, and you are on the clock for VRT: Revenue requires the NCTS appointment to be booked within seven days of the car arriving in the State and the car to be registered within thirty. Japanese domestic market cars are not issued with a European certificate of conformity, so you will also need to find the CO2 and NOx figures before the appointment. Without them Revenue can charge VRT at the highest rate.
If you would rather not, our collection, storage and VRT service does all of that for €300. We collect the car from the port, keep it at our yard in Mountrath, Co. Laois, find the emissions figures from Japanese records, present it at the NCTS and register it in your name. You then collect it from our yard, or we deliver it on a covered transporter, priced by the distance from Mountrath.
VRT itself is set by Revenue at the appointment, not by us. We invoice an estimate before the appointment and correct it to the exact figure on the Revenue receipt afterwards, refunding or charging the difference.
The clock after arrival
What it costs: a worked example
Take a Japanese-built car bought from a dealer in Japan for an invoice total of ¥1,000,000, shipping included, of which ¥50,000 was paid with points. At an exchange rate of €0.0058 to the yen, the customs value is €5,800.
| Charge | How it is worked out | Paid to | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customs duty | 0% — built in Japan | Revenue, through us | €0 |
| Import VAT | 23% of €5,800, ignoring the points | Revenue, through us | €1,334 |
| Customs clearance | Our fee, VAT included | Auto Atlantic | €120 |
| Offloading | The shipping agent's charges | The shipping agent | About €175 |
| Total to get the car out of the port | €1,629 |
Had the same car been built outside Japan, 10% duty of €580 would be added, and VAT would rise to 23% of €6,380: €1,467.40. Duty pulls VAT up with it.
If you then want us to collect, store and register the car, add €300 and the VRT that Revenue sets. The optional extras are below.
Our fees
| Service | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Customs clearance | €120 | Always included. You collect from the port |
| Collection, storage and VRT on your behalf | €300 | Includes finding the CO2 and NOx figures |
| Priority NCT booking and test | €100 | The NCT fee itself is passed on at cost |
| Full service | €250 / €350 | Up to 1,500cc / over 1,500cc |
| Certificate of conformity | €300 | Only if the car is not on record with MLIT in Japan. We tell you first |
| Collection from our yard | Free | Emo, Dublin Road, Mountrath, Co. Laois |
| Delivery to you | By distance | Priced from Mountrath; shown when you order |
Customs duty, import VAT, VRT and the NCT fee are paid to the State at cost and shown separately on the invoice, with no VAT or mark-up added. Offloading is paid to the shipping agent.
Four things that hold a car up
The original bill of lading still in a drawer
The agent will not release the car until they have it, or a telex release from the shipping line in its place. Post it as soon as they ask, by tracked post.
No customs agent named
The car can sit unclaimed while the agent waits to hear who is clearing it. Name your agent in your first reply.
An invoice total that does not match
If the figure you declare differs from the invoice, or leaves out the part paid with points, the declaration has to be corrected before the car is released. Enter the total exactly as it appears on the invoice.
Documents sent after the ship docks
Everything up to the release can be done while the car is at sea. Sending us the papers when the agent's email arrives, not when the car lands, is what keeps the free days free.
Common questions
Who do I pay the offloading charges to?
Directly to the shipping agent that handles the vessel in Ireland, usually Celtic or Conway for roll-on roll-off shipments. They invoice you by email shortly before the car arrives, typically around 175 euro. It is separate from our clearance fee and from the customs duty and import VAT.
Do I have to post the original bill of lading?
Usually yes. The shipping agent will ask for the original bill of lading before releasing the car, unless the shipping line has issued a telex release in its place. Send us a scan for the customs declaration and post the original to the agent by tracked post as soon as they ask for it.
How long can my car stay at the port after it is cleared?
Usually three free days from the customs release. After that the shipping agent charges storage by the day at their own rate. If you choose our collection, storage and VRT service, we collect the car from the port for you within that time.
How much is customs duty and import VAT on a car bought from a dealer in Japan?
Customs duty is 0% for a car built in Japan and 10% for a car built elsewhere, even if it was bought in Japan. Import VAT is 23% of the customs value plus any duty. The customs value is the invoice total before any points discount, plus shipping if it was billed separately.
I paid part of the car with the dealer's points. Is VAT charged on the full price?
Yes. Customs treats points as part of the price paid, so the customs value is the invoice total before the points discount. Import VAT is charged on that full figure.
How much does customs clearance cost with Auto Atlantic?
Customs clearance is 120 euro including VAT. Collecting the car from the port, storing it at our yard and registering it for VRT on your behalf is 300 euro more. Customs duty, import VAT, VRT and the NCT fee are passed on at cost.
Can I send you the documents before the car arrives?
Yes, and it is the best time to. Everything up to the customs release can be done while the car is still at sea, so the car can be released as soon as it is unloaded rather than days later.
How soon must the car be registered after it arrives?
Revenue requires the NCTS appointment to be booked within seven days of the car arriving in Ireland and the car to be registered within thirty days. Those dates run from arrival, not from the customs release.
Car on its way from Japan?
Send us your documents while it is at sea. We check them, give you one invoice for clearance, duty and VAT, and have the car released as soon as it lands.
Start your clearance orderRelated: Importing a car from Japan · The cost of importing from Japan · Why import through us?