Japan or the UK?

Until recently the two routes were close enough that either could be argued. Since 1 February 2026 they are not. A Japanese-built car now enters Ireland with no customs duty, while most cars bought in Great Britain still carry 10%. That is a large, permanent-looking gap in favour of Japan.

The case for Britain has not disappeared. It has narrowed to a specific set of situations, and it is worth knowing which ones they are.

The market has already voted

This is not a theoretical shift. Analysis by Cartell of registration data through 2025 showed imports from Japan rising while imports from the UK fell by around a fifth year on year, leaving Japan supplying close to three times as many used cars as Britain. By the first half of 2026, with total used imports up 39% on the year, Japan was the source of more than half of everything coming in.

Irish buyers and Irish dealers moved because the numbers moved. That is a useful sanity check on any argument in either direction.

Where each route wins

The duty position, plainly

The EU and Japan finished unwinding the tariff on cars on 1 February 2026. A car manufactured in Japan now enters at 0%, provided a valid proof of origin accompanies it. Without that document the rate reverts to 10%, and a car merely sold in Japan but built elsewhere never qualifies at all.

Great Britain works the same way through a different agreement, and lands in a different place. A car of UK origin enters at 0% with a statement on origin from the seller. A car built anywhere else and sold in Britain pays 10%. The difficulty is that most cars on British forecourts were not built in Britain — German saloons, Japanese hybrids, Korean SUVs. The 0% case exists, but it is the exception.

Where Britain still makes sense

You need the car soon

Days against three months. If your current car is off the road, this is not a close call and nothing else on this page matters.

You want to see it first

A flight and an afternoon buys a physical inspection and a test drive. On a high-value car, or one where you have doubts, that is worth real money.

The car was genuinely built in Britain

Some models are assembled in the UK, and with a valid statement on origin they enter at 0% just as a Japanese car does — while arriving in days rather than months. Check this per car rather than by badge, because manufacturers move production between plants and countries, and the badge tells you nothing about where a particular example was built.

You want a used electric car

Japan is a poor source for used EVs; the volumes reaching Ireland are tiny. Britain and the wider European market are where that stock is, and those cars arrive with charging and navigation set up for this side of the world.

The emissions paperwork is already done

A British car carries a European Certificate of Conformity documenting its CO2 and NOx. A Japanese domestic car does not, so those figures have to be obtained before registration. They are obtainable, but it is a task, and getting it wrong means Revenue applies the maximum NOx levy — €4,850 on a diesel.

Where Japan wins, and by how much

The duty, on most cars

On a car with a customs value of €20,600, the 10% is €2,060, and because import VAT is charged on the value including duty it drags a further €474 behind it. Call it €2,500 on an ordinary family car, before anything else is considered.

Kilometres

This is the structural advantage and it does not move. British cars cover roughly what Irish cars cover. Japanese cars do not. At the same age and money you are buying a materially less worn car.

Evidence of condition

The Japanese auction inspection sheet — overall grade, interior grade, and a map marking every dent and corrosion point — has no equivalent in a British classified advertisement. The UK MOT history is genuinely useful and free to check, but it records test outcomes rather than the state of the bodywork.

Hybrids

Japanese hybrid supply is deep, well maintained and cheap relative to the same car here. Given that hybrids are now the largest engine type in the Irish new car market, this is where the two routes diverge most on availability.

Choosing between them

Choose Japan if you can wait three months, you want the lowest wear for the money, and the car you want is petrol or hybrid. For most buyers with time, this is now the stronger route, and the February duty change is what tipped it.

Choose Britain if you need the car soon, you want to inspect it yourself, you are after a used EV, or you have found a genuinely British-built car with a statement on origin. That last case is the one where Britain beats Japan on both cost and speed at the same time.

And if the deciding factor is time rather than source, there is a third answer that removes the question: buy an import that has already landed and been registered. That comparison is set out in Irish used car or Japanese import.

What we do

We source from both. Japan is the larger part of what we do, and we buy at auction on your behalf and handle shipping, customs, VAT, VRT and Irish registration. Great Britain is one of the markets covered by sourcing, where the useful thing we can do early is establish the origin position on a specific car before you commit, because it moves the price by thousands and it is answerable in advance.

The mechanics of each route are set out separately: importing from Japan and importing from Great Britain. Cars already here are in current stock.

Common questions

Is it cheaper to import a car from Japan or the UK?

On tax, Japan is now usually cheaper. Since 1 February 2026 a Japanese-built car attracts no customs duty under the agreement between the EU and Japan, while a car bought in Great Britain attracts 10% unless it was actually manufactured in the UK and the seller provides a statement on origin. Both routes carry import VAT at 23% and both carry VRT. The exception is a genuinely British-built car with valid origin paperwork, which pays no duty either and arrives far sooner.

Which is faster, importing from Japan or from Great Britain?

Great Britain, by a wide margin. A car from Britain can be bought, shipped and presented for registration within days, because the crossing is a ferry rather than an ocean voyage. A car from Japan takes roughly three months from auction to Irish plates, of which four to six weeks is sea freight. If timing is the binding constraint, Britain wins and no amount of money changes that.

Are Japanese imports lower mileage than British ones?

Generally yes, and by a large margin. Japanese drivers cover far less distance annually than British or Irish ones, and cars move into the export market earlier, so a ten-year-old Japanese car with 60,000km is unremarkable. British cars cover much the same annual distance as Irish ones, so at a given age and price you are typically buying more miles from Britain and fewer from Japan.

Why do British cars avoid the maximum NOx levy more easily?

Because a car sold in the UK was built to European specification and has a European Certificate of Conformity, which documents the CO2 and NOx figures. Japanese domestic market cars are not issued with one, so those figures have to be obtained from Japanese records before the registration appointment. If a NOx figure cannot be produced at the NCTS centre, Revenue applies the maximum for the fuel type, which is 4,850 euro on a diesel. The figures are obtainable for Japanese cars, but they are a task rather than a given.

Should I import an electric car from Japan?

Usually not. Used electric vehicle supply out of Japan is thin, and the volumes coming into Ireland from that market are very small. If you want a used EV, Great Britain and the wider European market are where the stock is, and a European car also arrives with its Certificate of Conformity and its charging and navigation systems already set up for this side of the world. Japan's strength is petrol and hybrid, not battery electric.