Which sourcing fee should you pay?

There are three ways to pay for a car we source for you, and only one variable between them: how much you pay up front. The more you pay early, the smaller the fee.

Paying the full landed price of the car excluding VRT costs a flat €500. As far as we know that is the cheapest sourcing fee in Ireland, and it is the option that saves the most money by a wide margin. If you cannot pay in full, the other two exist for exactly that reason, and neither is a penalty.

The three options

Sourcing fee by payment option. VRT is paid on delivery on all three.

Option	Up front	Balance	VRT	Fee
Pay in full	Landed price, excluding VRT	—	On delivery	€500 flat
70 / 30	70%	30% at customs clearance	On delivery	5%
50 / 50	50%	50% at customs clearance	On delivery	10%

The percentage is calculated on the CIF value plus landed costs such as duty and offloading — the total excluding VRT.

VRT sits outside all three options and is settled at the time of delivery, whichever you choose. You are never funding a tax bill months before the car exists on Irish plates, and no part of the VRT is inside our fee.

What that means in money

Note where the lines cross. At around a €10,000 landed cost the 70/30 option and the flat fee come to the same money. Above that, paying in full is cheaper, and it gets cheaper the better the car: €500 against €1,000 at €20,000, and €500 against €1,500 at €30,000. On the 50/50 option those gaps double.

We would rather you saw that in a diagram than worked it out after signing.

Why paying in full costs least

Because it removes our exposure. When the landed price is settled before we buy, the money is not ours to fund and not ours to chase. The staged options move that risk onto us, and the 5% and 10% are the price of carrying it.

There is a second reason a flat fee is worth having, and it is about incentives rather than arithmetic. An agent paid a percentage earns more when you spend more, while the work of importing a €30,000 car is no greater than importing a €12,000 one — the same auction, the same documents, the same declaration, the same appointment. That structure quietly rewards steering you upward, and you would never see it happening. A flat fee removes the mechanism entirely.

If you cannot pay in full

Most people cannot, and the staged options are not a consolation prize. Here is how to choose between them honestly.

70/30 at 5% — take this if you can reach 70%

It costs exactly half what the 50/50 option does, on every car. If the difference between finding 50% and finding 70% is a few weeks of saving, the 70/30 option is almost always worth waiting for. On a €20,000 landed cost it saves €1,000 against the 50/50.

50/50 at 10% — for a smaller opening payment

This exists for buyers who genuinely cannot put more down at the start, and it is a legitimate way to buy a car rather than a last resort. It is also the most expensive of the three, and we would rather say so plainly than let you find it on an invoice.

On both staged options the balance falls due at customs clearance, not at the moment of purchase. That gap is weeks long, and it is time you can use.

What the fee covers, on every option

The work is identical whichever option you choose. Six things have to happen between a Japanese auction and an Irish registration plate, and all six sit inside the fee:

• Sourcing and bidding. Finding the car, reading the auction sheet against the house that issued it, and bidding on your behalf. Private buyers cannot bid at Japanese auctions at all — it requires a Japanese dealer licence — so this step is not optional for anybody. The work is ours; the auction house's own fee and the transport to the port are not, and they are itemised below.
• Export documentation. Deregistration in Japan, the export certificate, and the proof of origin that decides whether the car enters Ireland at 0% duty or 10%.
• Customs clearance. The declaration filed correctly and in time. No separate broker to appoint, and no separate broker's invoice.
• VRT clearance and Irish registration. The NCTS appointment inside the deadline, the documentation assembled to Revenue's satisfaction, and the CO₂ and NOx figures already in hand rather than discovered missing at the counter.
• Translation. The auction sheet, the inspector's written notes and the Japanese registration documents, turned into something you and Revenue can both read.
• Shipping arranged. Where it suits the car, space in one of our own containers rather than a wait for individual vessel space, which is currently scarce out of Japan.

What sits outside the fee

A cheap fee is only meaningful if you also know what it excludes, so here is that with real figures rather than a vague note about extras.

Typical additional costs, separate from the sourcing fee

Cost	Typical	When it applies
Auction fee and Japan inland transport	€500–700	Always; rises on cars over ¥1 million
Offloading at the port	€175–300	Always; depends on the shipping method
Collection and transport to you	~€500	Always; an average, distance dependent
Certificate of Conformity	~€250	Only where one is needed and can be obtained

On an ordinary car that comes to roughly €1,675 with the flat fee, or about €2,250 at the top of every range with a Certificate of Conformity added. Those are the numbers worth holding in your head, not the €500 on its own.

The auction fee and inland transport are the largest of the four and the one people forget, because they happen in Japan before the car is anywhere near a ship. They scale with the value of the car: around €500 on a modest one, more once the hammer price passes ¥1 million, and up towards €1,300 at the top end. They are the auction house's charges and the cost of moving the car to the port, not ours, and we do not mark them up.

Separately again, and payable on any Japanese import no matter who arranges it: the purchase price, the shipping, any customs duty, import VAT at 23%, and VRT with its NOx levy. Those are not our charges and we do not mark them up.

What makes it the safer route, not only the cheaper one

Cheap on its own is not an argument. Three things sit behind the fee that are worth more than the money it saves.

You are buying from a business in Ireland

The Consumer Rights Act 2022 applies to purchases from traders here. A car imported personally from an exporter in Japan carries no such protection, and pursuing a company in another jurisdiction over a used car is not a realistic remedy for most people. That difference costs nothing until it costs everything.

The two documents that carry the money are handled

Proof of origin decides 0% duty against 10%, and drags import VAT behind it either way — about €1,845 on a car with a €15,000 customs value. The NOx figure decides whether Revenue charges what your car actually emits or the maximum for the fuel type, which is €4,850 on a diesel. Both are obtainable, and both only by somebody who asked at the right moment.

Your money tracks the car

On the staged options nothing further is due until the car reaches customs clearance. On all three, the VRT is not due until the car is delivered to you. You are not funding the whole transaction on trust.

What no fee can guarantee

A page like this is worth very little without this section.

It cannot guarantee Revenue's valuation. VRT is charged on their Open Market Selling Price. We can estimate it closely, and on unusual cars we work it manually against the records rather than trusting a form, but we cannot set it. Any importer who says they can is telling you something else as well.

It cannot guarantee a winning bid. An auction is an auction. Sometimes a car goes past what it is worth, and the right answer is to let it go.

It cannot guarantee a sailing date. Shipping in our own containers removes most of the waiting that a single car currently faces, but weather and schedules are not ours to command.

Working out your own figure

The sourcing estimator will run the whole calculation for a specific car — duty, VAT, VRT and the NOx levy in the right order, then motor tax and the NCT — so you can compare the three options against your own budget rather than the examples above.

If you would rather skip the wait entirely, the cars in current stock are already here and already registered, with nothing further owed to Revenue. And if you are still weighing whether to use an agent at all, that case is made in full in why import through us.

Common questions

What are Auto Atlantic's sourcing fee options?

Three, and the only thing that changes between them is how much you pay up front. Paying the full landed price of the car excluding VRT costs a flat 500 euro sourcing fee. Paying 70% up front with the remaining 30% at customs clearance costs 5%. Paying 50% up front with the balance at customs clearance costs 10%. On all three the VRT is paid separately, on delivery. The more you pay early, the smaller the fee, because the staged options move funding risk onto us.

Which option is cheapest?

Paying in full, on almost any car. The flat 500 euro does not rise with the value of the vehicle, while the percentage options do. The 5% option only matches the flat fee on a car landing at around 10,000 euro; above that, paying in full is cheaper and the gap widens the better the car. On a 20,000 euro landed cost the three options come to 500, 1,000 and 2,000 euro respectively.

What if I do not have the full amount up front?

That is exactly what the staged options are for, and there is no penalty beyond the higher fee. The 70/30 option at 5% is the better of the two if you can reach 70%, because it costs half what the 50/50 option does. The 50/50 option at 10% exists for buyers who cannot, and it is a legitimate way to buy a car rather than a last resort. On both, the balance falls due at customs clearance rather than at the moment of purchase.

What does the 500 euro fee cover?

Our work in getting a car from a Japanese auction onto Irish plates: sourcing and bidding on your behalf, export documentation, customs clearance, VRT clearance and Irish registration, and translation of the auction sheet and the Japanese paperwork. It means no separate customs broker to appoint and pay, and no translation to commission yourself. It does not cover the car, the shipping, the taxes, or the third-party costs that sit outside it, chief among them the auction house's own fee and inland transport in Japan.

What sits outside the fee?

Four service costs. The auction house's own fee together with inland transport to the port in Japan, typically 500 to 700 euro and rising on cars over 1 million yen. Offloading at the port here, typically 175 to 300 euro depending on the shipping method. Collection and transport to you, averaging around 500 euro. And a Certificate of Conformity at around 250 euro where one is needed and can be obtained. On an ordinary car that comes to roughly 1,675 euro in total with the flat fee, or about 2,250 euro at the top of every range with a Certificate of Conformity. Separately again are the purchase price, the shipping, any customs duty, import VAT at 23%, and VRT with its NOx levy.

Is paying a deposit rather than the full amount safer?

It changes what you are exposed to and when. On the staged options your balance is not due until the car reaches customs clearance, so you are never holding the full cost of a vehicle that is still on the other side of the world. That protection is part of what the 5% or 10% buys, alongside the deferral itself. Which trade suits you is a judgement about your own cash position rather than a question with one right answer.