Serving All of Ireland
Anyone who has priced a Japanese import has had the thought: the auction price is right there, so why pay a dealer at all? It is a fair question and it deserves a straight answer rather than a sales pitch. The honest version is that the private route is genuinely cheaper in the good case, and the good case is not the only case.
What follows is the comparison as we would give it to a friend.
The private route: what you are actually taking on
Buying at a Japanese auction yourself means accepting six separate risks, all of which land on you:
- Currency. The euro moves against the yen between the moment you set your budget and the moment you settle. A few percent either way is ordinary.
- The auction itself. You bid against people who do this professionally. Being outbid is not a failure, it is the normal outcome, and each miss extends the search.
- The auction sheet. A grade is a summary, not a survey. Reading the diagram and the inspector's notes properly is a skill, and the cost of misreading it arrives months later on a ship.
- Revenue's valuation. VRT is charged on the Open Market Selling Price, which Revenue sets. If their figure lands above your estimate, your tax bill rises and there is nothing in your purchase price that protects you.
- Condition on arrival. The car is yours from the auction floor. Anything wrong with it when it reaches Dublin is yours to fix.
- The clock. Seven days to book the NCTS appointment, thirty to complete registration. Paperwork that stalls at the port is your problem, and the penalties are real.
None of these is exotic. Importers manage all six routinely. The point is simply that they are yours, and the saving you calculated at the start assumed none of them happened.
The reserved route: what changes
A car we have already bought is past the first three risks entirely. The auction is won, the price is settled in euro, the sheet has been read by someone who reads hundreds of them, and the vehicle is on the water with a known arrival date.
What you are buying at that point is not a gamble on a future car. It is a specific vehicle, with a stock number, photographs and a date, offered below what it will cost once it lands.
Where the saving comes from. A car sold before it arrives never becomes forecourt stock. It costs nothing to store, present or hold, and carries no risk of sitting unsold. That is a real saving on our side, and the discount is that saving handed back — not a price inflated in order to be marked down.
Your money, and what it is exposed to
This is the part people worry about most, and reasonably so: committing to a car that is physically several thousand miles away.
The reservation deposit is fully refundable, starting from €500. It takes the vehicle off the market and fixes your price. If you change your mind before the car lands, the deposit comes back. The balance is only due once the vehicle has arrived in Ireland and been prepared.
Compare that with a private import, where money leaves your account at the auction and is irrecoverable from the moment the hammer falls. There is no equivalent of changing your mind.
A shipping delay does not change what you agreed either. Arrival dates come from the shipping line and can move by a few weeks; the price you locked in does not move with them.
The difference nobody mentions until something breaks
A privately imported car has no Irish seller. You bought it from an auction abroad, which means there is no warranty, nobody to return to, and no consumer protection if the gearbox is not what the sheet suggested.
Buying from an Irish dealer engages Irish consumer law. Your rights sit against the seller, and they exist independently of whatever any warranty document says — a dealer cannot contract out of them. On top of that statutory floor, our cars come with a warranty.
For most buyers this is the item that decides it. The saving on a private import is a number you can calculate. The value of having someone to call is a number you only discover when you need it.
The comparison, side by side
| Risk | Import it yourself | Reserve in transit |
|---|---|---|
| Currency movement | You | Already settled |
| Losing at auction | You | Already won |
| Misreading the grade | You | Us |
| Shipping and customs | You | Us |
| VRT above estimate | You | Us — price is fixed |
| Registration deadlines | You | Us |
| Faults on arrival | You | Warranty and consumer rights |
| Money at stake before delivery | Full purchase, non-refundable | Refundable deposit from €500 |
| Final price known upfront | No — a range | Yes |
When importing yourself is the right call
We are not going to pretend it never is.
If you want a genuinely unusual car that nobody in Ireland is bringing in, the private route may be the only route. If you already read auction sheets, have a customs agent you trust and have done this before, you will beat our price — that expertise is worth money and you own it. And if the process itself is the appeal, no dealer can sell you that.
What does not work is doing it once, casually, on a car that matters to you, having read a forum thread. That is where the saving gets eaten.
The short version
Importing yourself trades certainty for margin. Reserving in transit trades a little margin for certainty, with a refundable deposit, a fixed price, and someone answerable if the car is not right.
Most people are not looking for a project. They want the car they picked, at a price they knew in advance, with a phone number that works afterwards.
Common questions
Is it cheaper to import a car from Japan yourself?
In the good case, yes. But the private route is a range rather than a price: currency, auction fees, Revenue's valuation and condition on arrival all move it, and all of them move against you as easily as for you.
Is the reservation deposit refundable?
Yes — fully refundable, from €500. It holds the vehicle at the agreed price until it arrives. Change your mind before it lands and the deposit is returned.
Do I get a warranty on a car I import myself?
No. There is no Irish seller, so no warranty and no consumer recourse. Buying from an Irish dealer engages Irish consumer law, which gives you rights against the seller that cannot be signed away.
What if the ship is delayed?
Your price stands. Arrival dates come from the shipping line and can move; what you agreed does not.
How much can I save by reserving early?
Up to 20%. The figure on any given car depends on how early you reserve and the deposit you place, and it updates live on that car's page as you adjust the deposit.
See what's on the water
Every car currently in transit, with its arrival date and the saving available today.
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