title: "Importing a Used Car from Japan to the U.S. — From Contract to Plates" / desc: "What it actually takes to bring a Japanese car into the United States: the 25-year rule, what you really pay in duty, the forms filed at entry, and state registration."

Confirming the Car and Signing the Contract

Once you pick a listing, we verify its condition through the auction sheet or a local inspection report first — never from photos alone.

Before eligibility or duty can be worked out we need the chassis number, the engine code, and the exact manufacture date — month and year, taken from the door-jamb certification plate. Japanese-market cars carry a chassis number rather than a 17-digit VIN, and the model year shown on a listing is not the manufacture date U.S. rules count from.

Export Procedures in Japan

Export deregistration removes the car from Japan's vehicle registry. Without that certificate the car cannot be loaded for export.

The car is trucked to the port and loaded onto a container ship or a RORO vessel. RORO is cheaper, but sailings are less frequent.

Ocean Freight and Arrival

Sailing time from Japan to a U.S. West Coast port is commonly put at 2–5 weeks by import brokers — an industry estimate, not an official figure. At the port, CBP will not release the car without the original bill of lading, the bill of sale, and the Japanese export documents. Confirm the actual schedule with the freight forwarder rather than planning around a number from a guide.

The departure port depends on where the car is located. A car in Hokkaido costs more to ship than one in Kyushu.

Customs Clearance and Taxes

The MFN base duty on passenger cars is 2.5% (HTSUS 8703), and 25% on trucks and cargo vans — the long-standing 'chicken tax' (HTSUS 8704); which category a car falls into is the customs broker's call at entry, not the buyer's assumption. Do not budget 2.5% for a Japanese-built car: a U.S.–Japan tariff agreement effective 4 September 2025 raises the rate on Japan-origin vehicles toward a combined 15%, and every car we source is Japan-origin. Budget on that basis and confirm the exact rate for your car and entry date with a customs broker. (Sources: CBP, 'Importing a Motor Vehicle'; White House, 'Implementing the United States–Japan Agreement', 2025-09-04. Current as of September 2026.)

A separate 25% Section 232 tariff on automobiles took effect on 3 April 2025 under Proclamation 10908. Passenger vehicles and light trucks manufactured at least 25 years before the year of entry are exempt from it and are declared under HTS 9903.94.04. Note CBP words this exemption in whole calendar years — unlike the month-based safety exemption. Whether the September 2025 Japan agreement also reaches these 25-year cars is not spelled out in the agreement text, and was left to later Federal Register notices. (Source: CBP, 'Section 232 Additional FAQs — Autos'.)

There is no certificate-of-origin route to a lower rate here — a Japanese origin raises the duty, it does not reduce it. And one federal cost is not erased by any age exemption: the gas guzzler tax (26 U.S.C. §4064) on passenger cars rated under 22.5 mpg combined, declared on IRS Form 6197, which applies to private importers with no exception. High-performance JDM models are exactly the ones it catches.

Certification and Registration

At entry you file NHTSA Form HS-7, checking Box 1 for the 25-year age exemption, and EPA Form 3520-1, entering code E for the 21-year emissions exemption. Both are legal declarations about the car's age and originality. CBP officers cannot complete them on your behalf — that falls to you or your customs broker. (Source: CBP, 'Importing a Motor Vehicle'; NHTSA Form HS-7.)

Incomplete or inconsistent paperwork is not a delay, it is a seizure risk: CBP and EPA can hold the vehicle or require it to be exported again. Keep the original bill of lading, the bill of sale, and the Japanese export deregistration documents together and consistent with the declared manufacture date.

Federal clearance is permission to import, not permission to drive. Registration is a state matter, and California in particular requires a directly imported car that was not built to California emission standards to pass CARB's direct-import program before the DMV will issue plates. Check your own state's rules before you buy — this stage, not the ocean crossing, usually decides when you actually get to drive the car.