About Shinsa
An agent on the buyer’s side of a Japanese import.
Shinsa finds used cars in Japan for Irish private buyers and dealers, tells you what each one will really cost on Irish plates before you commit, checks it against its auction history, and runs the paperwork from the hammer to the number plates. For one flat fee, and never with your money in our account.
審査
shinsa, noun: inspection, examination
The name is the promise. In Japan, a document that has been examined gets a red seal. Every car we put in front of you has been through that: the auction sheet read, the chassis number checked, the origin paperwork confirmed.
Why this exists
Most people find out what a Japanese import costs at the port.
More than half of the used cars imported into Ireland now come from Japan rather than Britain. They are well kept, low in mileage and cheap to buy there. What they cost on Irish plates is another matter: shipping, customs duty that depends on where the car was built, 23% VAT, VRT on Revenue’s valuation rather than your price, the NOx levy, and a dozen Irish-side fees. Nobody published that number for a given car, so we built the calculator that does, and then the service around it.
The real number first
The calculator applies Revenue’s published VRT bands, the NOx levy, the EU–Japan duty rules and the day’s ECB rate to any car, and shows a range where the answer is genuinely uncertain. It is free, it needs no sign-up, and it is the same engine we use ourselves.
Verify before anyone bids
Japanese auctions record every sale. The chassis number read off the car opens that history: mileage that only ever goes up, past grades, repairs. We read it before a bid, not after a delivery.
Never hold the money
You pay the exporter for the car and Revenue for the taxes, directly. We invoice one flat fee for finding, checking and landing the car. No percentage of the price, no margin hidden in the shipping.
Who is behind it
One founder, in County Laois, and the first car through the process will be his own.
Shinsa is run by Shane Burke, who builds websites and software for small Irish businesses. The calculator came first: Revenue’s VRT and NOx rules, the EU–Japan agreement and the exporters’ fee schedules, written down as code so that the same question always gets the same answer, and every assumption is shown rather than hidden.
The sourcing service is opening in the same order we would want it done to us. The first import is Shane’s own car, done by hand and filmed, with the estimate published at the start and the real invoices at the end. That record is the first entry in the deals ledger, and the accuracy figure we are held to from then on.
We are at the beginning, and the site says so where it matters: the pricing terms are marked as a draft until a solicitor has reviewed them, points that are still being confirmed with Revenue or a customs broker are flagged in the guides, and the model pages say exactly where each number came from.
What we will not do
Four rules, written down so you can hold us to them.
- Bid on a car without a signed mandate and a maximum price from you
- Take or hold your purchase money, or ask you to pay us for the car
- Put a car in front of you that we have not checked by chassis number
- Hide a fee in the freight, the exchange rate or the Irish-side costs
Start with a number, not a promise.
Price the car you are looking at. If you want it sourced, the request goes from the estimate itself. The fee is €795 for a private import, €350 for dealers, and nothing until you sign a mandate. Questions first? Contact us.