Changelog
What changed, and when.
The calculator applies rules with a version date, currently 2026-09-17, and every estimate says which version it used. This page records changes to the rules and to the site, so a figure you saw last month can be traced. Budget changes appear here the day they are applied.
The chassis verification report
Every car we bid on now gets a verification report before the bid, and it sits in the customer’s deal room: the car’s auction appearances by chassis number, mileage that must only rise, grades and repair history across sales, the sheet and the export certificate matched to the chassis, the duty position, and a verdict with every check shown and the limits stated. A worked sample is at /verification-report/.
A private deal room for every import
Each car we source now has its own private page: where it is on the road from mandate to plates, what has just happened and what happens next, whose move it is, every document as it arrives, and the estimate frozen at the mandate beside the real invoices and receipts, with who is owed what. An email goes out at each step. The link is private to the customer and can be replaced at any time.
Chassis code decoder
Type a Japanese chassis number or model code into the calculator and it says what the car is: years, engine, fuel, where it was built, the usual CO2 position from the European twin and a starting Irish value, with one button to fill the car in. The same table drives a decoder page with over 300 codes by maker, each linking to the calculator pre-filled, and the auction-sheet reader now names the car from the 型式 box when the sheet’s own words are unreadable.
Auction sheet reader
Type in what a Japanese auction sheet says, or photograph it, and get it read against the guide: the grade and what it means, every mark on the diagram, the equipment codes, the inspector’s notes rendered in English with the red flags pulled out, the era date converted, and the calculator pre-filled with the car. The photograph route uses a vision model behind a capped endpoint and switches on once its key is in place; the typed route works today.
The deals ledger
A public record of every car we land: the estimate frozen on the day of the bid, the invoice lines as they arrive, Revenue’s valuation and band against ours, and the dates from hammer to plates. The ledger computes the accuracy score from the landed cars and shows it on the home page, honestly at zero until the first car registers. It opens with one entry, the pilot: our own car, planned for October.
Japan, Britain or Northern Ireland: the same car from each
The engine now prices a car bought in Great Britain (10% duty unless UK origin is evidenced, 23% VAT, a customs declaration, transport instead of sea freight) and in Northern Ireland (no duty, no VAT for a car in use there, VRT and NOx as normal) as well as in Japan. The calculator has a source selector and pound fields, the maximum bid calculator answers in pounds for those sources, and a comparison page prices all three side by side with the price at which each route would match. A guide sets out the rules with worked examples.
Maximum bid calculator
The landed-cost engine run backwards: enter the car and an all-in budget in euro and get the highest hammer price in yen that keeps the estimate inside it, a safe bid that allows for how Revenue values the car, the split of where the budget goes, and the bid the same budget would buy once the car is 30.
Classic and collector cars: the hub renamed, heading 9705 done properly, five model pages, two guides
The classic hub becomes Classic and collector cars from Japan. The calculator’s collectors’-piece option is split: heading 9705 now removes the 10% duty and leaves VAT at 23%, because that is what Revenue charges on a vintage car that will be driven; the 13.5% rate is offered only for a piece kept off the road, with a warning. Every page that implied 13.5% is corrected. New pages for the Figaro and Pao, the Beat, Cappuccino and AZ-1, the Land Cruiser 60 and 70, the Rover Mini from Japan and the Porsche 964 from Japan, and guides on heading 9705 and on why Japan holds the right-hand-drive classics.
Drift and motorsport: a fifth hub, the 30-year timetable, thirteen model pages, four guides, and a parts calculator
A hub for the cars Irish drivers actually import, with the finding that shapes it: a car kept in Ireland must be registered within 30 days even if it only ever goes to the track, so the saving is timing, not a workaround. The 30-year timetable puts a month and a euro figure on 29 chassis. New pages for the Silvia S15, Chaser JZX100, Skyline GTS-t, Laurel and Cefiro, Soarer, Altezza, 180SX, RX-7 FC, Fairlady Z Z33, 86 and BRZ, S2000, Lancer Evolution and Impreza WRX STI. Guides on registering a track car, roll cages, shipping a caged or non-running car, and importing engines and parts; a drift-car section in the auction-sheet guide. The calculator now shows the same car registered at 30 beside today’s figure, offers a shared-container shipping option, and explains when CO2 evidence cannot move the band. A separate parts and engines calculator prices duty and VAT with no VRT.
Segment hubs, thirteen more model pages, two engine rules
Four hub pages group the models by how the taxes fall: hybrids and EVs, German-built cars from Japan, modern JDM and high-spec, and classic JDM. New pages for the Leaf, 320d, Land Cruiser Prado, GR Yaris, Skyline GT-R R32, Supra A80, Vezel, A-Class, C-Class, Mini Cooper, MX-5 NA, RX-7 FD and Silvia. The engine now applies the electric-vehicle VRT relief by registration date (to 31 December 2026) and offers the collector’s-piece route for cars of 30 years or more.
Guides: the whole process, insurance, and what goes wrong
An end-to-end guide to importing a car from Japan to Ireland, a guide to insuring an import, and a catalogue of the mistakes that cost money and the check that prevents each. About and Contact pages added.
Shinsa
The site takes its name: Shinsa, 審査, inspection. New design, share images on every page, structured data on the home page and guides, and the technical fixes from the first SEO audit.
Calculator, engine and the first pages
The landed-cost calculator with the engine running in the browser, rules dated 2026-09-17 (VRT bands in force from 1 January 2021, NOx tiers and defaults, EU–Japan duty), the ECB exchange rate refreshed daily, ten model pages and six guides.
Rule changes are also flagged on the calculator when they affect the registration date you choose.