How to import a car from Japan to Ireland: the whole process, step by step

Before you start: the shape of the whole thing

You are the importer of record. Whether you do everything yourself or use an agent like us, the car is bought in your name, the customs declaration is made in your name, and the taxes are assessed against you. Four payments leave your account along the way: to the exporter in Japan for the car, its fees and the shipping; to Revenue for customs duty and VAT when the car lands; to Revenue again for VRT and the NOx levy when it is registered; and to the Irish-side providers, the broker, the port, the translator, the NCTS and whoever moves the car. If you use an agent, a fifth, much smaller payment is the agent’s fee.

Four things decide most of the final price before you have spent a cent. Where the car was built decides the duty: Japanese-built cars pay 0% with a Statement on Origin, everything else pays 10%. The CO2 figure decides the VRT band, from 7% to 41%. The NOx figure, or the lack of one, decides the levy. And Revenue’s valuation of the car in Ireland, not your purchase price, is what the VRT percentage is applied to. The calculator applies all four; the sections below explain them in the order you meet them.

This guide covers the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland follows UK rules on duty, VAT and registration, so none of the tax figures here apply there.

Step 1: choose a car that makes sense to import

The imports that work are Japanese-built cars with low CO2 and evidenced NOx: the Toyota Aqua, Prius and Corolla hybrids, the Honda Fit hybrid, the Nissan Note e-Power. They are duty-free with the right paperwork, sit in the lower VRT bands and carry NOx levies of tens of euro. German-built cars that spent their life in Japan, which is most of the Golfs, Polos and A3s in the auction listings, pay 10% duty and still work at the right price. Diesels with no NOx evidence rarely do, because Revenue charges €4,850 where the figure cannot be shown, and large petrol MPVs in the 41% band need a very careful look at the Irish value.

Before you go near an auction, run the calculator on a realistic hammer price and a realistic Irish value for the year and mileage you have in mind. Use the range it gives you, not the single number: the range is mostly Revenue’s valuation, and that is the part you cannot control. The model pages on this site carry worked scenarios for the common imports and the things that catch people out with each.

Step 2: get an EORI number and line up a customs broker

Every importer needs an Economic Operators Registration and Identification number for the customs declaration. It is free from Revenue and is issued online; get it before the car ships, not when it is sitting at the port.

The declaration itself is made through a customs broker acting as your direct representative, which means you remain the declarant and the broker lodges the paperwork on your behalf. Budget about €120 for the declaration and agree it before the car sails. Give the broker the exporter’s invoice, the export certificate and its translation, the Statement on Origin and the bill of lading as soon as you have them; a broker who has the file before arrival clears the car in days rather than weeks.

Step 3: find the car, and check it before anyone bids

Most cars come through the Japanese auction system, which a private buyer cannot bid in directly. An exporter or auction agent bids for you and charges a fee for it; the same exporters also sell cars they have already bought as stock, at a fixed price. Either way, three things need to happen before money moves.

First, read the auction sheet, translated. It carries the overall grade, the interior and exterior grades, a body map of every dent and repair, and the inspector’s notes. Second, check the chassis number against the car’s auction history: the mileage at every previous sale, the grades it was given before, and whether it has been through the auctions more often than a good car should. Third, ask the exporter in writing whether they will issue a Statement on Origin for the car. Without one, a Japanese-built car pays the same 10% duty as a German one.

Auction bids are irrevocable. Set a maximum before the sale, in yen, and include the exporter’s fees and the shipping in the number you compare against the calculator. A pre-bid inspection on a shortlisted car costs a little and has stopped more bad purchases than any other single step.

1. The auction sheet, translated, with the grade and body map
2. The chassis-number history: mileage, previous grades, previous sales
3. The Statement on Origin, confirmed in writing before the bid
4. A maximum bid in yen that already includes the fees and the shipping

Step 4: pay the exporter

When the car is won or agreed, the exporter invoices the hammer price plus the Japan-side costs: their auction or handling fee, inland transport to the port, deregistration, the export certificate and the radiation check. The calculator’s default for those costs is ¥120,000; replace it with the exporter’s real schedule when you have it. Payment is by bank transfer in yen, usually within a few days of the hammer, and some exporters take a deposit at purchase with the balance due before the car sails.

The exchange rate you achieve on the day will not be the ECB reference rate. The calculator applies a 2% buffer to whichever rate it is given so that the estimate errs on the high side; when the transfer is done, put the rate you actually got into the exchange-rate field and the estimate becomes the real cost in euro.

Step 5: export paperwork and the voyage

On the Japanese side the car is deregistered and an export certificate is issued; that document, and a certified English translation of it, is what the NCTS will later ask for. The Statement on Origin normally appears on the commercial invoice. The exporter books the shipping and sends the bill of lading once the car is loaded.

Roll-on roll-off is the usual route and the cheaper one: the calculator’s defaults are €1,100 to Dublin or Cork and €1,150 to Rosslare, with a container at roughly €2,000. Marine insurance runs at about 1% of the car, fees and freight. Sailings to Ireland typically transship in Zeebrugge or Bremerhaven, so allow four to six weeks at sea and eight to fourteen weeks from the hammer to Irish plates overall.

Step 6: arrival, customs, duty and VAT

When the ship docks, the broker lodges the import declaration. The customs value is the price paid plus the Japan-side fees, the freight and the insurance. Customs duty is 0% on a Japanese-built car with a Statement on Origin under the EU–Japan agreement and 10% of the customs value otherwise. Import VAT is 23% of the customs value plus any duty, and it applies to used cars from outside the EU regardless of age or mileage; the six-month and 6,000 km test people quote is an intra-EU rule.

Both are paid before the car is released. Port handling is about €300, and moving the car from the port to you about €200 unless you collect it yourself. From the day the car arrives, two clocks start.

Step 7: the two clocks: book the NCTS in 7 days, register in 30

The NCTS appointment must be booked within 7 days of the car arriving in the State and the car registered within 30. Book the appointment as soon as the arrival date is firm, because slots at the busier centres go quickly, and bring the file: the export certificate with its certified translation (about €75), the invoice, the bill of lading, the customs clearance, your identification and proof of address, and the CO2 and NOx evidence.

That evidence is where Japanese-market cars differ from European ones. A car that was also sold new in Europe usually has a Certificate of Conformity figure; a Japan-only model such as an Aqua or a Note e-Power does not, and a paid disclosure request (about €100) supplies the figures. Without any CO2 evidence the top band is assumed; without any NOx evidence the default levy is €600, or €4,850 for a diesel. Old figures on the NEDC scale are converted to a WLTP equivalent before banding.

At the appointment the inspector confirms the car matches the paperwork and Revenue assesses the Open Market Selling Price, its view of what the car is worth in Ireland. VRT is that value multiplied by the CO2 band rate, from 7% to 41%, with a minimum of €280, plus the NOx levy: €5 per mg/km up to 40, €15 per mg/km from 41 to 80, €25 per mg/km above that. You pay at the appointment, the registration number is issued, and the plates (about €30) go on. The NCTS fee itself is about €80. Cars that are 30 years old at registration pay a flat €200 instead.

1. Export certificate and certified translation
2. Exporter’s invoice with the Statement on Origin, and the bill of lading
3. Customs clearance from the broker
4. Photo identification, PPS number and proof of address
5. CO2 and NOx evidence: Certificate of Conformity or a disclosure letter

Step 8: on the road: tyres, radio, insurance, tax, NCT

Japanese tyres often lack the E-mark the NCT requires, so budget €300 to €600 for a set if the ones on the car are not marked. The radio needs a band expander to receive Irish FM, and the navigation unit will be in Japanese; most people fit an aftermarket head unit. Insurance is available for the mainstream imports but not from every insurer, and some ask about immobilisers; get a quote on the exact model before you buy the car, not after. Motor tax is charged by CO2 band on the registration, and a car over four years old needs an NCT.

What it adds up to: a worked example

Take the calculator’s standard example, a 2019 Toyota Prius hybrid with 60,000 km, bought at auction for ¥1,300,000 with an Irish value of €18,000 and a WLTP CO2 figure of 108 g/km. At the ECB rate in mid-September 2026, buying and shipping came to about €9,300 including the Japan-side fees, freight and insurance. Duty was €0 with the Statement on Origin, VAT about €2,100, VRT in band 8 at 13.5% of €18,000 about €2,400, and the NOx levy €60. The Irish-side costs added about €800, and the flat sourcing fee €795. Landed on Irish plates: roughly €15,500, with a likely range of a few hundred euro either side that is almost entirely Revenue’s valuation.

Change one input and watch what moves. Take away the Statement on Origin and duty adds about €920 and, because VAT is charged on duty too, another €210 of VAT. Lose the CO2 evidence and the band jumps from 13.5% to 41%: nearly €5,000 more VRT until a disclosure request brings it back. That is why the paperwork steps above are not optional.

Where people lose money

Every one of these has cost someone real money. The calculator flags each of them when it sees it.

1. Bidding before the exporter has confirmed the Statement on Origin, and paying 10% duty on a Japanese-built car
2. Assuming a German-built car bought in Japan is treated as Japanese: it is not, and it pays 10%
3. Guessing the Irish value low, then meeting Revenue’s valuation at the NCTS
4. Buying a diesel with no NOx figure and paying the €4,850 default
5. Arriving at the NCTS without CO2 evidence and being banded at 41%
6. Missing the 7-day booking or the 30-day registration deadline
7. Buying from photos without the auction sheet or the chassis-number history
8. Forgetting the tyres, the band expander and the insurance quote until the car is here

Doing it yourself, or using an agent

Everything above can be done by a private buyer with patience, an exporter they trust and a broker they have briefed. What an agent adds is the checking and the sequencing: the chassis-number verification before the bid, the exporter relationship that produces the Statement on Origin without argument, the broker who has the file before the ship docks, and someone watching the two clocks.

That is what Shinsa does, for a flat fee of €795 per car for private buyers and €350 for dealers. You still pay the exporter and Revenue directly; we never hold the purchase money. If you would rather do it yourself, use the calculator and the guides freely; they were built for exactly that.