Insuring a Japanese import in Ireland: who quotes, what they ask for, and what it costs

Why imports are treated differently

To an insurer a car from Japan is a grey import: built for another market, sometimes a model that was never sold here, with a history the Irish and UK databases cannot see. That produces three worries. Parts for a Japan-only model may take weeks to arrive and cost more, so repairs cost more. Modifications are common on performance cars and hard to spot. And a car that does not exist in the underwriting system cannot be rated automatically, so a person has to decide, and some companies would rather not. The Irish Times reported in May 2026 on insurers refusing to quote imports outright, largely over parts availability.

The fourth worry is theft. Car theft is rare in Japan, so many Japanese-market cars carry no immobiliser to the standard Irish insurers expect, and keyless models have been targeted here. Several insurers ask for a Thatcham category 1 or 2 immobiliser or alarm to be fitted and certified before they will cover an import, and it is cheaper to plan for that than to discover it.

Who quotes an import

The picture in September 2026 divides by car more than by company. Mainstream models that were also sold new here, a Prius, a Leaf, a Golf, a 3 Series, usually get quoted by the big direct insurers without fuss, sometimes with a loading. Japan-only models such as the Aqua, the Note e-Power and the Alphard are where the refusals and the manual underwriting happen. Performance and modified cars are a specialist market whatever their origin.

Brokers earn their keep here. Howden Insurance Ireland runs a dedicated Japanese-import product through specialist underwriters; GMIB compares a panel of insurers for imported cars; the classic-car specialists, Carole Nash Ireland, Howden’s classic arm and Chubb, write agreed-value policies for the older cars. The general brokers will also try the panel for you. We are compiling which insurers quote which of the models on this site and on what terms, and will publish it when it is confirmed (V13).

What they ask for

The chassis number or VIN, the exact variant and year, the mileage in kilometres, and your driving history. A no-claims record from an Irish or UK insurer counts; time spent insured in Japan does not. For a Japan-only model, expect questions about parts and a request for photographs. For a modified or high-value car, expect to pay for an engineer’s report or a valuation, which becomes the agreed value on a classic policy.

If the insurer requires an immobiliser, it will want the installer’s certificate showing the Thatcham category. Budget a few hundred euro for a certified fit and do it between the car landing and the NCTS appointment; the car cannot be driven on Irish roads until it is registered and insured anyway.

1. Chassis number or VIN, variant, year and mileage in km
2. Your Irish or UK no-claims history
3. Photographs, and an engineer’s report or valuation for modified or high-value cars
4. The immobiliser installer’s certificate, where one is required

What it costs

Nobody publishes a rate card, so treat any figure as a guide. Brokers describe import loadings on mainstream cars as a modest percentage over the equivalent Irish car, rising sharply for anything performance-flavoured, and refusals rather than quotes for young drivers on turbocharged imports. Hybrids and electric cars that Ireland also sold new are the easiest and cheapest to insure; they are also the cars most people import, which is why this rarely becomes a problem for the Aqua and Prius buyer once a quote is found.

The cost that is easy to miss is time. A quote refused after the car has landed means weeks of storage and a scramble; the same refusal before the bid means a different car. Insurance is not part of the landed cost the calculator shows, because it is a running cost, but it belongs beside the estimate before you commit.

Classics: agreed value and limited mileage

A car over 30 years old moves into a different market. Classic policies insure the car for an agreed value settled at the start, limit annual mileage, usually to a few thousand kilometres, often require a second everyday car and a driver over 25 or 30, and sometimes club membership. Because the car is driven little and carefully, the premium is often lower than a standard policy would be, even on a Skyline GT-R or a Supra.

The specialist brokers know these cars. Bring the auction sheet, the chassis-number history and the photographs from the inspection; the same evidence that protected the purchase supports the valuation. Motor tax on a car over 30 is the vintage rate of €56 a year, and cars under 40 years old still need the NCT.

Getting the quote before you bid

Pick the exact car, down to the variant, before the auction. Send a broker the chassis number and the auction sheet and ask two questions: will you quote it, and will you require an immobiliser. Put the answer, and the immobiliser cost if there is one, beside the calculator estimate. If the answer is no, the car is not the car; a different variant or a mainstream model usually is.

Cover starts on the day the car is registered in Ireland. Between arrival and the NCTS appointment the car moves on a transporter or a trade plate, not on its Japanese plates, and the quote you arranged in advance is what makes the appointment the end of the process rather than the start of another one.

The money next to insurance: motor tax and the NCT

Motor tax on a car first registered anywhere from 2008 onwards is charged by the CO2 figure recorded at registration, which is the same figure that set the VRT band, so a small hybrid pays a small amount and a big petrol V6 pays a large one. Cars over 30 pay the €56 vintage rate.

An imported car older than four years needs an NCT. The points that catch Japanese cars are tyres without the E-mark, a rear fog lamp that does not work where one is fitted, and emissions on a neglected engine. The headlights are not a problem: Japan drives on the left, so they dip the same way as Irish ones, and the speedometer already reads in kilometres per hour.