Bringing JDM ITR to US

x46359 · Post by **x46359** » June 7th, 2007, 1:03 am

I don't post here much but I had a quick question.

I've got a 98 JDM ITR that I'm driving in Korea. My intentions were to drive it and sell it before I went back home to cali. But I've fallen in love with the car and would like to take it back if at all possible.

I'd really like to get it legalized in the US but I know that would be really hard and maybe not possible. Does anybody know who I might be able to contact about this and roughly how much it would cost?

If its too much or not possible, I'd like to take the ITR back as strictly a track/off-road car. Is this possible without all the conversions and red tape.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Rich.

junkyard racer · Post by **junkyard racer** » June 7th, 2007, 3:12 am

Ive got a pretty solid source. This is what I sent to Dave also inquring about getting a ITR to the states and legalized....

Im in Okinawa, your in Korea. I dont know how that would work, but im sure you could email sean and work something out.

Heres pretty much how it works. This guy is former military, (retired Air Force I believe) his name is Sean Jenison. He knew of all of the military personnel who wanted to bring there cars back, but like most, got stopped with the reg. part. Getting it to the states isnt really that difficult, registering it is where the problems arise. He charges around $10,000 and what that includes is someone delivering him a car (or his employees rather) to the port (in your case, that would need to be worked out by him), the car then goes to mainland Japan where it is disassembled. By disassembly I mean the drivetrain comes out of it, the tires have to come off of the wheels, gas tank has to be drained to a certain point, bunch of small things...it gets loaded into 2 containers, one with the chassis and one with the car, and shes off. Then when it gets to Florida (and I am not sure which port it goes to) he brings it through customs, has the car reassembled, it goes through the kit car procedures, then plated with a US VIN. This all takes aobut 8 weeks from Japan to your hands in Florida. (IDK about your situation) From my understanding, Florida is about the only place with a loophole in the system and thats how it is worked. This is this guys business, and I know he knows what hes doing. A friend of mine just picked his DC5R up in florida about 2 weeks ago. He said overall he was pleased with the guys service, his car is pretty much just like he give it to him, I guess there are a few small bugs here and there(which is too be expected for a car that gets disassembled) but overall...pretty good service.

Heres this guys information:
Shawn Jenison
shawnjenison@yahoo.com
Tsunami Motor Company, Inc. USA
Tsunami of Colours, Inc. USA
Tsunami of Colours, LLC, Japan.

I hope this is some good info for you and a place to start your process. This is about all I know on how to do it. Its pretty simple and straight forward.

-Frank

soulassassin13 · Post by **soulassassin13** » June 7th, 2007, 9:16 am

You are in the military right??? You should be able to ship on vehicle back if you are single (2 if you are married)and move it as if it were household goods. No disassembly required. My friend Zack had is RHD glass top CRX SiR shipped that way from Japan. I don't know what branch of the military you are in, but in the Navy we call it PSD (Personnel Support Detatchment), I would check with them to see the rules for shipping a car from S.Korea. They will have the specifics on your situation... getting it registered is a whole other story though. You basically end up buying 2 cars. A donor car for all of the glass, door bars, and all of the other heavy safety equipment we have in the US. My buddy had to do that for his CRX SiR. First I would look at my orders read through the all of the blurbs on the back and the account code on your orders.... it should be a 341.

Peace and good luck

itrsteez · Post by **itrsteez** » June 7th, 2007, 1:52 pm

junkyard racer wrote:Ive got a pretty solid source. This is what I sent to Dave also inquring about getting a ITR to the states and legalized....

Im in Okinawa, your in Korea. I dont know how that would work, but im sure you could email sean and work something out.

Heres pretty much how it works. This guy is former military, (retired Air Force I believe) his name is Sean Jenison. He knew of all of the military personnel who wanted to bring there cars back, but like most, got stopped with the reg. part. Getting it to the states isnt really that difficult, registering it is where the problems arise. He charges around $10,000 and what that includes is someone delivering him a car (or his employees rather) to the port (in your case, that would need to be worked out by him), the car then goes to mainland Japan where it is disassembled. By disassembly I mean the drivetrain comes out of it, the tires have to come off of the wheels, gas tank has to be drained to a certain point, bunch of small things...it gets loaded into 2 containers, one with the chassis and one with the car, and shes off. Then when it gets to Florida (and I am not sure which port it goes to) he brings it through customs, has the car reassembled, it goes through the kit car procedures, then plated with a US VIN. This all takes aobut 8 weeks from Japan to your hands in Florida. (IDK about your situation) From my understanding, Florida is about the only place with a loophole in the system and thats how it is worked. This is this guys business, and I know he knows what hes doing. A friend of mine just picked his DC5R up in florida about 2 weeks ago. He said overall he was pleased with the guys service, his car is pretty much just like he give it to him, I guess there are a few small bugs here and there(which is too be expected for a car that gets disassembled) but overall...pretty good service.

Heres this guys information:
Shawn Jenison
shawnjenison@yahoo.com
Tsunami Motor Company, Inc. USA
Tsunami of Colours, Inc. USA
Tsunami of Colours, LLC, Japan.

I hope this is some good info for you and a place to start your process. This is about all I know on how to do it. Its pretty simple and straight forward.

-Frank

whoa, this is legit.

junkyard racer · Post by **junkyard racer** » June 7th, 2007, 6:04 pm

itrsteez:
100% legit. There is a DC5R rolling around Florida, thats a real good friend of mine (I have his DC2 now) thats the same people he went through. Id post pictures but he doesnt want his car on the internet, which is understandable. Sean is leagalizing about 5 cars a week right now. Another friend of mine is about to send a FD (RX7) back in Aug. Its alot of money, but its not at the same time. A guy I work with took a R34 GTR back, he said he couldnt be happier. This guy (the guy I work with) buys cars, drives them for a few months, and then sells them on ebay to the states, legalized and turns a huge profit every time.

soulassassin13:
Doing anything with the military and admin is a freaking nightmare and 99% of the time never trusting. Will they take it back, under strict guidelines, they wont legalize it, and they wont put it through customs. They will transport it from the port to your next duty station, but wont do any of the leg work. Also, the car has to be 25yo, or on the DMV import car list. Not to mention, this is paid for by the govt, but its re-embursed. So, you gotta pay for it all out of pocket, and then it gets handed back to you, after they scrutinize your reciepts. Worth the hassle, not to me. If your friend did it, thats awsome. He is one of the few as I have heard very very few people who are able to accomplish it through the govt. One more thing that bugs me, I have a guy at the port who has been helping me with a container (if I am able to bring my R back, money willing and my own expense, and my own doings) and everything, this guy has been SUPER helpful and his fees are very inexpensive and the guy went out on his own to learn english to help Americans. I have 100% faith in this guy, and his abilities. However, his Company isn't on the roster for exporters with the govt. so my re-embursement isn't going to happen. The company who is on the roster is the most untrustworthy company I can find at the port. No one speaks english, they aren't very gitty about finding someone who does speak english, and when I took my friend down there who did speak japaneese, the bastards still didn't want to help. This is the people the govt chose to pay.

-not the people I want handling my paper work, fax's, Japan customs stuff, title, not to mention loading my car and extra parts into there container.

So if you are getting my point, will the govt do it, sure they will. Would I trust them to do it, hell no. I hope you can see, i've done research on this.

soulassassin13 · Post by **soulassassin13** » June 7th, 2007, 7:59 pm

I never said it was going to be easy, but it is a way to get the car in the country. ITR's are on the list. I checked.

junkyard racer · Post by **junkyard racer** » June 7th, 2007, 8:15 pm

soulassassin13 wrote:I never said it was going to be easy, but it is a way to get the car in the country. ITR's are on the list. I checked.

Reference? The list they are showing me doesnt have an ITR.

x46359 · Post by **x46359** » June 7th, 2007, 11:11 pm

Wow guys...

Thanks for all the info.

Yea I am in the military so shipping it back to the states through the Army isn't a problem. It would be the whole process of getting it through customs and then getting it legalized.

I won't be staying much longer in the military so ultimately I'd like to drive it in Cali (where my home of record and state license is currently based) ... I'm not sure if this will be a problem.

But I will contact your friend and see what can be done. Again thanks for the input. I'll keep you guys updated with any new information / progress

Rich

soulassassin13 · Post by **soulassassin13** » June 8th, 2007, 2:53 am

California..... good luck with that =0(

junkyard racer · Post by **junkyard racer** » June 8th, 2007, 11:38 am

if you run it through florida, then drive it to cali, you shouldnt have any problems transfering it. I am not certain on this, but I believe that kit cars in cali are expempt from the emissions BS that you guys have to put up wiht, again, not sure...just a hear-say. I know my good friend Tim is taking his R34 back to cali, and he was mentioning something about the emissions, but I was a bit intoxicated at the time to remeber the info.

if you need a importer, and they take your car through the LA port (this is if you have the army do your 'work' for you, again, I dont think the Army will legalize it for you) shoot these people an email and tell them your situation.

NIK & Associates, Inc
800 S. Hindry Avenue
Inglewood CA 90301
310-215-8282
fax 310-649-0324
http://www.lacustoms.com

itr_b18c5 · Post by **itr_b18c5** » June 29th, 2007, 2:25 pm

where do you got to actually register the car if it is already in the states.....if it is a dc-2 how do you register it if the vin is mia

N_A_ITR_015* · Post by N_A_ITR_015* » June 29th, 2007, 4:03 pm

WOW.. seems like a lot of trouble but i'm positive very worth it in the end.

DO keep us posted, i would like to know how it goes and post pics..

good luck.

junkyard racer · Post by **junkyard racer** » July 1st, 2007, 4:16 am

I thought I had posted this link of another guy who did the importing all himself. This is from our local forum.

itrsteez · Post by **itrsteez** » July 7th, 2007, 12:27 am

junkyard...... this sounds very interesting, would this individual even go as far to purchase a vehicle on your behalf overseas?

junkyard racer · Post by **junkyard racer** » July 13th, 2007, 9:04 am