Japanese Car Import Regulations by Region
Every country sets its own rules for importing a used car. Three things decide whether a given car is even eligible: age, steering, and inspection. We check all three against your market before you bid — but it is worth understanding the patterns, because they are what make a car cheap in one market and unimportable in another.
Age limits across our markets
| Market | Age rule | Port |
|---|---|---|
| Hong Kong | No fixed age limit | Kwai Chung |
| UK | No fixed age limit | Southampton |
| Ireland | No fixed age limit | Dublin |
| Norway | No fixed age limit | Oslo / Drammen |
| New Zealand | No fixed age limit | Auckland |
| Guyana | No cap since 2020 | Georgetown |
| Tanzania | No cap, but higher excise over 8 years | Dar es Salaam |
| Australia | No fixed limit (25 yrs+ route) | Melbourne |
| Canada | 15 years or older | Vancouver |
| USA | 25 years or older | Los Angeles / Long Beach |
| Kenya | Under 8 years | Mombasa |
| Jamaica | Cars & SUVs: max 6 years | Kingston |
| Cyprus | Non-EU M1: max 5 years | Limassol |
| Malaysia | Open AP: 1–5 years | Port Klang |
| Singapore | Max 3 years at import | Singapore (PSA) |
Four patterns sit behind that table, and knowing which one your market uses tells you where to look in the auction catalogue.
No limit at all. Hong Kong, the UK, Ireland, Norway and New Zealand will take any age, subject to local tests and tax. These are the markets where a 1990s enthusiast car is as importable as a three-year-old one.
A rolling maximum age. Singapore (3 years), Cyprus (5), Jamaica (6) and Kenya (8) will only admit cars newer than a cut-off measured from first registration. The cut-off moves every year, so a car that is eligible this month may not be next year — this is the rule that most often spoils a plan, and it is measured from first registration in Japan, not from the model year.
A minimum age instead. The USA (25 years) and Canada (15 years) work the opposite way: a car becomes importable once it is old enough to be exempt from federal safety and emissions rules. This is why the Japanese market for export-grade classics is driven largely by North American demand, and why a car that just crossed the line jumps in price.
No cap, but duty rises with age. Tanzania admits any age but charges higher excise beyond 8 years, and Guyana removed its general cap in 2020. Here the question is not eligibility but arithmetic — an older car clears customs and then costs more at the border.
Right-hand vs left-hand drive
Japan is right-hand drive, which matches most of the markets we serve: the UK, Ireland, Kenya, Tanzania, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Jamaica, Guyana, Cyprus, Australia and New Zealand all register RHD cars normally.
The USA, Canada and Norway are left-hand-drive markets, and they still allow an RHD import — but by a narrower route. In the USA and Canada that route is the age exemption above; a car young enough to need federal compliance is effectively not importable, while one past 25 (or 15) is. Steering is rarely the blocking factor on its own; it is the rule that travels with it that matters.
Pre-export inspection
Some markets require a roadworthiness inspection in Japan, before the car is loaded — not on arrival. If your market is one of them, the certificate is part of the shipment and there is no way to add it later:
| Market | Body | Cost on our quote |
|---|---|---|
| Kenya | QISJ / KEBS | ¥35,000 |
| Tanzania | TBS Certificate of Roadworthiness (PVoC) | ¥35,000 |
| Guyana | ATJ Vehicle Inspection Certificate | ¥35,000 |
| Jamaica | ATJ pre-shipment inspection (PSI) | ¥45,000 |
Every other market on this page is ¥0 on that line. We arrange the inspection, and the certificate goes into your document pack — see pre-shipment inspection for what the inspector actually checks and what happens if a car fails.
What this means before you bid
The three rules interact. A Kenyan buyer is shopping a different auction catalogue from a Canadian one — under 8 years old versus at least 15 — and the inspection line adds ¥35,000 to one quote and nothing to the other. That is before freight, which varies more than either; see total landed cost for how the lines stack up.
Check your market
Rules change, and the rolling-age markets change every year by definition. Each country import guide carries the current age rule, steering, inspection body, port and duty position for that market, and we flag a car’s age and eligibility against your destination on every auction sheet we translate.