wrav003

MAZDA Tribute is Same as Ford Escape... Engines are from ford as I heard...

Bought it last year before the TAX reduction as that was the only option I had. very few vehicles to choose from last year. And got it for 10.05mil which was considered a awesome deal before the TAX reduction. Hope Still can sell it more. Good car but can't compare with Harrier which are much nicer to drive in my point of view. VW Touareg is out of my league. Nice cars though.. RX330 could be the best option for me as I checked the pricing for a RX 350 (2008) in Japan today. FOB is JPY 5 mil + ,so no point calculating the TAX as it would be something crazy. planing to wonder around some yards this week... Thx for the ideas will try to find and test drive a Outlander as well.

Because its got High-Tech SPY gear like in the movies........

Hello Friends, I am considering upgrading my old 2001 Harrier with a new one. I am loving my current car but has clocked 250,000kms with no problems. But it has become bit shaky since looking for a new ride. Any idea how much a 2008 Harrier would cost since i couldn't find any? Any other recommended alternatives? Like Nissan Murano. I don't like Prado...since too much attention and not classy. I ve got a 2008 Prado and hate it since too fat for SL roads to drive like a lorry and too much attention. So has clocked only 20,000kms from new. Thanks for ur recommendations in advance...

Hello, From my experiance of importing a vehicle, I could have saved about 12 laks by undervaluing a particular vehicle. To do this you will have to T/T part of your payement to Japan. And the rest in L/C. The main reason for this is high prices fethced in Japan for most of the high demand vehicles for Sri Lanka. So the FOB value could be higher than the value given by the agent. Normally tax is calculated using the value given by local Agent. However if your FOB is higher than the agent value, the TAX is calculated using you FOB. Thats the way SL Customs works. Hope this helps...

+2 True That....

My Predictions 1) Goverment revenue will decrease from OCT 2010 -DEC 2010 (This is guranteed) 2) Goverment revenue will decrease from JAN 2011 - APR 2011 (As people will wait for more cuts in the 2011 mid year budget) 3) If they don't reduce the tax as stated in NOV 2010, some people will be left out with their DREAMS and also delay their new buy. In conclusions; 1) This goverment official is a idiot. (bad for the goverment income for the next 6mths) atleast 2) Bad for all of us 3) Credibility of the goverment goes down the drain. For me I will buy what ever I can afford and enjoy it rather waiting and getting dissapointed.

I wish they would. But it will the loose the integrity/trust of this government, so highly unlikely. This government has been the smartest I ve ever seen. Fingers crossed they might increase the TAX. Hope NOT!!!

Hello Asanka, Give some chance to car dealers. They are not a charity. It takes around 3months to complete a deal from ordering in Japan to sell and clear the money in Sri Lanka. It also has big risk involved, you could get a lemon which you will have to fix it up. If you invested 3.5mn for a import would you be happy with 0.3mn profit? I don't think so. Risk is too high.......... I have personally imported a van this month and cost me almost 5.5mn. If I want to sell it i want atleast 6.5mn, which I don't. If you don't want to pay the dealer margins why not import it ur self rather winning? Trust me it is not the easiest process. Happy Blogging!!! wrav001

From the start tell your supplier that you want to undervalue your vehicle.. So make sure all your invoices show the reduced value from the start. (i:e : 30% off) Send that undervalued amount via a money vendor(black market) to your supplier. (black money or wahtever they call it) Open the L/C for the rest of the value(70% in this case)..... Make sure all your documets only show the value as you stated in your L/C. Otherwise you could be in big trouble.

No worries... I learnt all my basics of importing from AL threads. Glad that I can add some input...

I was told by my clearing agent it was around 3mil. Didn't want to ask more since I knew I made a huge mistake and was embarrassed/mad. I don't get how they calculate TAX at all. I thought I did know. Yes it is the Fat white one (most basic model). I saw a 2006 Super GL on AL for 6.3mil, which is much flashier than mine.

Any thoughts?

Hey Guys, I imported a hiace van from Japan, my CIF value was more than the valve T**** Lanka has given so had to pay extra 6laks as duty. Vehicle : 2006/08 Hiace DX 48,000kms CIF : Rs 2,400,000 (real) Tax : Rs. 3,100,000 Total : Rs. 5,500,000 But if I undervalued or put a smaller CIF I would have only paid Rs 2,500,000 as TAX which makes my total cost Rs 4,900,000 Only positive is I got a beauty. still worth the money... Lesson learnt : Next time UNDERVALUE IT....

I wonder who needs grammer lessons... This is a blog not an english class. Don't point finger at others as it will haunt you.

Sorry my bad as well. It is a Naturally Aspirated engine.... No turbo or a supercharger As per wikipedia;The S2000 (F20C) engine won the International Engine of the Year award in the "1.8 to 2 litre" size category for five years from 2000 through 2004. I think this a good option for a cheap reliable fast car.....

Hello, The best bet would be a Ford Escort Mk1 or Mk2 (60's and 70's 1600CC, pretty fast) You can pimp up those engines quite easily. I have seen a Mk1(2door) on AL for 350,000 a while ago. Thought it was a bargain. Later on if you managed to save up bit of money you can upgrade the engine. Mk1 and Mk2 nicely take the Honda S2000 engine,gearbox and ECU (US$3500) 260HP factory engine,Fastest 2L engine ever produced for a production car. If you google/youtube Escort with S2000 engines, you will get a good idea.

Sounds like an idelling problem. Idelling motors in GDI engines are well known for problems. Also replace the fuel filter, if you haven't done in for a long time. Google GDI idelling problems and you will find heaps of good stuff. Correct me if sound pretty wrong...

Sounds like an idelling problem. Idelling motors in GDI engines are well known for problems. Also replace the fuel filter, if you haven't done in for a long time. Google GDI idelling problems and you will find heaps of good stuff. Correct me if sound pretty wrong...

Yes it is fixed by Ministry of finance. This has been talked in this thread few time, please go through the links above; Anyways I have copied this from the customs website. Less than or equal 6 months Nil Nil (Car & Van) More than 6 months and less than or equal 1year 90% 90% (Car & Van) More than 1 year and less than or equal 1 1/2year 80% 80%(Car & Van) More than 1 years tmd less than or equal 2 years 80% 70%(Car & Van) More than 2 years and less than or equal 2 1/2years 75% 65%(Car & Van) More than 2 1/2 years and less than or equal 3 years 70% 60%(Car & Van) More than 3 years and less than or equal 3 1/2years 55%(Vans only) More than 3 1/2 years and less than or equal 4 years 50%(Vans only) More than 4 years and less than or equal 4 1/2years 50%(Vans only) More than 4 1/2 years and less than or equal 5 years 50%(Vans only)

Thanks Fire Dragon, BUT The issue is 2,000,000yen was the depreciated valve. (50%)off. The toyota valuation is 4,000,000yen for a basic Hiace which make sense as a brand new in Hiace in Japan is around US$35,000. I paid yen1,850,000 (23laks Rs) as the CIF value (Cost of car,shipping and insuarance and JAAI). I will let you know my total cost early next month with a breakdown .. asked my clearing agent Hez confussed too, yet to clear any cars under new system. I asked T** l**a last year how much a hiace cost and the answer was 11+million

Hello Fire Dragon, Where did you get these numbers? Sorry to tell you that they don't quite add up, since I am half way in the process of getting a 2006 Hiace KDH200. It will cost me 50+laks which i will know soon exactly. CIF for my van was 23laks since i didn't want a high k van which i could get for 12laks(200,000kms on the clock). still the tax will be 30+laks. depreciated value for a 2006 hiace is Yen2,000,000 give by T** lanka Please let me know if my calculations are wrong...much appreciated. Cheers

No, this does not guarantee ODO is genuine. Please refer following link; http://www.j-cars.com/odometer1.php?PHPSES...e717eda4250c1d2 ODO fraud is usually carried out by local dealers after arrival as far as I have experience... Specially lorries imported by dealers got 50,000kms on board:) You will have to to do a JAAI certificate before ordering which is guaranteed to be genuine as they check for tampering... http://www.jaai.or.jp/jaaiimage/pdf/yushutu_e.pdf Hope this helps...

Hi, I am not a car importer just trying to get one for myself. So learning this on the go..It was not an auction car. Direct purchase from a user by a car dealer in Japan. So did a JEVIC before we purchased it. US$350 for this... This was checked by a friend of mine in Japan. He told me its all genuine ODO and no accident history. Apparently if you even had a minor accident in Japan it will go in its record. or "kai" mark. And then my friend purchased it from the Japaneese dealer since he doesn't do L/C. So my mate had to open the L/C....He did a JAAI certificate and in the boat to SL now. Finally arriving on 10th Aug..after all the drama. JAAI and JEVIC certificates are 100% trustworthy. But our dealers change the electronic ODOs after landing. Not everyone but some. Friend of mines cambelt failed at 40,000kms later on we checked that it had 145,000kms on it when it arrived to Colombo. If you do this in Japan you will go to jail, but you can't do anything to the dealer here unless you are a thug:) which we aren't. So if you are buying from a dealer ask for the JAAI ODO certificate. They will have it. And check the whether its genuine...

I thought I ve driven faster, obviously not... 135kmph Toyota Hiace Dolphin SuperGL 1989 (almost killed my self once) 120kmph Toyota Prado Petrol 3.5 V6 2008 (not mine, fathers and don't want to make any dings on his pride and joy)