Importing car parts and wheels from Japan

Japan is the source of a huge share of the world's used performance parts, wheels and engines. The parts are excellent. The logistics, done carelessly, are not. These are the decisions that matter.

Weight is the whole story

A set of wheels, a gearbox or a long block is heavy and awkwardly shaped. Air freight on such items is usually unaffordable, and even EMS hits its weight and size ceiling quickly. Sea freight, consolidated with other purchases, is almost always the answer.

Packing parts for a sea crossing

• Wheels: protect the faces with foam or board and strap them in pairs.
• Body panels: brace them flat, never let them flex, and wrap them in foam plus board.
• Engines and gearboxes: drain fluids, seal openings, mount on a pallet and secure with steel strapping.
• Small parts: box them as a set, so a shipment cannot arrive incomplete.
• Add desiccant or a rust-preventive treatment for bare metal.

Customs classification and duties

Car parts attract a duty rate that depends on the part and on the destination country, so the HS code matters a great deal. Engines, gearboxes, wheels, tyres, electronics and body panels all sit in different classifications, and a wrong one changes the import cost substantially.

Used parts are declared at their actual market value, and the invoice should state the part number, the vehicle the part fits and its condition.

Restrictions worth checking first

• Engines and complete vehicles face import restrictions in many countries.
• Used tyres are banned or heavily restricted in several markets.
• Parts containing fluids or oils have to be drained before shipping.
• Airbags, seatbelt pretensioners and similar safety parts are often classed as dangerous goods.

Consolidating a parts order

Most buyers do not want one gearbox; they want a pallet of parts from three suppliers. Receiving everything in Kobe, checking it against the order, palletising it properly and shipping once is what turns a pile of individual parcels into a workable shipment.

Timing matters too. Parts are bought as they appear, and a rare gearbox will not wait for a container to fill up. The practical answer is to store the small urgent items until the heavy ones arrive, then ship the whole lot together, so that nothing is held up and nothing has to be sent twice.