The number people quote is the auction price. It is the least useful number in the whole process, because it is never what you pay. What matters is the landed cost — the car, on your driveway, complied and registered.
Here is every line that sits on top of the hammer price for a New Zealand import, in the order it hits you.
Auction and Japan-side fees
Cars are bought in Japan through our auction partner LogiNet, priced in yen. LogiNet's agency fee is a fixed ¥250,000 for cars up to ¥2,000,000. Above that the car moves onto a higher agency tier, and we confirm the exact fee with you before you bid.
Shipping
NZD $1,950 covers ocean freight, bunker adjustment and the import entry levies. Typical transit is three to four weeks on the water.
GST — the line people forget
This is the one that catches first-time importers. New Zealand GST is 15%, and Customs does not charge it on the car alone. It is charged on the Value For Duty: the vehicle plus what it cost to get here.
So GST is calculated on the vehicle price plus the agency fee plus the shipping — not on the hammer price. That difference runs to several hundred dollars, and it is the single most common reason a budget comes up short.
Our service fee
A flat NZD $1,000. That covers the bidding account, translating and interpreting the auction sheet before you commit, and running the shipping and paperwork at both ends.
Compliance and entry certification
Entry certification through VTNZ is $403. That is the inspection itself.
What that figure does not include is any repair the car needs in order to pass. That is genuinely impossible to predict from a listing, and it is why we read the auction sheet properly before you bid rather than after.
A worked example
A ¥1,500,000 car, with a $1,200 Clean Car fee and $800 of on-road costs, lands like this at a rate of ¥1 = NZD 0.0111 (September 2026). The yen moves daily — the calculator uses the current rate.
| Vehicle price (¥1,500,000) | NZD $16,650 |
|---|---|
| LogiNet agency fee (¥250,000) | NZD $2,775 |
| Shipping, BAF & import entry levies | NZD $1,950 |
| NZ Customs GST (on vehicle + agency fee + freight) | NZD $3,206 |
| Urban Imports import fee | NZD $1,000 |
| Compliance & entry certification | NZD $403 |
| CO2 / Clean Car fee | NZD $1,200 |
| On-road costs | NZD $800 |
| Total to land | NZD $27,984 |
That is roughly two-thirds on top of the hammer price. It is not a hidden markup — every line above is a real cost paid to a real party — but it is why "I found one for fifteen grand" and "it cost me fifteen grand" are different sentences.
What this does not cover
Whether a specific car is eligible to be imported at all, and what it needs to meet New Zealand standards, depends on the vehicle. We check that for the actual car you are looking at before any money moves — ask us about the one you have in mind rather than working from a general rule.
Every figure here is an estimate, not a quote. Run your own numbers in the calculator, or send us the car and we will price it properly.