The figure most people focus on is the auction price. However, this is only the starting point — it does not represent what you will ultimately pay.
What matters is the true landed cost: the total amount required to have the vehicle delivered to your driveway in New Zealand, fully complied and registered.
Below is a complete breakdown of every cost added on top of the auction price, listed in the order they typically occur throughout the import process.
Japan-side and auction fees
Vehicles are purchased in Japan, priced in yen. Japan costs add about ¥100,000 per car for transport, auction fee, export clearance and port handling, and depend on where the car is.
Shipping
NZD $1,950 covers ocean freight, bunker adjustment charges and import entry levies.
Typical transit time from Japan to New Zealand is approximately 3–4 weeks.
GST
This is one of the most commonly overlooked costs for first-time importers. New Zealand GST is 15%, and Customs calculates it on the Value for Duty — not simply the vehicle purchase price.
The taxable value generally includes the vehicle price, our fee, the Japan costs and shipping costs. This means GST is calculated on the total import value rather than just the auction hammer price.
This can add several hundred dollars to the overall cost — making it one of the most common reasons an initial import budget falls short.
Our service fee
Our fee is set in yen on the price of the car: a flat ¥150,000 for cars under ¥3,000,000, 6% of the car price from ¥3,000,000 up, and 5% for supercars and exotics such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Porsche GT and Aston Martin.
Beyond selecting your vehicle, our team manages the entire import process from start to finish. This includes access to our auction platform, bidding services, auction sheet translation and expert vehicle advice, inland and international shipping, documentation and logistics coordination, and dedicated end-to-end support throughout the entire process.
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 |
|---|---|
| Urban Imports fee (¥150,000 flat) | NZD $1,665 |
| Japan costs (about ¥100,000) | NZD $1,110 |
| Shipping, BAF & import entry levies | NZD $1,950 |
| NZ Customs GST (on vehicle + fee + Japan costs + freight) | NZD $3,206 |
| Compliance & entry certification | NZD $403 |
| CO2 / Clean Car fee | NZD $1,200 |
| On-road costs | NZD $800 |
| Total to land | NZD $26,984 |
That is roughly 60% 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.