How much is it worth?

Hello beautiful community,
I have a Land Cruiser turbo diesel
It has 600k miles . How much can I sell it if I bring it to the states? Thanks

 

Wherever it is now, it'll net more. The cost of putting it in a container and then putting a local title on it is going to offset whatever you think you'll get for it.

 

yeah it’s in the Middle East, Somalia

 

When I was in Angola I followed along as a coworker bought a 4Runner off ebay for 5 grand, sight unseen. He then arranged to have it trucked from Oklahoma to Houston, and then from there he arranged a half-container for it. All total he paid 17k USD for vehicle plus import, and he did that because he still paid less than half of what the average used SUV was selling for in West Africa.

Even with the odd eccentric collector wanting a diesel cruiser here, it'll sell for more money and will sell faster where it's at now. The demand will be higher and the costs will be lower.

 

Oh I see so customs and shipping costs will be higher?

 

JDM af.

Konnichiwa, bitches.

 

I'm saying that whatever price it will sell for in Somalia, it will not be less than the price it grabs in the US after you deduct import expenses.

 

and that's assuming it can even be legally imported.

1. you don't specify the age, but it must be more than 25 years old to be capable of being imported.

2.with the recent desirable japanese bubble-era cars becoming legal to import, there's also a massive influx of imported vehicles that certain places are also working to actively deny allowing importation into the US, citing emissions and safety equipment differences.
https://www.theautopian.com/georgia...ls-to-ban-the-titling-of-japanese-kei-trucks/

3. because the land cruiser does have a US variant, you'd also be responsible for establishing, certifying, and altering the entire vehicle to US specs for emissions and crash worthiness using american parts. headlights, left hand drive conversion, and all applicable emissions specifications.

if the entire process cost less than $20k, i'd be surprised. and that's not including the cost of the vehicle.

 

$12

 

Complicating matters is that that is obviously a Japanese market vehicle with right hand drive and the fender mounted mirror for Japanese city driving. It was intended for the Japanese market and wound up half a world away… somehow.

Most export vehicles are at least intended for sale in the country you’re exporting them from.

And I’m guessing anything resembling a legitimate paper trail for that vehicle ended 15 to 20 years ago.

 

it's a really nice truck, i just have significant doubts that there's any reasonable legal way for it to the enter the US.

but 600,000 miles is impressive. even if it's kilometers(as a typical RHD vehicle would measure distance traveled), that's still 372,822 miles, which is no less impressive.

 

True story- paper trails are surprisingly important. My grandad had a Mercedes imported from an overseas job in 1990, and in a weird fit of sticking it to the man, he refused to change the registration. For 20 years he drove that car on it's original plates. He got pulled over maybe three times, and that was only because the cop was curious what country he was from, and why his plate was baby blue and had two rows of letters.

We went to sell that car in 2016, and NOBODY was willing to touch it. That car had the title, it had the bill of sale, the records of import, it had paper copies of every oil change and every tire purchase. Also, aside from the driver's seat showing cracked leather, the rest of the car was tip-top. But it was never registered in the states, and the window to do so was closed by 25 years.

No dealer wanted it, the local car donation place turned it away, the two scrap yards I called said hell no. The car had paperwork, but no verifiable paper trail. Last I heard, the car went to live in the barn of a church member. He promised that he was going to work on getting it registered and use it as his personal. Maybe he was successful, maybe he chopped it, or maybe it's rotting in a field somewhere. I don't know.

But lesson learned. Sticking it to the man has unpredictable consequences.

 

1997 was the end of the 80 Series. No issues with 25 year rule for import.

 

import as non-op, list it as furniture.

 

getting into grey area's here.

there was a guy doing exactly this with r32 gt-r's. in order to be non-op, he'd pull the driveline in austrailia, ship cars and the drivelines over in separate crates, and then re-marry the two back in the states.

i guess the main law he got hung on was that he was maintaining matching the vins to the car and motor throughout the process. supposedly, if he had installed the motor from 'car A' into 'car B', and 'car A' got 'car B's motor, i guess there's some laws allowing that to some extent, as then the car is no longer 'original' or 'complete'.

but the larger reality is that there's only so much workarounds you can make in this case if the final goal is to legally register and title it within the states as a motor vehicle.

the old adage "don't steal from the government, they don't like competition" has a certain ring here.

 

That looks like Tonka, or Buddy L was behind that LC build.

 

Bring it into a state that will register/title abandoned vehicles, park it out back of the barn, flatten the tires, throw a coating of heavy dust on it, and wait three months. Then get an officer out to inspect the vin number and run a stolen vehicle check on it... and they will issue a new title in your name.

Badda bing, badda boom...

 

That 80 Series is more than 25 years old. What in the heck are you guys going on about???

https://www.nhtsa.gov/importing-vehicle/importation-and-certification-faqs

"A motor vehicle that is at least 25 years old can be lawfully imported into the U.S. without regard to whether it complies with all applicable FMVSS. Such a vehicle would be entered under Box 1 on the HS-7 Declaration form to be given to Customs at the time of importation. If you wish to see that form, you may download a copy from our website at nhtsa.gov/importing-vehicle. You should note that the 25 year period runs from the date of the vehicle's manufacture. If the date of manufacture is not identified on a label permanently affixed to the vehicle by its original manufacturer, to establish the age of the vehicle, you should have documentation available such as an invoice showing the date the vehicle was first sold or a registration document showing that the vehicle was registered at least 25 years ago. Absent such information, a statement from a recognized vehicle historical society identifying the age of the vehicle could be used."

 

real easy until you find out that that most japanese vehicles only have a 9-digit VIN instead of the US-standard 14-digit VIN.