I am a rural carrier in CA and am looking for a JDM vehicle for my route. I've read that registering a JDM in CA is really difficult and expensive. Wondering if anyone in CA has experience with this, what are the registration specifications, how long is the process, is it worth it?
CA POV Registration
- Thread starter niah.girl
- Start date
JDM ?
Unclewolverine
Well-known member
Unclewolverine
Well-known member
I imagine a jdm cherokee, gas toyota surf, or rav 4 probably wouldn't be an issue because they sold stateside versions. Where people run into issues is vehicles that were never sold here before, in any form. Especially diesels, commiefornia hates diesels. The surf and hiace guys say it can cost 10k to get one of their oil burners registered there.
Beanut
Well-known member
Some states make it difficult to register when you buy directly from Japan. But if you transfer from another state where it has already titled it makes it easier.
I’m in NY and was also told it could be difficult, and I didn’t want go through the hassles of setting up the import with fees, waiting, going to the port to pick it up, then going through the vehicle to flush fluids and checking/changing belts, cables (dry rot), brakes ect..
I purchased from a guy in Tennessee, who imports thousands, goes through the vehicle, gets it ready to drive. It cost a bit more, but so worth it. It was delivered to my door. And ready to drive, immediately. All I had to do was transfer the title to NY & get insurance.
It is exempt from emission inspection, because of being an import, so brake, lights, and horns are all that get checked.
