Dsr1203

Just a question to toss out there...

Lets say i wanted to buy a New Honda Fit with Right hand drive or a New Civic with Right hand drive...

Is there any dealership's maybe in cali that can order them ? Is this even possible ?
Is it legal ? Just tossing some ideas around in my head...

Any info of who to call to find out if it can be done would be awesome...

raffiawakim

well, having worked at my uncle inlaws honda dealership in north scottsdale for 7+ years i can answer a couple of those questions to the best of my ability.... but by no means am i 100 percent sure...


there are no Honda dealerships in the united states that will import a japanese market car to a us market dealership. Honda wouldnt even allow us to purchase cars that were made for the Canadian market.

that doesnt mean that you cannot purchase one... We had a customer that used to purchase vehicles from our fleet department and send the to Dubai and Japan. From my knowledge, for example... Lincoln navigators, Cadillac escalades, and Ford excursions were frequently purchased from our fleet department and shipped on a boat to the middle east and Japan apparently because they dont offer those large SUVs in those countries... So, you would have to find a person (dealer, wholesaler or broker) in Japan that would do the same. Even if you do purchase the car, it would be most probably sent to the docks in california where it would be in customs for 6 to 8 months.. when released from customs you would pick it up from the docks and THEN have to deal with the bullshit of DOT approval!!!! i personally think you are better off purchasing a jdm front clip from one of those companies that import performance goodies and do a swap..


again, thats just what i remember when i wanted to purchase a 1999 nissan z32... i found it for a rediculously low price but i would have to jump thru all those hoops...


on the plus side, if you do end up getting a jdm car, since there is an american version of it, the dot approval is not as difficult... you would have to change out all the glass on the car in order to meet dot and make sure all of the emissions devices are intact....

i know there are alot of intelligent members in this forum, so if you can add anything to that, or correct me, i would love to know.. please dont crucify me about my inability to use punctuation correctly!!@@@##$%,.,.?

I WAS REALLY GOOD AT GEOMETRY, BUT NOT IN ENGLISH. gimme a break, im iraqi.

j0oftheworld

All said and done it would NOT be worth buying, converting, the cars.
People that you see here w. JDM cars are usually USDM conversions or in the rare instance actual JDM cars that have been made DOT but at great cost.
There's a few websites who sell JDM clips and I know theres a few RHD cars for sale in town right not. Not brand new but used.
On a side note, I think you can register a JDM show car for something like 2yrs but then it can't be re-reg'ed here ever again. Alot of rally/car show/rich peeps just go this route since it avoids the conversion all together.
Thats all bits/pieces info I've heard from friends who've known people involved w. this sort of thing. Not gospel.

Ragingazn

you're better off going to LA or san fran to look for these cars of which have already been registered.

gt30r

I drive a rhd vehicle everyday but it wasn't built in Japan, lol

9KRDLIN

theres always tricks to get around, but in the end it just comes down to $$$ (cash)... no financing here buddy, you got to have cold hard cash to get it here. and jump through all the hoops... very little would need be done, and it wouldn't be 6-8 months, but you wouldn't see your baby for a few months after you forked out the dough. i know a company motorex.com will import cars from there. theres also guys i know that do it, so if you still want to procede, shoot me a pm, and i will see what i can do to help. warning: you will spend a lot more money this way, at least $20k+

louieville

I thought that motorex went out of business? I'm from NM and I have friends that have real right hand drives. They own a shop in Roswell, NM called 1320 Motorsports I know he currently is selling a blue EG on GSR blades with a B16, blue Recaro SRD's, currently I don't think its registered in NM but I'm not sure. He's also got an 88 CRX, set up for track duty. It's got a cage and a carb motor thats been tuned I think.

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