Importing BMW Z3 from Japan to Canada

[Tim010]

Hi everyone, I decided to import a Z3 from Japan to Canada and finally found a suitable one a few days ago that I won at auction. There didn't seem to be much choice within Canada and the car I got has 73,000km and is a one owner car. I considered importing one from the US but with the crappy exchange rate our end and the good deals in Japan I decided to purchase from the auctions there.

It was originally built in Germany then officially imported to Japan and is a 2.0 litre LHD car. It received a very good auction grade of 4.5 so hoping it will be as good as it sounds when it arrives at my house in a few months. I've used a highly recommended broker in Japan (Mark Bremner at Brave Auto International) and am using a guy local to me in Alberta to handle the logistics of the deal from this side.

I only have the generic auction photos at the moment but should get a full album soon of the car once it is tested to ensure it is as described prior to export. I've attached a few photos below and hopefully they upload ok.

Tim

[bdex75]

Those are such fun cars to drive when they are sorted properly. I had a M Coupe back in the day with a bunch of Dinan parts on it. Ran pretty well.


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[Laszlo]

It sounds more doable than to the US. I hope you figure it out, great car.

[Tim010]

Originally Posted by Laszlo

It sounds more doable than to the US. I hope you figure it out, great car.

Yeah any car over 15 years old can be imported into Canada without any issues. Some minor advantages on the Japan cars are the speedometer is solely KMH and they seem to be fairly low mileage. A lot of the cars in the US seemed to be fairly high miles comparatively.

Obviously it would be preferable to view the car in person prior to buying but even if I bought the car from the US it would more likely be from one of the southern states which would cost me a good amount of $$$ to get it to the border and then similar importation costs as those are from Japan anyway.

The shitty exchange rate for me as well didn't help regarding buying one from the US. It's about $1.30 CAD to buy $1.00 US at the moment so not even close to par anymore.

Tim

[RW16610]

You'll have a blast in the summer hitting the open road with this thing. Update us further once it arrives

[timedate]

Fair play to you, its something i have wanted to do for a while, but i always find a reason not to. I am after a landcruiser amazon, the british stuff is a minefield with chassis rust issues, there are good ones, but they tend to be few and far between. I was considering buying from california and having to adapt to lhd, but japan obviously means i wouldnt have that difference.

What auction house did you use?

Good luck with this, i love the Z3, i reckon you will be happy with a good auction rating like that.

[brandrea]

Congratulations in advance, looks like a fun one

[Chrislec]

Awesome car, awesome design. I own mine for 16 years. a beautiful limited edition in British racing green with M design. I drive it very rarely, it's like taking out the jewels (less than 20,000km at the counter, yes!) But what an amazing pleasure when coming back home and taking it out on sea shore roads on in the countryside hills...

You won't regret it. You'll have a lot of fun with it!

PS: you said produced in Germany... They were all produced in the US factory if I remember well.

[Rolex Essex]

How bizarre. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone importing a German car from Japan.

I remembered watching a documentary that all old z3s were built in the US.

[timedate]

Originally Posted by Rolex Essex

Isn’t the z3 available to buy in Canada??

maybe like the uk, full of rot and wants a japanese rust free example.

[Tim010]

Originally Posted by timedate

Fair play to you, its something i have wanted to do for a while, but i always find a reason not to. I am after a landcruiser amazon, the british stuff is a minefield with chassis rust issues, there are good ones, but they tend to be few and far between. I was considering buying from california and having to adapt to lhd, but japan obviously means i wouldnt have that difference.

What auction house did you use?

Good luck with this, i love the Z3, i reckon you will be happy with a good auction rating like that.

USS Tokyo was the auction house.

[Tim010]

Originally Posted by Chrislec

Awesome car, awesome design. I own mine for 16 years. a beautiful limited edition in British racing green with M design. I drive it very rarely, it's like taking out the jewels (less than 20,000km at the counter, yes!) But what an amazing pleasure when coming back home and taking it out on sea shore roads on in the countryside hills...

You won't regret it. You'll have a lot of fun with it!

PS: you said produced in Germany... They were all produced in the US factory if I remember well.

Yeah I stand corrected, they were all built in the US. Some of them got a German VIN for some reason.

Tim