6G Celicas Forums

thats a good point

well, finding out the specific info on how to do it correctly was a pain, I spent a good month or more calling customs and the Department of transportation trying to find work arounds. Then I had to find out more about shipping and how international shipping worked and such and about FTZ. Yes now it seems easy since its all written down, but getting the info was nothing less then easy.

Course this is up for tweeks as soon as I actually go through with the purchase.

That car is still for sale.. now by a different person. Hmm!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...item=2484687905

Yes, there is always the posibility that, once you get the car it is beyond your means, to figure out how or if to make it legal or finding a grey solution.

I can only say to the risk, that once if you get your vehicle and you want sell it, that it might be difficult. Though if your trying to raise cash you could sell the car in halfs, the front and rear clips easily recouping the cost of the car.

As with everything with greater risk comes greater rewards, your getting a car with performance wise and looks similiar to a US $30,000 sports car at 1/5 the cost.

This post has been edited by coustoe: Jul 18, 2004 - 12:59 PM

Also as for switching out titles, From my experience with Police and Mechanics, Saftey Inspections and DMV. They (not once):

1. Never guess the correct model of my car (always think its a supra)
2. Never guess the correct year of my car (again they alway put down 2003-2004)

As for switching your current celica title to the GT4 I can only guess that they would be befundled at best.

Also I updated the first main post

This post has been edited by coustoe: Jul 18, 2004 - 1:05 PM

They use different fuel rating over in japan. What do you think is different about doing a 3sgte swap and a JDM gt4?

isn't 102 ron like 95 or less of our octane because we don't use ron.

I have an answer to your problem of making it legal to drive on the streets, but not too many people have access to this. You may be able to with a good bribe, though

Any licensed dealer in the United States has possession of several license plates with permanent tags that can be put on ANY car, ANYWHERE, without registration, VIN check, or anything. I have met one guy who imported his Evo V here when he moved from Japan on business. I was in Texas at the time for a family reunion and spotted it in a Walmart parking lot in San Antonio. I saw it was RHD, and I saw the guy walking toward it, so we talked some.

He basically said he put all his stuff in one container on a barge, all his personal items AND his car, and had it shipped to the FTZ in Mexico. The were no customs, so he could get it all off the boat with no problem. He had his brother in law, who is a trucker who frequently goes across the border, along with his wife, meet him at the port and they loaded his car and all his stuff into the trailer. They weren't checked by customs going back into Texas and he said it wouldn't have mattered anyhow, they would've just seen a bunch of personal items for a house since his car was covered and had stuff piled on top of it.

He had made a contact with a private dealer in Texas prior to shipping the car (his brother in law found one in desperate need of money), and arranged to pay him $2000 for the tag and his silence. He's had it on the road for a couple years now and has had NO problems whatsoever.

If any of you are able to get a plate, hook us all up

hmmm, never heard of that, sounds like a great idea though, have to look into it.

For $2000, you can just register it leagally after you have it here. As long as you have the orginial title from where its from. At least thats the way it is here in CT. Check out your local DOT/DMV.

ya its different in each state.

yeah and too bad there isnt any insurance on that car either... good luck if you hit someone

hmm well restating again: couldn't you just rip the tag off a similar car in the states and tell them its hooked up?? like the celica for gt4 or lancer for jdm evo.
also you can just buy a inspection sticker. this way you can put insurance on it and no1 will ever know

there IS a flaw in that thinking however- say you do get into an accident and you did switch vin's and had insurance- when it comes time to fix the car, it would be VERY apperant to the insurance company that this is no regular celica, or lancer, or whatever that they are dealing with because A) the parts are next to impossible to get, and B) the cost to fix the car is astronomical in comparison to similar accidents for this same type car... not to mention the people at the bodyshop would most likey catch on... So unless insurance fraud is fun to you i wouldent waste my time...

This post has been edited by saleeka: Jul 20, 2004 - 11:36 PM

thast wht i was thinkin, maybe even buy a wreked celica, and register it, then put the vin on the gt4, then if ne1 asks, say u did the gt4 front end convertion

I've been unfortunately in many fender benders, 1 or 2 my fault the others were cases of bad D.C. drivers.

What usually happens after a wreck, you'll take your car to your insurance estimator, he/she will look at the damage and write out a detailed estimate. They will either send you the check for the estimated amount or send the money to the bodyshop where you are going to get it fixed.

Also If you have X modifications to your car and want to be reimbursed, then the insurance company usually wants proof either that your purchased so modification or at least a picture of so modification, if you expect it to be repaired.

I have told my insurance company of all the modifications to my car, they have said that everything is covered. Every time ive gotten in a fender bender my insurance company has covered my modifications.

Example: my car was broken into and the stereo ripped out, the dashboared vinyl was torn also the dashboard kit i installed was cracked. The estimator asked specifically how much the dashboard kit cost and put that down in the estimate for replacement.

I had my insurance company research the insurance cost on a GT4, they said initially they didnt have that in their database and they would get back to me in a few days, eventually they came up with something and it wasnt too bad, a bit more then my current celica, but thats to be expected witha more aggresive car. But ya they said they would provide insurance if i decided to get.

ok but thats assuming YOU are at fault... the other person's insurance company definetly will not be as generous...

doesnt matter if they want to be generous or not, its the law, if its their fault and im driving a porche then they have to regardless cover the cost.

yes that works perfectly until the other insurance company who is paying to fix will not cover your car because they come to realise that the car has a swapped vin on it and that the car is not street legal, in which the case you are intitled to NOTHING seeing as you have a fraudulant insurance claim for a car that isnt supposed to be driven on public roads in the first place...