[rjracin240]

Hoping that if all goes to plan I will become the proud owner of a 1998 Primera GT from England. My friend has already purchased it and is doing some maintenance work to it such as rack re-build new steering pump and new rear calipers. Have some interesting back story as my friend used to work for Nissan UK and the Primera was on of his projects. Also one of his friends I met in April when I was over this year worked and test drove them for Nissan.
Hope to import it beginning of 2023 when it turns 25, a little over a year from now.

Anyone on here imported one before? Any tips on going through this process from those that have imported cars before?

 

[trbobrk]

Yes/No.

Yes I exported a P11 GTSE from the UK, but as you know it ain't legal here yet, so it is waiting in Canada for me. Mine was built in February, so I got 16 months to go.
I've imported a bunch of P10s from Japan though.

The UK rear calipers are garbage. I'd swap for G20 rear brakes when you get here.

Where are you at? RORO to the east coast would be the easiest. Mine went out of Southampton.

 

[rjracin240]

Awesome reply, appreciate the information.
Looking forward to bringing it in.
Have a quote from Southhampton RORO to Jacksonville FL, with Jacksonville being local to me.
Think it will be a fun unique car to take to places like Cars & Coffee. Something different than the Sylvia's and Skylines.
Saw today somebody had put 350Z and Maxima rear calipers.
Am open to learning more about brake swaps.
Do they go by model year or 25th birthday of car?

 

[trbobrk]

NHTSA goes by production month of the specific car. e.g. my car was made in February 1998 so February 2023 is when it is legal.

I don't know how they check that, it isn't on the V5C anywhere. Date of first registration is what shows up on the UK paperwork. Which in my case is actually 3/31 since officially the GTSE wasn't supposed to be sold until April but looks like mine jumped the gun a tiny bit or maybe the dealer had ordered up plates for it so it would be ready.

Stick your VIN in one of the parts system decoders like partsouq.com and you should be able to get something like this:

Brand: NISSAN
Name: PRIMERA
Date: 02.1998
Trim color: K - GREY
Frame Color: KV7 - PLATINUM
Model: BBYARUFP11EEAUP
Market: UK-Europe (RHD)
Body Style: SEDAN
Engine: SR20DEH


As far as importation is concerned, you'll need a NHTSA HS-7 Declaration Form HS7 | NHTSA
and a EPA 3520-1 EPA Standard Form 3520-1 – Declaration Form – Importation of Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Engines Subject to Federal Air Pollution Standards | US EPA
And some sort of entry summary for CBP which I don't know what it looks like for boat shipping cause I've always done the import via land border through Canada.

You'll need a customs broker to file these for you. Shouldn't cost more than a few hundred bucks (maybe$350ish) for them to fill out the paperwork. Find someone in Jacksonville All that stuff needs to be in order before the car leaves England.

Also because of port security, you'll need to hire an escort with a TWIC card to get access to the port and get the car.
Whatever you pay for shipping costs and marine insurance, the last part of the journey is the unloading and that costs like a $150 or something which is weird because you don't get a notification until the boat is basically arriving, but then you can't clear customs until you pay it and they make you wire the money which banks charge dumb fees for and are only open during the business hours of the federal reserve bank.

Oh and duty. So because it is a car, it is 3% duty for the first $1000 of the value of the car and 2.5% of the remainder. Which for a P11 isn't going to be much.

When I shipped my car from Southampton, I simply drove it down there cause it was still on taxed UK plates. Because of my travel dates, I had to leave the car on a Sunday morning, hop a train back to London and fly out Monday. But on Sunday the port wasn't open; my shipper guy had arranged for a place I could take it. Basically Southampton is a huge cruise ship terminal as well as port so there are large indoor car parks for all the people out on cruises. I simply valeted the car with them (and gave them a half a bottle of 12 year Lagavulin and told them to watch after my baby) and the shipper came for it later that week. If you do something like that though, know that on the day before the cruise ships leave all the hotels are full so I actually had to stay over in Bournemouth which wouldn't have been a big deal except I arrived without a reservation at like 11:30pm at night with very little fuel in the car, no fuel stations were open, then had to race over to Bournemouth and the hotel lobby for the place that did still have rooms wasn't open 24hrs like a lot of American hotels so the front desk person was just leaving when I arrived on fumes and was like I'm here to check in lol. Anyway I made it. Car has to be empty, and clean, especially the undercarriage. I just ran it through the Tesco touchless car wash a couple times and called it good.

 

[rjracin240]

NHTSA goes by production month of the specific car. e.g. my car was made in February 1998 so February 2023 is when it is legal.

I don't know how they check that, it isn't on the V5C anywhere. Date of first registration is what shows up on the UK paperwork. Which in my case is actually 3/31 since officially the GTSE wasn't supposed to be sold until April but looks like mine jumped the gun a tiny bit or maybe the dealer had ordered up plates for it so it would be ready.

Stick your VIN in one of the parts system decoders like partsouq.com and you should be able to get something like this:

Brand: NISSAN
Name: PRIMERA
Date: 02.1998
Trim color: K - GREY
Frame Color: KV7 - PLATINUM
Model: BBYARUFP11EEAUP
Market: UK-Europe (RHD)
Body Style: SEDAN
Engine: SR20DEH


As far as importation is concerned, you'll need a NHTSA HS-7 Declaration Form HS7 | NHTSA
and a EPA 3520-1 EPA Standard Form 3520-1 – Declaration Form – Importation of Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Engines Subject to Federal Air Pollution Standards | US EPA
And some sort of entry summary for CBP which I don't know what it looks like for boat shipping cause I've always done the import via land border through Canada.

You'll need a customs broker to file these for you. Shouldn't cost more than a few hundred bucks (maybe$350ish) for them to fill out the paperwork. Find someone in Jacksonville All that stuff needs to be in order before the car leaves England.

Also because of port security, you'll need to hire an escort with a TWIC card to get access to the port and get the car.
Whatever you pay for shipping costs and marine insurance, the last part of the journey is the unloading and that costs like a $150 or something which is weird because you don't get a notification until the boat is basically arriving, but then you can't clear customs until you pay it and they make you wire the money which banks charge dumb fees for and are only open during the business hours of the federal reserve bank.

Oh and duty. So because it is a car, it is 3% duty for the first $1000 of the value of the car and 2.5% of the remainder. Which for a P11 isn't going to be much.

When I shipped my car from Southampton, I simply drove it down there cause it was still on taxed UK plates. Because of my travel dates, I had to leave the car on a Sunday morning, hop a train back to London and fly out Monday. But on Sunday the port wasn't open; my shipper guy had arranged for a place I could take it. Basically Southampton is a huge cruise ship terminal as well as port so there are large indoor car parks for all the people out on cruises. I simply valeted the car with them (and gave them a half a bottle of 12 year Lagavulin and told them to watch after my baby) and the shipper came for it later that week. If you do something like that though, know that on the day before the cruise ships leave all the hotels are full so I actually had to stay over in Bournemouth which wouldn't have been a big deal except I arrived without a reservation at like 11:30pm at night with very little fuel in the car, no fuel stations were open, then had to race over to Bournemouth and the hotel lobby for the place that did still have rooms wasn't open 24hrs like a lot of American hotels so the front desk person was just leaving when I arrived on fumes and was like I'm here to check in lol. Anyway I made it. Car has to be empty, and clean, especially the undercarriage. I just ran it through the Tesco touchless car wash a couple times and called it good.

Have read several web sites on the importation of a vehicle 25 years or older, but find your explanation perfect. Short, Concise and to the point with helpful tips that I have not seen before.
Hope to get my own TWIC Card as I am prior Coast Guard and currently work for a a marine company. Not sure if they will let me in as a independent person or not. That wiring of money seems like a pain for what you are doing but a small inconvenience in the grand scheme of things.

Will look into the production date of the car, hopefully it will be the first part of 1998, all this information that you have given to me certainly is getting my excitement level up about the car.

Impressed with the fact that yours is a GTSE, with only 400 made that certainly makes it a rare beast. The guy that bought the Primera for us looked it up on a web site in the UK and supposedly it is one of 3 Primera GT's left, he actually ran into one in a parking lot and said he could confirm that we have at least the second best looking Primera GT in the UK!

Do you have any pictures of your one that you can share, do you get to visit it in Canada and drive it. Did you convert the headlights to a LHD headlight set, we were looking at ones from Europe on EBAY to bring over as hand luggage for use over here?

Sounds like you have some pretty strong ties and familiarity to the UK, are you from there originally?

 

[trbobrk]

Do you have any pictures of your one that you can share, do you get to visit it in Canada and drive it. Did you convert the headlights to a LHD headlight set, we were looking at ones from Europe on EBAY to bring over as hand luggage for use over here?

Sounds like you have some pretty strong ties and familiarity to the UK, are you from there originally?

There are more GTs out there. DVLA doesn't really track trim level, mine is just listed as a Primera. The "how many are left" website is notoriously inaccurate.

Here is a pic from Manitoba. I RORO'd to Halifax and drove across in a couple days.

I used to go Canada to check on it a couple times a year, but I could have never foreseen the border being closed for a pandemic when I bought it so it has been a while.

I never got around to getting LHD headlamps. I've driven it like 10 miles in the last 4 years so it isn't a high priority.

I'm not from the UK, just been there twice for fun.