Slight Delay

February 22nd, 2015

Terry informed me today that there was no space left on the Tokyo Car ship that leaves tomorrow, so it's been pushed to a week later (Feb. 28th) on the Lake Geneva 1A.   The estimated arrival date in Wellington is now April 4th.  I'm pretty bummed, but these things are out of our control, so I'll just have to wait.  It'll be worth it!

I was also given a breakdown of the costs:

Shipping and all costs up to compliance: $1875
Goods and Service Tax: $1900
Compliance: $350
Registration for 6 months: $292

These remaining fees will be due 8 days before it lands in New Zealand.

More Photos and a Shipment Date

February 14th, 2015

Happy Valentine's Day!  Terry emailed me today with 14 detailed photos of under the car.  Overall it looks to be in great shape, but there is a little rust under the battery that he says they may need to replace when it goes for compliance.  It doesn't look bad to me, but we'll see how strict NZ is.

It's a 22 year old car that was driven regularly, so this was pretty much what I expected to see.

It rains a lot in Japan and I did expect some rusty bits.  They have pretty strict car inspections (like New Zealand) and seem to take a lot of pride in their cars.  Just about every car we saw over there looked brand new because of how well they take care of them.

The rust isn't bad at all.  Also, possibly more exciting, Terry said the official date of shipment out of Japan is Feb. 23rd!  Only another week and a half until the car is on it's way!  He said it's been taking a long time because of all the paperwork in Japan, but it seems to be happening pretty quick to me.  CAN'T WAIT!!

Photos from Japan!

February 13th, 2015

Friday the 13th!  So last night I decided to check in with Terry about the status of the car.  He said that it would be at the port this weekend, and they would find out when they'd be able to ship it.  Whether or not the boat has room will determine when it will ship (but c'mon, you could fit this car in your carry-on).

Today he sent me photos that were taken when the car was collected from the dealer, so I'll just post them all here: