[Nagoya86]

Hi everyone,

My name is Tim. I'll be moving from Nagoya in Japan to Manchester in the UK soon. My wife and I own a supercharged Toyota 86 that we are planning on bringing along with us.

I'm actually from Germany, so this is a new step in life for us. I already added an OEM rear fog light for MOT. Next on the list is a headlight washer unit, which the Japanese cars don't have. Apparently cars from 2009 need one?! It's all a bit confusing, but I'm tryting to learn as much as I can in the available time.

I never had a passion for these cars until I drove one. The previous owner asked me to drive his 86 when I helped him pick up a differnet car in the beautiful mountains of Nagano Prefecture. This ride was all it took for me to fall in love. It's an automatic, so my wife can drive it, and it's just perfect as a daily driver. My other car is a Toyota Chaser, which isn't as practical for everyday use. The previous owner now daily-drives a GR86, in case you wonder. These cars are so good.

Shipping, MOT, and finding insurance in the UK are challenges ahead, but I hope to find help here in the community. Good thing is that the 86 is from 2012. It has passed the ten-year mark, so apparently I only need to pass MOT.

Here's a photo of our baby:

Cheers,
Tim

 

[Craig82]

Welcome Tim, nice 86, very similar in looks to mine (Red 2013 with black wheels). Bet the supercharger makes quite a difference!

From Germany, living in Japan, bringing an 86 to the UK to live here. Quite a journey!

Very odd that JDM cars never got the headlight washers, you'd think it'd make sense to just have one front bumper and equip all cars with them. Not sure on the UK MOT requiring headlight washers though, new one on me that, happy to be corrected though.

Best of luck with getting everything sorted.

 

[Subota Boy]

Welcome Tim! I too run a supercharged 86, so I can understand why you would bring this car with you!

There are specialist insurance companies/brokers a-plenty in the UK who can hopefully help you. Chris Knott might be a good place to start. They advertise on this forum, as do others.

Hope the process goes well for you!

 

[Samwise]

I wouldn't worry too much about headlight washers. My Car hasn't had them for 2 years and although it's worded that they're required I think it's more of a case of "If they exist, they must work" but if the car isn't equipped with them in the first place it's fine.

Sounds great though, Car looks awesome too!

 

[osuzumebachi86]

This is a very interesting post for me because I want to bring a 400z to U.K. one day.

what you will need is a NOVA document , you need to de register he car from Japan, NOVa and register in U.K. after you MOT road tax and insure.

note that it’s your personal car and that you are an expat brining back personal goods and should in theory not pay taxes like VAT.

can I ask you when you are coming to U.K. and how you plan to ship the car?

 

[Llyr32]

That sounds like an awesome journey you've had so far! Was there any specific reason for Manchester? Maybe a loyal fan of the club? 😄 Whatever the reason I hope it goes smoothly with the transporting and travel over here!

 

[zonefx]

So, mine becomes the second best red 2012 GT86 in Manchester(ish!)

 

[David-86]

I wouldn't worry too much about headlight washers. My Car hasn't had them for 2 years and although it's worded that they're required I think it's more of a case of "If they exist, they must work" but if the car isn't equipped with them in the first place it's fine.

Sounds great though, Car looks awesome too!

I’m not sure they need to work. My last car had washers (requirement for Xeon headlights) but one of these broke. It was not an MOT failure, just advisory.

 

[Nagoya86]

Thank you all for your welcome messages and advice.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve considered different scenarios: Selling one car and bringing one to the UK; bringing both cars to the UK; ship one car sooner and one in spring next year…

My current plan is to ship both the 86 and the Chaser together in late September, but I might have to wait a little longer.

I never really considered selling the Chaser but I did try to sell the 86 at the dealer auctions only weeks ago. I didn’t get the price that I wanted but going through the process of selling it showed me and my wife how much we love our 86. With that said, the plan of selling it was conditional to the idea of buying a GR86 at a later time in the UK.

That was until I found out that all GR86 for the UK market sold out within hours… I was shocked, to be honest. And now I’m glad that we still have our 86.

As also osuzumebachi86 suggested, I plan to import both cars as personal belonging.
I lived in Japan for almost five years now and had both cars in my name for long enough to meet the requirements (the minimum period of ownership for this route is six months). So, I shouldn’t have to pay VAT. As a result, I won’t be allowed to sell the cars for one year, but that’s fine.

From what I found out so far, I will have to apply for a Transfer of Residence tax relief before I leave in mid-September, but my timeline isn’t clear yet. Ideally, the cars should be shipped only after the ToR is approved, but at the very least I need a UK address to even make a shipping reservation. Fortunately, it’s OK for shipped goods to arrive at a later time, as long as it’s within one year. I fear that I will only be able to source an apartment after my arrival mid-September and then organize the shipping. This also means that I will need to find storage for both cars in Japan for a while. In any case, I will contact specialist insurance companies as soon as I know my postcode.

Llyr32, I work in academia, so I chose a life of uncertainty and moving around places. And fortunately, Manchester hired me. It’s not a permanent position but for very good for my current situation and career. It’s been a crazy, wonderful journey so far. Just sometimes I wish for a little more stability, and for things to be just a little bit more normal Ten years ago, I imported a Nissan Skyline R33 GTST to Germany as personal belonging after a year in Tokyo. It was easy in comparison, because my parents had an address in Germany, and the shipping cost a third of what it costs now, not to mention the car. But what would life be without new challenges

Zonefx / Dave, oh that is amazing! I’m so sorry but also so happy to know that there are members in the Manchester area. If it helps you find comfort: Here in Japan, I see red 86s practically every day… Not a day goes buy without spotting an 86, if I take a walk. Hold on, you say second “best”? Do you mean because of the supercharger? Let’s wait until Insurance comes into play, then I’d probably wish I didn’t have one

David-86: From what I read so far online, they have to work if installed, according to some 2018 or so MOT changes. But what Samwise said made me think... if I don't have them, maybe I'm fine?

 

[zonefx]

Thank you all for your welcome messages and advice.

Zonefx / Dave, oh that is amazing! I’m so sorry but also so happy to know that there are members in the Manchester area. If it helps you find comfort: Here in Japan, I see red 86s practically every day… Not a day goes buy without spotting an 86, if I take a walk. Hold on, you say second “best”? Do you mean because of the supercharger? Let’s wait until Insurance comes into play, then I’d probably wish I didn’t have one

I was being flippant! Mine is a very standard and actually a 2013 and beginning to show it's age, much like it's owner!!, but in the 5 years of my ownership I've not seen another Red 2013 in the Manchester area. It's a really exciting moment on the few occasions I see another GT86/BRZ There are a few around here, but not many at all and even less red!

 

[SiCaln]

Interested how you get on with the MOT, need to see what I have to do with my 14R, if I ever see a red one up for sale!

 

[Nagoya86]

in the 5 years of my ownership I've not seen another Red 2013 in the Manchester area

That is rare! I'm honestly surprised, but I like the idea of our cars being not as common.

As for the car's age, I'm not so concerned. Having only ever owned cars that were made in the 1990s, the 86 still feels brand new to me. And it's been well maintained. The previous owner is a certified Toyota mechanic and professional driver with an independent workshop near Nagoya. The 86 was his daily driver. And the car received a grade 4.5 at USS Nagoya when I tried to sell it the other day (5 is only given to new cars; 4.5 for a ten-year old car is excellent). Suspension is still pretty new and the car's history and modifications have been well documented on video. That was another reason for me to buy it. I would have never bought a supercharged 86 without knowing the car's history.

Interested how you get on with the MOT, need to see what I have to do with my 14R, if I ever see a red one up for sale!

Emissions are the only thing I'm really concerned about, considering the supercharger, but it should pass, from what I read, since the car still has both cats. One cat is the original one, the other one is by HKS. Spark plugs, supercharger, oil cooker also HKS. Exhaust is fully original, so it's not even loud. Seat and stearing wheel are also original, so no airbags were removed. Let's see how it goes.

 

[SiCaln]

Hope all goes well for you, i'm concerned cos I will be trying to bring in a 2015/6 car, so won't be 10 years old

 

[nanoshock]

Hi everyone,

My name is Tim. I'll be moving from Nagoya in Japan to Manchester in the UK soon. My wife and I own a supercharged Toyota 86 that we are planning on bringing along with us.

I'm actually from Germany, so this is a new step in life for us. I already added an OEM rear fog light for MOT. Next on the list is a headlight washer unit, which the Japanese cars don't have. Apparently cars from 2009 need one?! It's all a bit confusing, but I'm tryting to learn as much as I can in the available time.

I never had a passion for these cars until I drove one. The previous owner asked me to drive his 86 when I helped him pick up a differnet car in the beautiful mountains of Nagano Prefecture. This ride was all it took for me to fall in love. It's an automatic, so my wife can drive it, and it's just perfect as a daily driver. My other car is a Toyota Chaser, which isn't as practical for everyday use. The previous owner now daily-drives a GR86, in case you wonder. These cars are so good.

Shipping, MOT, and finding insurance in the UK are challenges ahead, but I hope to find help here in the community. Good thing is that the 86 is from 2012. It has passed the ten-year mark, so apparently I only need to pass MOT.

Here's a photo of our baby:

View attachment 8185

Cheers,
Tim

Hi Tim, I did this exact same thing, except Yokohama to UK, last year with my GT86 (also red) I'm about to leave for work right now but I'll post in the thread later today all the info you'll need to get the car brought over and on the road in the UK (there is quite a lot!)

 

[Moz86]

I have also just joined the forum and it's nice to see a great community of helpful 86 owners. All the best with your journey I hope it all goes smoothly!

 

[growlerkat]

Welcome to the club Tim. Quite a journey for you!

 

[nanoshock]

So a few useful tidbits:

Apply for Transfer of Residence with HMRC, when doing so declare everything you plan on taking (cars, personal items, furniture etc) this will make everything you take, mail or send, exempt from tax and duty upon arrival in the UK, once granted a TOR code you can also print out the emailed document granting you the TOR and attach it to any boxes you mail to the UK and you won't get stung with any additional charges, so long as what you're sending is loosely based on the list you provided during the application.

Car modifications:
You will need the following for the UK:

• Fog light
• Headlight washer system
• 50mph/80kph sticker on your spare wheel (I learned the hard way when I failed my first IVA examination due to not having one on the spare)

From there I would strongly suggest finding a UK based company that will handle receipt of the vehicle at the port, right through to registration, I did it myself and it was a long and annoying process, in hindsight I wish I had just paid the money to have them do it for me.

If you do, do it yourself, make sure you have as much paperwork as possible to show when you bought the car(s), that they're in your name, and that you retain the certificate of export you will get when you deregister the vehicle, it's essential that you drive it to the company you are exporting with and remove the number plates and take them with you when deregistering.

First port of call when it arrives in the UK is to declare it via NOVA (notification of vehicle arrival) if you go the transfer of residence route, this is fairly painless just privide them with the requested documents.

Next up, book a basic IVA test, once the IVA test is done, immediately book an MOT with a test center that will MOT the vehicle using the chassis number, private garages will do this for a small fee on top of the mot price, places like Halfords and such generally won't, this is really important because it adds your cars details to the DVLA database, which is essential for the next step:

Submit completed V355/5 document and provide all supporting documents, first registration fee+first road tax fee, assuming you have done all of this correctly, you'll receive a letter back with confirmation that your application was successful, a week or so later you'll receive the v5c for the vehicle which you can then use to get plates made up.
Generally it takes a week or two for the cars details to properly show up on the database so don't be worried if during this time, databases don't show the right details or your car gets listed as "Toyota unknown", it will sort itself out after a few weeks.

If you get stuck with it or want some recommendations for the companies I used, feel free to contact me and I'll help with any info I can.

Side note: if bringing a vehicle over via transfer of residence, the vehicle age doesn't matter as long as you've owned it for 6 months or more. I brought over my 2014 86 in 2021 (7 years old) just fine.

With regards to the headlight washers, you must be able to demonstrate that you have them fitted during the IVA test, if you don't have them it will fail the IVA test.

It's possible to buy the parts to add them to a JDM vehicle, the JDM 86 bumper even has markings to cut holes for the height washers to come out from, I ordered all the bits online and drilled a (again, marked) hole for the second pump in the washer bottle and added a second pump that's wired to an internal switch, externally it all looks completely OEM.

If you have a company do the various steps for you to register the vehicle for UK road use, they will drill holes in the top of the bumper and install windshield washer nodes, then junction them to the existing headlight washer, basically the bare minimum to pass the test.

 

[Nagoya86]

I lack the words to express how glad I am that I found this forum.

So a few useful tidbits:

nanoshock, I read some of your threads when I searched for headlight washer solutions, though it might have been a different forum. I didn’t know how jour journey continued and that you were actually successful in importing and registering your car in the UK. That is such a relief. Thank you for sharing this valuable information!

Based on your threads, I learned that I won’t be able to install the OEM headlight washer pump as found in cars for the European market. I explained this to my mechanic in Japan as I’m not nearly mechanically inclined enough to do this myself. He suggested installing windshield washer nodes as washers, but the original look would be much more desirable.

Did you order your OEM washer unit parts while still in Japan or after your relocation to the UK? If Toyota sells the pump in Japan, I might be able to get this all done before I leave.


I don’t think I’ll need the IVA, though. A major difference between your 86 and mine is the age. Normally, a newer car is arguably better, but here I’m lucky that my 86 is from July 2012. It just passed the ten-year threshold. Cars older than ten years are exempt from IVA vehicle approval (see the official link below).

Vehicle approval

With that said, it’s good to know that the car can be made road legal even if an IVA was required.
And it might be safe to install the headlight washers anyway, since I might get lucky in the first MOT but next year’s tester could interpret the rules in a different way and demand them to be installed.

It’s unclear to me if the 86 would pass MOT without headlight washers installed. Some testers seem to suggest that headlight washers must be functional if installed (meaning not tested if not installed).

I’m also super glad to see that you have the HKS supercharger, too. If your car passed emissions with the supercharger installed, I should probably be fine. The supercharger was initially my biggest concern and a reason to try to sell the 86 here in Japan (man, I would have missed this car so bad).

I’m excited to wrap things up here I Japan. Only two days ago, I received my work visa for the UK. This is so exciting. The uncertainty of not knowing if I can really move to the UK while canceling my employment contract and apartment in Japan was a bit nerve-wrecking. Not knowing if I could bring the cars just added to the insecurity. But slowly, all stress turns to joy and anticipation of what’s ahead.

You mentioned a spare wheel and the need for a mph sticker. I don’t even have a spare wheel. It seems to be legal to drive without one, though, so I’m probably fine.

What I don’t really understand yet is the process after arrival. You give a detailed description of the steps I need to take, but I wonder what happens with the car between release from the harbor and registration. May I ask if you brought your car home with you on a trailer and then did IVA and MOT near your home? I heard that one can park a car on the side of the road in the UK, but only if the car is registered. So, I thought that I would rely on a company that could store the cars for me temporarily, at least between arrival at the port and registration. This is the period of time that worries me.

As for deregistration in Japan, I have a good friend in Tokyo who works as an exporter. He helped me buy my first car, more than ten years ago, and he recently allowed me to try and sell the 86 at the dealer auctions (which fortunately didn’t result in the car being sold).

Another problem that I have is that I don’t have an address in the UK yet. However, I need to give a consignee address in order to ship the car. Now, for the TOR, a temporary address would suffice. But I’m not sure how important the consignee address will be when it comes to releasing the car. I might have to postpone the shipping until I actually have an address in the UK.

Am I correct to assume that I need insurance sorted out before the cars can leave the harbor in the UK?

I might PM you at a later time to ask for suggestions for companies.

Thanks again for all your help. The suggestion to MOT the vehicle using the chassis number, for example, is priceless. I had no idea about this detail. I also didn’t know about the V355/5 document and v5c etc.

 

[osuzumebachi86]

Thank you all for your welcome messages and advice.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve considered different scenarios: Selling one car and bringing one to the UK; bringing both cars to the UK; ship one car sooner and one in spring next year…

My current plan is to ship both the 86 and the Chaser together in late September, but I might have to wait a little longer.

I never really considered selling the Chaser but I did try to sell the 86 at the dealer auctions only weeks ago. I didn’t get the price that I wanted but going through the process of selling it showed me and my wife how much we love our 86. With that said, the plan of selling it was conditional to the idea of buying a GR86 at a later time in the UK.

That was until I found out that all GR86 for the UK market sold out within hours… I was shocked, to be honest. And now I’m glad that we still have our 86.

As also osuzumebachi86 suggested, I plan to import both cars as personal belonging.
I lived in Japan for almost five years now and had both cars in my name for long enough to meet the requirements (the minimum period of ownership for this route is six months). So, I shouldn’t have to pay VAT. As a result, I won’t be allowed to sell the cars for one year, but that’s fine.

From what I found out so far, I will have to apply for a Transfer of Residence tax relief before I leave in mid-September, but my timeline isn’t clear yet. Ideally, the cars should be shipped only after the ToR is approved, but at the very least I need a UK address to even make a shipping reservation. Fortunately, it’s OK for shipped goods to arrive at a later time, as long as it’s within one year. I fear that I will only be able to source an apartment after my arrival mid-September and then organize the shipping. This also means that I will need to find storage for both cars in Japan for a while. In any case, I will contact specialist insurance companies as soon as I know my postcode.

Llyr32, I work in academia, so I chose a life of uncertainty and moving around places. And fortunately, Manchester hired me. It’s not a permanent position but for very good for my current situation and career. It’s been a crazy, wonderful journey so far. Just sometimes I wish for a little more stability, and for things to be just a little bit more normal Ten years ago, I imported a Nissan Skyline R33 GTST to Germany as personal belonging after a year in Tokyo. It was easy in comparison, because my parents had an address in Germany, and the shipping cost a third of what it costs now, not to mention the car. But what would life be without new challenges

Zonefx / Dave, oh that is amazing! I’m so sorry but also so happy to know that there are members in the Manchester area. If it helps you find comfort: Here in Japan, I see red 86s practically every day… Not a day goes buy without spotting an 86, if I take a walk. Hold on, you say second “best”? Do you mean because of the supercharger? Let’s wait until Insurance comes into play, then I’d probably wish I didn’t have one

David-86: From what I read so far online, they have to work if installed, according to some 2018 or so MOT changes. But what Samwise said made me think... if I don't have them, maybe I'm fine?

No worries, happy to help.

I would strongly recommend not selling the car at J auctions. The market is on the cusp of a crash. References:

So a few useful tidbits:

Apply for Transfer of Residence with HMRC, when doing so declare everything you plan on taking (cars, personal items, furniture etc) this will make everything you take, mail or send, exempt from tax and duty upon arrival in the UK, once granted a TOR code you can also print out the emailed document granting you the TOR and attach it to any boxes you mail to the UK and you won't get stung with any additional charges, so long as what you're sending is loosely based on the list you provided during the application.

Car modifications:
You will need the following for the UK:

• Fog light
• Headlight washer system
• 50mph/80kph sticker on your spare wheel (I learned the hard way when I failed my first IVA examination due to not having one on the spare)

From there I would strongly suggest finding a UK based company that will handle receipt of the vehicle at the port, right through to registration, I did it myself and it was a long and annoying process, in hindsight I wish I had just paid the money to have them do it for me.

If you do, do it yourself, make sure you have as much paperwork as possible to show when you bought the car(s), that they're in your name, and that you retain the certificate of export you will get when you deregister the vehicle, it's essential that you drive it to the company you are exporting with and remove the number plates and take them with you when deregistering.

First port of call when it arrives in the UK is to declare it via NOVA (notification of vehicle arrival) if you go the transfer of residence route, this is fairly painless just privide them with the requested documents.

Next up, book a basic IVA test, once the IVA test is done, immediately book an MOT with a test center that will MOT the vehicle using the chassis number, private garages will do this for a small fee on top of the mot price, places like Halfords and such generally won't, this is really important because it adds your cars details to the DVLA database, which is essential for the next step:

Submit completed V355/5 document and provide all supporting documents, first registration fee+first road tax fee, assuming you have done all of this correctly, you'll receive a letter back with confirmation that your application was successful, a week or so later you'll receive the v5c for the vehicle which you can then use to get plates made up.
Generally it takes a week or two for the cars details to properly show up on the database so don't be worried if during this time, databases don't show the right details or your car gets listed as "Toyota unknown", it will sort itself out after a few weeks.

If you get stuck with it or want some recommendations for the companies I used, feel free to contact me and I'll help with any info I can.

Side note: if bringing a vehicle over via transfer of residence, the vehicle age doesn't matter as long as you've owned it for 6 months or more. I brought over my 2014 86 in 2021 (7 years old) just fine.

With regards to the headlight washers, you must be able to demonstrate that you have them fitted during the IVA test, if you don't have them it will fail the IVA test.

It's possible to buy the parts to add them to a JDM vehicle, the JDM 86 bumper even has markings to cut holes for the height washers to come out from, I ordered all the bits online and drilled a (again, marked) hole for the second pump in the washer bottle and added a second pump that's wired to an internal switch, externally it all looks completely OEM.

If you have a company do the various steps for you to register the vehicle for UK road use, they will drill holes in the top of the bumper and install windshield washer nodes, then junction them to the existing headlight washer, basically the bare minimum to pass the test.

This is very good information. In a few years time I want to buy and import a 400z, because its not for sale in the UK and because its cheap I can have an exotic car that turns heads but on the cheap. I may be sent to work abroad in Asia at some point so it was something to consider.


I was also thinking of asking the OP if there was any space in the container which you where using for your cars for a carbon wing I've been eyeing, paying for the space it takes up of course, but if the there's documents that need to go to HMRC declaring every trivia inside the container that's too faffy for the OP, and also it's not like we know each other, I'm just some guy on a forum. So that's out.


Well let us know how you get on, and welcome to Britain.

 

[nanoshock]

Yep! I spent over 10 years in Japan, buying my 2014 GT86 in 2015.

With regards to headlight washers, as well as being an IVA test requirement, it's also a requirement for MOT, though not always enforced, for me I would have done the modification regardless for peace of mind.
The documentation surrounding it is very vauge and confusing, but basically any vehicle with HID/Xenon need to have a headlight washer system, a lack of one is an MOT fail, a defecting headlight washer system is only a "minor" defect, but I would honestly suggest installing one.

For headlight washer system, ALL jdm GT86 vehicles of any spec (even RC), have the ability to have oem headlight washer system installed, what you need to add them to the vehicle are as follows:

SU00302701 ACTUATOR SUB-ASSY, HEADLAMP WASHER, RH
SU00302702 ACTUATOR SUB-ASSY, HEADLAMP WASHER, LH

These are the actual actuatores that extend from the bumper when water pressure is applied.

SU00302706 NOZZLE SUB-ASSY, TYPE1 H/LAMP WASHER, RH
SU00302713 NOZZLE SUB-ASSY, TYPE1 H/LAMP WASHER, LH

These are the nozzle "caps" that cover the actuator, the codes provided are for my color, (Lightning red C7P), the numbers differ for other vehicle colors, but I believe yours is also C7P Lightning Red, so thats the part number you will need.

In addition to these, I also ordered some of these
9007517001 JOINT, HEADLAMP CLEANER ELBOW, NO.1

These connect your hose to the actual actuators, the lower portion of the headlight mounting bracket contain slim slots that the actuators slide in to, i believe it was either a M6x15 or M8x15 bolt that is used to secure them in place in the stock threaded hole that's present already.

As I had already arrived in the UK when I did the modification, I ended up just buying a headlight washer hose assembly and UK washer bottle with two motors attached, I then wired the secondary pump up to a 30A source in the car, through to an internal switch, which allows me to operate the headlight washers independantly and as needed, normally you wire the secondary pump to the 88018FE010 relay, but I didn't want to chase down an IG1 source, so I opted for a seperate switch.

The inside face of the bumper (unpainted plastic side) has clearly marked cut zones molded into the plastic, I cut these as accurately as I could using a dremel and the result is that my washer system looks completely stock.

I mainly did this because after talking extensively with multiple companies that offer full landing, clearance and registration services about how they approach the headlight washer system, they basically all said they just tap in to the existing windshield washer system and run the line to two windshield washer nozzles that they install on the bumper by drilling an approptiately sized hole an inch or so in front of the center of the headlight, on the horizontal flat section of the bumper, either side, where they install the push-fit nozzles, the issue with this is that they operate every time you use the windshield washer, which has the negative effect of reducing nozzle pressure for the windshield washers, and doubling the rate at which you go through washer fluid.

Im sure either me or someone else here from or near manchester would be happy to help install the washer system for you if you would prefer a more oem feel.

With regards to not needing an IVA, while that does help a lot in terms of getting the vehicle registered, keep in mind you will need as much documentation about the vehicle as you can bring, showing when the vehicle was manufactured, in my case they absolutely wanted the ORIGINAL copy of the export certificate, so be sure to get this back from whichever shipping company or service you use, as without it, its very very hard to get the DVLA to accept the vehicles manufacture date.

One thing to keep in mind is that when you fill out the v355/5 document to register the vehicle, you MUST have had the vehicle MOT'd, regardless of whether you needed an IVA or not, this is a requirement from the DVLA as the process of MOT'ing the vehicle adds it to their systems

With regards for what happens between clearing the port and being registered, you must transport it on a trailer, in my case, I paid a company near Dartford that handles vehicle imports, to clear the vehicle at customs and transport the vehicle to their compound, I then had another company collect the vehicle from their compound and transport it to my address where it was put on a private driveway while i completed the registration process.

There are only two instances where you can drive the vehicle on UK roads, these are driving it to and from a pre-booked MOT test, or to and from a pre-booked IVA test. for both of these instances, you do NOT need to worry about the lack of a registration/license plate, however you absolutely MUST have vehicle insurance based on the chassis, to drive it legally on public roads yourself to either MOT or IVA tests and back.

There are some slight allowances here, in that a slight detour to a petrol station to wash or fuel the car is acceptable (but obviously driving an unrealistic distance to a petrol station will not be acceptable), a caveat with this is that you'll need to use pay at pump services for the fuel, as petrol station attendants will generally NOT turn on the pump for a vehicle without a registration plate.

You do not need insurance for the vehicle to leave the harbour as you can't register the vehicle prior to its arrival, so unless you were driving the vehicle from the harbour directly to an MOT station, you wouldn't be permitted to drive the vehicle.

For osuzumebachi86 as well as , Nagoya86
To bring the vehicle over as TOR, you'll need to have owned it for a minimum of 6 months in Japan, and have appropriate proof that you have lived in Japan for over a year, to qualify for TOR.#

In regards to shipping of the vehicle, I had inquired about sending additional items, such as personal effects, spare wheel set etc along with my own vehicle and was told that it's no longer possible, shipping companies have cracked down on this and now require a vehicle inspection at the port prior to loading the vehicle, additional items are not permitted, the vehicle must be clean, empty, fuel must be at 1/4th tank or less, and all storage compartments, footwells, boot space and center consoles, completely empty except for vehicle documents and/or wheel nut lock, so bringing over additional items along with your vehicle isn't really feasible.

That being said, a successfuil TOR application will allow you to send any item declared in the TOR application, via mail without incurring any import tax/duty (most importantly, parcelforce don't get their grubby mits on your item and charge extortionate fees), I sent several large boxes of items via sea frieght from a local JP Post office that all made it to the UK without issue, and without tax/duty being levvied, just be sure to include a printed copy of your TOR approval inside and ON the boxes you send, I put these in a plastic sleeve with a secondary printed page saying "TOR documentation enclosed" for each item I mailed.
For added assurance, I wrote "TOR URN: xxxxxxxxx" in black marker on the sides of every box, quoting my TOR approval URN number.

For export from Japan, David Gravatt at Daiwa Logistics was great in handling recieving the vehicle and getting it to Southampton dock via Roll on roll off (RoRo), at the time the cost of this came to 141,826 yen, this was with me dropping off the vehicle at the dock in Yokohama, removing the number plates, taking them with me when I deregistered the vehicle, and mailing (and sending a scanned copy of) the export certificate back to David.

For import, Stuart at Calibre Routex helped me sort out getting the vehicle landed in Southampton, released and transported to their compound in Dartford, just be sure to request both C88 and E2 documents from whomever lands your vehicle as you'll likely need them when doing your vehicle NOVA, the cost at the time for UK customs clearance, agency fee, transport from the dock to Dartford compound, and Ro/Ro operator charges was £450

I then used Elite Logistics whome collected the vehicle from CalibreRoutex's compound and delivered it to my door, which cost £250.

Total cost for all services getting it from the dock in Japan to my driveway in the UK was : £1574 (874 for shipping, 450 for landing and transport to compound, 250 for transport from compound to me)

I then spent another 450 or so on parts to install the washer system, IVA test, MOT, registration etc, so all in all a little bit over £2000 for the whole process.

Again if you get stuck or need any advice I'll be happy to help where I can!