€51,794 is the final price on the plates for this car in Cyprus, including shipping, taxes, fees and registration. It uses the exchange rate and tariffs fixed on the auction date.
Cyprus dealers buy from the same Japanese auctions you can buy from. They add a margin or fee before the car reaches you. With SkipDealer, you buy through your own exporter account, pay each provider directly, and stay in control of your money and every decision.
Price
Nine out of ten auction cars reach Cyprus through the same exporter, on the same ships, through the same customs. What changes is who buys the car and what they add to the price on the way.
Control
Send a deposit to a middleman and you hand over control of the deal. They gain a conflict of interest: closing the purchase fast, at the top of your budget, rather than looking for the better car. SkipDealer leaves the choice with you. You decide the car and the size of the bid, and you pay the exporter, the customs broker and the registration agent directly.
Condition
An independent inspector records the true mileage, accident damage and every mark on the body in the auction sheet, and the exporter checks the car again before you bid.
You are doing this for the first time. Your manager is not. They explain the details and help you make each decision.
You place the bids yourself, so your manager explains how a Japanese auction works and shows you how to judge a car: what the auction sheet records, what a grade means, and what similar cars have sold for.
Then you decide together what to look for: models, years, grades, mileage and your maximum bid.
To bid at the auctions yourself, we open your own account with SBT Japan, the largest exporter. Once your deposit arrives you can start bidding, and after you win the exporter prepares the export documents and loads the car onto the ship.
SBT Japan ships tens of thousands of cars a year. About nine out of ten auction cars imported to Cyprus come through it, including the cars later sold by local dealers, resellers and turnkey import companies.
Opening an account is free. Your account and your deposit are held with SBT, not with SkipDealer, a local dealer or a private person.
The usual deposit is ¥100,000, about €550. That covers most cars up to ¥3,000,000 at auction, roughly €25,000 landed in Cyprus after shipping, customs and registration. For a more expensive car the deposit is set individually with your SBT Japan manager.
If you win a car, the deposit counts towards the final invoice. If you stop before winning, SBT returns it to you minus bank transfer fees.
You can send the deposit by SWIFT from any bank that supports international transfers to Japan. The bank does not have to be in Cyprus, and you do not have to send yen: the transfer is converted automatically. SBT invoices the deposit in yen, so the euro amount leaving your account depends on the rate that day.
If a bank transfer is not an option for you, your manager introduces you to verified contacts our clients have already worked with successfully. They send the money to SBT, but you arrange the cash or USDT payment with them at your own risk. SkipDealer does not receive or guarantee it.
You search for cars and place bids through your own SBT account. When you want a second opinion, your SkipDealer manager helps you read the auction sheet and compare recent sales of similar cars.
You decide whether to bid and how high to go. If the car is not worth the price or the risk, you skip it and wait for the next one. Waiting costs nothing: your deposit stays in your SBT account with no time limit.
Several buyers often compete for the same car. Your maximum bid does not have to become the price you pay. It is the limit up to which the exporter's representative can bid for you at the auction hall. If your limit is ¥2,500,000 and the other bidders stop at ¥2,000,000, the car is yours at ¥2,010,000. The minimum increment is ¥10,000.
You can change or cancel your maximum bid up to one hour before the auction starts. The lower your limit, the more attempts it may take. A realistic bid is what wins a car sooner.
You can bid on several cars at once, but you may win more than one. Every car you win must be paid for, or SBT keeps the deposit.
After you win, SBT agrees the shipping details with you and issues the final invoice. You pay the exporter directly. Before loading, SBT photographs the car at the port in detail and prepares the export documents. Once the ship leaves, you receive its name and the tracking details.
The final invoice includes the price you won the car for, SBT fees, inland transport in Japan, export clearance and shipping to Cyprus. The deposit you already paid is deducted from the total. You pay it the same way you sent the deposit.
Combustion cars and hybrids normally travel by Ro-Ro. Fully electric cars always travel in a container. Loading may be immediate, but the usual wait for an available vessel is up to a month. At busy times it can take around two months.
Once loaded, shipping to Cyprus takes 6–8 weeks by Ro-Ro and 3–4 months by container. You collect Ro-Ro cars in Larnaca and container shipments in Limassol.
Before your car arrives, we introduce you to a Cyprus customs broker who prepares the clearance. Once the vessel reaches Cyprus, you meet the broker at customs to sign the required documents, which takes about ten minutes. The broker then usually clears the car in 2–3 days and sends you one invoice that you pay directly.
One invoice covers Cyprus VAT, customs duty, port charges and brokerage. You pay it directly to the broker by bank transfer or cash.
After customs clearance, you collect the car and take it for SVA and MOT. Both inspections take place at one centre, on the same day. Your manager provides the contacts and explains what to do.
Once the car passes both inspections, you hand the document pack to the registration agent. The car is registered in your name and ready for Cyprus roads.
SVA and MOT take about two hours at one centre. Handing the pack to the registration agent takes about five minutes, and the registration documents and plates are usually ready within 1–3 days.
The route is simple and well worn, but every car and every deal has its own details. Your manager stays with you from the first search to Cyprus plates. You always talk to the same person, and you can ask them anything: how to read an auction sheet, what happens at customs, what the registration needs.
Both packages cover one car from the first search to Cyprus plates. What differs is how much of it you do yourself: you can take every step on our instructions, or hand the routine to SkipDealer when you have neither the time nor the wish to do it in person.
You do each step. We tell you how.
One car, unlimited bids and no time limit.
You choose cars, place bids, speak to the providers, collect the car and attend the appointments in Cyprus. We explain what to do, help with decisions, provide verified contacts and check your documents.
Start with CopilotYou make the decisions. We take the routine.
We can place bids within the limits you approve, coordinate shipping and customs, collect the car, complete SVA and MOT, and register it.
You still pay each provider directly and visit customs once to sign the documents. You can keep any step you prefer, and we agree who does what before the import starts.
Start with AutopilotWith both packages, you pay every provider directly.
You do not pay the whole amount at once. The cost is spread across the deal: time passes between the first deposit, paying for the car in Japan, customs and the plates, so you pay in parts.
Any passenger car that is under five years old when the vessel reaches Cyprus. The age runs from the car's first registration in Japan, and the auction sheet always shows that month and year.
A car close to that limit needs the voyage counted in. Add the wait for a vessel and the time at sea before you bid, or the car can stop being eligible while it is still on the water.
Normally yes. The car is registered in your own name, and that asks for Cyprus residency. If you are on the island as a tourist, speak to your manager before you bid: they will explain which options your situation leaves open.
You need no Japanese and no previous auction experience.
Your manager explains all of it: how the auction works, how to read the grade, the body damage diagram and the inspector's notes on an auction sheet. Before you decide, they give you a second opinion of their own.
You can start bidding as soon as your deposit reaches your SBT account.
Yes, if your SBT account already holds a deposit.
If you are just starting and have no account yet, tomorrow's auction is out of reach: the account has to be opened and the bank transfer has to arrive. That is no reason to worry. Cars like it come up six days a week.
From the winning bid, allow about 2–3 months for a car travelling by Ro-Ro and about 4–5 months for a fully electric car, which always travels in a container.
That covers the wait for an available vessel — usually up to a month, around two at busy times — then 6–8 weeks at sea by Ro-Ro or 3–4 months by container, and about a week for customs, SVA, MOT and registration in Cyprus.
You open and fund your SBT account, choose cars, place the bids, arrange shipping with SBT and work with the customs broker. After the car arrives you collect it, complete SVA and MOT, and hand the document pack to the registration agent. Every provider is paid by you, directly.
SkipDealer explains each step, helps with the decisions, provides the contacts and checks your documents.
The same guidance, plus the work. SkipDealer can place bids within the limits you approve, coordinate shipping and customs, collect the car, complete SVA and MOT, and register it.
You still choose the car, approve the maximum bid, pay each provider directly and visit customs once to sign. You can keep any other step you prefer, and who does what is agreed before the import starts.
On Copilot, three appointments after the car arrives: about ten minutes at customs, about two hours for SVA and MOT at one centre, and about five minutes with the registration agent.
On Autopilot, one visit: about ten minutes at customs to sign the documents.
One order runs until one car is imported: unlimited bids, from the first search to Cyprus plates. It does not carry over to a second car.
By then you have done the route once and can repeat it yourself. If you want SkipDealer alongside you again, that is a new order.
No. Japanese auction sites admit neither buyers nor independent inspectors. Every car is assessed by the auction's own licensed inspector. On request, a certified SBT representative can also look the car over at the auction site, two hours before bidding starts. That service is free.
After you win, SBT photographs the car at the Japanese port. Those photos record its condition before loading, not a second mechanical check.
Mileage shown as verified on the auction sheet has been checked against the Japanese state inspection database. Where the auction house finds a discrepancy or cannot confirm the figure, the sheet carries a mark saying so before you bid.
Then you keep bidding. Your deposit stays in your SBT account, and one order covers unlimited attempts on one car, with no deadline. A lower maximum usually means more attempts, while a higher one wins sooner.
Yes, free of charge, until bidding closes one hour before the auction. After that the bid stands.
Yes, and you may win all of them. Every win is a purchase that has to be paid for, and walking away from one costs you the deposit. If you want one car, do not leave several bids live unless you are ready to buy each of them.
You have one month from the win to pay SBT. If you walk away, SBT keeps your deposit.
Yes. For any maximum bid you can see the estimated price on the plates in Cyprus before you place it: the car, shipping, taxes, fees and registration. The SkipDealer package, annual road tax and motor insurance stand outside that figure.
The final amount moves with the exchange rate and the actual charges, and it drops if you win below your maximum.
No. Money for the car never reaches a SkipDealer account. You pay each invoice directly to the official party: SBT Japan, the Japanese exporter; the licensed customs broker in Cyprus; the registration agent. SkipDealer is paid for the support and nothing else.
SBT Japan, into your own account there, using the company details SBT gives you and never a personal account. The money does not pass through SkipDealer at any point.
No. You can send the money by SWIFT from any bank that handles international transfers to Japan, and you do not have to send yen: the payment is converted on the way.
If a bank transfer is not an option for you, your manager introduces you to verified contacts we have worked with successfully before. They send the money to SBT, but you arrange the cash or USDT payment with them at your own risk. SkipDealer does not receive or guarantee it.
SkipDealer offers no financing and no instalment plan. What you never do is send the whole import budget at once.
The package fee is due when you start, the SBT deposit before you bid, the rest of the SBT invoice after you win, the Cyprus charges after the car arrives, and registration at the end. Each part is paid in full when it falls due.
Yes, at any point before you win a car. SBT returns it to your account minus bank transfer fees.
Yes, if the first conversation shows that Copilot does not match what you need. Your manager explains what the service includes, and you confirm in writing whether to continue. If either side stops before that confirmation, SkipDealer returns the full fee, less any charge the transfer itself carried.
After you confirm, your manager starts the personal work and the Copilot fee is not returned. The support has no time limit: it runs until the car is on Cyprus plates.
If you paid for Autopilot, you can switch to Copilot before the first bid is placed. SkipDealer returns the difference between the two packages, and your order continues as Copilot. Once a bid has been placed, the Autopilot fee is not returned.
They are costs of owning the car, not of importing it. Road tax depends on the car's CO2 emissions and on how many months are left in the year when you register. Motor insurance depends on the driver, the car and the cover they choose.
For a car from 2022 or newer, road tax is usually €50–200. Third-party or comprehensive insurance is quoted separately by the insurer.
Yes. Once the car is loaded you receive the vessel and the tracking details, and you can follow it to Cyprus. Schedules move, but you always know which ship carries the car and when it is due.
Not automatically. After you win, you can add transport cover for 2% of the price you paid for the car. Without it, transit damage or loss may not be compensated.
Japanese auctions record the condition in detail, so a discrepancy with the sheet is close to impossible.
The shipping line carries responsibility for the cargo in transit. To cover that risk in full, transport insurance is arranged at 2% of the price you paid for the car. That is what secures a payout for damage at sea.
Before you start bidding, your manager explains which types of cars cannot meet Cyprus SVA and MOT requirements. On Copilot, you choose the car and place each bid yourself, without waiting for SkipDealer approval. If you bid on a car outside those rules, it may not be possible to register it in Cyprus.
A car that meets the rules can still need a small item fixed after arrival, such as tyres below the legal tread. You pay for the work and fix it before the test or retest.
Many newer cars, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche and Audi among them, still carry an international manufacturer's warranty that the brand's official dealer in Cyprus honours.
Electric cars usually carry a global warranty on the battery and the electric drivetrain, up to eight years or 160,000 km. Ask your manager to check the exact terms for the car you have chosen before the auction.
Because that is the dealer's own warranty, not the manufacturer's. Small faults are normally excluded, and a serious engine or gearbox failure is rare in a newer Japanese car; when an expensive one does happen, the claim is often refused on an exclusion in the terms.
It works better as a sales promise than as mechanical cover. SkipDealer does not sell you the car and adds no margin to it, so there is no dealer warranty of ours to give.
Yes. Japanese imports are ordinary here, and both official dealers and independent workshops know them.
A rare model is the exception. If you choose one, check that parts and specialist support exist before you bid — that part stays with you as the buyer.
In most cars under five years old the system switches to English. Some functions need local setup: Cyprus maps, or the manufacturer's own app.
Ask your manager — they can recommend the specialists who do this after the car arrives.
Fully electric cars with large batteries are transported only in containers due to fire safety regulations. Container freight usually takes longer, but costs slightly less than Ro-Ro shipping.
Yes. For AC charging, you need a charging cable and a Type 1 to Type 2 adapter, both bought separately. Some public chargers in Cyprus also have CHAdeMO for fast charging, which connects directly without an adapter. Your manager explains what your model needs before it arrives.
Japanese auctions issue no separate report on battery degradation (SOH). You judge the risk from the year, the mileage and the auction sheet, where the inspectors always record system faults and warning lights on the dashboard.
Most electric cars carry a manufacturer warranty on the battery and the electric drivetrain for up to eight years or 160,000 km, so on a newer, low-mileage car the risk is small. You can confirm the warranty status with the brand's official dealer before you bid.
Watch what your model actually costs. Every day at 19:19 the bot sends the day's Japanese auction results with the final price in Cyprus in euro, and tomorrow's promising lots with their bid ranges.
