What it costs to import a Honda Fit to Jamaica

The Fit is the other compact hatchback Jamaicans import in volume: a practical five-door with Honda’s folding rear seats and a 1.3 litre petrol engine in its most common trim. The fourth generation launched in Japan in 2020, so a 2021 car is comfortably inside the six-year age limit for cars.

Unlike the Aqua, the plain Fit is a petrol car, and that puts it in a different band with a higher aggregate rate. The numbers below show what that difference is worth.

The band it lands in

A 1.3 litre petrol car falls in the “exceeding 1,000 cc, not exceeding 2,000 cc” band: 20% import duty, 10% SCT and 20% GCT. Because SCT is charged on CIF plus duty, and GCT on all three, the aggregate is 58.9% of CIF rather than the 50% the three rates add up to on paper.

What a Honda Fit costs to clear

The table prices a 2021 Honda Fit 1.3 L petrol at an example CIF of US$9,200 to Kingston, converted at today’s Bank of Jamaica selling rate of J$157.98 per US$1. Each line is calculated the way Jamaica Customs assesses it: import duty on CIF, SCT on CIF plus duty, GCT on the total of all three, then the 0.5% environmental levy on CIF and the flat customs administrative fee for a used vehicle.

On these figures the customs charges alone come to J$925,062, which is 63.6% of the CIF value. Add the vehicle price itself and the landed cost is J$2,378,478 before the broker, the wharf and the registration office have been paid.

How the bill moves with the price

Every charge except the customs fee is a percentage of CIF, so the bill moves almost in step with the price you pay. The same vehicle at 15% less and 15% more than the example price:

• At US$7,820 CIF, the customs charges are J$796,653 and the landed cost is J$2,032,056.
• At US$9,200 CIF, the customs charges are J$925,062 and the landed cost is J$2,378,478.
• At US$10,580 CIF, the customs charges are J$1,053,471 and the landed cost is J$2,724,900.

The exchange rate works the same way. Customs converts CIF at the Bank of Jamaica rate on the day of clearance, not the day you paid the exporter, so a rate that moves one dollar between purchase and clearance moves this bill by about 0.6% of the J$ total. The exchange rate guide explains how to budget for that.

The alternative worth pricing

Honda sells the Fit as a hybrid too, badged e:HEV in the fourth generation and Hybrid in the third. A hybrid Fit clears in the hybrid band at 44.5%, so on the same CIF it saves roughly a seventh of the customs bill. If two listings are close in price, the hybrid is usually the cheaper car to land. Run both through the calculator before you decide.

What this estimate leaves out

The figures above are the government charges and nothing else. Before the vehicle is yours to drive you will also pay a licensed customs broker to prepare and lodge the entry, wharfage and handling at the port, trucking from the wharf, then registration, licensing and a fitness certificate at the Tax Administration and Island Traffic Authority offices, and motor insurance. If you import through a dealer, the dealer’s own fee sits on top. None of these has a published tariff, so ask for a written quote and read the costs beyond customs guide for what to expect.

Check before you pay a deposit

• The year of manufacture is inside the Trade Board age limit for the category, counted at the time of import, not the time of purchase.
• The engine displacement, fuel type and unladen weight on the export certificate match the listing. Customs bands on the certificate.
• The price is CIF to Kingston. If it is FOB, add freight and insurance before you run the numbers, or switch the calculator to FOB and let it add them.
• The vehicle has a pre-shipment inspection certificate and is not described as accident-repaired, flood-damaged or salvaged.

The band this page uses is “Petrol · Exceeding 1,000 cc, not exceeding 2,000 cc” on the dealer sheet revised 1 April 2020. Rates change by ministerial order, so if a newer sheet has been published since, your broker will assess on that one.