What it costs to import a Toyota Aqua to Jamaica

The Aqua is the car Jamaica’s Japanese import trade was built on. It is a five-door hybrid hatchback, sold in Japan since 2011 and renewed in 2021, with a 1.5 litre petrol engine paired to an electric motor. The second generation is inside the Trade Board’s six-year limit for cars, and it is the model exporters list in the greatest numbers, so prices are competitive and a clean example is easy to find.

What makes it cheap to clear is not the engine size but the fuel type. Customs treats a hybrid as its own band, and that band pays no special consumption tax at all.

The band it lands in

A hybrid car keeps the 20% import duty a petrol car pays, but the SCT line is zero. GCT is then charged at 20% on CIF plus duty. Compounded, that comes to an aggregate of 44.5% of CIF before the flat customs fee. A petrol car with the same 1.5 litre engine would pay 58.9%, because the 1,001 to 2,000 cc petrol band carries 10% SCT and GCT is charged on top of it.

What a Toyota Aqua costs to clear

The table prices a 2021 Toyota Aqua 1.5 L hybrid at an example CIF of US$9,800 to Kingston, converted at today’s Bank of Jamaica selling rate of J$158.88 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$761,876, which is 48.9% of the CIF value. Add the vehicle price itself and the landed cost is J$2,318,900 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$8,330 CIF, the customs charges are J$657,944 and the landed cost is J$1,981,415.
• At US$9,800 CIF, the customs charges are J$761,876 and the landed cost is J$2,318,900.
• At US$11,270 CIF, the customs charges are J$865,807 and the landed cost is J$2,656,385.

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

The hybrid saving is the whole reason the Aqua, the Fit hybrid and the Vezel hybrid dominate the listings. The one thing to confirm is that the export certificate and the listing describe the vehicle as a hybrid, since the band is assigned on what customs sees at clearance, not on the badge. A first-generation Aqua from 2019 or earlier is still inside the age limit today but will not be for long, so check the year of manufacture against the limit before you pay a deposit.

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 “Hybrid car, SUV or station wagon” 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.