What it costs to import a Toyota Probox to Jamaica

The Probox is Japan’s light commercial wagon: a boxy five-door built for fleets, with a flat load floor and a 1.3 or 1.5 litre petrol engine. In Jamaica it is bought as a work vehicle by small businesses and as a cheap, tough family car. Customs classifies it with cars and station wagons, not with vans, so the band follows engine size rather than weight.

The band it lands in

A 1.5 litre petrol Probox lands in the 1,001 to 2,000 cc petrol band at 20% duty, 10% SCT and 20% GCT, an aggregate of 58.9%. The 1.3 litre version is in the same band and pays the same rates. There is no lower band for a commercial body on a car chassis.

What a Toyota Probox costs to clear

The table prices a 2021 Toyota Probox 1.5 L petrol at an example CIF of US$9,900 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$995,445, which is 63.3% of the CIF value. Add the vehicle price itself and the landed cost is J$2,568,357 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$8,415 CIF, the customs charges are J$856,478 and the landed cost is J$2,193,454.
• At US$9,900 CIF, the customs charges are J$995,445 and the landed cost is J$2,568,357.
• At US$11,385 CIF, the customs charges are J$1,134,412 and the landed cost is J$2,943,261.

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

Since 2018 the Probox has also been sold in Japan as a 1.5 litre hybrid. It clears at 44.5%, and on a vehicle that will spend its life on the road the fuel saving compounds the customs saving. As a station wagon the Probox is held to the six-year car limit, not the ten years a panel van gets, so a 2019 or earlier example is running out of time.

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.