JDM Importers in California
9 hand-vetted JDM import specialists import Japanese-domestic vehicles into California. Multiple importers operate in Cypress. Specialties on the floor include Full-Service Import, RHD Sports, Kei Trucks & Mini, Vans & 4x4, Skyline & GT-R, Marketplace.
Registering a JDM import in California
California is the one state where the federal 25-year rule does not settle the emissions question. That rule is a NHTSA safety exemption that lets an old foreign-market car enter the country; it says nothing about the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which runs its own emissions program. For a directly imported 1976-or-newer car, CARB and the DMV have to be satisfied separately from federal age, and the route runs through a BAR referee — the state-contracted inspector who handles grey-market cars, applies the CARB standards for the model year, and issues the emissions label the DMV needs before it will register the vehicle. Ordinary Smog Check stations are not equipped for this.
The exception is narrow and worth knowing precisely: California exempts gasoline vehicles that are 1975 model year or older from Smog Check entirely. That is an ongoing-compliance exemption — a pre-1976 car sidesteps the biennial Smog Check for good — but it is not the same as direct-import certification, and a 1968-or-newer non-conforming import can still be routed to CARB at first registration even when it will owe no future Smog Checks. Any 1990s or 2000s icon is built after the 1975 cutoff, so it cannot use age alone to escape CARB, which is why many owners of newer imports weigh titling in another state.