The Autocom Japan blog has a new look. Pages are lighter and faster to open on a phone, guides are grouped by what you need to do, and every country’s import rules now live on one page with the date we last checked them.
Key takeaways
- The blog is rebuilt on a lightweight design: the blog’s own files for the home page weigh about 120 KB instead of more than 1 MB, and our server answers in about 0.05 seconds.
- Each country has its own page with the age rule, inspection, documents and official links, plus a tool that checks whether your car will be allowed in.
- All old links still work: they now take you straight to the new page.
Why we rebuilt the blog
Most of our readers open the blog on a phone, often on mobile data, from Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Jamaica and many other countries. The old design was heavy: the home page weighed about 1.2 MB before you saw a single article, and slow pages cost you time and data.
Import rules also change every year. A buyer who reads an out-of-date guide can end up paying for a car that his country will not accept. So we rebuilt the blog around two goals: open fast on any phone and show rules you can trust.
Faster pages on any connection
We replaced the old theme with a lightweight design and cut everything that slowed pages down.
- Less to download. The blog’s own files for the home page now weigh about 120 KB instead of more than 1 MB with the old design. The design itself adds only a few kilobytes.
- Quick answers from the server. Pages are saved ready-made, so our server answers in about 0.05 seconds instead of up to 1.8 seconds before.
- Lighter pictures. We compressed every image on the blog: the picture library shrank from 52 MB to 22 MB, and new covers weigh under 40 KB each.
- Text first. On a phone the first paragraph now appears straight away, and nothing pops up over the text.
Google’s own speed test now scores our pages 100 out of 100 for SEO and best practices and 99–100 for accessibility.
Everything for your country on one page
Choose your country under Import Rules and you get one page with everything you need before you buy:
- the age rule and how it is counted (for example, Kenya counts the year of first registration);
- which company inspects the car in Japan and which certificate you need;
- the documents your clearing agent will ask for;
- links to the official duty calculators and authorities;
- the date we last checked the rules, and our sources.
Country pages are ready for Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, DR Congo, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago, with more to follow.
Free tools that answer the first questions
- Import age checker: enter the year from the car’s papers and see whether it meets your country’s age rule.
- Documents checklist: tick off the papers you need, country by country.
- Auction sheet decoder: tap a code such as A2 or W1 and see what it means.
- Landed cost checklist: see every part of the total cost, with links to your government’s official calculator.
The tools are a guide. Rules change, so always ask our office to confirm the car’s dates before you pay.
Easier to read, easier to act
- Clear sections: How to Buy, Import Rules, Car Guides, Payment Safety, Shipping and Autocom News.
- Every guide starts with the answer, then three key points and a short “In this guide” list you can open on your phone.
- Answers to common questions at the end of each guide.
- One tap to act: on a phone, the bar at the bottom of the screen takes you to cars in stock or to WhatsApp with our office for your country.
- Short, clean links that are easy to share.
Safer buying, front and centre
Fraudsters sometimes pretend to be real exporters. Our new Payment Safety section shows how to check an exporter before you pay and lists our official channels. One rule appears on every page: our bank accounts are all in Japan, and the beneficiary is always “Autocom Japan Inc”.
Your old bookmarks still work
We merged duplicate articles and moved guides to new, shorter addresses. Every old link now redirects to the right new page, so links you saved or shared will still open.
We have also checked and updated our guides: import rules for each country are re-checked against official sources, and the date of the check is shown at the top. Ready to look at cars? Browse our stock in Yokohama.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to register to use the blog or the tools?
No. The blog and all tools are free and open to everyone, with no sign-up.
My old link to an article no longer looks the same. Is it the right page?
Yes. Old addresses now redirect to the new page. Some similar articles were combined into one fuller guide, so you may land on a page that covers more.
How often are the import rules updated?
We re-check country rules against official sources and show the date on every country page. Kenya’s rule changes every 1 January, so we check it before each new year.
Is the age checker’s answer final?
No. It is a quick guide based on the rules we last checked. Ask our office to confirm the car’s exact dates before you pay.
