Mat Watson of Carwow bought a Honda S660 at a Japanese auction with the help of Autocom Japan and imported it to the UK. His video follows the whole journey — bidding in Japan, shipping, UK modifications and the first drive.
Key takeaways
- Mat bid on a manual Honda S660 at a Japanese auction with Autocom’s help, relying on the auction inspection report.
- Autocom handled the paperwork and shipping, so he did not need to return to Japan.
- In the UK the car needed changes such as a rear fog light and a speedometer reading in mph before it was road-legal.
- The total cost ended up well above the auction price — budget for shipping, duty, tax and UK compliance work.
Bidding on a Honda S660 in Japan
The Honda S660 is a small mid-engined roadster built for Japan’s kei car class, with a 660cc turbo engine. It was sold new in Japan from 2015 to 2022, and manual versions are hard to find in the UK.
During a trip to Japan, Mat met Aman from Autocom Japan, who helped him bid at auction. Mat explains that Japanese auctions work differently from UK ones: buyers rely on detailed inspection reports and the auction house’s grading, rather than seeing the car in person.
If you want to understand the reports he relied on, read our beginner’s guide to the Japanese auction sheet, and see how buying at a Japanese auction works.
You can browse Honda S660 cars in Autocom’s stock.
Shipping and paperwork through Autocom
After the auction, Autocom Japan handled the export paperwork and shipping to the UK. Mat did not need to travel back to Japan to collect the car.
In the video, Mat praises how straightforward this part was, and says importing through Autocom is a good option for anyone looking for a rare or unusual model that is hard to find locally. Autocom Japan has exported more than 900,000 cars to over 100 countries.
Making the car UK road-legal
Once the car arrived, Mat took it to a UK import specialist to prepare it for UK roads. The S660 needed several changes:
- a rear fog light, which Japanese cars often don’t have;
- a speedometer reading in miles per hour;
- tyres with the markings needed for UK approval.
The car failed its first MOT inspection because it lacked a UK-compliant rear fog light. One tyre, although the correct brand and size, did not carry the required marking, so Mat replaced the tyres to avoid failing the Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) test.
For the full UK process, see our guide to importing cars from Japan to the UK and the UK import rules hub.
What it really cost
Mat is open about the numbers in the video: the final cost was well above the hammer price at auction. Shipping, import charges and the compliance work in the UK all added to the bill.
His advice holds for any buyer: work out the full landed cost before you bid. Our landed cost checklist lists each part of it.
The first drive
Once the S660 passed its tests and was registered, Mat finally drove it. He was impressed by its condition — it looked almost new — and found that the previous owner had it serviced regularly at a Honda dealer in Japan.
He added a personal number plate and talked about tuning the car and making a more detailed review. Despite the extra costs and a few surprises, his verdict was positive: importing let him get a rare, well-kept manual car he could not easily find in the UK.
