JDM Engine Prices - Covid or Demand?

[AMD 240]

I work at an importer. Most of the price increase has come from the fact that the cars we are getting the engines from are either legal for import, or are about to be legal. The guys in Japan are charging a lot of money for the engines to recoup some of the money lost by not sending the whole car over. It is also getting harder and harder to find certain engines.

Shipping has gone up quite a bit on both ends. Container rent/shipping prices are around 2k higher than last year. And LTL shipping has gone up a bit as well.

There was a few week period last year where most of the major car auction places in Japan shut down. Which killed inventory and drove prices up even more.

The thing that bugs me the most is.. as a seller it sucks to try to sell an SR20det swap at the current prices, when the guys in Japan don't send the small parts. Like Maf or igniter chips. They rarely send intercoolers or intakes as well.

I still try my best to make sure that the people who buy from my shop get as high a quality engine as possible.

[towlie]

Originally Posted by AMD 240

...Most of the price increase has come from the fact that the cars we are getting the engines from are either legal for import, or are about to be legal. The guys in Japan are charging a lot of money for the engines to recoup some of the money lost by not sending the whole car over.

I think this is an accurate explanation. Why would an importer pull an sr20 from a 1995 180sx for $2-4k when they could sell the whole car for $15-20k?

Websites like http://fedlegalimports.com/inventory/ show its more profitable to sell the entire beat used car for thousands then it is to pull the drivetrain. supply has officially been depleted.

The question im curious to see is if costs will come down a little bit when normal shipping is resumed (probably 2022). I would be interested to buy an sr20 just to store for years, cost will only continue to rise imo