Japanese used car importing has been quite common in Ireland since the 1980s. The imported cars are cheaper than local used cars due to the very low value of used cars in Japan (and to an extent, used products in general), and a much larger range of specifications are available on Japanese models compared to the very limited ranges sold locally even in comparison to the UK, model ranges of Japanese cars can be very limited mostly due to the high vehicle-registration tax and other taxes imposed on new cars sold in Ireland.