Importing a kit car, er, kit, building and then registering.

[suthol]

SpridgetMitch said:

I don't think being here in NSW makes things any easier.

I understand that emissions are much easier if you use an engine currently in a car that is for sale. I don't know if it still applies for engines that are no longer in production. The latest Sylva kit uses an mgf as the donor for all the major mechanical parts. In that case the K-series is out of production but did meet emissions regs at the time. I can see the difficulty being the difference in emissions regs between say 1998 and 2013.

I have toyed with the kit car idea for a while and some of the British kits look great. So far I have baulked at the perceived amount of red tape involved.

The emissions test doesn't demand an engine from any period just a pass of the test.

The emissions are no big deal, the test is free and you just got to pass the IM240 test which is deemed to meet ADR 37/01 which is the accepted standard Australia wide.

The big killer for an ICV is the drive by noise test.

Getting an ICV registered is a challenge but achievable in all states, talk to the local guys and then talk to the engineers that they recommend do exactly what the engineer recommends and the path will not be too difficult and need not be expensive.

[SpridgetMitch]

So if we go back to the OP, is there any rules against importing a kit car kit and then building it in Australia? Would it just be treated as if it is a locally built ICV?

[suthol]

SpridgetMitch said:

So if we go back to the OP, is there any rules against importing a kit car kit and then building it in Australia? Would it just be treated as if it is a locally built ICV?

An ICV is an ICV and will be treated the same way regardless of kit or scratch build.

The benefit of a local kit over an imported one is the availability of donor parts and also the bigger manufacturers / resellers have empirical evidence regarding chassis stiffness, seat mounts & seat belt anchor points which the local authorities are becoming rather too interested in.

Whatever you do don't bring a car or kit in and declare it as a race car to reduce tax because you will never get it registered.

I know on one that is for sale at the moment as a fully registered car but the VIN is off another brand of car entirely and the NSW authorities are watching it very closely, they may well dob it in to the registering state which means the current owner could finish up with a total train wreck if he was the one to register it first up. ( fraud comes to mind which govts tend to frown on )

[ezakimak]

getting it in will be the hardest part. cant ship chassis with (wheels,suspensions,axles,gearbox,engine) on same boat.

best way would be get chassis shipped in one box to one address and then all the rest sent to another address/person. That way it could all be sent at the same time even if in two separate shipments.

[SpridgetMitch]

I'm not sure I understand.

So you can't ship a kit complete in one go? Is this because our authorities deem this to be shipping a vehicle?

[papahet]

SpridgetMitch said:

I'm not sure I understand.

So you can't ship a kit complete in one go? Is this because our authorities deem this to be shipping a vehicle?

Yes this is correct: http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page4371.asp#kits

You also cannot have an existing / complete / registered kit car that is overseas knocked down and sent here as a kit to be rebuilt and road registered.

Anything that resembles a vehicle, in parts or complete, would need to go through the regular vehicle import channels. There are not any kit cars approved to come in through this method I believe.

It is a silly ruling as Australia does have the proper route to take to get an ICV on the road. It was likely introduced due to people rorting the system by having cars not normally eligible for import brought over in pieces and then rebuilt here.

[ezakimak]

papahet said:

Yes this is correct: http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page4371.asp#kits

You also cannot have an existing / complete / registered kit car that is overseas knocked down and sent here as a kit to be rebuilt and road registered.

Anything that resembles a vehicle, in parts or complete, would need to go through the regular vehicle import channels. There are not any kit cars approved to come in through this method I believe.

It is a silly ruling as Australia does have the proper route to take to get an ICV on the road. It was likely introduced due to people rorting the system by having cars not normally eligible for import brought over in pieces and then rebuilt here.

I think its a grey area as unless you have a chassis design that is certified, has an approved vin number and the like then it is just a bunch of tubes. in my mind you are not importing a chassis as under the rulles if that was the case you would then have to go through low volume compliance and not the ICV route. ICV exists for one of vehicles......

someone in customs would probably have a different view to that so for the hassel and cost of a second shipment, why risk it.

[420weblazeit]

So, in Australia, you can build a kit car and register it? I have a few questions, I shall give scenarios:

I have a V12 Lamborghini replica which is LHD. It is built on a space frame. I use an Audi RS4 engine from... an Audi RS4, a car sold/made in Australia with a custom exhaust note, but this is a European market engine sourced from Germany as the kit is manufactured in England, and most parts are from Europe

Would it be possible to register it and have the "LEFT HAND DRIVE" notice stuck to the back?

Also, I know of people in the US who used to slice up (molest, basically) R33 Skylines and then weld/assemble them back together and would have a corrupt "inspector" confirm that they have been at the person's house and that the vehicle seems to be road worthy, would it be possible to grey market import some cars this way?

If anyone has any special connections, could you PM me?

I may build a house in Australia one day and want to bring a car with me!

[Theadamh1234]

I was just looking at the Caterham AU website, it said caterhams have to pay a 'luxury car' tax!

[motomk]

Theadamh1234 said:

I was just looking at the Caterham AU website, it said caterhams have to pay a 'luxury car' tax!

That is because they are priced above the luxury car tax threshold of $60,316.

BMWs and Mercs are way out too. Even if you double the amount for the value of the AUD$, they are still way wrong.