Importing a car to Australia - All the facts... Hopefully!

Importing a car to Australia - All the facts... Hopefully!

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Discussion

7805

Original Poster:

139 posts

206 months

Thursday 8th May 2008
quotequote all
The 175 Visa is a permenant resident visa isnt it? so I would imagine that will help you qualify? The only way to know for sure is to apply for the import approval and see how it all goes.

ariddell

440 posts

228 months

Thursday 8th May 2008
quotequote all
Should have no problems with the import approval stage if the 175 is perm residency.

Worth checking if it will meet the reduced set of ADRs needed for personal imports though to make sure it will get through compliancing. Things like the minimum height of headlights from the road, seatbelts, correct markings being present on the glass etc still apply.

Psimpson7

1,071 posts

240 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
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With regard to the 457 vias comments. I got permission to bring my car out on a 457 but as has already been said they dont have to give you permission. You have to prove where you are going to live aswell.

Rgds
peter

grimsbyreaper

12 posts

194 months

Thursday 15th May 2008
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Have a couple of updates from Steve at Cargo Online to add;

"Please post a correction to the 1 car per container fallacy. There is no limit to the number of cars, bikes or trailers that can go in a container. We regularly do 40ft with husband and wife’s car and recently did Mother and daughters cars and Dads bike! Separate ownership but same container is fine."

and on the personal import one vehicle per year rule;

"It actually work out to less than one per year as you can’t apply until 1 year after the previous car is cleared. Taking into account the processing time and shipping time it would be difficult to get the time down to lower than 15 months."

As per the previous comment, I used both Richard at Karman Shipping and Steve at Cargo Online for my export / import, both were superb to deal with and most helpful every step of the way.






Kawasicki

13,041 posts

234 months

Monday 19th May 2008
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Thanks for posting that correction. My wifes car might be going to OZ again!

shane

GuyVXT

177 posts

208 months

Wednesday 28th May 2008
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wow great post.. thanks for all the info

i have a vauxhall vx220 turbo and i'm looking into moving to australia.

how do you find it over there?? im assuming your elise has Aircon?? my vx doesnt.. frown

how did you find out if it met the australian regulations??

how will i stand with modifications?? my car has a 3inch straight through exhaust with no cats, stage 4remap etc.. will i have to put it back to standardish??
thanks

Edited by GuyVXT on Wednesday 28th May 15:34

Psimpson7

1,071 posts

240 months

Monday 25th August 2008
quotequote all
Just to add to this topic, I brought my Defender out via Richard at Karman shipping, and they are great. Highly recommended by me aswell.

Rgds
Pete

deviant

4,316 posts

209 months

Monday 25th August 2008
quotequote all
GuyVXT said:
wow great post.. thanks for all the info

i have a vauxhall vx220 turbo and i'm looking into moving to australia.

how do you find it over there?? im assuming your elise has Aircon?? my vx doesnt.. frown

how did you find out if it met the australian regulations??

how will i stand with modifications?? my car has a 3inch straight through exhaust with no cats, stage 4remap etc.. will i have to put it back to standardish??
thanks

Edited by GuyVXT on Wednesday 28th May 15:34
Depends how you cope with the heat. One of my MR2's had all the A/C gear stripped out and it could get to be pretty unbearable once the temp got much above 30...but with the roof off, a hat on and blasting along a shady bit of road it was fine. I never hated that car more than they day I got stuck in traffic in the blazing sun in the middle of summer though biggrin

You MIGHT get your mods past the rego guys but the police ae very unfriendly with modified cars here and even if you do have the right papers to keep your mods legal its still no promise that the police wont give you a 'work order' which is basically an MOT style inspection. I would say though that if its just a weekend car and you are a bit older then the police might be a bit more leniant....just depends on the blokes mood on the day.

Vanya

2,058 posts

243 months

Tuesday 30th September 2008
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deviant said:
This thread needs to be pinned! The questions about import costs seem to come up quite a bit.
BUMP...

I think Deviant's suggestion to "sticky" this a good one MODS!

Having surfed the Perth (and wider WA) used car market on the internet I may be faced with little alternative but to resurrect the beast and bring it over! evil

Rach*

8,824 posts

215 months

Wednesday 29th October 2008
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Hi guys, does all the above apply if your bringing a car to Oz for a few weeks then shipping it out again? Thanks smile

holloway_dave

439 posts

206 months

Wednesday 29th October 2008
quotequote all
Rach - you will just need a carnet de passage, which I think you'll probably have for the rest of your trip anyway. (spotted your other thread earlier today)

See this page in the section 'Concessions for tourists and temporary residents'

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=4371

I'm not 100% certain about any Australian standards you might need to meet though (saftey standards etc). Might be worth checking out that the VW is OK from that point of view. You don't need any Australian registration if you are only bringing it in temporarily - you just need to have valid registration from your home country. (ie, it needs to be taxed and MOT'd).

Oh yeah, quarantine is a big pain in the neck apparently for bringing a car in to aus. Not sure if you've come across this yet... Just something else to be aware of.

http://www.dutchpickle.com/east-timor/in-transit/d...


Rach*

8,824 posts

215 months

Wednesday 29th October 2008
quotequote all
Thanks very much, I was having a minor heart attack at all those costs. Yep, the car will needs to be steam cleaned and inspected to enter Oz and have the MOT equiv done.

We're hoping to ship them home afterwards so those shipping links should come in very useful too.

smile

Colonial

13,553 posts

204 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
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So one car every 15 months...

Will be in the UK for 3.5 years by the looks of things, so as an Australia citizen can I take over one car every year (say 18 months) and then head back to the UK? Do I have to come with the car or can I just arrange for a family member to pick it up?

My dream garage may just be a feasible option now if this is the case.

deviant

4,316 posts

209 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
Hmm thats a dilly of a pickle.

I guess there is nothing to stop you 'selling' it to someone the same day it arrives?

Though I thought I read somewhere that you need proof your travelling to aus to do a personal import?

Might need to give DOTARS a call and try and get something in writing if possible. I did not do a thorough search but maybe there is something in here: http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/vehicle_reg...

holloway_dave

439 posts

206 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
To import/export a car to Aus you need to have owned it overseas for a minimum of 12 months, and to take it to Australia (according to the guidelines) you either need to be an Australian citizen, or a permanent resident. I guess that could mean you could stay in the UK and ship it to Aus if you were an australian citizen, but I'd be confirming that though!

As far as I know there are no restrictions on selling it any time - the hard part it getting it in!

The general consensus though is that exporting a car to aus simply to try and make some money most likely isn't worth it. Need to remember that you will be buying it 12 months before you can sell it, so with depreciation and all the costs described in this thread, it doesn't work out as well as it would first seem. Imports in aus will be worth much less than an equivalent locally delivered car. With the price crash on 'premium' cars in the UK lately though, it may now be viable.

Basically though, it seems to be worth it for something you'll use yourself, or potentially for something unattainable in Australia, which might have a market - eg a Noble or something. Unlikely to be worthwhile for say an M5.

Colonial

13,553 posts

204 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
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Oh yeah, not in it to make money by any means.

Just want some interesting cars in my garage.

S2 Elise and possibly something else at this stage

holloway_dave

439 posts

206 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
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heh, fair enough smile

My comments about flogging it were more towards deviant who was suggesting selling it straight away.

deviant

4,316 posts

209 months

Friday 21st November 2008
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holloway_dave said:
heh, fair enough smile

My comments about flogging it were more towards deviant who was suggesting selling it straight away.
What I meant was...selling it as in 'selling' it to someone to look after until he returns from aus as a way of avoiding having to be here to collect it from customs. Not sure if its entirely legal though...

Colonial

13,553 posts

204 months

Friday 21st November 2008
quotequote all
deviant said:
holloway_dave said:
heh, fair enough smile

My comments about flogging it were more towards deviant who was suggesting selling it straight away.
What I meant was...selling it as in 'selling' it to someone to look after until he returns from aus as a way of avoiding having to be here to collect it from customs. Not sure if its entirely legal though...
Yeah, got you now

Might make a few phone calls and see what the story is with that from the companies mentioned.

If so, A S2 Elise and a TVR would make a couple of nice garage additions.

BATS666

27 posts

191 months

Sunday 23rd November 2008
quotequote all
[quote=7805]Okay, so there are a number of us out in Australia who have been tempted to ship a car over here and there are a number of PHer’s still in the UK who are thinking of taking the plunge and coming to Australia and want to bring their pride and joy with them.

Here’s my experience of shipping my beloved Lotus Elise 111R, it’s an 05MY with the touring pack, I purchased it from new with a first registration of June 2005. Mileage was under 5000miles… selling it in the UK wasn’t really an option as quite frankly – I didn’t want to and now it’s onshore in Australia, I’m exceptionally pleased I didn’t.

So, what was the total cost… here goes… and be prepared, everyone wants some of your hard earned cash when bringing in a vehicle from overseas: (All figures in Australian Dollars)

Vehicle import application - $50.00
Shipping cost (20ft container) - $3025.00
Marine shipping insurance - $1892.00
Australian Duty & Entry Fees - $6456.41
Port & Statutory Charges - $489.50
Transport of container (Warf to Depot) - $429.00
Depot Charges (Unpack Container) - $407.00
Australian Quarantine Inspection Services - $193.00
Customs and AQUIS formalities re Motor Vehicle - $412.50
Valuation of Vehicle - $605.00
Transport by tilt tray (Warf to mechanic) - $132.00
Admin Costs at Mechanic & Secure storage - $176.00
Blue slip for imported vehicle - $113.50
Personal Import Plate - $154.00
Visual inspection unit (VIU) at RTA - $187.00
Registration Fee - $51.00
Motor Vehicle Tax - $166.00
Stamp Duty (on a Value of $42,000) - $1260.00
Compulsory Third party insurance - $326.00

Grand total (Car is now on the road!) - $16,524.91

General Tips:
1) When shipping the car, put some parts in it, you do not pay duty on the parts you bring in, they are cheaper in the UK than over in Australia so well worth preparing for.


I hope this helps you all out…

Kevin. [quote=7805]

My car arrives tomorrow. I put some spares in the back to save having to wait 6 weeks for them to turn up from the UK. Import agent says i DO have to pay import duty & GST on these spares. Only about £80, but this is contrary to Kev's advice above.
Kev, do you have something in writing to say that spares imported with the car are exempt from duty ? I'm even having to pay on the original exhaust pots that are now sat in the boot of the car. The new sports exhausts are not dutiable as they are fitted.