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

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

Author
Discussion

7805

Original Poster:

139 posts

206 months

Sunday 27th April 2008
quotequote all
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.

2) You don’t need a KPH speedo if your current speedo shows MPH & KPH, I did however get mine changed so I could read the speed easily, I’d rather be concentrating on the driving than the speedo.

3) Drivers side exterior mirror needs to be flat glass not convex like the UK spec. My advise, get the Australian spec part in the UK or get a piece of flat glass stuck on and then remove after your inspection.

4) I have a stage 2 exhaust on my car – no problems with Blue slip inspection.

5) Get your vehicle valued in Australia not in the UK… it much easier this way and they take into consideration the shipping costs for the vehicle & subtract it from the value they put on the car

6) Be prepared for the fact that you only have a small number of insurance companies who will cover a personal import. (Just Car or Shannons are okay, although Shannons undervalue the car because its an import)

7) Just let DOTARS do their thing, be patient, it took nearly 4 weeks for my approval to come through but I only rang them once… there are only 8 – 10 of them in the office so you’ll soon become known if you ring everyday… and be nice to them!

8) Get your information together and send as much as possible to prove you own the car and have used it in the UK. Purchase invoice, service receipts, insurance documents (past and present if you have them) ferry tickets… anything that proves you have been using the car. You need to prove 12 months of continuous use in the UK

9) DO YOUR HOMEWORK… Make sure the car can operate in Australian conditions, everything will work and that you have priced up how much it would to buy the same car out here.. the Lotus for example was significantly more expensive at $99,990 plus on roads and dealer delivery!

10) Get the car cleaned in the UK, polished and make sure all the wheel arches are spotless, may seem a long task but it will save you the hassle of steam cleaning when it arrives in Australia, because my car was spotless it AQUIS passed it without any trouble.


Contacts:

Karman Shipping
Richard is a top bloke, car was put in the container & secured no damage to the vehicle and very well cared for.

Richard Korge
Karman Shipping Limited
Timber Lodge, Plantation Road ,
Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire , LU7 3JB
Tel. No. +44 (0)1525 851545
www.karmanshipping.com
info@karmanshipping.com

Cargo Online
Steve has been doing this for what appears to be years! Again, great bloke, knows exatly what he is doing and does his best for you in every aspect of the job.

Steve White
Cargo Online - Australia
Ph +61 2 9400 2635
Fax +61 2 9400 2625
Mobile +61 (0)416 182399
www.cargoonline.com.au
steve@cargoonline.com.au

Dotars (This is a link to the actual form you need to fill out!)
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/bull...

I guess the biggest question is… would I do it again and is it worth it….

MOST DEFINITELY YES! driving

I hope this helps you all out…

Kevin.



Edited by 7805 on Sunday 27th April 09:41


Edited by 7805 on Monday 28th April 03:26

aussiebeano

843 posts

200 months

Sunday 27th April 2008
quotequote all
excellent summary which has been missing on the forum's up until now. I have an identical Elise except it's an 04. What's the best road you have found in Sydney for a blat (within all aspects of the law of course) without worrying too much about having your photo taken?

7805

Original Poster:

139 posts

206 months

Sunday 27th April 2008
quotequote all
Well, Saturday was it's first outing since arriving in Australia so Im working on finding the best roads around. There is supposed to be a great national park drive out towards Wollongong which Im going to try out, apparently its one of the better quality roads in Sydney. It was a double demerit weekend this weekend, the BIB were out in force as normal so I was extra careful with the speeding!

deviant

4,316 posts

209 months

Monday 28th April 2008
quotequote all
This thread needs to be pinned! The questions about import costs seem to come up quite a bit.

Colonial

13,553 posts

204 months

Monday 28th April 2008
quotequote all
7805 said:
Well, Saturday was it's first outing since arriving in Australia so Im working on finding the best roads around. There is supposed to be a great national park drive out towards Wollongong which Im going to try out, apparently its one of the better quality roads in Sydney. It was a double demerit weekend this weekend, the BIB were out in force as normal so I was extra careful with the speeding!
Hey mate

Join up with the European Car Club of Australia. We do a couple of runs a month on some good roads around Sydney. Have a run down to Wisemans Ferry then back up to Kariong and down the Old Pacific Highway which is very, very, very good set of roads on Saturday 10th of May

Other good roads are the Royal national park (did that last month) south of Sydney, Putty Road heading north out of Windsor and Bells Line of Road, the other road across the Blue Mountains.

TheArb

446 posts

246 months

Monday 28th April 2008
quotequote all
Great post. I had a favourable valuation on the Sag when it came in, much better to have it done here than in UK - I can provide details of the valuers.

We have a couple of TVRs (Griff, Tamora, Sagaris) meeting up at 8am at the Old Toll gates on the Old Pacific Highway this Sunday (May 4th), north of Berowra, a couple of Lotuses wouldn't look amiss.

here's the same shot as above, different car:

http://i17.tinypic.com/67ownkl.jpg


7805

Original Poster:

139 posts

206 months

Monday 28th April 2008
quotequote all
Good old McMahons point... obvioulsy a great location for taking images of stunning cars - Nice Sagaris, looks the business. Ive a few things on over the weekend but I may just join some of these drive trips... where are you heading off to this Sunday?

TheArb

446 posts

246 months

Monday 28th April 2008
quotequote all
nothing planned, we'll meet at the Old Toll gates, take some curves on the Old Pacific, head over Hawkesbury and probably end up at Pie in the Sky or similar.

Kawasicki

13,041 posts

234 months

Wednesday 30th April 2008
quotequote all
7805 said:
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.

2) You don’t need a KPH speedo if your current speedo shows MPH & KPH, I did however get mine changed so I could read the speed easily, I’d rather be concentrating on the driving than the speedo.

3) Drivers side exterior mirror needs to be flat glass not convex like the UK spec. My advise, get the Australian spec part in the UK or get a piece of flat glass stuck on and then remove after your inspection.

4) I have a stage 2 exhaust on my car – no problems with Blue slip inspection.

5) Get your vehicle valued in Australia not in the UK… it much easier this way and they take into consideration the shipping costs for the vehicle & subtract it from the value they put on the car

6) Be prepared for the fact that you only have a small number of insurance companies who will cover a personal import. (Just Car or Shannons are okay, although Shannons undervalue the car because its an import)

7) Just let DOTARS do their thing, be patient, it took nearly 4 weeks for my approval to come through but I only rang them once… there are only 8 – 10 of them in the office so you’ll soon become known if you ring everyday… and be nice to them!

8) Get your information together and send as much as possible to prove you own the car and have used it in the UK. Purchase invoice, service receipts, insurance documents (past and present if you have them) ferry tickets… anything that proves you have been using the car. You need to prove 12 months of continuous use in the UK

9) DO YOUR HOMEWORK… Make sure the car can operate in Australian conditions, everything will work and that you have priced up how much it would to buy the same car out here.. the Lotus for example was significantly more expensive at $99,990 plus on roads and dealer delivery!

10) Get the car cleaned in the UK, polished and make sure all the wheel arches are spotless, may seem a long task but it will save you the hassle of steam cleaning when it arrives in Australia, because my car was spotless it AQUIS passed it without any trouble.


Contacts:

Karman Shipping
Richard is a top bloke, car was put in the container & secured no damage to the vehicle and very well cared for.

Richard Korge
Karman Shipping Limited
Timber Lodge, Plantation Road ,
Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire , LU7 3JB
Tel. No. +44 (0)1525 851545
www.karmanshipping.com
info@karmanshipping.com

Cargo Online
Steve has been doing this for what appears to be years! Again, great bloke, knows exatly what he is doing and does his best for you in every aspect of the job.

Steve White
Cargo Online - Australia
Ph +61 2 9400 2635
Fax +61 2 9400 2625
Mobile +61 (0)416 182399
www.cargoonline.com.au
steve@cargoonline.com.au

Dotars (This is a link to the actual form you need to fill out!)
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/bull...

I guess the biggest question is… would I do it again and is it worth it….

MOST DEFINITELY YES! driving

I hope this helps you all out…

Kevin.



Edited by 7805 on Sunday 27th April 09:41


Edited by 7805 on Monday 28th April 03:26
I'm confused. Why if you have proof of over 12 months ownership and usage do you pay Australian duty?

I'm moving over in 8 weeks, my new employer is paying for a 40 foot container and I thought I might just bring my motorbike and my wifes car over. Both of which have been owned and used for over 12 months.

shane

shane

7805

Original Poster:

139 posts

206 months

Thursday 1st May 2008
quotequote all
Shane.

Firstly... if you haven't got import approval don't put them on the ship. If vehicles arrive in Australia without the import approval papers they either make you send them back or at very worst make you dispose of (crush) them...

You are only allowed one vehicle per container unfortunately so be careful with what you do and check with the shipping agent. You also need to be aware that you can only do one personal import per year so if both are registered in your name you'll have to prioritise which one comes in this year.

I cant explain why you pay GST and Duty but you just do.. there is no getting away with it sadly but I would suspect that you pay it because the government wants to recover the money they have lost by not selling a vehicle over here... Its a bitter pill to swallow but sadly you have to pay VAT & GST when you import it under the personal import scheme. But... the way to pay less GST and Duty is to have the vehicles undervalued when they get here...

One thing I failed to mention in my earlier post... You have to have a 457 Work permit or permenant residency to be able to import the vehicles..

I hope that helps.. a little?


Edited by 7805 on Thursday 1st May 00:41

deviant

4,316 posts

209 months

Thursday 1st May 2008
quotequote all
Shane...I may have misunderstood your post..

DO NOT assume you can just bring your vehicle in!!! You absolutely MUST have import approval before bringing it over otherwise YOU will have to pay for the car to clear quarantine and then be destroyed here or YOU have to pay for the vehicles to be sent back to the UK.

Not directed at Shane but just a general warning...

DO NOT try and play the system, find loopholes or fudge your 12 months of ownership.

The import process in Aus is very strict and there is no way around it. DOTARS will find you out and will not grant you approval and as mentioned if your car enters the country illegally you can wave goodbye to it.

Up until about 5 years back it was quite free and open but there started to be problems...stolen cars, rebirthed cars, badly repaired cars etc were arriving. At the same time the local manufacturers began to make noises about sales being affected which IMO can not be true (most imports are niche cars bought in by young blokes) so the government clamped down with the introduction of SEV's and the closing of '15 year old' imports.

Kawasicki

13,041 posts

234 months

Thursday 1st May 2008
quotequote all
VERY interesting. Thanks for the info. Are you telling me that if my wife owns a car and I own a motorbike that we have to choose just one to put in the container. I'm quite surprised! We have now decided to not bother bringing the car now as it is not particularly valuable or interesting! The bike is worth more, so we will bring that instead (though I worry about riding the bike in a country with strict anti-speeding laws!)

Can anyone think of anything worthwhile to bring from the UK in a 40 foot container?

Thanks again,

Shane

7805

Original Poster:

139 posts

206 months

Thursday 1st May 2008
quotequote all
If the car is in your wifes name and the bike is in your name then you CAN bring both... you are only allowed one personal import PER PERSON per year.

Plenty of high powered cars and bikes out here and an equal number of speed camera's I would say.. its easy to get caught but there are times and places where you'll be okay. When you get here you'll soon realise (if in Sydney) how bad the traffic is and how shocking the driving is.

Where are you going to be based?? Im sure there are a few of us who could think of things to come over and help you fill up the container!

deviant

4,316 posts

209 months

Friday 2nd May 2008
quotequote all
I have often had a wonder about this personal import lark.

In theory you can bring anything you like in and get it on the road...BUT..

As I'm sure most of us know it is verging on criminal to have a modified car and there is a very limited choice of kit cars and build options..

So what would happen if your chosen import is a trackday special of some sort?!?!

A couple of examples...

A Radical or Westfield XTR2, both road legal in the UK but here they are $100,000+ and do not meet a single ADR requirement...but surely if the basic mods are there for aussie roads you can get it legal?

Same for Arial Atom..

Or there are things like the mid engined mini's...I know (cos I asked) Z Cars tried to get an agent here but gave up after 12 months of arguing and modifying kits and DOTARS saying you cant do it even as a kit car...

Heck there are even the odd road legal Formula Fords getting aruond the UK...In theory you should be able to make a personal import out of it but would DOTARS actually let you get away with it?!?

Kawasicki

13,041 posts

234 months

Friday 2nd May 2008
quotequote all
7805 said:
If the car is in your wifes name and the bike is in your name then you CAN bring both... you are only allowed one personal import PER PERSON per year.

Plenty of high powered cars and bikes out here and an equal number of speed camera's I would say.. its easy to get caught but there are times and places where you'll be okay. When you get here you'll soon realise (if in Sydney) how bad the traffic is and how shocking the driving is.

Where are you going to be based?? Im sure there are a few of us who could think of things to come over and help you fill up the container!
But we only have one container, and that would be two vehicles in one container!

7805

Original Poster:

139 posts

206 months

Friday 2nd May 2008
quotequote all
Okay, lets clear this up... I think you have got yourself confused.

The rule is, one vehicle per container.. you cannot put both in the 40ft container that you have coming, you would need a second container if you wanted to bring in the bike and the car.

If you wanted to have both the bike and your wifes car, you could import them both as they are in different names (Which is what I was saying)... BUT... you would still need two containers.

Put simply...
1 Car in one container
1 Bike in one container
1 Import per year per person.

You should check the links I posted as it does explain all.

TheArb

446 posts

246 months

Monday 5th May 2008
quotequote all
Griffith, Tamora & Sagaris spirit lives on in NSW, Australia, last weekend's meet on the Pacific Highway, north of Sydney.

http://photoalbum.flamestone.com/main.php?g2_itemI...


stoobies

5 posts

199 months

Wednesday 7th May 2008
quotequote all
"One thing I failed to mention in my earlier post... You have to have a 457 Work permit or permenant residency to be able to import the vehicles"


I had read in the gov web site and on Karmas web site that you have to have a permenant residency visa to import,but 457 visa holders could apply for permission but it may no be granted. Any insite in this one, we are going down on a 457 for initially 3 years in Oct (will see what happens after that). My 1998 911 cab will only make 20-23 k if i sell it here but it will cost me double that to buy another one over, the appear to be rarer than rocking horse sh!t in Perth WA to even if I could justify the cost finding one will be a problem.

Going to phone them and enquire regards 457 visa holders.

ariddell

440 posts

228 months

Wednesday 7th May 2008
quotequote all
I did it on a 457 without any issue.

I had to provide a declaration that my intent was to apply for permanent residency as soon as i arrived on the 457 visa and that my migration was dependant on this approach.

You should be fine but just make sure you make it clear to them that you are intending to apply for perm residency as i don't think an import approval will be granted if you are only planning on staying for 3 years.




Pb3

1,064 posts

245 months

Wednesday 7th May 2008
quotequote all
Thanks for taking the time to start this thread, makes an interesting read.

Do you see me having any problems getting my Ultima GTR over there on a 175 VISA? I took 3 years building it and had 4 years driving it to date and really don't want to let it go biggrin