Import Merc S Class to WA
Discussion
Hi all
Need help with making a descion as to whether to import Mercedes S class or not.
Ive got my visa and just awaiting house sale, but will probably emmigrate in Oct 07
Ive got an 97 S320 Uk value £5000 Oz value approx $30000 any idea what kind of import duty i will have to pay?
Thinking of upgrading to 2000 S420L Uk value £12500 Oz value $60-80,000 any idea of cost as above and for both cars is it worth it finacially and with all the paper work?
Also read thread giving options of purchase price, Oz value or indepedent Oz Valuation is this correct?
Phoned OZ Merc dealer and was told Euro Mercs completely different to OZ so dont import as you wont get parts and as it has import plate it wont be worth much fro resale. Any views on this?
Any help would be most welcome
Need help with making a descion as to whether to import Mercedes S class or not.
Ive got my visa and just awaiting house sale, but will probably emmigrate in Oct 07
Ive got an 97 S320 Uk value £5000 Oz value approx $30000 any idea what kind of import duty i will have to pay?
Thinking of upgrading to 2000 S420L Uk value £12500 Oz value $60-80,000 any idea of cost as above and for both cars is it worth it finacially and with all the paper work?
Also read thread giving options of purchase price, Oz value or indepedent Oz Valuation is this correct?
Phoned OZ Merc dealer and was told Euro Mercs completely different to OZ so dont import as you wont get parts and as it has import plate it wont be worth much fro resale. Any views on this?
Any help would be most welcome
John Buchan said:
Hi all
Need help with making a descion as to whether to import Mercedes S class or not.
Ive got my visa and just awaiting house sale, but will probably emmigrate in Oct 07
Ive got an 97 S320 Uk value £5000 Oz value approx $30000 any idea what kind of import duty i will have to pay?
Thinking of upgrading to 2000 S420L Uk value £12500 Oz value $60-80,000 any idea of cost as above and for both cars is it worth it finacially and with all the paper work?
Also read thread giving options of purchase price, Oz value or indepedent Oz Valuation is this correct?
Phoned OZ Merc dealer and was told Euro Mercs completely different to OZ so dont import as you wont get parts and as it has import plate it wont be worth much fro resale. Any views on this?
Any help would be most welcome
Need help with making a descion as to whether to import Mercedes S class or not.
Ive got my visa and just awaiting house sale, but will probably emmigrate in Oct 07
Ive got an 97 S320 Uk value £5000 Oz value approx $30000 any idea what kind of import duty i will have to pay?
Thinking of upgrading to 2000 S420L Uk value £12500 Oz value $60-80,000 any idea of cost as above and for both cars is it worth it finacially and with all the paper work?
Also read thread giving options of purchase price, Oz value or indepedent Oz Valuation is this correct?
Phoned OZ Merc dealer and was told Euro Mercs completely different to OZ so dont import as you wont get parts and as it has import plate it wont be worth much fro resale. Any views on this?
Any help would be most welcome
First of all you have to prove you have owned and used a car outside of Australia for 12 months prior to being given import approval. That says if you change your car now you must wait 12 months at least before you emigrate.
Import tax and duty will be ~20% of the Australian landed value. That is the local value plus the cost of shipping and insurance. If the loal value exceeds $55k Au then you will be stuck for luxury car tax as well which means you will have to stump up ~30% of the value that exceeds $55k.
I would have the car valued locally because they will take into account that it is an import and lower the value accordingly. They will also take into account that most European car of that age will not meet Australian design rules, so there will be some cost involved in getting the car modified, probably just rear child seat anchorages on a merc, maybe mirrors.
In short, if you want to bring the car it is quite easy to do, (in Vic anyway), but do not expect to make money out of it. By the time you have shipped the car, paid import tax and duty and made it roadworthy there will be little or no profit margin if you sell.
My oppinion is, if you want the car for yourself it does make sense to bring the vehicle but as a money making proposition, forget it.
Cheers Bob
Thank you all for your valuable information it has certainly saved me a lot of
grief and it's hard enough with the transition of moving with a 40 foot container
of furniture and move into new house without the trauma of trying to get my car
through customs and registration officials. Incidentally we got our permanent res
visas through fast track as we are retired but it cost us in total through agent
£25k
grief and it's hard enough with the transition of moving with a 40 foot container
of furniture and move into new house without the trauma of trying to get my car
through customs and registration officials. Incidentally we got our permanent res
visas through fast track as we are retired but it cost us in total through agent
£25k
I am looking to do a similiar thing to Perth, WA. I have a visa and am planning to go in January 2008 after our house build is finished.
I have a Lexus GS430 which I want to sell and buy a CL55.
I could get a nice 2003 model for circa £32500. An Australian CL55 would be up for sale for circa $AUD200K+.
If I assume an Australian customs value of $AUD175K which allows for the fact it would be an import, I would be £10K up after import costs and tax.
A shipping company I have researched (noting they will be biased) indicates that the Australian customs will normally value a car at circa 50% of its private sale value. That would be even better.
Interestingly the customs value is determined as the UK cost x the exchange rate applicable on the date of export. So if I take that (£32500 x 2.4ish)= customs value of $AUD78000, add all the import costs and assume I could sell my car for $AUD175K, I would be more than £20K up.
I wonder if any one has done anything like this?
Cheers,
Marcus.
I have a Lexus GS430 which I want to sell and buy a CL55.
I could get a nice 2003 model for circa £32500. An Australian CL55 would be up for sale for circa $AUD200K+.
If I assume an Australian customs value of $AUD175K which allows for the fact it would be an import, I would be £10K up after import costs and tax.
A shipping company I have researched (noting they will be biased) indicates that the Australian customs will normally value a car at circa 50% of its private sale value. That would be even better.
Interestingly the customs value is determined as the UK cost x the exchange rate applicable on the date of export. So if I take that (£32500 x 2.4ish)= customs value of $AUD78000, add all the import costs and assume I could sell my car for $AUD175K, I would be more than £20K up.
I wonder if any one has done anything like this?
Cheers,
Marcus.
I recently imported my car from the UK to Adelaide (March 2006). It was done under the personal import scheme which waives a lot of the red tape once the car is in the country.
Basically I had owned the car for more than twelve months and just jumped thru all the hoops set out by Canberra and the SA road authority.
My car was a Lotus Esprit. 6 were originally imported into Oz by Lotus Cars, as such they are quite rare here which has it's pros and cons. Retail for the car here in oz was Au$210,000 approx. I bought the car for UK£17k. Here's where you can make a bit of a killing. Just prior to exporting the car get it properly valued for the smallest price possible. Customs will take the value that you give them as long as it looks official, and a little bit of effort here can save you many, many thousands of dollars.
Also make sure you are onsite during the customs inspection. They will go over the car with a fine tooth comb, looking for bugs and leaves in spots you thought were not visible. I had to disassemble one of my light pods to retrieve a single leaf, otherwise the car would have been sent to the steam cleaners for another 3-$400.
Rough costs from memory.
Oz Import Approval Au$50
Shipping to Oz Au$3100
Customs / Port fees Au$400
Govt. 'import Duty' officially calculated at Au$13,000 But customs were real nice and I only had to pay $8000. (Goes on value of car *)
South Oz roadworthy and first registration (once off fee) Au$2750. (Goes on value of car *)
Works out around $14,300
Good luck...
S4Simon
94 Lotus Esprit
Basically I had owned the car for more than twelve months and just jumped thru all the hoops set out by Canberra and the SA road authority.
My car was a Lotus Esprit. 6 were originally imported into Oz by Lotus Cars, as such they are quite rare here which has it's pros and cons. Retail for the car here in oz was Au$210,000 approx. I bought the car for UK£17k. Here's where you can make a bit of a killing. Just prior to exporting the car get it properly valued for the smallest price possible. Customs will take the value that you give them as long as it looks official, and a little bit of effort here can save you many, many thousands of dollars.
Also make sure you are onsite during the customs inspection. They will go over the car with a fine tooth comb, looking for bugs and leaves in spots you thought were not visible. I had to disassemble one of my light pods to retrieve a single leaf, otherwise the car would have been sent to the steam cleaners for another 3-$400.
Rough costs from memory.
Oz Import Approval Au$50
Shipping to Oz Au$3100
Customs / Port fees Au$400
Govt. 'import Duty' officially calculated at Au$13,000 But customs were real nice and I only had to pay $8000. (Goes on value of car *)
South Oz roadworthy and first registration (once off fee) Au$2750. (Goes on value of car *)
Works out around $14,300
Good luck...
S4Simon
94 Lotus Esprit
astonmartinv8 said:
I am looking to do a similiar thing to Perth, WA. I have a visa and am planning to go in January 2008 after our house build is finished.
I have a Lexus GS430 which I want to sell and buy a CL55.
I could get a nice 2003 model for circa £32500. An Australian CL55 would be up for sale for circa $AUD200K+.
If I assume an Australian customs value of $AUD175K which allows for the fact it would be an import, I would be £10K up after import costs and tax.
A shipping company I have researched (noting they will be biased) indicates that the Australian customs will normally value a car at circa 50% of its private sale value. That would be even better.
Interestingly the customs value is determined as the UK cost x the exchange rate applicable on the date of export. So if I take that (£32500 x 2.4ish)= customs value of $AUD78000, add all the import costs and assume I could sell my car for $AUD175K, I would be more than £20K up.
I wonder if any one has done anything like this?
Cheers,
Marcus.
I have a Lexus GS430 which I want to sell and buy a CL55.
I could get a nice 2003 model for circa £32500. An Australian CL55 would be up for sale for circa $AUD200K+.
If I assume an Australian customs value of $AUD175K which allows for the fact it would be an import, I would be £10K up after import costs and tax.
A shipping company I have researched (noting they will be biased) indicates that the Australian customs will normally value a car at circa 50% of its private sale value. That would be even better.
Interestingly the customs value is determined as the UK cost x the exchange rate applicable on the date of export. So if I take that (£32500 x 2.4ish)= customs value of $AUD78000, add all the import costs and assume I could sell my car for $AUD175K, I would be more than £20K up.
I wonder if any one has done anything like this?
Cheers,
Marcus.
Better buy the CL55 today. You must own it and use it abroad for 12 months before you can bring it in as a personal import.
Get it valued by an independant valuer in Australia if you really want to know what it will be worth in Oz.
Remember:
When you come to sell the car it will not be worth market value becuase it is an import.
You can only get it insured with one or two companies becuase it is an import.
If you want the car then importing does make sense, it is a cheap way for you to get that car in Australia. However , if you just want to make money then I suspect the numbers will not add up.
Bob
16610LV said:
...but for personal imports into Oz from the UK, isn't there some rule that you can only use the car in Oz for 12 months, as after that time it needs to meet Australian standards/type approval etc and will need to be scrapped?
I may be wrong (hopefully)!
I may be wrong (hopefully)!
Completely wrong thankfully!
If you come to Oz as a visitor you can bring your car and drive it for up to a year tax free no questions asked. You cannot sell the car, it must be re exported.
If you come as a resident then you need to take the personal import route. It is not cheap but works quite well. Once you have the import approval plate then the car can be used and sold in Australia with no restriction.
vyt said:
16610LV said:
...but for personal imports into Oz from the UK, isn't there some rule that you can only use the car in Oz for 12 months, as after that time it needs to meet Australian standards/type approval etc and will need to be scrapped?
I may be wrong (hopefully)!
I may be wrong (hopefully)!
Completely wrong thankfully!
If you come to Oz as a visitor you can bring your car and drive it for up to a year tax free no questions asked. You cannot sell the car, it must be re exported.
If you come as a resident then you need to take the personal import route. It is not cheap but works quite well. Once you have the import approval plate then the car can be used and sold in Australia with no restriction.
...Thanks for the info! That's good to know. I may be moving to Oz at the end of this year and would probably like to take both my wife's VW Golf V5 and my 996 Carrera 4. Oz used prices for these sorts of German cars are ridiculous!
16610LV said:
vyt said:
16610LV said:
...but for personal imports into Oz from the UK, isn't there some rule that you can only use the car in Oz for 12 months, as after that time it needs to meet Australian standards/type approval etc and will need to be scrapped?
I may be wrong (hopefully)!
I may be wrong (hopefully)!
Completely wrong thankfully!
If you come to Oz as a visitor you can bring your car and drive it for up to a year tax free no questions asked. You cannot sell the car, it must be re exported.
If you come as a resident then you need to take the personal import route. It is not cheap but works quite well. Once you have the import approval plate then the car can be used and sold in Australia with no restriction.
...Thanks for the info! That's good to know. I may be moving to Oz at the end of this year and would probably like to take both my wife's VW Golf V5 and my 996 Carrera 4. Oz used prices for these sorts of German cars are ridiculous!
Makes sense to import if you want the car. If you want to sell it you will find there is little money to be made. You will pay 20 - 30% of the Australian value of the car in tax.
presuming_ed said:
I Looked at importing an older Porsche but couldn't really make the figures/time/effort really balance out. Maybe its more worthwhile for newer cars. Does anyone know why ex-UK imports fetch a lower price than the original Australian delivery cars of the same year?
If from Europe and especially the UK then assumed riddled with rust, especially compared to local same age cars. Also ac if fitted won't cope with local temps, some purpose built for export to Aus models had different suspension and even uprated rads / oil coolers etc. Some cars had issues passing inspections to be registered due to complete nonsense and you may find the lower prices are on imported vehicles not yet registered.
The reputation was probably based on the early 80's Jags and stuff and may have had some truth at the time but nowadays there's not as much difference. Also I guess is the psychological thing - if you were in the UK looking to buy a 15 yr old Porsche and you had identical twins except one was UK delivered and the other had spent 14 yrs in Moscow which would have the greater value.
Doesn't stop me importing cars or buying european ones though
ukdennis said:
Another cost that most people don't realise is the Stamp Duty payable on first registration of the car. In WA, this is a complete ripoff - 6.5% of the value of the car last time I looked !
You don't pay the stamp duty when registering if you have previously owned the vehicle in the country it is coming from.
If it helps I have found this simple calculation to be fairly accurate.
Vehicle price in GBP x 4 = total AUD cost incurred in buying, importing, registering etc.
I.e. to buy a car from here at 10K GBP it will cost you $40k by the time it's on the road.
If you hit luxury car tax bracket then x 5.
Value of vehicle when you come to sell it in Oz will vary considerably and there are only a very few cars where you can guarantee to turn a profit and even then not as much as you think.
IMHO only import / export a car if you want to keep it as you won't make money unless you have very long pockets and a lot of patience.
Vehicle price in GBP x 4 = total AUD cost incurred in buying, importing, registering etc.
I.e. to buy a car from here at 10K GBP it will cost you $40k by the time it's on the road.
If you hit luxury car tax bracket then x 5.
Value of vehicle when you come to sell it in Oz will vary considerably and there are only a very few cars where you can guarantee to turn a profit and even then not as much as you think.
IMHO only import / export a car if you want to keep it as you won't make money unless you have very long pockets and a lot of patience.
Here is all the information you need www.dotars.gov.au/transport/safety/road/bulletin/importing.aspx however take note of this:
Visitors, temporary residents, foreign diplomatic personnel, companies and corporations are not eligible to import a vehicle under the personal import scheme..
To be eligible for a personal import the following criteria must be satisfied:
The vehicle has been owned and used by the applicant for a continuous period of at least 12 months (3 months where ownership and use of the vehicle commenced before 8 May 2000);
at the time the vehicle is imported, the applicant is:
i. an Australian citizen or an Australian permanent resident; or
ii. a person who has applied to become an Australian citizen or an Australian permanent resident;
The applicant is of an age that entitles him or her to hold a licence or a permit to drive a road vehicle of that type;
The applicant undertakes to comply with any requirements as to road safety that are imposed in respect of the vehicle by the Administrator; and
the applicant has not imported a road vehicle owned by him/her within the year ending on the day on which the vehicle in respect of which the application is made is landed in Australia. If an applicant has imported a vehicle under any other provisions in that time, approval will not be granted.
Visitors, temporary residents, foreign diplomatic personnel, companies and corporations are not eligible to import a vehicle under the personal import scheme..
To be eligible for a personal import the following criteria must be satisfied:
The vehicle has been owned and used by the applicant for a continuous period of at least 12 months (3 months where ownership and use of the vehicle commenced before 8 May 2000);
at the time the vehicle is imported, the applicant is:
i. an Australian citizen or an Australian permanent resident; or
ii. a person who has applied to become an Australian citizen or an Australian permanent resident;
The applicant is of an age that entitles him or her to hold a licence or a permit to drive a road vehicle of that type;
The applicant undertakes to comply with any requirements as to road safety that are imposed in respect of the vehicle by the Administrator; and
the applicant has not imported a road vehicle owned by him/her within the year ending on the day on which the vehicle in respect of which the application is made is landed in Australia. If an applicant has imported a vehicle under any other provisions in that time, approval will not be granted.
s4simon said:
Sorry to say Stamp Duty is valid in SA. I imported my own car from the uk last year and upon first registration they tried to get me to pay another $6000 stamp duty. I wrestled the guy to the ground and only had to pay $2300 in the end , which is still a lot of money for nothing.
There seems to be different rules for different states, and then different interpretations depending who you get on the counter !
Thanks this is a good thread..
I too am moving to Oz in 2009 but getting wed there in Jan 2008.
I am looking to take my 1969 912 which I have had for 7 years
and my 1954 356 Pre A Porsche out there to and again I have had it 7 years..
The Porsche 912 is a finished car but the 356 is still in bits, now this car is worth alot of money so am I better off taking the car in, as a project in bits..
I am in Oz on Thursday next week I will keep an eye out on this post..
Cheers
I too am moving to Oz in 2009 but getting wed there in Jan 2008.
I am looking to take my 1969 912 which I have had for 7 years
and my 1954 356 Pre A Porsche out there to and again I have had it 7 years..
The Porsche 912 is a finished car but the 356 is still in bits, now this car is worth alot of money so am I better off taking the car in, as a project in bits..
I am in Oz on Thursday next week I will keep an eye out on this post..
Cheers
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