Importing second hand car?

[hope2421]

I'm in the early stages of thinking about emigrating to Aus and wondered what the situation is on importing second hand cars.

The car i would what to import would be my 89 Audi ur quattro and possibly my 96 Audi RS2.

Any help/advise would be appreciated.

Cheers
Tom

Edited by hope2421 on Sunday 20th January 00:02

[deviant]

You need to have owned and lived with (and have supporting paperwork) for 12 months before you can bring those particular cars in.

[hope2421]

deviant said:

You need to have owned and lived with (and have supporting paperwork) for 12 months before you can bring those particular cars in.

Both no problem there then....any thing else?

[deviant]

I have never done a personal import...but there are quite a few people on here that have so I am sure someone will chip in soon or you can have a search. Most people bought TVR's in so look for the TVR's in aus threads

[VYT]

Owned and lived with the car is the prerequisite for getting an import license. Once in the country you have to get an engineer to inspect the vehicle for Australian compliance. With a mainstream car, I suspect there will be no big problems. The most likely issue will be rear child seat restraints, or lack of them. Australian cars all have an anchor for at least 2 of the rear seats. As a consequence, my T350 required no work for Australian compliance but the Freelander had to have the anchors fitted. Expect to then pay lots of import tax and duty. You will probably pay 20 - 30% of the cars value to get it transported and on the road in Aus.

[aussiebeano]

this is the best site I have come accross for exporting to Australia.

http://www.karmanshipping.co.uk/australia/australi...

A mate at work is goin through the process at the moment and says Karmen Shipping have been excellent so far

[7805]

Dont forget that you need to either have Australian Permenant Residency or have a 457 Visa/work permit to be able to ship the vehicle. Only one vehicle per person per year is allowed too.

I have an application in for import approval at the moment, hopefully hear this week if I can or not... Karman Shipping seems to be ranked highly for the UK side of things as does Cargo-online when in Australia.

Lots of threads on this subject but its most definately worth doing for sure, cars in Australia are expensive.

[chunder]

I'll echo the Karman comments and add use an agent to deal with the paperwork, it's not expensive and worth avoiding the hassle. Different states have different registration / examination requirements and in WA different examiners have different requirements so it can be a minefield but well worth it.

Definitely bring them over, if I knew then what I know now I would have brought a couple in at the time.

[Steve-B]

Tom, have a read of my post on http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

worth it if you can satisfy the rules and regos, a bit out of pocket will solve most of it providing you fit the rules properly and don't try to fight the system matey

[deviant]

Yep definately dont try and trick the system or find loopholes...

1. There are no loopholes
2. You WILL get found out and you WILL have to destroy the car (if its in Aus) or pay to send it back to the UK and then have to go through the trouble of disposing of it there.

[7805]

Seems there are lots of posts on the same subject going on here... My Elise is on a Boat making its way to Sydney at present - when the car is here & Ive done the complaiance, Blue and pink slips and Rego is put a post up and share my experiences. Hopefully it'll help clarify a few things.

Agree with what everyone is saying here though, work with the system and dont be tempted into finding ways around things, as laid back as the country is, they are strict on policies and procedures!

Check out the DOTARS web site though, there is heaps of information on there.

[Steve-B]

hi 7805 (no name?)

are you connected up with http://www.aussieelises.com/forums/ which is the Aussie Elises forum here? there's auite a few British expats on there who used to be members of SELOC (etc..) who have brought their cars in. it's a doodle to do and there's a great community there to meet up with and go blatting!

[7805]

Funny you should mention that, I set up a login and things yesterday on Aussie Elises (7805 again).. I do have a name, honestly (Kevin) I just use the same profile ID for the Lotus owners club and PH so I can remember it!

I should be posting on Aussie Elises later today as Im trying to sort out insurance for the car when it arrives (March 18th).. so far, JUSTCAR and AMMI are coming out the best but the average insurance policy is around $1400...

[deviant]

www.shannons.com.au

I have never been inmpressed with the quotes from justcar.