new guy

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Tait

Original Poster:

2 posts

243 months

Monday 25th April 2005
quotequote all
hi folks
im just new to the site. im currently in australia on a working visa and i've bought myself a SS ute. i love it, before i came out here i had a civic 1.6 and i thought i had a big car but i've seen the light and fallen for a V8. its a 2001 model in tiger mica.the only modification i've made so far is i've fitted a hard top i got from adelaide ute accessories.got a it for a really good price.chris (the owner) is really helpful. i could have spent a fortune when i was there. im looking into importing it back to the uk when i go home in november. have any of you guys imported your cars?if so how did you go about it?any info would be great.

Raggyman

2,317 posts

258 months

Monday 25th April 2005
quotequote all
Yup, imported mine, wasn't that hard, but can let you know of a couple of pitfalls.

1) Get alot of quotes.
2) When you phone around, ask for the price of a shared groupage container (you share the container with other people), generally the cheapest, but not always the best and most convenient.
3) I had used a company called Four Winds International. While the guys here in the UK were awesome, they were really let down by the people in their Brisbane office. Mainly got told alot of garbage by them there, when they were going to send the container. I went for a Shared Groupage, asked for a quote, and they gave me a pretty decent price, and if I booked with them they could get the stuff sent over in a 20ft container instead of a 40ft container. At that stage thinking awesome, they didn't advise that it was going to cost me ALOT more to do it that way. By then, they had the car in their warehouse, and were going to charge me for keeping it there for the 3 days plus an Admin fee if I decided to go else where. Looking back on it, I should have just gone with Tony from Seaway in Brisbane, + 61 7 3839 3373, would have had to do bit more running around, but would have been MUCH better. Customs clearance is very straight forward.

Hope this helps.. I can definitely say that I am glad that I brought mine over here. Couldn't be happier..

HSVGTSCoupe

2,535 posts

245 months

Monday 25th April 2005
quotequote all
I just brought my HSV GTS coupe over. In a nutshell, at the time of importing it to the UK, if you've been in Oz for over 12 months and owned the car for more than six months, you can qualify as a "personal import" and not get hit by customs for excise & duty. You will need to have the speedo changed to MPH can be done here if you wish but I got mine done in Oz for $350. You will also need a rear fog light that is 150mm away from your other lights and 250mm off the deck. It must only be able to operate when the front lights are on and must have an illuminated switch. The best thing is that you can technically drive over here for 6 months on your Oz plates which gives you plenty of time to do mods over here if reqd. Insurance can take some friggin around but is not impossible. Plenty of guys here to help you with advice on that though and a few SS ute owners here already. Once you have done the mods you take your car to VOSA for a single SVA test (like MOT but tougher) and if it's over 3 years old you'll need to MOT it as well. Once you've done all this you can tax & reg it as normal. phew... did u get all that??

Tait

Original Poster:

2 posts

243 months

Monday 25th April 2005
quotequote all
thanx guys. i've had a couple of quotes from uk shippers at about 1100pounds. is that a good price?i havn't imported a car before so i dont know much about it at all so any info is a big help. i didn't realise there was hsv's in the uk. how many members is on this site?are there any uk spec V8's or are they all imports

Raggyman

2,317 posts

258 months

Monday 25th April 2005
quotequote all
Yeah, £1100 isn't too bad. Check out Roll on Roll off, as that is alot cheaper, BUT from Australia it is pretty unpredicatable as to when they are going to go.