importing a car

[Guest teammorris]

Hi all

 

Can anyone who has taken a car with them tell me if it is financially worth while? I understand you have to owned the car for 12 months, but beyond that not much more! Does it have to be under a certain ammount of miles and a certain age? Does the shipping, re-registartion cost come in at less than buying an australian used car?

Basically, should i sell my car here and buy 1 there or, take mine with me?

 

cheers

[jimmyskinner]

Hi all

 

Can anyone who has taken a car with them tell me if it is financially worth while? I understand you have to owned the car for 12 months, but beyond that not much more! Does it have to be under a certain ammount of miles and a certain age? Does the shipping, re-registartion cost come in at less than buying an australian used car?

Basically, should i sell my car here and buy 1 there or, take mine with me?

 

cheers

 

There is a thread on here posted within the last few days with a breakdown of costs,remember you may also have to hire a car when you get there for about 7 weeks while yours arrives at about £250 a week ,it all adds up !!

[snifter]

Have a look at previous threads on the subject. There is loads out there. TBH the general concensus seems to be that unless its pretty new and something that is really worth bringing (Audi, Volvo and other more high end makes) its not really worth it.

 

Personally we looked into it then worked out the costs it wasn't really worth it. Having to hire something till ours arrived and so on also. We'll just suck up that cars cost a bit more and just spend once there. Also once there as hard as it might be, I am just going to try not to keep converting everything into pounds and balking at the exchange rate. End of the day, in Aus, earning Aussie $$, not £ so will work in it.

[R & H]

Have a look at previous threads on the subject. There is loads out there. TBH the general concensus seems to be that unless its pretty new and something that is really worth bringing (Audi, Volvo and other more high end makes) its not really worth it.

 

I have a 7 year old Merc S Class Diesel, which I have had for 6 years. In the UK the value is between £10000-£12000, I checked with a specialist shipper and he reckons that in Oz it will be worth around $60000. This would help offest the depresiation in the UK.

 

Our plan is to ship it and sell it and sell it locally as apparantly diesel mercs are very sought after?.

 

Also, can anyone confirm if the VW Touran is in Australia as my wife has a Touran and she loves it. So we would also bring it with us, but being the 'only Touran in Australia' would not be a great option.

[snifter]

Sounds like it would be worth shipping but check the market for it before doing so. Loads of online places to help with that.

 

Re the Touran, I'd have a look in the VW Aus site and email them and ask.

[Diane]

I have a 7 year old Merc S Class Diesel, which I have had for 6 years. In the UK the value is between £10000-£12000, I checked with a specialist shipper and he reckons that in Oz it will be worth around $60000. This would help offest the depresiation in the UK.

 

Does this mean you would have to pay some sort of duty on that higher value? The Aus authorities love hitting you with stamp duty on any and all purchases so just wondered if they'd charge you on that Aus value rather than it's UK value?

 

You may have gathered that I have absolutely no idea about the costs of importing a car...but I know a gal that does! Drop Mandy an email (mandy@h2h.com.au) - she bought hers over a short while ago, and knows all the ins and outs - and also put together a handy written guide on all of them which she will email out to you if you ask her nicely! She's Whatnow? on here if you prefer to contact her through the site.

 

HTH

Diane

[tinkertailerdog]

Our Volvo is in the garage tomorrow getting checked over what needs to be done for which Volvo charge a handsome $140/hr and reckon it could take at least a day, perhaps two (though they did say they'll sort something out when it comes around to doing the work). Our tax liability was $4700. Add on to that a hire car $1000/month i reckon our costs in total could be around $10k perhaps less. However, the upside of this is the potential resale (need to keep it for a year after its first registration) - as an auto diesel its desirable here with a potential $40/45k marker on it - though its only worth what someone will pay for it, and bear in mind as an import insurance is difficult and potentially expensive.

 

I reckon however its worth it.

 

Couple of things to remember - keep all original purchase invoices otherwise customs will base tax assessments on an Aussie equivalent i.e. a lot more. Also you are limited to importing a single vehicle per person so unless each car is registered in different names you might have a problem.

[R & H]

Does this mean you would have to pay some sort of duty on that higher value? The Aus authorities love hitting you with stamp duty on any and all purchases so just wondered if they'd charge you on that Aus value rather than it's UK value?

 

As I understand it, I'll pay the 'Luxury Tax' still, but only on 50% of the cars value. That is why you have to own it to 12 months. I have to say, I was staggered at the value of my car in Australia when I was told. I had planned to sell it in the UK. I think it will cost me around £7000 to ship / import etc. For me this should work out okay.

 

Mind you, having checked Mercedes website in Oz and using the $1.52 exchange rate. Mercedes are up to twice the price in Australia, so it makes the venture more worthwhile. If you want a quote for your car try sales@anglopacific.co.uk .

[R & H]

Thanks, amazingly I didn't think of sending them an e-mail...and I run my own business...scary eh?

[Guest fatman]

Have a look at previous threads on the subject. There is loads out there. TBH the general concensus seems to be that unless its pretty new and something that is really worth bringing (Audi, Volvo and other more high end makes) its not really worth it.

 

I have a 7 year old Merc S Class Diesel, which I have had for 6 years. In the UK the value is between £10000-£12000, I checked with a specialist shipper and he reckons that in Oz it will be worth around $60000. This would help offest the depresiation in the UK.

 

Our plan is to ship it and sell it and sell it locally as apparantly diesel mercs are very sought after?.

 

Also, can anyone confirm if the VW Touran is in Australia as my wife has a Touran and she loves it. So we would also bring it with us, but being the 'only Touran in Australia' would not be a great option.

 

Hi there!! one of the Shipping companies quoting us told us when you ship a UK vehichle over you have to keep it TWO years before you can sell it on....worth checking this out?

[R & H]

Interesting, I'll check this out. Thanks

[Guest WhatNow?]

Also email CargoOnline - specialist vehicle shipping company based in Sydney. They were really helpful when I was trying to decide what to do. It's all a bit of a gamble as your duty and GST will only be calculated after the car has arrived and depends entirely on the skill and goodwill of the valuer.

[Guest Maria Day]

Hello, I wonder if anyone can give me an advice. I have Ford Focus Titanium 1.6L engine, a two year old and would like to bring it over early next year. I don't know anything about shipping car over and just wondered with the taxes that i need to pay when i get there. one of the taxes i am not sure about is value of the car. Is it the purchased price or is it the current value of the car they are charging me? and is it in Oz or UK base. I few said not worth taking the car but i don't think I can afford to buy a 2 year old car when i get there. I am planning to use the car under it died on me. Any advice pleaseeee!!! Many thanks.

[Guest HelenB]

I have a 4 year old land rover discovery and I thought about bringing it over as it's more expensive to buy in Australia. But it's really costly to ship and pay customs and all the paperwork involved. It was mentioned on another thread that these types of imported cars don't sell well over there.So thinking of selling it in the uk. I like driving it but I use it more for work and since I'm not sure if I will be in the same line I am quite happy to buy something different. There is a good link on here I think about cost breakdown will try and find it and re post!Helen

[snifter]

Hello, I wonder if anyone can give me an advice. I have Ford Focus Titanium 1.6L engine, a two year old and would like to bring it over early next year. I don't know anything about shipping car over and just wondered with the taxes that i need to pay when i get there. one of the taxes i am not sure about is value of the car. Is it the purchased price or is it the current value of the car they are charging me? and is it in Oz or UK base. I few said not worth taking the car but i don't think I can afford to buy a 2 year old car when i get there. I am planning to use the car under it died on me. Any advice pleaseeee!!! Many thanks.

 

There is the importing a car thread here

 

http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/transport-shipping/97053-transporting-your-car-oz-everything-you-need-know.html

 

Personally, having done some research, if you own a Ford Focus you'd maybe be better off not bothering to ship it and buy one over there. Or a Holden of some sort. Ford are widespread out there but importing a common car can be expensive, even if you intend to keep it is what we felt.

 

Cars go on a lot longer in Aus than they do in the UK these days. So you could probably find something decent although a bit older within your budget.

 

End of the day its whatever you feel you want to do and are prepared to pay for. Factor in things like paying for a hire car till your one arrives (this could be a chunk and offset any possible saving on a Focus being shipped).

[Guest Maria Day]

Thank you for the reply. I am having second thoughts myself after weighing up the expenses it's going to cost me to shift the car and expenses on car rental. How do you feel about shipping over a Ford Transit low roof. It's 2 year old. The only thing we have concern is it's under a company name in which my husband own but we are going as skilled migrant and hopefully will be employed by somebody. Would it be a problem when we apply for permit? It might be handy for my hubby to have his own vehicle to work, he is electrician. We can provide proof that we are the only owner of the company. Any advice given would be very much appreciated. Many thanks.

[ian mc]

A lot of people are put off buying a second hand Imported car here. So it may be hard to sell as I am sure the paperwork for the car states that it is an import.If you can find someone that has imported a car and sold it here you might be able to get the full story.