Importing your Vehicle

[Guest WhatNow?]

Hi, I'm a newbie poster though have watched the site for a few years. Diane (moderator) has already passed my contact details on to several people with queries about bringing over their cars, as I brought mine over in 2008. I thought it would be a good idea to summarise my exerience along with some tips and hints from someone who has been through the process, however when it got to 2 pages of A4 I decided that it was too long to post! If anyone wants to know how it works, please PM me or contact me at the email address in the signature and I will send them the whole shebang.

 

BTW thanks to Russell for his encouragement to 'happy' migrants to post. He is right - if only those with gripes contribute the overall effect is sad and depressing. Isn't that what we came here to get away from guys?

 

Never look back - you trip over yourself!

[Guest Carlsavs]

Hi

My family and i are coming over to Adelaide in January and i am thinking of bringing my Mazda 6 (2006) diesel . Its worth about 6k in the UK and i think( ?) will cost about 180GBP to send over , plus steam clean and Taxes etc ....so about 4-4.5 k in GBP overall . What are your thoughts and is it worth it ?

 

Any comments very useful ,

 

Thanks

Carl

[Guest WhatNow?]

Hi Carl, I suggest you first move is to look at what it would cost you in $ to replace it with a similar car here. Try www.carsales.com.au/used-cars and do a search for your make and model, though you will probably find that most of the models sold here are petrol rather than diesel, but it will give you some idea at least. If you PM me with an email address I will send you the document I put together after being asked this question several times. Perhaps other users on the forum will have advice for you on the relative price of diesel and of servicing a diesel vehicle over here. I think you meant £1800 not £180 to ship the car, btw! I decided to bring mine over because it was relatively new and low mileage and I knew I would be losing a load of money trying to sell it (if I could sell it at all) under the current circumstances in the UK, something that people who have been in Australia a while may not appreciate. Only you can know your circumstances and whether it worth it in the long run but if you do a bit of research, you will have a better chance of making a good decision.

 

Mandy

[Guest Guest75]

Hi Mandy - thanks for putting this up and offering advice:notworthy:

It's a subject that quite a few consider.

 

Vehicles do cost more here and it does make you consider importing your UK car.

I've asked a couple of Aussie mates in the car trade about values.

Please be aware that the resale value will be quite lower than you may expect.

Personal imports will fetch a lower price when selling.

If you love your car,have good air-conditioning, it saves you a lot on an initial purchase and the car meets the legal road requirements here it can be worth it.

 

Servicing intervals can be shorter here than in the UK.

Buyers here will look for a good service record as there is no MOT here.

Oils MUST be changed regularly here ,the summers can take their toll.

My diesel motor has to be serviced every 5000 k's.

You do not have to take your vehicles to an authorised dealer if it is fairly new and you need to keep up with warranty (check it is transferable) .But you do have to ensure the servicing is done to log book standards.

Costs of servicing can be very reasonable not using a direct dealer.

I use a local firm who go over the top on my vehicle, I know the staff and know that there are no apprentices training on it.

[Guest Carlsavs]

Thanks for this . You are quite right ,£1800 is the cost ! Didn't realise you dont have an MOT .

Will check out the site you suggested , I think a similar model to mine in Australia is going foe $28000 , and in the UK i would sell mine for 6 to 7 thousand GBP , so if this is correct and i buggett for an overall cost of £6000 to ship /tax /import etc ....its tempting .

 

However research ,research, research !

 

 

My email address is carl.saville@mac.com

 

Big thanks everyone for the info , look forward to hearing from you

 

Carl

[Guest texas]

I would definitely get as much information as you can from the member who has offered it and anywhere else. Friends of ours brought their car over to Adelaide recently which cost them around £4,000 or more to do, and then got hammered with a $17,000 import tax bill for it which they couldn't afford, so it ended up in the compound and then they shipped it back as it was cheaper to do this and leave it with a relative until they could sell it.!!!

 

 

Hi, I'm a newbie poster though have watched the site for a few years. Diane (moderator) has already passed my contact details on to several people with queries about bringing over their cars, as I brought mine over in 2008. I thought it would be a good idea to summarise my exerience along with some tips and hints from someone who has been through the process, however when it got to 2 pages of A4 I decided that it was too long to post! If anyone wants to know how it works, please PM me or contact me at the email address in the signature and I will send them the whole shebang.

 

BTW thanks to Russell for his encouragement to 'happy' migrants to post. He is right - if only those with gripes contribute the overall effect is sad and depressing. Isn't that what we came here to get away from guys?

 

Never look back - you trip over yourself!

[Guest WhatNow?]

I would definitely get as much information as you can from the member who has offered it and anywhere else. Friends of ours brought their car over to Adelaide recently which cost them around £4,000 or more to do, and then got hammered with a $17,000 import tax bill for it which they couldn't afford, so it ended up in the compound and then they shipped it back as it was cheaper to do this and leave it with a relative until they could sell it.!!!

 

 

Yes Texas, I think your friends emailed me about this. There used to be a ready reckoner on the Govt website where you could work out (roughly) the import taxes, but I couldn't find it last time I looked. Unfortunately this can't be relied on as, in the end, it all depends on the valuer at the Australian end, when your car has already arrived, because the taxes are totally dependent on that valuation. Bit of a lottery, sadly. My transport company has a tame valuer who is tasked with ensuring that valuations are as low as possible and that all the available allowances against the valuation are applied to bring that amount down. As a result my car eventually came in below the threshold for import duty so I paid very little. The company also gave me an estimate of what they thought the official value would be before I agreed to move my car at all - one of the advantages of using a specialist Aussie vehicle transport company with their own valuer. As to their customer service, I have nothing but praise for them. so will post their details here.

 

Cargo Online – Australia

Phone 02 9949 2999

Fax 02 9948 0250

Email jason@cargoonline.com.au

Web www.cargoonline.com.au

[Guest Maria Day]

Hello PIA, I've been reading all the post in here and find it very useful and helpful. My family have decided to move to Oz early next year. Hubby is electrician by trade. We are still very confused as to how much exactly is the overall tax for importing vehicle and we don't want to be in a situation where we won't be able to afford to pay tax when it get there. Hubby have a Ford transit van in diesel, one year old. We looked at the price of the same vehicle in Oz via web and it cost a lot and I don't think we can afford to get the same one. Can anyone give me an advice in this ...please. Any advice would be appreciated. Many thanks.

 

Maria.

[Guest WhatNow?]

Hi Maria, you would think that it would be an easy question to answer but sadly it isn't. The Tax and Duty payable on any import is based entirely on its valuation by the valuer once it is here. You can get a rough idea from a good specialist shipping company such as the one I used - CargoOnline - but it is the valuer's opinion that is used. Of course that means it's a bit of a gamble. It paid off for me as the valuer working for CargoOnline in Adelaide reduced the value of mine down (by taking care to offset all the allowances possible) to such a level that I didn't have to pay any Duty, but that was that particular valuer. Sorry there isn't an easy answer..

 

If you would like me to send you my account of how it all worked, PM me with an email address. Hope this helps!

 

Mandy

[Guest ozdreamsa]

Hi Guys, Looks like a there is no straight forward answer for this.

Does anyone have any idea of importing cars from Japan?

I need to do a lot research I guess.

Here in Japan, less tax is imposed on eco-friendly hybrid cars. How is the OZ government's attitude towards hybrid, eco-friendly cars? Sorry, I am a totally new comer to this subject, any hints, advice would be really helpful.

[Guest WhatNow?]

It doesn't matter where you are importing from, the rules are the same. You have to have owned the vehicle for the twelve months before you apply for a vehicle import permit. There are strict criteria for importing a vehicle into Australia – read this document carefully as you will not get a permit unless you fulfil all of the criteria.

http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/vehicle_regulation/bulletin/importing_vehicles/general/EligibilityCriteria_2.aspx#five

 

Mandy

[Guest Maria Day]

Hello Mandy,

Thank you for the reply. We have now sent an application to import our vehicle to Oz, they said it might 6-7 weeks to get a response from them. We get that an approval for that at least it's one thing out of the way. We can always decide later on if we want to ship it or not. I will try to contact cargo online. If you don't mind me asking, What car did you ship to Oz? Again many thanks for your info.

 

Kind regards,

Maria

[Misplaced]

Have a look on the POMS in Oz site there is a section there dedicated to importing your vehicle. After discussing with the guy on there i decided it was not worth it - you have so much to consider and I also understand that insurance is more costly for imports and the resale value is much less. If you are going to run it into the ground it maybe worth it.

[Guest Carlsavs]

hi maria

 

we spent more time researching this before we came than almost anything else ! Ultimately i decided there was neither i right or wrong answer....you may save a bit short term but long term it may even out. We sold our 2 cars and bought a brand new one on arrival,which was cheaper than the equivalent uk version( honda jazz).we are glad we did it this way... our goods were way behind us due to been lied to by the shipping company( who shall remain nameless due to advertising )and we needed a car straight away to find a house/job/schools etc. Any loss we made was more than made up for in this way....

If you do bring your car , as well as getting it through customs and changed/checked to make sure it complies here, you will have to pay rego.

all cars here have to do this each year, a bit like road licences in the uk. REgo for a 4 cylinder car is about $700 a year . this makes your car legal to drive as the rego includes 3rd party insurance for PEOPLE ONLY. If you crash and somebody is hurt the insurance covers that but you are still liable for car or road damage.

Fully comp insurance is quite cheap here compared to the uk. Its cheaper to run a big car here compared to the uk....

Don't forget to get your uk licence changed asap here... it will make things loads easier....

 

cheers