movingtonewzealand

Hi everyone,

Having decided against taking the car to NZ, we are now considering buying and taking a caravan instead! The prices of some truly awful caravans in NZ are extortionate with the added bonus of perhaps living in it for a while until we find a more permanent home when we arrive.

Wondering if anyone has done taken a caravan and what if anything, they put in caravan, as I have spoke to a number of different shipping companies - some say you can take household items, others say definitely not!

LittleGreyCat

Beware when you buy it - I think if you don't own it for a year you have to pay tax on it.

MrsFychan

I know someone who bought a caravan over, cost them thousands before it was allowed to be released to them. unfortunately I don't know the ins and outs of why but if I can find out I'll let you know.

escapedtonz

Caravan rules the same as for a car, bike or whatever.
If you have not owned it for 12 months you will be charged GST of 15% on it's value plus the cost of the shipping and insurance etc.
It will not meet NZ compliance.
It'll have to be adapted to comply with NZ regulations.
Usually needs work on the electrics and the gas in order to meet the requirements and pass compliance. Once you have the compliance certificate you'll need an individual registration application where it'll be assigned its own registration number where you will then have to get the plate made up and applied to the van (all trailers, caravans etc that are towed here have their own registration and separate licence) then you'll have to get a warrant of fitness or WOF and apply for vehicle license before you can take it on the road.
Yes caravans are way cheaper in the UK and lots of people do bring them over to make money on them or use them to stay in but you need to be sure of the pitfalls and have some experience in what you are doing. There are companies who will manage the process for you over here for a fee. Removes the headache of having to arrange the compliance work etc so I'd say money well spent.

movingtonewzealand

Thanks everyone for your responses.

I know that we will have to pay 15% of what the caravan cost, but as regards changing it for NZ regulations? Does anyone know where I can find regulations? I'll have a google for it.. I've had a look at quotes and shipping is not too expensive, and bonus is that we can take our household goods within it too, so win win!

MrsFychan

Just spoke to my friend, unfortunately she didn't comment on the problems she had but she did say that you are not allowed to fill it up with stuff. Anything in it must pertain to the vehicle, so knife and forks and bed line for the caravan but nothing else.

I'll ask again about the problems

MrsFychan

basically the response was.

Cost for two cleans before being allowed to leave the dock.
then pay a ransom to the shipping company to get it released. WOF prior to going on the road so they charged $1.2k to transport it less than 1k off the dock to a garage to get a WOF, As you are not allowed onto the dock you have no option other than to pay and the van is not allowed on the roads until WOF.. This cost is never told to you at the outset

Robbie2010

Try these people they may be able to tell you.

ShipFromUK.com » Caravan Shipping FAQs | ShipfromUK.com

Hazelnut

Be very careful if you're thinking of putting in a container. You can hire slightly taller than normal containers but they cost a lot more. Even those may not be high enough and you're then looking at RORO. We were told we'd have to tow our trailer to one specific port in the north east and it would be put on the ship and we'd probably have to pay for a lot of cleaning and disinfecting afterwards as it will pick up all sorts of bugs, leaves and cobwebs on the way over. We were also warned that a lot of vehicles become damaged during RORO transport.

Our horse trailer in the UK, second hand, is worth around £2,500. To transport it would be around £1,500 from what I can recall. It proved impossible to find out costs for cleaning, storage during processing, repair costs or changes for NZ regulations etc so we abandoned the idea of bringing it. We bought it ten years ago to last us the rest of our lives so splashed out on all sorts of extras on it and I'll be heartbroken to let it go, it has a lot of happy memories associated with it too, but the stress, having to transport it elsewhere, potential repair costs and the cost uncertainty of moving it have over ridden all these factors. To buy a replacement second hand in NZ will be around double what I will get for mine in the UK but the hassle and expense of bringing it over is a nightmare and bring the costs much closer to being level.

Lisa Maree

My parents have taken a caravan from the UK to NZ twice in the last 12mths, if you get a smaller one it will fit in a container but wont have the brilliant resale that the larger ones do - which require RORO. It was a bit of a pain but my parents said they would do it again in a heartbeat, they paid £10k for one in the UK and sold it for $57k so taking into account the £5k shipping and the cleaning / compliance costs it still make them a pretty penny!

They had to have owned them for 12mths... or just kinda not have any paperwork saying how long they had owned it... it was considered the same as household chattels rather than the criteria around a motor vehicle.

They did leave caravan / camping items inside the RORO caravan and nothing was taken but it was a HUGE risk. The one inside the container they filled up with stuff.

They used a company to help them with the RORO one and were really pleased with the help they gave UK side, the NZ was more complicated but they figured it out and made a bucket load.

Hazelnut

Can you find out who they used please?

Lisa Maree

Here is the website of the people they used, found it in some documents I scanned for Dad which was handy

ShipFromUK.com » Car Shipping | Caravan Shipping | ShipfromUK

Kotare

Friend just shipped a large Hobby from the UK. He said no problems, it was treated as a large trailer no compliance issues but had to get a WOF. Electrics were dealt with by a standard adapter (uk to nz) costing $15. He had a couple of large barge propellers and three antique barge running lights inside, again no problems.

Lisa Maree

If its got gas connectors then there is definitely the need for compliance certificates and it its to be classed as self contained then there is compliance there too. I'm not sure what else is involved but I'm sure there must be others around who have gone through the scenario, I can ask my parents if that is of any help to you - just let me know.

LittleGreyCat

One thing that has struck me is that many NZ campers and caravans are either home made/converted or pretty basic.

Reading caravan fora people are always asking about becoming "self contained" which normally involves having a grey water tank and a cassette toilet.

UK (and European) caravans and campers are almost always self contained - they come with fresh and grey water tanks, a shower, and a cassette toilet. So apart from electrical connectors and gas bottle connectors they are pretty much good to go.