Alfresco

Shouldn't take longer than 3 months, ours took about 10 weeks.

cubeonly

Oh that's good. Looking in to it more now - a specialist company or DIY?

Alfresco

A long thread about it. Info should be in there.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=600334

cubeonly

Thanks very much, appreciated!

Tonyc88

In your situation I absolutely would import. Let's pretend it's an 18 month old 911 4S.

UK Cost (2 years old) = ~55k GBP (85k AUD)
Australia cost (2 years old) ~115k GBP (180k AUD)

I couldn't find a 4S Cab in Australia so I took a 2009 convertible 4S and removed 20k.

So if you want the same car in Australia it's going to cost you a lot more even taking into account the extra associated costs.

Visit a few insurance websites to find out insurance costs. AAMI, NRMA, etc.

Remember there are tax breaks if this car will be used for work (excluding commuting).

carling black label

See thats what my thread was all about, lets say £60k all in all including shipping costs. Add another $20k taxes and duties, if you bought to import, so never satisfied the 12 month ownership personal import rule....

So initial outlay £73k, you have put on the line £73k, but you have a car with a resale value in Australia of a minimum of $150k or £100k, so a nice £27k profit, it is no brainer, the Australian authorities are saying "spend you coin overseas"..............Domestically we cannot compete..........

In Exile

on the face of it yes, but they are actually saying you cant spend your coin overseas because of the restrictions they put on importing:

you can not import a vehicle model that has previously been sold over here unless you have expressed permission from the manufacturer or their importer, unless its a personal import (see below). Thats basically like asking BMW for permission to buy a car overseas and import it because its cheaper there, thus doing them out of a local sale. I think you know the answer to whether they will grant permission or not

ADR and compliance puts an end to lots of peoples dreams about importing vehicles that werent previoulsy available here. All LHD vehicles must be converted to RHD if under 30 years, and they must comply with ADR before being deemed roadworthy. There is a market for japanese grey imports that seems to be doing quite well. Also things like the Scirocco that was previously available for import from Europe is soon to be restricted as its about to be sold here - three years later.

And then there's the personal import restrictions: you can import 1 car per 5 years, provided its yours and you've lived in another country with it for the last 12 months. Even then it has to go through ADR (and RHD conversion if applicable) before it can be registered on the road here.

I can provide links to all of the above, in case anyone doubts, I'm just being lazy in this post
I've investigated it quite a lot as I was on the cusp of importing a 2009 mustang from the states.

The barriers to entry and quite restrictive for personal imports here, but if you are in a life-position where you have the option to ship a car over as you are coming over anyway, and its something like a modern 911, i would absolutely take advantage of that. Its a win win. You will be driving a nice car, and you also will likely be able to make some profit if you want to sell. You certainly wont see the level of UK depreciation in a car.

Bermudashorts

Don't you have to be a permanent resident to import a car? (as a personal import)

In Exile

not really, you can do it as a temporoary resident on certain visa types. see the attached link for all the horrors, inlcuding most of the points i made earlier.

Importing Vehicles To Australia - July 2011

extract from section 5.7:

cubeonly

Yep, fantastic information/contributions from all to this thread; great stuff!

I now think my best tack will be to get to Aus (on my 457), settle in to work/life for 6 to 12 months, then seriously look in to importing my 911 (if it hasn't rusted and not suffered too many dings from the bikes and the lawn mower in the garage in UK!).

But when importing I would not do DIY; I would likely engage a specialist importer, probably paying through the nose for it but worth the hassle free experience in my view.

Cheers,

carling black label

http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/co....htm&page=4&H4

Imported vehicles - personal effects

All privileged persons are able to import their personal effects, including a vehicle that they have been using in their country of residence or previous posting, into Australia for use during their posting, free of all customs duties, taxes and related charges.


This is where i need some help.....I am thinking of bringing a/my car with me to Australia. I am a UK citizen, i am also a permanent resident of Australia. I have been back in the UK for a couple years now, i might never come back to Oz, but i am considering it; i have owned my present car for the past 18 months. I can easily qualify for the personal import scheme on my return to Australia as i have never imported a car into Australia and i have owned the vehicle for the qualifying period of more than 12 months. It would save me money, but my car has no aircon.....

But i am thinking of buying a better newer car to take with me, so i will only have owned the vehicle for a week prior to importing the vehicle into Australia.

Can i ask, how much more expensive in costs/taxes will it cost me comparing importing the vehicle owned for more than twelve months to the vehicle i have only owned for a week.

I know the personal import scheme is more cost/tax efficient, but how much. I just do not want to buy a new car, only to get hammered for import tax.

By the way great post above.....................

Thanks

The Druid

I just got my permit through for a 2009 Mini on a 457 Visa no probs

The Druid

Now thats interesting, whats the definition of 'Privileged Person' when my car lands I will have to pay 'tax on the tax', I dont think customs and ATO are talking to each other, or is this a different 'Tax'

In Exile

I do not believe you wouldn't be allowed to import it as you have owned the vehicle for less than 12 months.

Its not an additional cost if its less than 12 months, its an actual import restriction

edit: the link you provided is for the ATO, and what they are saying makes perfect sense,. However, to import it you have to follow the rules of the 'Department of importing vehicle things', i fogret their name, which stipulates the rules around importing. In your case it would be car with no air con, or no car.

chris955

You can't bring the car with you if you if you have not owned AND used the car in your country of residence for a full 12 months.