Jacko1

I know this has come up a few times, however, have done a search and come up with loads of rubbish!

I have a Mercedes that I may take to Australia depending on cost etc, big loss here on resale. Have spoken to shippers who say £1400.00 to ship but they were very vague on Aussie customs etc any advice would be apreciated.

Paul J

Pollyana

General opinion of those who have done it seems to be - don't! It'll cost you a fortune, and cause lots of hassle with compliance plates and rego etc.

several threads on it if you go back about 2 months.....

stevereed

Look here, guidance on import duties etc

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=4371

I don't think the actual import duties are high, few hundred dollars. Then you have GST which is 10% of vehicle value (plus extra for luxury cars)

I have a Japanese import Mitsubishi which I may export when I move to Australia in Feb 05. It is cheaper for me to export it and pay fees than to buy one over there.

Check out all the costs and hassles and make a decision based on value for money and hassle.

Jacko1

Similiar

Shipping £1450.00 GST etc £3000.00 Car worth £15K in UK, but as usual be lucky to get that value, in Australia AUD$75K (£30000)

So I to would have dificulty replacing in Aus, but is it worth the agro?

Paul J

Go Banana's !!

Forget it !! We looked at shipping Jill's out, second hand value in the Uk only £18k but the issue is that you get charged on the NEW value of it for import tax in Oz. It was going to cost over £8k just in tax !!

I did various investigations with car shipping companies (you will see the name Kardom often mentioned) and I spoke to the Oz Customs as well.

Therefore we decided not to do it. There would also be modifications required as her car's speedo did not show km/ph and we might have had to change the whole dashboard at a mjor cost.

Don't forget the running costs/service costs of European cars are also significantly more than the normal ones as well.

Sorry to p**s on your bonfire but it certainly is a load of agro and to be honest no-one gives a s**t what you drive anyway. Its not like the UK in that respect, which is a refreshing change.

Good luck

Warren

Jacko1

Cheers you have kind of confirmed my thoughts, we had already decided up until today that we would not take it. However just struggling to sell it, so thought hey give it a whirl.
The GST issue is dependant on the original invoice price for the car ie what you paid (you have to prove it) in our case I bought the car second hand so the GST is based upon theis price less shipping etc.

I just really like the car but realistically it is not worththe agro/cost etc.

Paul J

Go Banana's !!

hi Paul,
I see you are going to the Essex meet. I'll see you there !

Warren

Jacko1

Yup meant to add that to the other post!

Hopefully be in Perth 28 October 2004!!!

PJ

Vegemite Kids

Well we imported our car from germany (but only cos our ex company paid for everything) and my advice would be dont do it. The hassle factor is enormous, Took us 2 months from the point the car arrived in OZ to actually having it sitting in our driveway.


If however you decide to go ahead, one piece of advice I give is to make sure you get Australian RAC to do an independant valuation of your car PRIOR to paying the customs and duty fee.

We found cos our car was an import it has a much lower resale value on the open market and RAC valued at A$5000 less than we expected, which means we paid A$500 less GST and I cant remember how much A$ duty less than we expected. This helped with the A$2000+ compliance fee which we hadnt expected.

Meabel1

What sort of car have you got???

What did you need to get done to the car for the A$2000+ compliance???

We are thinking of taking one of two cars and wondering how they would need modifications?

Thanks
Z

Vegemite Kids

wn Hi, we imported a nissan patrol.

To get more info about the compliance work needed would suggest you check this site out http://www.downunderauto.com.au/main.html (click on the bttom right button "vehicle compliance"

Cos we brought our car from germany we had a bit more than normal (changing headlights over etc.) but these guys are the ones that did our compliance work and were brilliant. Am sure they will be able to give you all the necessary info about modifiactions and compliance to make a decision on.

Regards
Mairi

Jacko1

Well my final decision was to sell the Merc, thanks folks.

It sold today to first person to view for full price.

Money well spent on ad in autotrader.

PJ

jaguaruk

Jacko1

Glad you started this post, at the moment I am still in the throws of trying to persuade my better half to apply for visa's, but the subject of the cars had come up.

I have an S-Type, which I have had from new, and although I love this car, I think I will do what you have done and sell it, since it wouldn't be worth the hassle of taking it with us. Probably much better to sell it and get another when we get there, that's allways supposing I can persuade my wife to go for it.....

Ken.

Go Banana's !!

I'm still in mourning...................

Jill

Jimbo9

2.5 V6 S-Type is $86,000........