mum01753

Hi,

can anyone help? we would like to know if it would be worth exporting a mercedes its worth about £6000 and is the new shape year 2001 we are going to perth in a years time.
Any information or experience you have please let me know.

many thanks

Pauleen

thebears

It will cost you more than £12K to ship it - and be worth less in OZ

FluffyTheCampfireSlayer

You'd be mad! Unless of course, it is worth significant sentimental value!

JakeG

£12K - seems a touch on the expensive side.....

Checkout http://www.carshippingtoaustralia.co...australia.html
...towards the bottom of the spiel they quote

"A guide to the costs would be £1,500–£1,700 shipping, £100–£300 shipment protection, A$2,250–A$2,750 in Australia excluding taxes, annual registration and insurance."

Which is what you would expect when you can get your own container for £2500 or so. Don't forget taxes (about 10% on value).

http://www.autoshippers.co.uk/rates.htm

quotes 'A standard saloon car shipped to Sydney from the port of
Southampton will cost on average £ 790.00 plus insurance. (Dependant on
value)'

Buzzy--Bee

This is where the bears estimate may be right.

Also, once your car is there it may have to have modifications, at your expense, to allow it to conform with Australian standards.

It will then cost more each year to insure as it is a non-standard imported vehicle.

It will have a lower resale value too.

Don't bother.



Buzzy

thebears

The problem is these costs are only the shipping element - when you look into it the costs of duty, GST, Insurance, Luxury Car Tax, getting the car approved for use on Oz roads. Also consider the value is for assessment is not on the £6K its on purchase price or list price and compared with local prices. On our £46K BMW it was going to cost £20K.

I would take with a pinch of salt any shipper who claims a "shipping cost" of less than £3K for just the shipment.

FluffyTheCampfireSlayer

.....and then there's the real world!

mum01753

Thanks guys you have given me and my hubby food for thought!!

JakeG

Fair enough - I assumed the 10% taxes would be on current value. Isn't there quite a large trade in secondhand cars from Japan? Especially in Darwin? There must be some way of getting a car to OZ fairly economically. (I appreciate it is a shorter trip - but it seems most of the cost isn't even for transit) Do the different states have different taxes/rules?

sammyg

I think you'll find the 20k import costs on a 46k BMW is well wide of the mark!

I have been looking into this and we will be taking our m3 with us. The costs are £730 shipping (roll on roll off) £250 insurance. When you arrive you will be assessed on the 'landed' value. I know of 2 people who have taken these cars over and they both got charged roughly $8000 AUD.

It is worthwhile for us to take the car as in the UK values are lower for second hand cars. I would get about 20k for it if sold in england but if taken will be worth about $90000AUD...

Our car is specced exactly the same as an aussie equivalent - we just have to change the instrument cluster to one that displays KM p/h before we go.

If the car is a low value one with high mileage it will not be worth it. Compare on autotrader.co.uk and tradingpost.com.au to see what your car sells for in aus!

Good luck! Stuart.

Buzzy--Bee

Just bear in mind that an imported car may not be worth what the same car on these websites is worth as it is a grey import - it may be worth less.

Also there is the added cost of insurance on a grey import.

Not saying don't take an M3, just be aware of this before exporting.

Oh, and then there's the fact that people may treat you as a cashed up poncy git toffy-nosed pommie if you are driving round Oz in a new M3!



buzzy

sammyg

Yeah, agree about the image thing unfortunately!!


However, i am not a poncy, cashed up pom by any measure - i just happen to like cars!
As for insurance the two chaps i know who've taken theirs over say the insurance is cheaper in aus...- even for 'grey' imports.

I agree though it is a lot of hassle to take a car over but i could not afford to buy an equivalent model when i arrive in oz...

Anyhow, thanks for making me feel better about being a poncy pom - reassuring to know

Stu.

Buzzy--Bee

I like cars too.... but I'm leaving the Jag behind....



Buzzy

True Blue Toffee

Stu

Thanks for the info. We've been thinking about taking our cars to Oz, as we couldn't afford the same cars brand new over there, but have been reading a lot of negative posts on here. It's good to read something positive - in our opinion - we were expecting it to cost a few thousand for each car, which now sounds about right.

Do you have to change the speedo even it displays both mph and then kmph in smaller print?

Cheers

thebears

Yes the point people forget is that Australia operates a highly protected car industry. The japanese imports appear cheap - but thats compared to local prices - which are high and the price they pay in Japan is extremely cheap.

Another big problem is with local mentality on "Grey imports". This pushes down the resale value of your imported car. Even if it is more highly speced than local released cars. So you get hit coming in when they compare your car for import valuation (of course they put a high value on it). Then not so high when you want to trade in or sell on.