importing a car from the u.k
Oct 15th 2003, 11:53 am
#16
Banned
Joined: Apr 2003
Location: Angle vale Sth Australia
Posts: 5,353
Originally posted by CHnJ
£850.00 open deck to Brisbane or £2500 in a container.>
£850 for open deck and another £5000 for a custom made ziplock plastic bag to put it in I think! : )
I'm curious about the £2500 container quote. Is that with Karman (?) car freight - the guys who give all the useful info online? They won't let us pack things in with the car.
The reason I was wondering if anyone else had done it was I was hoping people had an established method of crating/ wrapping/partitioning or otherwise separating the car from the rest of the furniture. Going by that Clio story, it sounds as if there isn't. Are containers built with lugs/hooks/fittings which would allow a net or something to separate two parts of a container? We're only talking about the volume of a few wardrobes of mainly equipment, sentimental items and furniture. What happens when people share a container? Do they just rely on box labels to identify who gets what?
I presume a car that is being shipped in a container would be shackled down somehow. Does the car have to be dead centre or can it be moved close to one end? If I could get the removalists to humph something as big as the crate I've described, they could put it into the far end of the container, net/strap it in place then put the car in. (If you hadn't guessed, I'm used to moving carboard boxloads by car, not lorry loads of furniture and teachests, so this is all new to me!)
£850.00 open deck to Brisbane or £2500 in a container.>
£850 for open deck and another £5000 for a custom made ziplock plastic bag to put it in I think! : )
I'm curious about the £2500 container quote. Is that with Karman (?) car freight - the guys who give all the useful info online? They won't let us pack things in with the car.
The reason I was wondering if anyone else had done it was I was hoping people had an established method of crating/ wrapping/partitioning or otherwise separating the car from the rest of the furniture. Going by that Clio story, it sounds as if there isn't. Are containers built with lugs/hooks/fittings which would allow a net or something to separate two parts of a container? We're only talking about the volume of a few wardrobes of mainly equipment, sentimental items and furniture. What happens when people share a container? Do they just rely on box labels to identify who gets what?
I presume a car that is being shipped in a container would be shackled down somehow. Does the car have to be dead centre or can it be moved close to one end? If I could get the removalists to humph something as big as the crate I've described, they could put it into the far end of the container, net/strap it in place then put the car in. (If you hadn't guessed, I'm used to moving carboard boxloads by car, not lorry loads of furniture and teachests, so this is all new to me!)
MM
Oct 15th 2003, 11:56 am
#17
BE Enthusiast
Joined: May 2003
Location: The Green behind the Gold
Posts: 885
Thanks Mikel - that's a great post and it sounds like I'm not too far off beam. I was having a break at my desk when I posted, so I took my inspiration from the sandwich bag for my ziplock bag comment. I guess a fitted raincover and waxol would be similar to a winter here. I suppose I'd have to check the brake discs for corrosion as they wouldn't be being used, and hope it doesn't spend hours exposed on deck in heavy seas, I don't know how good 5 year old seals would be when exposed to lots of salt water.
I really need to bite the bullet and start getting some quotes and spreadsheet out the various tax/cleaning/insurance what-if scenarios.
I really need to bite the bullet and start getting some quotes and spreadsheet out the various tax/cleaning/insurance what-if scenarios.
Oct 15th 2003, 3:38 pm
#18
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 730
We had a quote from Karman Shipping, sole use container to NZ for around £1250. They did mention building a frame around the car to allow other stuff in aswell for a few hundred more. Don't know what else you'd get in though...but it's a good price considering the cost of containers through everyone else..
Oct 15th 2003, 5:53 pm
#19
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 9,397
Re: importing a car from the u.k
Originally posted by denhim
ive looked on here and on the web for the cost of importing a car from the u.k to oz, but cant find what i want.
so could anyone tell me what the total cost of shipping out your car and the pro`s and cons please.
ive looked on here and on the web for the cost of importing a car from the u.k to oz, but cant find what i want.
so could anyone tell me what the total cost of shipping out your car and the pro`s and cons please.
Karman Shipping quote 1140 GBP basic, dock to Sydney. Sole use 20' container, silica gel and packing and sealing as required.
Insurance 1.5% of Oz value.
About another AUD 1800 import chages and inspections etc. Plus steam cleaning in Oz if they won't accept your own.
Plus of course GST, Luxury car tax and duty as per website.
Expensive, and we're still looking at it. However, having paid £23000 for the thing 3 years ago, done 12000 miles and hving it valued at £8500 is the other side of the equation!
Oct 15th 2003, 8:41 pm
#20
Happy Daddy
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: Dodgey West Midlands , UK
Posts: 1,312
Hi CHnJ,
You don't see new cars shipped on open decks so don't do it to your car. Use roll on roll off, where the car stay's under the deck and dry.
Even so, new cars shipped this way are waxed underneth before shipping.
Send it by container or if it is very expensive, send it by air!
Remember to fit a battery master switch if you ship it, save the battery going flat.
Bye
Markeh
You don't see new cars shipped on open decks so don't do it to your car. Use roll on roll off, where the car stay's under the deck and dry.
Even so, new cars shipped this way are waxed underneth before shipping.
Send it by container or if it is very expensive, send it by air!
Remember to fit a battery master switch if you ship it, save the battery going flat.
Bye
Markeh
Oct 15th 2003, 10:19 pm
#21
BE Enthusiast
Joined: May 2003
Location: The Green behind the Gold
Posts: 885
Here's what I figure:
Our car will be worth £4300ish when we leave. The same car on autotrader.com.au is £9300ish.
Option 1.
Sell here. Take cash to Aus. Buy a battered Falcon/Commodore/Magna that I don't know the history of with my A$10000.
Cost = approx £2000 for a share of a container as we don't have enough furniture etc. to fill a whole one.
Option 2.
Put our car on deck as deck cargo and go with the shared container.
Costs = approx £2000 for furniture in container + £850 shipping +
£150 insurance + £100 car cover sheet and wax +
Australian costs ... see below.
Option 3.
Take a single use container from Karman for approx £1200 + £"few hundred" for building a crate + £100 for self drive van to container + £150 insurance + Australian costs ... see below.
OK. This stuff is the killer:
1) Getting the car unloaded - Approx A$500 to A$800 - and that's just the car. I don't know about the crate.
2) Possible valuation fee A$150 to A$250
3) Customs fees A$50 to A$100
4) Probable customs clearance agent fee A$200-A$300
5) Probable Cleaning fees A$200 to A$300
6) Speedo and mirror change A$300 to A$400
7) Roadworthiness certificate A$100-A$150
8) Registration inc compulsory 3P Insurance A$400-A$500
9) Number plate $A25-50
10) Upgrade to fully comp insurance +A$???
So best case from 1 to 10 is £500 but more likely £1000 + fully comp insurance.
But wait, it gets better.
Depending on my destination State I could pay 2-5% Stamp Duty of (I think) the car's Australian value - so for me that's between £200 and £500. Does anyone know if NSW needs Stamp Duty?
THEN the Feds want their cut.
Duty = (Approx half Australian value) x 15% = £750
GST = (Duty + Shipping Costs + Approx half Australian value) x 10% = (£750 + Shipping Costs + £5000) x 10%) = between £650 and £750 depending on whether I send it container or on deck.
<I'm typing the next bit not having had the courage to do the sums yet.>
Option 1 - old car + furniture = approx £2-3000
Option 2 - good car + furniture = approx £2-3000 for furniture and £4500 for car.
Option 3 - good car + furniture = somewhere in the region of £4500-5000 to take furniture and car in container. Only major unkown variable is the cost of clearing our furniture and effects this way as I've heard wharfie costs can be variable and punitive.
Basically we're looking at spending £2-3000 (additional cost of shipping car as well as the furniture) to get £5000 of extra value in our car (the cash difference between our car here and its equivalent in Australia.) This leaves a notional profit of £2-3000 after costs ... which I would bet roughly works out at the discount we'd have to give if we sold our 'import' car in Oz.
I'm glad I spent the time doing this, as I've been putting it off for about a year now. It looks like for a 5 year old European car, it's as many people have pointed out; you may well think it's not worth the hassle for the return.
If anyone spots any bindingly obvious mistakes in my numbers/reasoning then let me know please.
Our car will be worth £4300ish when we leave. The same car on autotrader.com.au is £9300ish.
Option 1.
Sell here. Take cash to Aus. Buy a battered Falcon/Commodore/Magna that I don't know the history of with my A$10000.
Cost = approx £2000 for a share of a container as we don't have enough furniture etc. to fill a whole one.
Option 2.
Put our car on deck as deck cargo and go with the shared container.
Costs = approx £2000 for furniture in container + £850 shipping +
£150 insurance + £100 car cover sheet and wax +
Australian costs ... see below.
Option 3.
Take a single use container from Karman for approx £1200 + £"few hundred" for building a crate + £100 for self drive van to container + £150 insurance + Australian costs ... see below.
OK. This stuff is the killer:
1) Getting the car unloaded - Approx A$500 to A$800 - and that's just the car. I don't know about the crate.
2) Possible valuation fee A$150 to A$250
3) Customs fees A$50 to A$100
4) Probable customs clearance agent fee A$200-A$300
5) Probable Cleaning fees A$200 to A$300
6) Speedo and mirror change A$300 to A$400
7) Roadworthiness certificate A$100-A$150
8) Registration inc compulsory 3P Insurance A$400-A$500
9) Number plate $A25-50
10) Upgrade to fully comp insurance +A$???
So best case from 1 to 10 is £500 but more likely £1000 + fully comp insurance.
But wait, it gets better.
Depending on my destination State I could pay 2-5% Stamp Duty of (I think) the car's Australian value - so for me that's between £200 and £500. Does anyone know if NSW needs Stamp Duty?
THEN the Feds want their cut.
Duty = (Approx half Australian value) x 15% = £750
GST = (Duty + Shipping Costs + Approx half Australian value) x 10% = (£750 + Shipping Costs + £5000) x 10%) = between £650 and £750 depending on whether I send it container or on deck.
<I'm typing the next bit not having had the courage to do the sums yet.>
Option 1 - old car + furniture = approx £2-3000
Option 2 - good car + furniture = approx £2-3000 for furniture and £4500 for car.
Option 3 - good car + furniture = somewhere in the region of £4500-5000 to take furniture and car in container. Only major unkown variable is the cost of clearing our furniture and effects this way as I've heard wharfie costs can be variable and punitive.
Basically we're looking at spending £2-3000 (additional cost of shipping car as well as the furniture) to get £5000 of extra value in our car (the cash difference between our car here and its equivalent in Australia.) This leaves a notional profit of £2-3000 after costs ... which I would bet roughly works out at the discount we'd have to give if we sold our 'import' car in Oz.
I'm glad I spent the time doing this, as I've been putting it off for about a year now. It looks like for a 5 year old European car, it's as many people have pointed out; you may well think it's not worth the hassle for the return.
If anyone spots any bindingly obvious mistakes in my numbers/reasoning then let me know please.
Oct 15th 2003, 10:26 pm
#22
I like kittens.
Joined: Oct 2003
Location: In my own little world
Posts: 1,457
My clearance costs just over a year ago were about $250, but I didn't have a car included in that - it was just the household belongings. For $10000 you can get a reasonable car - 5-6 year old Falcon / Commodore (and as they're s common as fleas on a dog there's plenty available, so shop around.)
Apart from that, it's a case of 'do I want the hassle'?
Your choice.
Apart from that, it's a case of 'do I want the hassle'?
Your choice.
Oct 16th 2003, 5:19 am
#23
BE Enthusiast
Joined: May 2003
Location: The Green behind the Gold
Posts: 885
<i>For $10000 you can get a reasonable car - 5-6 year old Falcon / Commodore (and as they're s common as fleas on a dog there's plenty available</i>
Looking through autotrader I'd have to agree with you, but I think I'd have to haggle to get a decent one. It's still tempting to go through the process in the hope of selling up and getting a $15000 car from the same asset.
Looking through autotrader I'd have to agree with you, but I think I'd have to haggle to get a decent one. It's still tempting to go through the process in the hope of selling up and getting a $15000 car from the same asset.
Oct 16th 2003, 5:24 am
#24
I like kittens.
Joined: Oct 2003
Location: In my own little world
Posts: 1,457
I drive in along the Parramatta Road into Sydney each day, and it's wall to wall cars - old and new. For 10K you can get a hell of a good car!
It's easy when you're here, and one thing a car salesman can't resist - is wodges of cash! Walk in with cash and some of them would sell you his first-born as well!
It's easy when you're here, and one thing a car salesman can't resist - is wodges of cash! Walk in with cash and some of them would sell you his first-born as well!
Oct 16th 2003, 6:15 am
#25
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 11,149
Originally posted by downunderpom
I drive in along the Parramatta Road into Sydney each day, and it's wall to wall cars - old and new. For 10K you can get a hell of a good car!
It's easy when you're here, and one thing a car salesman can't resist - is wodges of cash! Walk in with cash and some of them would sell you his first-born as well!
I drive in along the Parramatta Road into Sydney each day, and it's wall to wall cars - old and new. For 10K you can get a hell of a good car!
It's easy when you're here, and one thing a car salesman can't resist - is wodges of cash! Walk in with cash and some of them would sell you his first-born as well!
Oct 16th 2003, 6:22 am
#26
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Mar 2003
Location: Going Home
Posts: 1,215
Just to throw a spanner in the works, I weighed up the cost of bringing over my mint Toyota Celica Convertible and decided the costs would outweigh the benefits. I wish now that I had brought it with me, it would have been worth every penny. 
Somtimes its worth letting your heart rule your head. Although if it had been damaged en route I would have been gutted.
Somtimes its worth letting your heart rule your head. Although if it had been damaged en route I would have been gutted.
Last edited by karawara88; Oct 16th 2003 at 6:26 am.
Oct 17th 2003, 5:34 am
#27
I like kittens.
Joined: Oct 2003
Location: In my own little world
Posts: 1,457
Originally posted by bondipom
We must rub shoulders every now and again. I drive Bondi to Auburn. Where do you go on the Parra road?
We must rub shoulders every now and again. I drive Bondi to Auburn. Where do you go on the Parra road?
It amuses me every morning to drive in on the M4.... I keep expecting to see the sign for Reading!!
Oct 17th 2003, 6:05 am
#28
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 11,149
I might spot you next week as I start at 7:30 then.
Oct 17th 2003, 6:42 am
#29
Life's a beach
Joined: Sep 2003
Location: Cranbrook Kent
Posts: 150
Re: importing a car from the u.k
Originally posted by denhim
ive looked on here and on the web for the cost of importing a car from the u.k to oz, but cant find what i want.
so could anyone tell me what the total cost of shipping out your car and the pro`s and cons please.
ive looked on here and on the web for the cost of importing a car from the u.k to oz, but cant find what i want.
so could anyone tell me what the total cost of shipping out your car and the pro`s and cons please.
Cheers Kev
Oct 17th 2003, 8:28 am
#30
BE Enthusiast
Joined: May 2003
Location: The Green behind the Gold
Posts: 885
£500? Did that include the wrapping paper as well as the stamps? ; P