Hi all,
We know some leather items are not allowed to be imported in to Australia. We are shipping our car over which has full leather interior, anyone know if this is accepted?
Thanks in advance,
Marie

Probably fine, but you`ll hate driving around in it when it`s hot. It`ll burn you and then leave half your skin behind when you`re sweaty. Great for waxing, leather seats in Oz

Ouch

Make sure you get air conditioning fitted if its not installed already. YOU WILL NEED IT!!!

Vinyl seats are far worse!

We're looking in to getting it fitted now, don't know whether it's cheaper getting it done in UK or Oz. If it's done in UK we've been told it will need de-gasing here then refilling in Oz, so it may work out cheaper getting it done as soon as we get to Oz.
As for it burning our butts, it'll get hot but not too hot as the windows are all tinted, but saying that, that's in English summers, we have yet to experience leather seats in Oz summers.
Marie

Yep get it done in OZ is probably easier. Also having aircon will help keep the seats cool, so I wouldn't worry about that to much. You can also by sun-reflector screens you pop under the windscreen wipers if you are parking it for any length of time.

On another note: watch the door handles on warmer days (and canned goods in supermarkets), you can get nasty shocks of static electricity from both!
Best idea is to clench your fist and initially touch the car handle/canned food that way. Funny but true!

Cheers for the tip.
Marie

The sun is a car-killer. You`ll need to protect all your plastic bits as well... shades/sprays/etc. Dunno about static, but you`ll learn not to grab handles that have been in the sun too quickly, be searching for all the parking in the shade and all that good stuff

All treated materials are OK. You can't bring in untreated products, like rawhyde or wooden table with eyes. The customs will treat with insecticide anything suspitious.

Marie,

Probably cheaper to have it installed in Aus as there are a lot of garages that have to be able to do it here due to the demand.

Aircon may keep the leather cool when it's on but by necessity you will sometimes be parking in full sunlight so it will get bloody hot. I have a special mat on top of the dashboard and put a sun reflector in the windscreen and I still can't touch the dash or steering wheel for a few minutes after lighting up the aircon. The old saying about frying an egg is so true here.

Also check on your window tinting as they are very strict on that. Here's a good article on it............
http://www.autospeed.com.au/cms/article.html?&A=1625

Cheers Bix.
Marie