man777

Hi, Don't know if it makes sense or anyone has shipped his car to Australia but I just bought a new car Vauxhall Zafia earlier this year and just wondering if it is worth to ship it to sydney, know if I try to sell it would sell at around 70% but if it is a lot of efforts, hassles, would give up this thought.
Thanks for any views in advance.

AndrewMarilyn

We had a quote of £4500 to ship out a 2009 Mini Cooper!

freebo

We looked at it and decided not to.

1) It didn't add up financially (sale price in the UK + Aus tax + Shipping + inspection costs came to as much or more than cost of buying in Australia)
2) Grey imports are worth far less when you come to sell and the dealers won't touch them
3) Its very complicated, heaps of paperwork

Also, in order to import you need to have owned the car for 12 months before it arrives.

It was painful as used cars depreciate much slower here, so say a 3 year old Golf will cost far more here than in the UK.

Other people have done it, but I've read a couple on here who say in hindsight they wish they hadn't bothered.

In the end we bought a new car on arrival, ironically the fact that 2nd hand cars are so apparently expensive means that the cost of ownership (depreciation) on a new car is less than in the UK.

P.S. If you're coming to Sydney and need a rental car at first look at bayswater - little corrolla's at a good weekly rate, far cheaper and better service than the big companies (Hertz where a nightmare to extend, really expensive & I'm a Gold renter with them).

Sue

This topic comes up from time to time. Here are some recent threads on the topic that you may find useful:

Shipping a car, Pros & Cons

Taking Out Car from UK to Sydney

cars export

mooshk

I've just shipped my 2007 BMW 325 Coupe to Brisbane.

It cost 1300 GBP to ship (RoRo)
$6000 AUD in customers/taxes etc
$3000 AUD in registration and stamp duty

On a zafira you'd be better of selling there and getting something comparable here.

Non-german cars (mainly aussie cars) aren't priced too bad here.

M

freebo

One of the cars I was looking at was a BMW (330ci) but with the hit on resale etc it didn't seem worth it, sold it and got a decent price in the UK.

I agree that Japanese and Australian cars are similarly priced to the UK, and I also wouldn't bring a Zafira over, apart from anything I don't think they sell the Holden equivalent over here so servicing and any parts would be difficult.

eugene43

That was a silly thing to do