Hi, i have been offered a job in Perth, should be leaving in about 6-8 weeks but want to take my car with me.

Its a 2006 Subaru Impreza Sti, ive owned it since new so got kind of attached to it. If i sell it in Uk i will only get about 12-13 grand for it but ive noticed in OZ that its worth $35000 so quite a difference.

My question is, how much would i be looking to pay to ship it over? Do i have to pay import tax even though i have owned it so long??

Any info would be great!

I think you pay import tax and GST - AND customs here will decide what it is worth and you'll pay percentages on that figure. You can contact Oz customs and ask at http://www.customs.gov.au/

You do need to be PR to import the vehicle.

Hi, thanks for the quick reply. i will send them an email, what do you mean i have to be PR?

A permanent resident rather than temporary resident.

What sort of visa do you have?

You need to make sure it's well waterproofed and that the sails are of good quality as there can be some pretty high swells on route.

your British complainced STI won't be worth 36k in Australia...it will be worth a lot less.

Just what I was thinking. Is this car suited to the Australian climate ?
And what happens when you need spare parts and they are only available from Europe. Will cost a lot to import I would have thought. Seems a lots less hassle to sell and buy another car here.

Why wouldn't the car be suited to the Australian climate? It's not a clapped out '87 nova, it's going to have aircon and the other mod cons.

And Subaru's are Japanese and there are tons of Subaru's in Australia so I very much doubt parts would be a problem.

To the OP, your imported car might not be worth as much as one made in Australia but if you're not looking at selling it then what does it matter? If you love the car and it doesn't cost a complete arm and a leg to import then I'd bring it.

Importing a car to Australia is stupidity full stop.

to the OP don't do it.

only looking for information on price to ship folks, not whether or not its a good idea! There's no point me selling it here then paying twice or 3 times as much for the same car if i want another.

And like louise said (liked the comment by the way ) of course i can get parts for it there, most upgraded parts come from australia or japan so im not worrying about that, anyway subaru's dont breakdown lol

and to alistair, im coming on a working holiday visa just to get accross then going to look to get sponsored but want to travel around 1st to see where i want to live.

google dotars

thanks i'll do it now

You are not going to be permitted to import your car unless you are coming on a permanent visa. If you do manage to get a permanent visa down the track then you won't be able to import the car as you would need to prove you have been using it regularly in the period before you import - but you won't be able to do this. I think it is a non starter.

In that case, don't waste any time writing emails and doing research. You can't import it. That is the bottom line I'm afraid.

No problem folks, cheers for your help anyway. Time to sell I think!