TD63

Anybody any views on shipping a car to Australia, i have a Lexus IS 220D SE-L Diesel, which is only a couple of years old, so i am considering shipping the car over with me when i relocate, but i have heard that this isnt always the best policy. Is their any over costing , charges i need to be aware of once the car arrives in Australia that i need to factor in. Thanks

lapin_windstar

Use the search button in the middle of the salmon-coloured horizontal bar at the top of this page - there are tons of threads on this.

Then download the spreadsheet from here: http://www.karmanshipping.com/ausworthwhile.html

Then find out if that car/engine was sold here: www.redbook.com.au

furkew

Not sure of the value of such a model, but you get hit with the luxury car tax as well as normal import duties, and that might take the shine off wanting to bring it.

General rule of thmb is if its of sentimental value, rare, very expensive & quite exclusive, yes, its worth looking into bringing a car.

Normal run of the mill cars old or new, by the time you calculate shipping costs, cleaning, transferring rego & getting roadworthy, compliancy issues & then finally the car still being a grey import for resale, it often doesnt make it worth all the hassle. Also spare parts might be difficult & expensive to source if its not a standard Aussie model, and Insurance companies may charge an extra premium for the same reason.

Also, you will still need to rent a car until yours arrives by container and has been cleared for use on the road. This could be anything from 4-6 weeks ($1000-$1500)

Weebie

Australians who buy european cars won't touch pre owned imported ones. With UK books at a luxury level they car loses a lot of value.

kaishang

AFAIK that model (ie a diesel version) is not sold in Oz, in which case parts could be a problem.

You will have to pay:
5% tarriff on the customs value
10% GST on the customs value

There is LCT of 33% on vehicles over about AUD57k but this is based on the customs value and is the amount over $57k, not the total value. The customs value which is likely to be about 70% of the used car street price in Oz of your model ie you will not have to pay LCT for a run-of-the-mill Lexus.

I'm thinking of shipping a BMW: in the UK, it's a GBP38,000 car new.

By the time it gets to Oz, the customs value I'm expecting will be about $50k which means I'll need to pay 5%+10% * $50k = $7,500 in tax.

Vehicles are ridiculously overpriced in Australia. A family car like a BMW 530d which would cost you maybe GBP45,000 loaded up with options in the UK will be a AUD130,000 car in the Oz. Which goes some way to explaining why you see Lexus/BMW/Audi/Merc/Jag at every traffic light in the UK, but only once or twice a day in Oz.

kaishang

I'm sure it does lose a lot of value. But with jacked-up-into-oblivion Oz new car prices and correspondingly high used car prices even if a personal import loses 30% of the value compared to an identical car imported via the Australian distributor, it can still be worthwhile importing it.

Australians don't have a lot of choice when it comes to buying a "luxury" car because most people can't afford to fork out $100,000 for a basic BMW.

BadgeIsBack

A mate of mine shipped a car over. The bloke hoisting it out of the container or off the ship partially stuck the lift bars through the side of the car taking out the fuel tank...

tartantopgun

I have just imported my BMW to Perth from Scotland. 5 years old 320 Diesel, nothing special but I have owned it for a while and I plan on owning it for a long time. Cost me in total (excluding rego as not done that yet) and including RORO shipping $6500

If you are bringing your car to keep, it is well worth it, IMO of course. Paper work was simple, and been a seamless process from pick up in the UK to clearing customs. It will cost you a damn sight more to buy the equivalent here, so I cannot see a downside. Maybe cost a little more to insure, however, over the lifetime of my car, it will never even come close to the overall cost of owning and insuring the same car bought in Oz.

And, you get your own car to drive in the sunshine

sniffydog

Very interesting - could you tell me how they valued it for tax purposes? I was convinced (along the lines of your argument) to bring my 6 year old x-type estate. It's done over 100k miles but is worth more to me than flogging for next to nothing in the UK.

I can;t seem to get an answer from cutoms on whether they tax it on the original purchase price £26k - the current UK value of £2.5k - or the Australian value now (more difficult given there is no redbook value since the estate was never sold in Aus although the saloon model gives an idea....)

Any info greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

Alfresco

You get a valuation from and authorised car valuer in Oz Less shipping costs.

It can work out to about 50% of the current resale value in Oz and then add duty and tax etc...

Mine is on the ship! So I can probably let everyone know the cost of shipping in about six weeks time hopefully.

lapin_windstar

done compliance yet? how much was that?

tartantopgun

Not done compliance yet. But had a pre compliance estimate at only a couple of hundred bucks. Will give total figures in due course.

kaishang

Compliance does not seem to be a problem, at least in Western Australia, on my understanding following correspondence with licencing in WA.

They are happy with a speedo in mph as long as it has km/h on a smaller scale - for private imports. If it was a commercial import you would need to change to km/h only.

They do a general MOT-style roadworthy check.

They check for head restraints (which all new cars will have) and child restraints. UK cars have ISOFIX restraints, which are acceptable.

darrellandsarah

you need to find a good friendly car valuer.mine way under valued my navara for me so payed next to nothing in gst and didnt get hit for lct, plus being a comercial and i use it for work i got every penny back in tax including all shipping costs.i problem i do have though is finding parts,i had to get new front discs and pads imported from the uk.cost me 85pound in parts and 185pound in postage and they got here in 4 days.

jimbo33

I bought my VW Golf TDI 130 over with us after seeing first hand what you can buy. Because it was not made in Aus I supplied evidence of the current UK value at the time from Auto trader, Parkers Used Car price which was accepted. Was a little bit of hastle with sorting stuff but did not take too long. WELL worth doing as cars here are very very over priced. Diesel cars are only just becoming available with most manufacturers as the diesel was of poor quality. No issues now. Expect to get stung by Quarentine to 'clean' it $550... Shannons will insure it without any problems.