Taking car?
 

I hope to be moving to Perth on a 457 sponsored visa in about 12 weeks. Here in the uk i have an 8 seater toyota people carrier, and I was wondering after looking at the prices of them in Perth, would it not be cheaper shipping it out there. Has anybody got experience with this and is it worth it and what is involved? I just want to export the vehicle as shipping agents want to put it in a container and charge more. What other ways are there as I need this size vehicle with 6 kids?

Re: Taking car?
 

First off - good luck with your move! :)

I've dealt with a couple of companies shipping cars from Japan into the Uk before now - Grey Imports. Salt water is extremely corrosive to metal, even the laminated paints used on cars hence the need to ship them inside a container. Rubber also perishes when in contact with salt water so seals go and the tyres would need replacing. Finally, saltwater shorts out electrics so the car would need the engine bay cleaning so that the battery didn't short.

Bringing a car into the UK which is not a UK spec car requires the car to pass an SVA - Single Vehicle Approval test. This can involve some remidial work to the car, notably with Jap cars the fitting of a rear fog light, conversion from KMH to MPH, etc. I imagine there may be similar legislation in place importing cars into Australia?

Hope that helps? :)

Re: Taking car?
 

Thanks for the reply but I am a little confused now.
I am in the uk planning on taking the car to Perth Australia.
Paul

Re: Taking car?
 

Sorry if I wasn't clear - the issues facing you with taking a car from the UK to Perth are likely to be very similar to the issues that I faced when bringing a car from Japan to the UK. Hope that clears it up a little? :)

Re: Taking car?
 

How did you go about organising it? was it with a normal shipping agent who does the houshold furniture?

Re: Taking car?
 

Hi
Try this website,

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=4371

Its the Aus customs site with all the official info you need.

We're taking two cars (hopefully) in a 40ft container with whatever furniture will fit.

Its a bit confusing working out the costs once in Aus and you could probably get a decent used car for what its going to cost but if you want to keep your car and its fairly new then take it.

Do a Google search for 'exporting a car to Australia' and you'll find plenty of companies out there, not cheap tho'.

good luck

Sara :)

Re: Taking car?
 

Its scary expensive to do. You pay duties and import taxes, shipping costs and I have yet to find anyone who has ever saved money on doing this.

Oh - and dont forget you will have to pay to have it registered here, enjoy the fact that your so called worldwide warranty will be sniggered at and have no resale value at all.

Dont do it :thumbup:

Re: Taking car?
 

All you need to know about shipping a car.
http://australia.wikia.com/wiki/Brit...portingYourCar

Neil.
ps.... We do have 7 & 8 seater vehicles here in Perth. Hyundai Trajet, Toyota Tarago, Merc Vito, Kia Carnival, Holden Zafira, Honda Odyssey, Mitsubishi Nimbus, Toyota Spacia (can't think of any more) + all the 4X4's with extra seating.

Re: Taking car?
 

Try www.carsguide.com.au for car prices.

Imported cars are required to pass a compliance inspection, before being registered etc. Do a search under car importing, as there are hundreds of threads on the issue. They may also be subject to import duty. Also parts may not be readily available for the particular make or model.
So, unless the vehicle is a collectors item or has some sort of sentimental value, it is generally easier to flog it and buy here.

Re: Taking car?
 

Also if you havent owned it for 12 months then you have to pay duty on it as well. As The Bloke said unless it is a sentimental special or collectors item, sell it and buy another one here.

Re: Taking car?
 

I'll second that.

Oz is trying to protect it's own car market. I wanted to bring a WRX from NZ to Oz and it was cheaper to buy one over here.

Re: Taking car?
 

I would agree.

Our car was clean as when it left the uk.

Got to Brizzy Customs, and the bassards charged me $1500 to clean it, I did a post on this about 2 or 3 yrs ago, if you wanna search it.

I think it cost all up about 10k to bring over the car, not really worth it. As it is always classed as an import.

Re: Taking car?
 

Not only will you have to pay import duty at 10% of the Australian Value, GST (10%) on the Australian Value, pay for type approval, get it registered, converted from mph to kph, upgrade the aircon (if your current car has it that is. UK spec Air con is about 30% less powerful than Australia and other hot countries), and constantly run it on Premium (95RON) unleaded, pay to actually ship it, pay to have it steam cleaned, you will also have to pay for an 8 seater hire car at $100.00 a day for 3 months. Really not worth the hassle. Also insurance will be higher and resale will be lower - the Aussies won't know what a Toyota Previa is, they know it as the Tarago.

We looked into bringing two cars over and the whole process was not worth it. I would only bring one over if it was a classic.