aedmunds

Hi

I've tried the Oz customs website and emailing them, but have not received an answer to my queries, thought i'd try here.

I would like to know if anyone has taken a vehicle with them when they emigrated to australia, or have found out any information about this.

Basically i have a car i don't want to get rid of, and want to take with me. I heard a rumour that you could get the car in with NO GST provided you were emigrating to australia, otherwise you would have to pay the usual duty, GST and LCT if that applied.

Can anyone advise because if i need to pay all the duty, i need to start considering the sale of the car now, as it might take a while to sell.

Cheers
André

Rob Morton-Jone

Hi Andre,

I heard that it is quite expensive to take your car over to Oz. Do not qoute me on that as it is something that i picked up on a while back.

Another thing you may have to consider id spare parts for your vehicle. Will sevicable parts for your car be available in Oz or would you have to rely on expensive imports?

Just thought i would run that by you.

Rob

ecando

Rob is quite right ... it is VERY expensive to import your car .. not only fro the transport costs, but also on the duties you have to pay ... I have sold my Audi (which was a real wrench !!) but I'll get something else in Oz ...

aedmunds

The car is a Jap motor ... its a 3000GT but is heavily modified and is something quite unusual and special. It is a car that can be found in Japan ... but is worth at least twice as much over there (done my research). So the car IS going with me.

I think you missed my question .... I know its expensive if I am importing a vehicle ... what i want to know is what if I am importing when emigrating. Someone told me a while back you can take one car per person TAX FREE, but only when emigrating I want to confirm if this is correct.

Cheers
Andre

ecando

Ok... so now you say the car is going with ... then why ask for advise on whether you should?? If you're going to take, take it, but just be aware it'll cost you a lot.

aedmunds

Hey Dude

The advice was not whether i should or not, the advice was to know what the tax implications were!!

I just want to know if the rumour is correct that if you take the car when you emigrate, you don't have to pay tax on it.

This was definitely something that existed a few years ago, just want to know if its still true.

Its a simple question that someone on here must be able to answer!! After all, i can take all my other possessions without tax, so why shoud a car be any different?

Cheers
André

ecando

A settee doesn't pump s**t into the atmosphere ...wheras a car does! The tax you'll pay will be partly for that reason ... dude

aedmunds

Nice one and a fair point ... but i'm not taking the settee ... lol ... and even if i don't take my car, i'll still buy one in Oz which will still pump crap into the atmosphere! The only difference is that it'll cost more and i won't have my car which has been modded to my liking.

Let's be serious, the tax is about protecting the Australian market (which i have no problem with), its got nothing to do with the environment.

Anyone else know anything about taking your own car when emigrating??

Cheers
André

Wol

There's a lot of info on the various websites. Try Karman - they specialise in importing and have a lot of useful gen.

I have been to-ing and fro-ing over just this. I have a 3 yr old Accord 3l 2-door coupe which has only done 12000m but is worth a third of the new price. Driving it on 3rd party only and accepting the risk of damage would probably save thousands. But the speedo apparently has to be in Km ONLY - and try to get reliable information from anyone on that!

Go Banana's !!

Hi,
I looked into this for shipping my wifes car and enquired via Karmans. The answer was that its irrelevant that you are migrating you still pay the tax no matter what happens.

Also the risk with a heavily modified car is that you might have a very expensive time proving it complies with Aussie legislation. We were looking to take a 1 year old Merc sporrts car but it was going to cost over £8000 plus mods when it got there.....we're not taking it obviously !!

Good luck on your quest and the rest of the migration.
Best wishes
Warren
Perth 2004.....twice !!

maryliz

Hello,

I'm working on a Fiance Visa and I intend to bring my horse with me when I move (from the US). I've been told by the transporters that as long as I'm in the country with a valid visa before the horse arrives, then I don't have to pay the GST on the transport costs and value of the horse since I'll be emigrating. Hopefully the same logic applies to a car!

aedmunds

Thanks very much for that Warren and Rog.

When I say heavily modified, you would have to be an expert to know, as most of it is in the electronics and inside the engine, e.g. forged pistons, rods, turbos, etc... the things you can't see. Also because its an imported Japanese car, it is all still in the original KMs and hasn't been converted. I deliberately left it that way to ensure it was Oz compliant.

As for the tax, I guess it is still 10% duty, 15 GST and the additional LCT if its over $57,000 worth. Well, if that's still correct, the car surprisingly is only worth £6k over here, so 10% of that and then 15% of the remainder I can live with, that's about £1.5k plus shipping. Are there any other costs to look out for? Have you got contact details for Karman?

Cheers for the help guys
André

aedmunds

Hmmm ... that's a very valid point! How does that work I wonder ... ?? I really need to speak to an expert who has done this before ... I wish I could remember where I heard that tax wasn't due when emigrating!

Cheers
André

max kilby

The answer is NO. It's just a rumour.

Importing a car is very expensive to discourage you doing so. Check the archive on this site for loads of information.

By the way, where I live in South Australia - there are loads of "heavily modified" Jap motors such as 3000GTs - perhaps less of those than than Skylines etc but still not that uncommon. Your car would certainly be more of a rarity in the UK as Aus is geographically much closer to Japan and modified "hot" Jap sports cars are not at all rare here.

Be prepared to pay a small fortune if you intend to bring your pride and joy. The only concession you may get is if the car is over a certain age you have less tax to pay due to depreciation. That's about all though.

Good luck,

MAX

Jacko1

You definately would have to pay duty etc and the car would be checked to ensure compliance with aussie regs/spec etc.
We looked into taking my Merc out there, but the costs, shipping/Tax/more tax/registration/test etc were going to exceed £9000.00 and there was also the posibility that a further luxury car tax would be payable at the discretion of the aussie customs!!
So we will sell it here and buy in aus you can buy alot of car with the money you save by not taking your car from here.

Incidentely, friends of ours took an RS Turbo last year, cost £3500 to ship + £4000.00 in taxes etc, and now they are always looking for parts to be shipped from here as car is not aussie spec.

Also, although we cherish the Merc, a car is just a means of getting from a to b at the end of the day.

Hope this helps

Paul J