LittleGreyCat

One thing to add to the equation - I think that if you buy brand new in the UK and ship directly out you don't pay VAT or other UK taxes, but you will pay the NZ taxes on a new vehicle import.
Perhaps someone knows which costs more?
I think shipping a vehicle starts at around £3,000 on a bulk vehicle carrier.

Regardless, I have never bought a new vehicle because the depreciation in the first year is so large. I prefer to buy high specification high mileage cars a couple of years old when the worst of the depreciation is over.

One more thought - in the UK if you were running a small farm you could buy the vehicle through the business and avoid paying VAT which is quite a saving. I don't know if you get similar tax breaks in NZ.

MrsFychan

I know someone who bought a motor home over and it took ages for customs to release it and cost them a fortune. not sure what the problems were but their comments were they wished they hadn't bothered and just bought here

chocolate cake

Can't comment on the hassle/difficulties of importing a car, but without doubt second hand cars are more expensive over here, despite the fact loads are imported from Japan.

Probably due to the latter and the high cost, the average kiwi car is much older than the UK and Europe, I believe 15 years is about the average age of car on NZ roads, via 1/2 that in UK.

LittleGreyCat

Importing motor homes - met a UK couple previous trip (2013) who had bought a new motor home in the UK, shipped it via a specialist importer, had a six week touring holiday and had already sold on the motor home on TradeMe for enough to cover the costs of their holiday.

So it can be done, but no guarantees.

Justcol

Importing motor homes is pretty complicated compared to cars. there are lots of compliance checks that need to be done over and above those for a car.

my personal opinion on cars is, if you want a new car, buy it here. Used cars hold their value much better in nz so is not always worth buying something a couple of years old, as there isn't much to be saved, again I would go for new.

Now if you want something a little older, thats where the saving comes in. Only last night I was looking at a little run around car for the wife. A ford StreetKa cost 10000 NZD on trade me, the same thing was on Autotrader UK for 750 quid

nikkijane88

I would just buy in NZ. Yes they cost a little more but they will be in far better condition! Our cars are like new underneath cause there isn't the salt on the roads to help ruin them. We compared our 2006 car in the uk to the same here... The difference was impressive, much better condition here

Justcol

I would say the average "new" car in NZ is 10 years old !

LittleGreyCat

Makes me wonder about buying a nearly new Japanese pickup to bring over.
Young enough to be reasonably unscarred by the salt but old enough to have dropped far more in price than the NZ equivalent.

Bobogib

I'd still be wary even when buying Japanese. The difference between a UK spec car an a Jap spec car could be enough to mean you still have to import parts from Europe. Granted it's far less likely but could still happen.

LittleGreyCat

Further checking shows that NZ spec new Utes can have larger engines than the UK equivalent.
They seem to go for about 3 litres, compared to between 2 and 2.5 litres in the UK.
I think the UK engine size has something to do with business taxation.
I have vague memories when I was looking at buying one around 2000(ish) as a business vehicle (reclaim the VAT).
No simple search seems to turn up the reason for the engine size difference though.

Justcol

Kiwis like big engines and Ute's are used as they were intended to be used
whereas in the UK they are fashion accessories

I would suggest comparing prices on trade me with UK prices very carefully.
Don't forget on arrival gst is charged on the total cost of the
vehicle and getting the vehicle to nz.
That is cost of car + cost of shipping + cost of insurance paid to cover shipping.
Some think they can save money by producing a receipt for a lower amount
than the car actually cost but as they will cross check the value you have insured it for during shipping

Kotare

It is partly, the european drive for lower fuel consumption figures (therefore diesel engines, stop/start systems, different gearbox ratios etc). This is compounded by the uk business tax system (used to be advantageous to be 2litres or less). Plus most UK 4 x 4's are used on the school run therefore who needs 3 litres.

NZ driving conditions are different and there is a touch of the macho bigger is better :-) But not much point in having a SUV/farm ute that doesn't have the grunt to tow a loaded trailer, get up a muddy track etc eg yesterday I collected a small farm building, then 1.5 tonnes of gravel using my RAV4 (and a trailer).

As someone mentioned uk and nz/japanese spec can be noticeably different and that isn't just engine size.

Peter

LittleGreyCat

Cross checking AutoTrader (UK) with TradeMe and apart from the higher mileage on most of the TradeMe examples the cost is looking very similar - comparing $22,000 to £10,000.

As far as I know you don't have to pay any import taxes if it is your main vehicle and you have owned it for over a year. This also provides a get out for older vehicles which don't comply with the latest emission standards.

Shipping in a container costs around £1,600 (or $3.500) so only seems worth it for a big ticket item such as a motor home, or where the price difference is somewhere around $5,000 or more for the equivalent vehicle.