Car Questions
 

Is it worth importing a car from the UK?

When insuring a car in NZ can you use a No Claims Bonus earned in the UK?
If so what proof does the NZ insurance company need?

Do I have to surrender my UK Licence to get an NZ one?

How do car prices compare UK to NZ?
What are the most popular makes?

aarcc

Re: Car Questions
 

I once shipped a car from Germany to Canada. It was more than 1500 pounds. I only did it because it became a special car here in North America. I had the only one Canada.

I have looked on line for used cars in NZ. If you google used cars and the city you intend to go to you will get a listing of used car dealers. To me the prices seem higher than what we would pay here in Canada for the same thing, but our car prices are cheaper here than in the UK too.

Poke around like we did and you will start to get a good idea. We saw a not too old Honda Odyssey for about NZD 14,000, low mileage.

You have to watch you don't buy an older diesel engined vehicle. Due to the low sulphur fuel that now must be used the rubber seals in the injector fail causing a rebuild for about NZD 1,200.

If you have a diesel you will also have to buy "tickets" in 5,000 km increments. The petrol is already fully taxed, but this is how the government collects tax on the diesel fuel.

Re: Car Questions
 

My opinions,

its not worth importing a car unless it is very special or dear to you in some way, such as vintage cars etc.

Before you come to NZ get written proof of your no claims bonus from your current insurer, we didn't do this and had to do it all remotely. Most insurers here didn't seem to care about the proof at the point of buying the insurance, but they all made a point of telling us that in the event of a claim it *may* be checked up on. Remember that all insurance companies have access to each others details to prevent fraud. Not sure if this is international though.

You have one year to get a NZ driving licence from when you arrive, this is only the multiple guess part since you're coming from the UK and they assume that UK licence holders can drive.

We found second hand prices to be much higher than we expected. In particular 10 year old cars have real value here, whereas in the UK a ten year old car will have virtually no value. Most cars these days are imported from Japan, we assumed that this meant that Japan was offloading all its cheap cars that couldn't be resold in Japan, not true, these cars are expensive relative to UK for the same age and milage. I have heard but can't verify that Japan has tax incentives to keep older (say 5 years) cars off the road for exhaust emission reasons. These cars are then shipped to NZ, where of course they continue to emit exhaust into the same atmosphere.

Most common cars are Japanese, although there are plenty of European cars around to.

Subaru is pronounced "Soo Bar Roo" with the emphasis on the "Bar" rather than the UK "Soo Buh Roo" with the emphasis on the "Soo". You'll need to know this since every other car is a Subaru and people will smile at your pronunciation.

But then what do I know, I cycle to work

cheers

Bob

Car Questions
 

In addition to the above, you will have to get a statement of compliance from the head office of the car manufacturer, saying it meets or exceeds safety regulations for NZ.

You will also have to ensure it is clean to MAF standards, usually a steam clean, either at the point of departure or port of destination, we had to have ours done in London and in Auckland as the London one was not to MAF regulations.

You have to import the car as a resident but if you decide to leave NZ or sell the car within 2 years you must pay GST on the agreed value of the car, currently sitting at 12.5%

The car must then be tested as roadworthy, usually by the AA, have a WOF and rego, then Bob’s your Uncle (or in my case the name of my cat) you can drive.

Remember NZ gas 2 types of petrol 95 RON and 91 RON, most cars in NZ use 91 RON, check your car.

The radio will work, NZ music CD’s will work.

I believe you must have also owned the car for at least one year before coming over.

Finally a word of warning we bought over a Ford Fiesta, probably one of the most common and popular cars in the UK, however in NZ they have a flavour named the Ford Festiva, our little Ford Fiesta was the only one in NZ.

My son (let’s name him Hoon for short) decided to thrash the bollix off this lovely little car and surprise, surprise it broke the gearbox. We either imported a new gearbox from the UK costing $3000 or we biffed the car.

Hoon boy now walks everywhere.

What I am saying is make sure you can get spares in NZ for your model of car.

Left hand cars are frowned upon in NZ and difficult to import.

Hope this helps…….now give me karma for a bloody long reply!

Car Questions
 

So to answer your question is it worth it, I would say yes provided you can satisfy yourself it is worth it.

We knew the history of both of our cars, both bought from new and both with low mileage and what we thought were relatively common cars.

My car continues to chug along spiffingly, although my wife says I am a boring old person for continuing to drive a car that is now 9 years old.

Mrs NG has a new car and as I mentioned Hoon boy walks.

Car Questions
 

Hmmmmmmmmmm.........just a thought.........have not yet been laid in Mrs NG's car..........

Mental note to oneself "Got to do something about that and do something soon"

Re: Car Questions
 

Do you ever think about anything else other than trying to get laid?? lol :)

Are you trying for a baby?? Is that it?? Only really worth bonking between cycle days 10 and 18 you know...... good luck!! :D :D :D :D

Hmmmmmmmmmm.................
 

Hi SarahB

I once read a useless statistic that stated men on average think about sex every 9.5 seconds, I actually think about it nearly all the time, say every 1-2 seconds at the outside most.

I already have 2 children, a big brute of a Hoon (see earlier missive) son who is 19 and a daughter who is 16 currently in Japan learning…………..ummmmmmmm……….Japanese.

As I use 2 fingers and a nose to type messages I have timed the seconds it has taken me to produce this response, not surprisingly it has taken me about 3 minutes, ergo by my calculation, the average male has thought about sex approximately 18-19 times.

I however have thought about sex between 90 and 180 times over the same period of time……..seems a bit low if you ask me but that’s statistics!

more hmmmmmm
 

I wonder why you think about it so much then?? I just asked my OH how often he thinks about sex and he says "he tries not to as he doesnt get it very often"... cheeky git!

Yeah, I spose you wouldnt really be wanting another bub.... the age gap would be a little large...

Opps....we've deviated from the OP subject yet again... :o

Treble hmmmmmm.............
 

I have no idea SarahB, I blame it on being fed National Dried and not breast milk when I was a baby, also my mum probably dropped me several times on the head.

Apologies to the OP for going off topic.