freight cost on car
 

Can anyone help?
Our container has arrived in Wellington with a car and household effects. I need to pay GST on the car which I knew begore bringing it over. How does Customs calculate a freight charge when the car came in a container with household goods?

Not a huge deal but like to know how much it's going to cost.

Thanks :)

Re: freight cost on car
 

Generally done on volume, so the space NOT occupied by household goods is the shipping volume of the car, ie the car and any space around it. The volume of the car is then used to proportion the shipping cost. So if the car takes up 40% of the container and the shipping cost is $1000 then the shipping cost for the car is $400.

Re: freight cost on car
 

Excellent thank you. It's only a mini! :thumbup:

Re: freight cost on car
 

I asked a shipping company this at an expo at the weekend. They said it would cost around £2500 to ship a car, they mentioned a charge once it is in the country but i cannot remember what that was.

Re: freight cost on car
 

Three options:

Ship in a 20ft container on its own - shipping cost is 100% of whatever the container shipping cost is.

Ship RoRo - typically about 1700GBP - varies by car size

Ship in a bigger container with household goods - container shipping cost split as above.

Import costs/GST/wof etc etc the same in each case - well worth checking the vehicle meets the Standards appropriate for its age, if these can't be demonstrated then the vehicle may <never> be able to be used on NZ roads.

Re: freight cost on car
 

we contacted AA New Zealand and gave them the details of our car to make sure that it was going to be compliant to use in NZ

Re: freight cost on car
 

We have decided ours isn't worth enough to bother with shipping

Re: freight cost on car
 

We brought our car here from the UK in 2011
Did not have to pay any GST just signed a waiver that we would not sell the car within 2 years of entry to NZ.

Got to be careful with compliance though as anything older than 2005 or has any rust will go through the wringer.

Re: freight cost on car
 

Im talking to AA NZ about bringing in a 20year old [near] classic, it will be exempt from some of the Import Requirements and GST obviously. So far, so good, just getting the compliance paperwork together now.

Re: freight cost on car
 

Hi Kodachrome, you do need to be really careful with older vehicles (I know this to my cost) as getting it registered and a Warrant Of Fitness (WOF) can be very difficult and expensive for older cars. Even a tiny bit of rust can send the AA into a flat spin on an old car (and they will inspect it in detail). Good luck.

Re: freight cost on car
 

Hmm, thanks for heads up, Ill have a look under it soon and see what it looks like. AA told me they were only interested in actual structural rust.. but either way this is one of those things little can be done other than suck it and see.

Its effectively near irreplaceable over here but utterly so there (and too expensive even if one came up). Im not taking much with me, but want to take this.

Re: freight cost on car
 

The AA guy pretty much laughed when I rolled up in my VW camper. In the end it was too expensive to get it through. However another couple brought theirs here a year later and it cost them $18k to get it through the WOF. But we are talking about 40 year old vehicles. Hopefully yours is not as old or rusty!

Re: freight cost on car
 

$18k!? You really know how to scare someone! ;)
Surely a VW camper could be bought for far less than that? Admittedly I dont follow camper prices, but still.

Whats the actual physical process, I assume it cannot leave the docks (or whereever the inspection) is until they says its clear and ok? If they say they want rust or whatever fixed.. do they arrange that and bill you?

Re: freight cost on car
 

Re: freight cost on car
 

Yes, you can certainly buy something for the same price, there is one in the local paper this weekend for the same price, and as you can see they are on TradeMe for similar.
Thing is we let our hearts rule our heads. Big mistake in our case. We did advise the couple I mentioned not to bring theirs but they did anyway. In the end it had to be stripped back to bare metal, a number of panels and structural pieces had to be cut out and replaced and then a respray. AA still picked up on a couple of things they were not happy with so it had to go back to the garage and worked on again. Tools nearly 6 months and $18k in the end. I know of another guy down in Wanganui who had a similar experience.

As for the details. I collected mine from the port once it had cleared MAF and I had paid goodness knows how much to get it through customs. Drove it to the AA, cringed as the guy poked about and cam back and told me "it would be cheaper to scrap it". Went back to the rental, climbed in bed and sobbed. The local VW club were helpful though and we did manage to get it on the road (I won't explain how, but not difficult in the end).
However, the cost of keeping it going became so high that in the end I sold it to a mate. It now sits in my garage in pieces. The plan was to completely restore it but neither of us have the time or money.

For us it was a mistake. But you have to bear in mind the type of vehicle and its age. I should have listened to what my head was saying, but it's all water under the bridge now.