Justcol

I had a relative who owned BRV in Taupo a few years ago.
He looked into motorhome rental and sharing, insurance wise it was a nightmare and potential minefield.


As has been stated, compliance will make it tricky and GST will also be expensive. You will aklso be up against the dozens and dozens of camper / motorhome rental companies down here, some of which will even give you a van for free if you take it back to its base from its drop off destination.




Caravans are the way to go for easy money. very simple compliance, rego and wof and you can sell for double the purchase cost.

Damson

Just wondering how much (ballpark) it costs to bring a caravan or a motorhome over?

SSky

The cost of shipping the container maybe, like all shipping, plus all the MAF, GST and compliance stuff once it arrives. Or someone once mentioned it was cheaper to have it as a roll on roll off thing without a container but I don't know anything about that.
I did once email the customs here to find out costs, gst etc but have forgotten all the details now.

Kotare

My MX5 is costing about £1800, freight and insurance uk end. Handling at this end about $1k, then another $1k for compliance checks and on road costs. The latter would be less for a caravan. I wouldn't underestimate the potential compliance problems with an older motor home (over 3-4 years old) eg proof of frontal impact and emissions standards).

LittleGreyCat

Just a quick note to say that if your motor home has an approval sticker for safety this is usually acceptable. I checked for our Hymer and was told it was fine.

Also, you get an exemption for importing an older motor home which does not meet current emission regulations if it is your personal vehicle.

If you are importing to sell, then you must meet the appropriate Euro emission standards.

Damson

Bloody hell, that's more than I thought. The compliance issue is interesting too. Cheers.

andy1133

I mentioned in another thread about putting off any £ to $ transactions for as long as possible. I personally will wait for Article 50 to be evoked and then wait for the dust settle. I can't see the NZ economy tanking in the mean time.

Cool idea with importing a campervan. Yes prices for vehicles in NZ are insane, even more so if you are buying in £s!

If I was going to start a business in NZ then I'd be looking at exploiting the campervan / motorhome market. Some serious $ to be made.

I did read a story a while back of a couple who imported a motorhome from the UK and it seemed pretty painless. Needless to say they saved themselves a fortune. I think there are specialist companies that can help with this too. If I find the story then I 'll share.

Kotare

There is nothing 'difficult' about this other than compliance. If you have a photocopy of the V5 and VIN plate, VTNZ or AA will usually give you a YES/NO on compliance by email.

Ianriv

No insurance for whilst it's out, covered by share a camper.
There's ways and means around GST and compliance is only a worry if you buy a duffer. With a mechanic in the family back home that's not much risk. Will work for me, maybe not others.

Kotare

Compliance is not directly to do with mechanical soundness, though it has to pass WOF (MOT), it depends on frontal impact and emissions standards which may be hard to prove with an older import. An interesting consideration is that GST is meant to be charged at NZ commercial value not necessarily purchase price, though can't see that being enforced.

elainec_nz

Be careful if you consider moving a European car to NZ.
I really wanted to bring my Citroen Dispatch MPV but in the end gave up on the idea due to inspection regs & the fact that my car does not exist in NZ.

I contacted a very helpful inspector by email who informed me the main reason that imported cars failed was due to rust. I got my car inspected by a UK mechanic who deemed it was "fine" (surface rust but nothing that would fail a UK MOT). But photo's sent to a NZ inspector revealed it would fail the NZ test.
After seeing the state of cars on NZ roads, it was hard to believe, but they're really strict with imported personal vehicles. Also keep in mind that servicing European cars is more expensive & parts may be difficult to find.

Also, don't forget that not only do you need to own the vehicle for 12 months before importing it, but you have to declare that you won't sell it, I think, for 2 years.