Shipping a car and which company
 

Hi all

Planning the move the Christchurch, can anyone recommend a shipping company?

Also would you recommend taking our car? A 2011 Vw polo...

Anything you wouldn't bring or should we bring absolutely everything?

Thanks

Re: Shipping a car and which company
 

Your best bet is to contact AA NZ and ask them if the vehicle would pass the import inspection.

back in 2011 we were asked to give these details and was advised:

Can you please tell me:

Make
Model
Type of fuel (petrol/diesel)
Date of first registration
How long you have owned it
Expected port of entry in NZ

Can you also send me a picture of the EC Type approval plate and perhaps a copy of the V5? We are looking for the approval number which starts with the letter “e”. This approval number tells us if your car meets some or hopefully all of the required standards. Once I know what we are dealing with, I can advise you if you need to get more information or evidence.

As an immigrant to NZ, you may meet the criteria for an immigrant exemption. This would allow the entry-certification without having o meet the frontal impact and the emission standard. All other standards have to be met.

For a petrol vehicle allow about NZ$1000 for entry-certification and first registration or about NZ$1400 for a diesel.

Other than de-registering the vehicle and making sure it arrives clean, there is nothing else you really need to do at this stage. You only need to get further evidence for the compliance standards if the car doesn’t have an “e” number.

Make sure you can prove that you own it (receipt, bill of sale) and that it was registered (V5). A V5 with your name on will do for both.

Re: Shipping a car and which company
 

We used Anglo Pacific to ship our VW T5 camper, no problems as we had checked with AA and knew we needed a Low Volume certificate due to modifications - that delayed compliance and with Xmas shut down the whole process took 3 weeks but AA completed their part in a morning. Personally we have not bothered even considering importing a family car, expensive in NZ but then if it's nothing special with the shipping costs not worth the money and then the wait for it to arrive.

Re: Shipping a car and which company
 

Hi
Thanks for the reply. It is a 2011 plate vw golf with 40k miles on the clock, do you think it's worth it?
How much do similar cars sell for in nz?

Re: Shipping a car and which company
 

I'm no expert but other half says if you've had the car from new he would consider it but then we only shipped our camper because there was nothing in NZ anything like it and we had it over 4 years which reduced GST we had to pay. We allowed £5000 and by the time we had finished with compliance, gas bottles, diesel miles we were about right.

Re: Shipping a car and which company
 

In my experience it's only worth it if you've had the car from new / nearly new and you've owned it for at least 12 months to avoid paying GST on it and it has been treated well.
At the time we moved over we had a 7 month old SUV, another older car and a motorbike but due to the high costs of shipping, the red tape and hoops you have to go through to get compliance certificates etc and the GST bill on the SUV we sold them all before we moved instead and bought what we needed this end. Yes vehicles are more expensive here, but the cost of motoring here is much less and the cars last way way longer so when considering all that I for one don't mind that I have to pay a bit more in comparison to the UK.
Some friends of ours came over 6 months ago and shipped a new ish Mitsi ute/pick up and an old VW camper. £2k each or thereabouts plus all the usual compliance/registration/WOF costs this end. Didn't have any problems with the VW camper at all, but they've had a nightmare with the UTE. NZTA refused to give it compliance so they got a second opinion and that gave the same result. Told it had rust underneath on the chassis so the only way they could get compliance would be to either re-chassis the vehicle or get rid of the rust somehow. Luckily they found a garage that agreed to take it apart down to the chassis, sandblast it, re-paint it and apply an underbody coating then put it all back together......$9k that's cost them......nowhere near worth it but their only other option would be to sell it as an offroad vehicle here (where they'd have to pay GST), scrap it or send it back to the UK and sell it there. Over a barrel springs to mind.
Another friend brought over a spotless 2007 Mazda CX7 a year ago and NZTA refused to give that compliance. Said it had surface rust on the suspension, fittings, axles etc. Mate had to strip down all the components in each corner, scrub all the rust off with a wire brush, apply a rust inhibitor and re-spray. Didn't cost him a lot to get the work done as he did it himself, but he did have to pay to have it towed to his house and back each time as it cannot be driven.
Unfortunately that is the chance you take when importing any vehicle.

Re: Shipping a car and which company
 

We shipped our Vauxhall 2005 Zafira mainly because we didn't have any money to buy once here and it didn't cost that much more to add to the container with our household stuff. Plus I didn't want the hassle to be looking around for a new car and getting used to it.
We were lucky as MrF was already here and organised to borrow a car from a work colleague to get us out and about before my car turned up,

Re: Shipping a car and which company
 

A great place to start for shipping is to check out FIDI website for a list of FAIM certified international removal companies that serve your area to make sure whoever you're using is fully qualified, licensed and independently vetted for overseas moving.

There are lots more tips about choosing reputable removals companies and your different options over on our vendor forum for International Removals advice. Hope it helps!

If you do decide to take your car usually it can be shipped in the same container as your household goods making the transport part a little more cost effective.

Re: Shipping a car and which company
 

Personally I wouldn't bother shipping over a Golf, there are loads here and prices are reasonable.
I brought my nearly new car over in 2005 and I'm glad I did because I'd had it from new and modified it a bit. I kept it for 12 years.

But if your car is just a normal car that you're not that attached to, selling it and buying here is the best option. My car sat for 6 weeks in the UK then took another 6 to get here then a couple more weeks to get complied, and in the process they did about $1500 of paintwork damage, broke some clips and lost a few screws. They have to sight check the seatbelt bolts as part of the inspection so some of the interior has to be dismantled.

I ended up buying a $1000 car to drive until it arrived.

If I did it again I'd probably sell up and buy a car here.

Re: Shipping a car and which company
 

My advice is to buy a vehicle in New Zealand. I couple of years ago shipped a vehicle across from Australia, in hind-sight it was not worth the hassle.. Looking back I should have sold the vehicle in Aussie and purchased one when I arrived in NZ.
Good quality vehicles in New Zealand are as cheap as chips.. Go online to Trademe NZ "vehicles" you may be surprised.