Here comes the sun

We are only taking certain items of furniture so in theory we could fit our car in with the furniture in a 20ft container. Question is, can we do this?

The car is nothing special and if it was in good condition would sell for £3000 however due to a series of unfortunate events involving a low level stone wall it has several dents in the side. This lowers its value to £500-£1000 if we were lucky! The cars 6 years old 90 000 miles on the clock but its large, reliable and has been looked after in terms of service etc. We are going to NZ with very little money and will need 2 cars when we get there so by taking our car in theory it would save money and we would only need to buy 1 car.

From reading a few other threads i understand you need to have it steamed cleaned and inspected on arrival. Are there any major costs associated with shipping the car? Or is it similar to shipping house hold goods?

Here comes the sun

Anyone?

Marika 38

Hi there,
we shipped over a motorbike, and I think I'm right in saying, with a vehicle there is a tax to pay for its entry into NZ, and i think its decided on worth of vehicle, but i maybe all wrong. OH is better tha me at remembering all kinds of costs, hopefully someone else on here will know a little more than me. Do you have a shipping company yet, if so they should know .
Sorry its a bit vague.

RobClubley

You definitely have to have the car thoroughly cleaned.

If you've owned it for less that a year you have to pay import duty (unlikely in this case I assume) You also have to keep it for two years over here to avoid the duty.

On the road costs are maybe $200 for MAF inspection (assuming it passes, if not they charge a few hundred more to re-clean it). $300 for import checks. $400 for plates and registration.

In my opinion you should cut your losses and sell the car.

Here's my experience of importing my car:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=438805

Here comes the sun

At 08.20 this morning another car decided to plough in to mine, so i now have a rather large hole in the wing and bang goes my no claims!! So i guess the car is now worth nothing and no point taking it to New Zealand. But thanks for the advice!

RobClubley

Sorry to hear that. Hope everyone's okay.