viv jones

Hi
Having had a good think about this one....initial advise was to sell cars here and buy when we get there...however realistically we look to loose loads on our better car so has anyone done some number crunching on shipping a car over? Any leads gratefully received!
Viv

Deepseamark

Hi Viv

My advise is to bring the car with you. We have just moved to NZ and are waiting for our car and belongings to arrive. It cost £4200 with Pickfors for a 40 foot container which has our car and my motoe bike in it along with the contents of our three bedroom house. My opinion is because of the state of the used car market in the UK and also the terrible NZD GBP exchange rate at the moment bring them with you.

regards

Mark

viv jones

Appreciate your reply Mark. I hadn't thought of putting it in the same container as the house stuff!!! Knowing the customs are VERY picky at the NZ end I assumed it had to go solo! I will call our container people and see what they say....maybe I could go up a size from our 20ft!!!
Viv

garfield250

Guys,

It will also pay to check out the NZ Customs web pages to look at GST payments you may need to make and any other requirments (payments for professionally cleaning the vehicle espaecially the underside etc), also do not forget any potential resale value.

I have spoken with a couple of car dealers here and they will not touch UK cars for resale.

Also look at spares for your vehicles not forgetting that nearly all vehicles here are of Japanese origin.

Just some thoughts

lardyl

Accepted wisdom is that unless it is a classic or otherwise hard to get then forget it..........too much hasstle with compliance, re-sale, etc

Maybe now that Aunty Helen banned the bigger Jap cast-offs this might be less true, but generally 2nd Hand cars are pretty cheap here and if you get a good dealer then it all works pretty well. I'd stuff my container with knickers, galaxy chocolate, good whiteware, etc before I'd have borught the motor - and I am one of the "bring it all" types

I've been stung with an relatively uncommon Euro-type car and find that parts are expensive, even though it was a jap import.

luvwelly

Makes sense to me particularly if you intend to run your car into the ground and if you will be able to get parts here.
When I go back in the other direction, I am seriously considering taking both cars back since they are paid for and relatively new and I know their full history. I thought it had to be a separate container though so that's interesting - did they put a partition in? I would have thought there'd be a danger of house stuff damaging the car.

Cadibel

This is something we're struggling with too - we have a Toyota celica and love it (so no, not a classic except to us!!) and it is very low mileage. By the time we sold it, we would have lost a fair amount on it and already calculated that it will cost about £1000 extra to bring it. I guess what we need to work out is, could we get a similar car for about $2500?

MOSO

We've just arrived and didn't ship our car over - I just thought it was too much hassle to be honest having to pay to get it spotless etc. MAF have just inspected all our boxes which contained bikes/garden stuff/Christmas decs etc.

We've just bought a Toyota Ipsum here and found there are plenty of deals to be had. We chose one 4 years old with low mileage. Toyota garages throw in various deals depending on the type of car. We got $2000 off the asking price, 2 years warranty, 2 years worth of WOF (MOTs which are 6 monthly here) and 2 years AA cover and discounted insurance - bring your Uk insurance docs with you to prove no claims etc.

Cost wise it would have been more economical to bring our old car over but it was a Citroen Picasso with no resale value at all here and expensive to service/repair find parts for. I also think its' quite nice to start a new country in a new car and feel part of NZ, but maybe that's just me.

Cars here although left hand drive have opposite controls to the UK, I'm still doing the wipers in order to indicate!

Check on Trademe.co.nz (NZ's ebay) for prices - and remember to haggle, it's a tough market out here too and there are deals to be had.

loui5a

We are currently in this debate also, we have shipping quotes and it £1700 extra for the car. We would be bringing mine (and I love it) Peutogue 307 - looking into parts ect. As we have had it over 2yrs and have recipt of purchase and PR no tax charges on it

Still don't know what to do - going to check out trade me now

Louisa

viv jones

Hi
Since I originally posted this thread I have done loads of research and we have decidied to ship both cars over now!!!
The container method is cheapest and we are paying £2000 for a 40ft container. This will included all transfer documentation etc for both cars and then we have $662 per car when we get there to clear customs and we are sorted!!! If you have owned the car for less than a year it becomes more expensive as there are 12.5% costs from the purchase prise you paid to pay as well (less some depreciation costs on a sliding scale within the 1 year ownership) to add. We have had ours for 4 years so there are no taxes to pay on entry at all. I looked on autotraders NZ for comparison costs to replace the cars and we are still quids in by over £1500. To be honest I don't think it is that much hassle to do but you must remember to take purchase invoice, registration and MOT so you prove your purchase date etc and current insurance (so you can still show no claims for insurance). Hiring a car out there for a few weeks while the container arrives is fairly cheap and we have taken that into account too!!!!
I wouldn't do it if the car wasn't japanese or local make due to repair costs or if we were looking to resell within 5 years as they then claw the tax from you.
Viv

viv jones

P.S. sorry i forgot to mention that a major deciding factor was the exchange rate too at the moment, which makes rebuying that much more expensive to us Brits and the problem of a forced sale before we went in a recession is not good!!!!!
Viv

teeym

This is one thing SWMBO has got me looking at as she is particularly fond of her RX-8! I have to admit, I'm struggling to justify it. We all know the reputation "grey imports" have here and the problems of parts interchangability between apparently identical models (MX-5 and Eunos being the classic example), so I'm not sure I'd want to lumber myself with it going the other way. Certainly the poor £/$ exchange rate could make a case for it, but I reckon if we pick up a couple of Turners specials and keep the rest of the wedge in £ until things pick up then she will either be able to get something nice again, or realise her car snobbery is not necessary in NZ and have a bit of a pot for a holiday or similar! Get some mid-90's Japanese motoring in your lives people!!!

Defo not taking mine as it is a) a crumbling heap and b) diesel. Kiwi diesel is, by all accounts, not good news unless you have a pretty agricultural motor.

viv jones

I think you have the right idea with cars that are "special" and I certainly found on a trip to NZ that cars are not held in the same esteem as here...good thing! Older and do the job rather than this staus that they seem to have here. Both of ours are suzuki so should be okay and we don't intend to sell, so resale is not a concern
Viv

Cadibel

Hi Viv,

We've decide to take our Celica too but sending it over a month or so before our container, using roll on roll off from Southhampton. Hoping my m-i-l will lend me her car to tide us over - but just not worth selling the car as we would only just cover our costs right now, and it's in pretty good nick, so should last us a few years.

viv jones

Absolutely that is what we are doing....limiting the time in NZ without a car!!!! As long as we get there before it with our visa we are ok!!
We are finding a container comes out cheaper and takes the same time...
Viv