Goody86

Hi All,

Just after a bit of advice, my potential employer in NZ (Auckland) will pay for our relocation this includes our flights, and the shipping of all our stuff including if we want our car.

Now our car is nothing special it's a 5dr Diesel Focus worth around 3500 GBP. Is it worth it to bring it over and pay the fees for a wash, registration compliance checks ect, and having to rent a car for a few weeks, or should we sell in the UK and buy over there?

Any advice gratefully received,

Thanks,

Tom.

MrsFychan

will you have money to buy a car when you get here?

You can contact aa.co.nz who will be able to tell you if it would pass the conditions required.
http://www.aa.co.nz/cars/licensing-s...o-new-zealand/

they are very helpful and all you need to provide is make model year and some chassis numbers and they will let you know their opinion

Northern Henry

Can second the AA, we're not members in the UK, but provided info on our car and came back with lots of info and advice.

All the shippers we've currently spoke to are just saying make sure the interior is spotless, and carpets washed etc. Nearly all the ones they've done recently end up being re-done in NZ anyhow, so other than cleaning the exterior of the obvious and ensure the interior done well (and dry before leaving!), allow for a cost for customs to re-do on arrival.

Another hint was watch out for under the seats on pedal cycles...

We've got a 2 year old BMW5 series estate, looking at the prices in AKL seems to make major sense in bringing

M_and_M

Cars here are really expensive. It is definitely with considering

pippalonghorn

If hubby company are paying for the shipping then I would bring the car. There are limitations on reselling your car. Im sure if you import your car over here for your own personal use then you are not allowed to sell it for a period of 2 years. Double check in case I am wrong.

I still think it is worth it.

MrsFychan

Pippa is correct if you sell the car within two years, (just checked website and it now says 1 year but customs will tell you when you pay them their intial fee) you pay customs a percentage which goes down over the period

Goody86

Thanks for all your replies!

I'm definitley leaning towards brining my car with me, the thing that concerns me is the cost of rental whilst we wait for our stuff to arrive from England, do cheap rentals exist?

AndyEvs

I'm going to go against the grain here a bit. Shipping is only part of the cost, there is paperwork and costs involved in bringing it in. Also don't forget that as a diesel you have to pay your road user charges which are pretty hefty (one reason why we got rid of our diesel - the savings at the pump were wiped out by user charges).
Finally, and don't take this the wrong way but at 3500 it doesn't sound like a 'special' car if you can get employer to give you what it would have cost to ship towards the cost of a NZ new motor here I'd be doing that. yes cars are expensive here but I'm not convinced bringing that particular car here, the cost, waiting for it to arrive and so on are worth it. Just my opinion, totally up to you.

Justcol

I sold my car before moving out here 5 yrs ago, it was an old corolla (98), I sold it for 300 quid which was about market value
The same car here was selling for ten thousand dollars when I arrived and would probably still cost 6 or 7 now
Bring it over

Goody86

There seems to be a lot of pro's and con's to both,

I think rather naively I hadn't realised just how much there is to sort out! It's all good fun though

Droidling

In the 90's it used to be a no brainer if you owned a German car,definitely take it. Not sure if the same still holds true today,may even be worth buying a decent Merc or BMW and taking it as depreciation on those sorts of cars early on in their lifecycle in UK is horrific. They could be worth a lot in NZ - but you might have to hold onto it for a couple of years over there before thinking of selling.
I used to have an old Porsche 911 in Uk before I imigrated in 1996,but I had to sell it to have some wedge for setting up in NZ. I got £15K for it,boy was I gutted when I arrived to find the same car selling for $110 -$125K NZ in Auckland !! Although the exchange rate was over $3 NZ to the pound back then.