Nelly Trolley

3 weeks to go and I am now wondering if I should bring my little Honda Jazz with me. It is 5 years old has 32000 on the clock and would mean we could have a second car for me when hubby buys a family saloon.
It is worth £3.5k to 4k here, it is fully paid up and is a pretty economical car to run at 42mpg plus low maintenance.

Do you think it makes financial sense to bring it with me?

Anglo Pacific our shipper cleans the car underneath as part of the service although I haven't had a quote from them yet.

hazeandsteve

A quick look on trademe had two 2005 in dealers for $15,000, and a private one for 13.
It now depends on the shipping costs and your affection for the car.

LukeandJo

We will sell our cars and then buy once over there.
I can imagine shipping a car over to NZ, the paper work here and the paper work there is too much hassle.

I can't wait till I can buy a Ute!

drrobert

Look at Trademe.co.nz to get prices for a similar car with similar mileage (about 50,000km). From a quick look myself, it looks like you can get one here in NZ for about $10,000 ($3-$5k more if you buy from a dealer).

Basically, if you can get it shipped over here and registered for less than about $2000, it might be worthwhile. Otherwise, sell it and buy again here.

RobClubley

It cost me about 2000 quid shipping and insurance plus about $1000 registration and checking in NZ.
So based on that you should probably sell it and buy here.
It's not a huge hassle to ship a car, but it is a bit of messing about. And mine got damaged by the shippers so I had some extra stress there.

sirplug

If it's something old, special, sentimental or rare, bring it. If it's a regular car, sell it and buy here.

rason

You can bring one car without having to pay GST, I would ship it as you will find it more expensive to replace. I've done some serious looking into this recently. My normal instict is to get rid of everything and start again but makes more sense to ship. Even if you sell it when you arrive.

rason

Also the shipping is for the car and everything inside it goes free, extra suitcases extra. (Might need to check this out but read about it when I was looking into it)

RobClubley

I wasn't allowed to put anything in mine. Plus it sat in a warehouse in NZ for a week waiting for MAF with the windows down and I have heard of stuff going missing.

drrobert

I have also heard of stuff going missing from the inside of a shipped car (I think it was on this forum).

If Rob's figures are correct (approx $5000 to ship and register), then it's not worth shipping a Honda Jazz. It might make sense for an expensive European car (e.g. a BMW or Audi), but 2nd hand Japanese cars are readily available here. So sell it and purchase one on this side!

simonsi

You are only allowed a car GST-free if you have owned it for more than a year at the point at which either you or the car leave the UK.

You aren´t allowed to put anything in it other than normal car stuff, normal tools, car seat etc, customs won´t now allow suitcases or household items...

Nelly Trolley

I agree with your thoughts rason. I didn't intend bringing it but the cost to replace for something similar combined with the poor exchange rate is making it look a very attractive option. The alternative was for us to survive with just one car but this would allow me to have my own little runaround......

We are using Anglo Pacific for our shipping and I have talked to them today.

They have advised me today that by taking a tall 40ft container we could ship the car for an additional £700 - £800.

They have quoted costs of $500 to steam clean in NZ plus $800 for the warranty of fitness which would get the car registered and on the road with new number plates.

On that basis I think it makes financial sense. And according to the shippers more people are choosing to do the same for the reasons I have stated.

Nelly Trolley

My understanding is you can't put anything in it.

RobClubley

Fair enough
Make sure your brake discs and pads are decent - I've heard it's the favourite WOF failure on new imports then they charge an arm and a leg to replace them.

simonsi

They measure the disc thickness - which they won't do on a UK MOT - and require replace if below the manufacturers figures so can catch you out on a recent UK MoT pass