Importing a Maserati into Oz

**Derek K** · #1 07-06-2006, 03:07 AM

I'm an Aussie presently living in Singapore, and as I am upgrading to an F575 I am considering exporting my 2003 Maserati Coupe Cambiocorsa back to Oz.

Does anyone know any car dealers who might be interested in taking it off my hands once it has landed and been through the registration procedures, as I've heard personal imports can be a little difficult to shift? It was bought through the official Ferrari/Maserati dealer here in Singapore and its full service history is available from them.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

**360C** · #2 07-06-2006, 04:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derek K

I'm an Aussie presently living in Singapore, and as I am upgrading to an F575 I am considering exporting my 2003 Maserati Coupe Cambiocorsa back to Oz.

Does anyone know any car dealers who might be interested in taking it off my hands once it has landed and been through the registration procedures, as I've heard personal imports can be a little difficult to shift? It was bought through the official Ferrari/Maserati dealer here in Singapore and its full service history is available from them.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

It won't be an economically viable option. Maserati has a pretty poor resale and an import should be effectively sale proof IMHO.

**stephens** · #3 07-06-2006, 04:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 360C

It won't be an economically viable option. Maserati has a pretty poor resale and an import should be effectively sale proof IMHO.

I was trying to think of a nicer way of saying that!

**goober** · #4 07-06-2006, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derek K

I'm an Aussie presently living in Singapore, and as I am upgrading to an F575 I am considering exporting my 2003 Maserati Coupe Cambiocorsa back to Oz.

Does anyone know any car dealers who might be interested in taking it off my hands once it has landed and been through the registration procedures, as I've heard personal imports can be a little difficult to shift? It was bought through the official Ferrari/Maserati dealer here in Singapore and its full service history is available from them.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

you are on drugs............arent you, i have seen psychos make more sensible decisions

**Derek K** · #5 07-06-2006, 07:29 PM

Hmm stiff penalties for drugs in this neck of the woods .. but doing the sums I worked out that my break even was somewhere around A$90k .. so thought it might be worth it, but if you are all so convinced that I'm mad then I'll just look to sell it here locally. Thanks to all for the honest feedback.

vroomgt · #6 07-06-2006, 07:46 PM

I have noticed with interest that Italia Motori was recently selling a used 456 originally HK delivered.

**Aircon** · #7 07-06-2006, 07:59 PM

$90k?????? come on guys..surely it's worth it at the price!

**Derek K** · #8 07-06-2006, 09:13 PM

If you are unaware, I'll quickly explain how the prices of cars in Singapore varies in Singapore to everywhere else. Every car under 10 years old has a "paper value" underwritten by the local roads authority. At the end of 10 years (or any time before that) you will receive a pro rata amount of this paper value when de-registering the said vehicle. In my case, my M4200 presently has a paper value of S$135k versus a realistic secondhand market value of S$210k.

This means if I decided to export the car, I would receive a cheque for S$135k yet still own the unregistered vehicle. Remembering that my theoretical breakeven is S$210k, then the export value of the car body is S$75k (A$64k) of which I'd have to pay customs duty, GST & luxury car tax upon entering Australia. Using the figures provided by the Australian Customs the total tax figure should be around A$20/25k meaning my A$ breakeven figure is A$85/90k and any price achieved above that could be considered a bonus worth the effort (or not?).

Obviously there is alot of hassle & redtape involved but I've run these numbers past a local car exporter and they have confirmed them to be correct, so the only "unknown" is the price I could achieve in Australia.

I hope that makes it clearer.

[355] · #9 07-06-2006, 09:15 PM

based on 360C rather valid sounding observations my offer is tree fiddy

ACP · #10 07-06-2006, 09:49 PM

I'd try and sell it in Singapore. People in Australia generally won't touch a high priced import, as they're hard to sell on later and the history can be suspect at best.

Most people will pay the extra money for a local car as it will always be worth more and easier to sell come resale time.

New Zealand has less affinity with local cars you could try there?

**stephens** · #11 07-06-2006, 10:14 PM

Asan Aussie delivery it is worth somewhere in the range of 125K-150K. No idea as an import though.

**Derek K** · #12 07-06-2006, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephens

As an Aussie delivery it is worth somewhere in the range of 125K-150K. No idea as an import though.

Yeh that's my problem, not knowing how much less an import would be versus an Aussie delivery.

**stephens** · #13 07-06-2006, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derek K

Yeh that's my problem, not knowing how much less an import would be versus an Aussie delivery.

I'd guess sub 100K would convince someone. An issue you have is no prestige lender e.g. BMW Finance, DC Services etc will touch a grey market car, so you are looking for a cash buyer, or someone who will not need to use the car as the primary security for the loan.

**greg246** · #14 07-06-2006, 11:34 PM

I think you will find customs will work out the various duties and taxes based on the actual value of the car and not the export value. So your tax bill might be alot higher

**Derek K** · #15 07-07-2006, 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greg246

I think you will find customs will work out the various duties and taxes based on the actual value of the car and not the export value. So your tax bill might be alot higher

2 years ago I sent my M3 back to Sydney from Tokyo, and customs used the same valuation I had declared and it worked out to be about 10k in taxes. The difference being that I kept that as my Sydney car for when visiting, and the Maserati I'm looking to sell.

**greg246** · #16 07-07-2006, 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derek K

2 years ago I sent my M3 back to Sydney from Tokyo, and customs used the same valuation I had declared and it worked out to be about 10k in taxes. The difference being that I kept that as my Sydney car for when visiting, and the Maserati I'm looking to sell.

fair enough. I would probably factor in a higher amount of tax, just in case you get some arsehole in customs try to make things difficult. Good luck!

[355] · #17 07-07-2006, 12:52 AM

just sell it to some choc "bruno" fruit grower whose made it rich in light of the recent banana boom and knows not what a "grey market" car is

**360C** · #18 07-07-2006, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derek K

2 years ago I sent my M3 back to Sydney from Tokyo, and customs used the same valuation I had declared and it worked out to be about 10k in taxes. The difference being that I kept that as my Sydney car for when visiting, and the Maserati I'm looking to sell.

Your explanations have made the economical logic a little clearer. On face value there "may" be a $ in it for you. Whether it is worth the hassles that you will encounter to "earn" those dollars is a personal choice. I see that you have imported a new car recently so have some experience. However, I believe that the importation rules have changed since you imported the M3 making it a lot more difficult to import and register a new car. Not an expert here; but from what I know it gets very messy, very quickly.

Scud might have some insight as he investigated the F40 situation a while back. I was told you could import pre 1990; but not post 1990 as it required crash testing??????

For me, the $ involved wouldn't be worth the trouble.

**moretti** · #19 07-07-2006, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greg246

in case you get some arsehole in customs try to make things difficult. Good luck!

met him when I bought the 7 series back from the UK, wanted me to pay more duty than I paid for the car in the first place !!

Told them to push the car into the Harbour and started to walk out, he called me back and asked what I thought was a fair deal (I mean WTF!!!??)

The way they looked at it was that they could do the right and fair thing (which I had already agreed to when signing all the papers in Australia House in London but the Govt changed the rules while the car was on the boat!!) and get some money out of me, or push the car into the Harbour and get zip (the car was only worth $80k but they wanted more than that for duties)

In the end we came to an amicable agreement which was still unfair to me but better than a complete loss

**Horse** · #20 07-07-2006, 01:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moretti

met him when I bought the 7 series back from the UK, wanted me to pay more duty than I paid for the car in the first place !!

Told them to push the car into the Harbour and started to walk out, he called me back and asked what I thought was a fair deal (I mean WTF!!!??)

The way they looked at it was that they could do the right and fair thing (which I had already agreed to when signing all the papers in Australia House in London but the Govt changed the rules while the car was on the boat!!) and get some money out of me, or push the car into the Harbour and get zip (the car was only worth $80k but they wanted more than that for duties)

In the end we came to an amicable agreement which was still unfair to me but better than a complete loss

The old "sounded like a good idea at the time......"