Importing a car from the UK.

the two things you mentioned are one and the same thing. you can only be eligable to bring a car to australia via the 2nd paragraph you mentioned.
i think you still need to pay the import taxes etc...

i heard recently they were changing the tax rule to be on the value of the car in australia and not the purchase price... (more tax)

 

This subject has been covered quite a bit in the past year - do a search and you'll get a lot of info.


M

 

Yes this question comes up time and time again on every forum.

In a nutshell. It is very much worth doing. I went down the 12 month ownership avenue and imported my car from the UK. Very simple process. Saved a lot of money. There's also plenty of choice in the UK compared to here. Compliancing cost me $18 as all I had to do was stick a third brake light on the wing.

If you were living in the UK, it would be a crime not to bring a suitable exotic back with you.

 

I'm just about to organise the shipping of a Subaru 22B back (eligible on October 5th).

In a nutshell, there are 2 ways to get a car over for road use (as opposed to race \ rally use):

1 Commercial import
2 Personal import


Commercial
You basically buy it and ship it. You're subject to what you mentioned, PLUS RAWS, which is a very expensive compliance process. Note, there are some cars which are specifically prohibited from commercial import.

Private
You buy a car, and keep it for 12 months. You may be asked by Customs to prove that you lived in the same country for the 12 months, and that the car was correctly taxed, registered, and insured. You may also have issues if you took too many holidays (ie away from the car). And finally, you may be asked to prove that the car was actually used regularly (what this means, I really dont know, but I guess its meant to stop people from buying a car and then just putting it in storage before shipping it 12 months later). There is NO requirement for RAWS with a private import. As I understand it, all costs you mentioned are still applicable, though I was told by a broker that you dont have to pay the import charge (on rexnet.com.au). I told the broker that I would refund him 50% of whatever money he could save me (bear in mind, no costs at all on his behalf). He didnt get back to me, so that made me think its not true.

Good websites are the Customs and DOTARS websites. Plenty of information on them.

Hope this helps.

 

You will be asked to show your passport as proof that you were O/S asn lived in the same country as the car for 12 months.

M

 

A lot of Lotus owners have brought their cars to Oz and having an agent do the importing has been a big help - not in saving (or not have having to pay) any specific item but by ensuring that you pay the absolute minimum and getting a low agreed value for all duties/taxes.

As Rob says the first method is subject to RAWS, which should be avoided at all costs, as well as the taxes (else it would be much more common).

With the second method, privat import, you not exempt from any of the taxes (used to be the case +30yrs ago) but they are based on the OS value of the car (as in method 1) so potentially much lower than they at first seem. dkabab mentions this may change.

 

How mad is the UK??

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=639622&rss=yes

Get the f*ck out there Rob!!

 

Wouldn't that work out to be close to $700,000 landed here? I see a coupe LP640 for sale in Sydney at $589,000, so how much more is a roadster worth ?

 

We are considering what to get to import back at some stage. Carl888 found a 550M here at a dealer for 37,000 pounds (from memory) last week, which is tempting, except you have to have the money tied up for that time and find a buyer once you get it back to Aus. 308s/328s are almost all sub 20k pounds and Kelly has just bought a 2003 Merc SL350, Black with black trim and almost all options, 30k miles for 25,000 pounds to use as an everyday car. Would be a lot more than that in Aus I suspect. The process seems straightforward as long as you don't try and do anything to buck the system. Be straight up, keep all your documentation in order and get a good broker and it should be fine. Anyone know a good shipping line to use? We want to bring the car over from Aus early next year too...

 

I'm probably in a different league here but what is appealing is bringing in a car such as a 308 GT4.

If the car is 30 years of age or more then no duty is applicable, only 10% GST.

A 14,000 pound car would land in my garage with all shipping, insurance and GST paid for $38,000.00.
The same car here is $55,000+. Whilst many would argue the $17K difference wouldn't be worthwhile, to some (including myself) it's very appealing.

The one thing that does worry me though is the salty roads and the subsequent rust bill..............

Bob.

 

Most of the cars you see about have been restored/repainted and don't get used much in the wintertime, so nowadays that problem is not as big. You still see the odd rough car, but any decent PPI should highlight that sort of thing. There are some comp prepared GT4s around which would be good fun I think.

 

You can buy plenty here for less than $55k. Put an ad in the paper for "GT4 wanted" and see what happens.

 

This one is tempting....... http://www.pistonheads.com/SALES/515306.htm

Would land in the garage for $28,500.

That trim can't right for a yellow car though can it? Or more likely the car wasn't yellow to begin with.
Seems weird but I no expert on these cars........

Bob.

 

i still say i'd never bring in a car from overseas that's available here as aussie delivered.

don't bother looking for logic...the people who you'll one day want to send it to aren't logical.

when i say never....i might buy a car that costs $400k here if i could land it and comply it for less than 1/2...but otherwise, no thanks. Bob....in your example, the $17k difference isn't enough to cover the pain.

 

Yeah...... Trying to compare apples with apples is a bit hard as they all look good in photos. You see them in real life and they are a bucket of $h!t

I must admit I'm pretty partial to a very nice 3.2 Carrera for $55K.

Bob.

 

oh my bloody god...whatEVER you do, don't tell phil!!! he's still in denial.

 

you can get them for that now?? great value...great car.

 

how is the 328 going?

 

i love my car.

all good.

 

I must drop over and have a






























































































































































































































laugh.

 

Any oil leakes?

 

Good to see you back 360C. Home alone???