Caravan Shipped update Feb2017

Just a quick update - Caravan in my yard on the sunshine coast.

1. Shipping company used - Anglo Pacific -shipped in 40ft high cube with personal effects - Trafford park to Brisbane £5500 plus insurance @ 3% - Would Recommend.

2. Caravan owned by our self's for just 12 months before shipping date.Applied under Personal import /under small road trailer.

3. Shipping company here in Australia tried to charge import duty and Gst - Be persistent and make sure you fill in unaccompanied effects statement before hand- No Charges or cleaning charges.

4. When our shipping container arrived and cleared customs etc - Personal effects delivered to our rental door and unpacked onto flat surface and furniture rebuilt - No extra charge even with us being over 30mile from the port. Check and confirm with your shipping company this applies.

5. Caravan was cleared around 2 weeks after and I was phoned to pick it up. I went to Queensland transport office for a day road permit which I was refused because of no compliance. So I got prices of around $500 to pick it up on a car transporter. This never happened, so I hired a ute for $70 plus fuel for the day and picked the van up myself and towed it back illegally, apparently. lol

6. Van not complied yet, so we have not moved it yet. Gas guy coming on Friday to quote. Finger crossed

Hope this helps

Will call back soon to update on compliance

Regards Jeff

Hi,

So how did you find the guys at Australian end? how did you persuade them you didnt have to pay import duty or GST and was this because you had owned it for year?

im just concerned with bringing my vehicle and some tools over.

thanks

we had a nightmare with our caravan importing it in. 

we used ship fromuk.com and paid to have it externally cleaned when it reached the port from our house . we paid to have it loaded onto a tailer from our house , but when they picked it up he came in a van with a tow ball, so it was towed down .

when the van finally reached brisbane it got held up in do to it having grass seed and silver birch seeds all over the top and round the leg braces, so they took my money but didn't clean it . so i have to pay a fee to clean it and to get the inspectors back out to inspect it.

Once released we applied for a unlicensed  vehicle permit at queenlands roads , as it took so long for the caravan to arrive and clear, we had been in brisbane for 2 1/2 months and could find work but hubby had ben offered a job in Melbourne so we had to tow it all the way down from sunshine coast to melbounre  in 5 days (never again) using very expensive UVP's all the time. by the time we had driven all that way in a short space of time (with no air con for most of it in 36c heat! as the compressor went) and living in the caravan for 2 months , we decided we had had enough of caravanning lol- plus we couldn't find a house with a driveway big enough to take a van and a car so we had to pay storage fees which we couldn't afford. so we managed to sell it 6 months later- not very quickly i might add.

we had a nightmare trying to get it all compliance. the electricians and gas fitters didn't know what needed to be done even though they had been advised that it was a caravan so they could have done their research. in the end , after several gas fitters and electricians we had the van certified and a chain fitted.

if we could have stayed on sunshine coast we could have got it all done in one place, however as soon as our caravan was freed we had to 'move on'

oh and we were charged GST too, had to make a fuss to get that sorted.

I posted on this topic before when thinking of shipping our Adria caravan. We had quotes of up to $10000 to make it compliant. Having lived here for 4 years I would not bring a caravan from the UK. You can buy compliant Adria and Bailey here now for about $65000 as well as Australian makes. They are more expensive but the specs are higher to cope with climate and roads. You need a larger fridge that will cope with the temperatures, air con, fly screen door, Australian wiring and gas, on board water tanks to name a few. And chassis are stronger here. Customs will check closely to guard against imported germs, seeds, grass, dirt - and a caravan will have this and incur cleaning costs. Compliance is not easy and can be expensive. We bought 2 cars with us (a Clio Sport and a Volvo XC60), had all sorts of mini dramas and knowing what I know now, I wouldn't do it again..

we had a nightmare with our caravan importing it in. 
we used ship fromuk.com and paid to have it externally cleaned when it reached the port from our house . we paid to have it loaded onto a tailer from our house , but when they picked it up he came in a van with a tow ball, so it was towed down .
 
when the van finally reached brisbane it got held up in do to it having grass seed and silver birch seeds all over the top and round the leg braces, so they took my money but didn't clean it . so i have to pay a fee to clean it and to get the inspectors back out to inspect it.
 
Once released we applied for a unlicensed  vehicle permit at queenlands roads , as it took so long for the caravan to arrive and clear, we had been in brisbane for 2 1/2 months and could find work but hubby had ben offered a job in Melbourne so we had to tow it all the way down from sunshine coast to melbounre  in 5 days (never again) using very expensive UVP's all the time. by the time we had driven all that way in a short space of time (with no air con for most of it in 36c heat! as the compressor went) and living in the caravan for 2 months , we decided we had had enough of caravanning lol- plus we couldn't find a house with a driveway big enough to take a van and a car so we had to pay storage fees which we couldn't afford. so we managed to sell it 6 months later- not very quickly i might add.
we had a nightmare trying to get it all compliance. the electricians and gas fitters didn't know what needed to be done even though they had been advised that it was a caravan so they could have done their research. in the end , after several gas fitters and electricians we had the van certified and a chain fitted.
if we could have stayed on sunshine coast we could have got it all done in one place, however as soon as our caravan was freed we had to 'move on'

Finally all Registered and ready for touring this winter.

I Must admit it was a bit of a task and took some time to find thee right people.

Next time its a breeze ish.

I am now in a position to assist people bringing UK caravans to the Sunshine Coast, Queensland

I have a storage yard and workshop in Buderim, so give us a shout if your serious.

I will work out out much it has eventually cost and list fees up.

Regards Jeff @ On Top Mechanical ( Living the Dream )

Hi Jeff. Is there a way to reach out for a chat - do you have messenger ? Looking to ship ASAP thanks,