Joker

Hi Andrew, I am in the process of transferring all my UK funds to a SMSF. One of the biggest issues with the changes to the rules seems to be the apparent restriction on what you can invest your transferred funds in. As I read the legislation, under the changes, HMRC can hit SMSF's with an unauthorised payment charge if they use their Transfer Fund to invest in residential property. This is despite the fact that Australian SMSF's are allowed to invest in residential property as long as there are no connected parties and everything is at arms-length. To my mind, HMRC are being unreasonable here, but then, that wouldn't be the first time. Do you think there is any mileage in pursuing this with HMRC on a specific basis (i.e the legislation is primarily aimed at lax regimes like IOM, Jersey and NZ). Australian legislation is much more stringent, so do you think it would be possible to get some kind of dispensation from HMRC. I really want to use some of my transferred fund to invest in property, but don't want to open a can of worms with HMRC - what do you reckon. Thanks Mike

I drive 70km from Geelong to Colac daily and do most of it on cruise control mainly so that I can avoid speeding and getting done by the police. I have been setting the cruise control on 64mph (103 kmh) which seems to be about the average speed that cars do on that road. I occasionally get tailgated but this is usually when the limit drops down to 80 or 60 km or when a following car is coming up to an overtaking section (dual carriageway) and wants to be as close as possible to get past quickly. I do think cruise control is a factor, but in general I think most tailgating is just rank bad driving combined with impatience.

There is a wear indicator but the minimum limit is different. BMW reckoned the windscreen had sand and dirt abrasions sufficient to cause sun diffraction so they couldn't pass it. I had been forewarned that the RWC is very hard on windscreens, not least because of the intense sun glare in Oz and the fact that abrasion over time can make visibility in the low evening sun virtually nil. I understand that BMW screens in Oz have a sun visor at the top which the UK screens don't have.

If you can handle the commute then live in Geelong and you've got the whole of the Bellarine Peninsular and the Great Ocean Road to chose from. We can get to Torquay in 20 mins and Anglesea in 30 mins. All the peninsular beaches are within 45 minutes drive max; you've got safe bayside beaches like Portarlington and St Leonards and on the Ocean side you've got the surf beaches like Bells and Jan-Juc plus the rest of the Great Ocean Road to explore. Alternatively, depending on location you can get down to Eastern beach on the Geelong sea front in 5-15 mins which is fine for the little ones to paddle.

Finally got my car registered with Vic Roads after 4 months. :biggrin: Thanks for everyone in this thread for the useful information (especially Iron Chef). I won't go over the obvious questions that have already been answered numerous times but there are a few additional things that happened to me that might help someone else. Road Worthy Certificate (RWC) - don't under-estimate how much this can cost and why. In the normal course of business, you need a RWC to sell a second hand car in Victoria. Because no one inspects the vehicle (other than the buyer) you can usually find a "friendly" garage that will go easy on the car. However, for imports, the garage are acutely aware that the vehicle is going to be inspected by Vic Roads straight after the issue of the RWC. Consequently, they are paranoid about losing their RWC licence and will make sure that they cover their arse. What this means is that you can get pulled up for all sorts of things. In particular, if you have a prestige vehicle and have a main dealer look at it then you are most likely going to be hit for all sorts of crap. My dealer failed my vehicle for two buckled wheels ($600 to be sent away and rolled; $2,000 for new wheels) a, new windscreen ($1,000); four new tyres ($2,000 for run-flats); and new font discs and pads ($600). Ok, the tyres, discs and pads are maintenance items but the other items, as the dealer admitted, where borderline compliance issues that would not be failed in the normal course of business. Luckily, a local garage was able to issue the RWC with just the tyres, disc and pads done. With hindsight, I Knew the tyres were borderline so it would have made sense to fit new tyres in the UK (much cheaper) and then bring the old ones over. The tyres would have been cheaper and I still have some wear left in the old ones despite the RWC fail. VASS compliance - I know isofix child seats may get approved in the future, but most vehicles coming into Victoria will require a top tether seat belt fixing. Might not sound like much, but the parts for mine had to come from Germany so took three weeks and cost $600. Vic Roads inspection - despite the concerns of the garages, the inspection is very quick, limited to checking the chassis and engine numbers against the paperwork. However, this brings another complication. On lots of newer European cars the engine number is not visible as its quite often hidden buried behind the oil pump or something similar. This is fine if your Road Worthy Certificate quotes the engine number. However, mine said "not found". I had to get written confirmation from the dealer on their letterhead that they had physically seen the engine number and confirmed what it was. Vic Roads would not have registered it if I wasn't able to get this. Number Plates - Victorian number plates are different size to UK plates. Vic Roads do do a "Euro" plate but this doesn't fit either (and costs $495). The rear plate is not too much of a problem as the UK fixings are within the sizing of the Victorian plate but the front plate on my car is fixed at the top corners. When I took this off it revealed a dirtly metal plate with multiple fixing points, most of which would not be covered up with the Victorian plate. There is a company in Tasmania that does custom plate mountings for about $200 (Lakin custom plates). You can get away with fixing the Victorian plate without a mounting adapter, but in my opinion, it looks crap. And having already spent about $8k in getting the vehicle over here, it seemed to be a false economy. In summary - would I do it again. Maybe. To be honest its been a bit of a chore. And as much as I like my car (BMW 530d) I can't use the power in Victoria (100km/hr max limit; 60km/hr suburban). Having said that, I would never be able to afford the same car over here (brand new my car would be about $130k!). Depending on second hand resale, I might be about $4k up but this is academic as I intend to keep the car for as long as it practical.

Hi, I've just picked up my car (thankfully intact and undamaged). Now going through the registration/compliance process. One thing that I'm not sure about is the order that you get things done. Do you get the VASS compliance work done first or the Roadworthy? I've booked my car in for the VASS work as I have assumed that it won't get a roadworthy if its not compliant. I presume once it passes VASS then I get the roadworthy sorted and then arrange the vic roads inspection. Ta Joker

We shipped the contents of a three bed house + BMW 5 series in a 40ft hi-cube with room to spare. Didn't bring wardrobes but did bring beds and tons of other stuff. Shipping company (PSS) built a wooden crate around the vehicle and sealed it and packed above it. Very happy with service.

I don't think it hurts to declare one or two low value items. We declared a couple of items that would have been obvious if inspected (eg brand new boxed dyson hoover). Tax and Duty was only $68 on the lot but I think it was worth it because we had a lot of electricals in the original boxes that could have been challenged if they felt like being petty. I think the main aim of the declaration is to stop anyone bringing over loads of brand new high value items.

Just a little tip. Don't bother with spending too much money on cleaning in the UK. Mine was spotless when it left the UK (Oz agent confirmed that it arrived in same condition) and AQIIS have still insisted that it is steam cleaned in OZ. $200 for the inspection and $275 for steam cleaning. I don't mind the cost; its just annoying when you believe you might be in the 5% that gets away with it. To be honest, I wish AQIS would just say that every car coming in has to be steam cleaned in OZ before clearance. Hopefully picking it up in the next few days. Thanks for all the help in this thread especially Iron Chefs valuable info.

Cheers mate. If you see someone who looks like he's turned up for the dwarf-throwing, then that'll be me.

Me and the Mrs (mother of 2) are getting a cab at 7:30. Is it an easy place to locate people in or will we required some kind of secret handshake to identify ourselves? I could always get the Mrs to wear a knotted hankie on her head if that would make it easier to identify her.

I think it all depends on which way the winds blowing like a lot of things in Oz. I spoke to the agent today and the reckoned its all down to the initial inspection. If they find mud, dirt, or plant matter then they'll pull it irrespective of whether its been cleaned or not. I think a lot of vehicles that have been cleaned get pulled because they pickup a small amount of dirt/mud in the loading process, or on the way back from cleaning before they get loaded. It's so easy to pick up random plant matter on the roads and I can't see anyway of avoiding it. We'll see in the next week or so.

This exactly what we did. Found a suburb we liked, got a permanent rental, and then sorted out the kids schools. To be fair, we did check with the schools whether our rental would be in their catchment area but even if it hadn't, we would have had pretty good options. I reckon the kids were out of school for an extra month on top of their UK summer holiday and I think they benefited by adjusting to Australia before jumping into School straight away.

Our container was a full load (FCL); Left Orpington on 25/8 and departed Felixstowe 27/8. Arrived Melbourne 7/10 so I reckon that was 6 weeks 2 days (that included the container sitting in Singapore for 6 days waiting for the trans shipment to Oz. The next variable is customs. Hopefully this will be no more than 2 weeks so I reckon, door to door you're looking at 8-9 weeks. If your using a shared container then it will usually take longer because of consolidation and de-consolidation of loads which involve more steps in the process and delays on terminals etc.