gravy258

You need to Google 'insure car on vin number' on Google UK. There's loads

Cars aren't cheap in the UK, I've been here three months now and I'm just not seeing it.

I also might add that when I left Melbourne the used car market had dropped. Really hard to shift a car, no one wants to pay. Especially as your having to sell private as your leaving.

You'd have to have the car converted to read mph, which means another dash instrument cluster from the wreckers here in the UK. I personally wouldn't bother as it would take its own container so would be costly.

You should also check out its UK insurance group as most suburus are up there.

I shipped back my mechanics tools in may. I sent them via pack n send, who sent them dhl. About five days. About $1000 for 40 kilos ! It's worth sending everything you can. It's not cheap here to buy tools like Australia. Depends also how soon you want to start work. The household effects were quoted as eight weeks full container, 10 weeks part.

Hi Lady Rainicorn, I'm originally from Solihull in the West Midlands which is where most of my family are based. I'd like to move as near to them as possible but I'm aware of the extortionate house prices there. So, I guess I'll be just looking around and about and see how I close I can get to there!

Solihull is one of the most des-res places in the UK for amenities. So if you have visions of living by Tudor Grange swimming pool...

Most other parts of Birmingham are not. There are lots of sub £100,000 properties available in lots of parts of Birmingham or Solihull council areas.

Best of luck !

You'll have to send her to Calais to sneak back in to the UK!

I was telling my chiropractor about the spouse visa a few weeks ago. Disbelief is what most Brits think of the system.

Last time he tells me that his British friend living in USA had come to the UK with his American wife and baby. Thinking they'd sort the visa out in the UK.

His wife and baby got deported back to America.

I'm not sure how you guys got such good deals. Most of them ask how long you have been here as a resident and hit you with a higher premium.

So my dealings are based on being here seven weeks and telling them this. So when I inputed this and zero no claims the price doubled. I tried every online quote and contacted brokers like Adrian Flux. Aviva were the only ones that didn't ask about residency.

hello everyone,

after buying a car here in the UK I had the daunting task of finding car insurance.

Cutting a long story short, Aviva accept Australian NCB - all online.

They also accept other countries too, you'd have to phone them to check.

So you just fill out the online forms, put in your NCB, which for most is rating 1 - which is 5 years in Oz.

They don't ask a lot of questions like the other insurers, you pay the same as a pom who's been here from birth.

A few days after your policy starts they email asking for the proof, in PDF format, I sent my Budget Direct Policy for my car I had in Australia that states the rating 1 - 5 years on it. accepted !!

Others were asking for £600 - £750 , Aviva were £320 fully comp on a 2015 Mazda 3. UK licence.

I have no affiliation with Aviva

I can personally vouch for UKForex/OZForex.. I am in the UK and regularly transfer GBP --> AUD via UK Forex.. Extremely simple to use, no fees for fund transfer over 3000 GBP and a highly competitive rate (definitely much better than banks and on par if not better with other funds transfer services). OZForex is the parent company and you could use www.ozforex.com.au for your AUD --> GBP requirements.

i use them too, effortless, straight to UK bank account and no deductions by the UK bank as they pay from there UK bank

nissan micra K12 2003-10 a new car ?

How's the mazda 3 hunt? How about a spec for spec Hyundai i30?

 

I know something cheaper in UK than Australia, wages.:wink: Particularly for barmen

haha so true, my job payed £18.50 in Melbourne, here £13 an hour

what a load of bull, they stopped making Saabs years ago.

where did you get these prices from. Mine are from Autotrader UK and Mazda AU (assumed living in Melbourne)

funny that about the car thing, i've been back in the UK 5 weeks now after 11 years in Melbourne.

New cars are cheaper in Australia - a fact. I've been looking at buying a 2014 Mazda 3 2.0 SE-L NAV here in UK with about 10,000 miles on the clock £14,000.

That is the same price in AUD on Mazda Australia's website for a equivalent new one.($28,000). Even the base Mazda 3 2014 in the UK starts at £13,000, where in Australia you'd be looking at $19,000

As for a late model car for £2000 that would buy you a very high mileage unreliable banger. That would be the last thing you'd want to break down on the motorway where they use the hard shoulder as an extra lane.

Hi I returned to Birmingham UK two weeks ago after 11 years in Melbourne. Mainly to be with family.

I didn't have a job on my return, found one within 3 days. (I fix refrigeration on transport).

There is all this talk of immigrants flooding the country. Most of them are unskilled. So if your hoping to return to wash cars you'll be out of luck.

Overall it has been a big drop in pay i was on $36 an hour in Melbourne + 9% super and tax breaks for work related outgoings.

Here in the UK £13 an hour plus nothing.

I did realise this before I left, its just how it is.

As everyone says on this forum, the UK hasn't changed, its still the same as ever. Same people, same food, same same. So if your a pom you'll slip back into your old UK slippers in no time. Australia will be all but a fading sun burn.

My wife is Australian, shes still in Melbourne selling the house, to use the money to get her a visa for the UK.

If your thinking of coming back, just do it !

Your overpriced Aussie house should buy you a nice place over here.

Worried about opening a UK bank account, Lloyds opened one with just my passport and a bill from my parents house in there name.

don't forget your PIN if you phone

if you have the money to pay for the lease up front (i believe most only give a six month lease) the terms should become more favourable.

http://www.choicevehiclerentals.com/ if you can get yourself to crawley, 9/12 seater transit UKP1036 for 28 days.

Can you apply for a visa once you are in the UK? Just interested if you both go back together, he enters on a visitor visa, you find a job and then apply to sponsor him from the UK. Is this possible?

not possible this way

does anyone bother with a landline anymore ? its just for indian call centres to contact you on.

Whats a good Mobile provider in the UK, i've used Lebara (vodaphone) a few times but the service was patchy

has anyone used this route ?

from what i can understand of the Appendix FM you can

sell your property, make the application and go. ( not as straight forward I know, but thats the short version)

cheers

Paul

as Quoll states they are the current rules, and most people on this site are in the same boat.

I'm from the UK and my wife is an Aussie and were looking at also going back.

This for us entails me going back first, finding and holding a job for six months to allow the missus to get a visa.

You can get a visa if you have a job offer, but whose going to give you a job.

We could sell our house and use the proceeds, but the savings have to of been in the bank for six months.

So the usual three month house settlement and six months after that with the money in the bank doesn't buy us any time.

The system sucks. But rules are rules.

We went back ten years ago, was just a case of applying for a visa then.

I've lived in Melbourne, i reckon there's two weeks of extreme heat every summer for the last ten years i've been here. Which isn't too bad.

The thing i hate is that the sun burns you after five minutes.

40 degrees is OK, but normally 40 degrees means strong northerly winds and bush fire. Hardly fun.