JBO76

We moved to Melbourne just over a year ago and have enjoyed it so much much that we have decided to buy our own home and will be moving out of our rental in the first week of June. I thought I would post details here in case anyone is looking for a home as this place is great. Huge family home in fashionable Black Rock, with bay views and located just 5 mins walk to beach. If you don't know the area well, Black Rock is a very family friendly suburb and is a great location for access to Bayside's best beaches. You can walk to black Rock beach in 5 mins and have the choice of Ricketts Point, Half Moon Bay and Watkins Bay all within 5 mins drive. Great schools with 3 excellent primaries to choose from plus close to secondary schools. 4 bed house (plus study plus additional loft room) with 4 large living areas (3 downstairs and one upstairs). 3 bathrooms with ensuite to master bedroom alongside huge walk in wardrobe. Large internal garage with workshop/storage room and plenty of garden space front and back. Upstairs terrace with beautiful bay views from bedroom and terrace. Easy access to CBD and perfect if you are a keen cyclist with bike path along beach all the way to the city. Unfurnished, rent $860 per week. Property available to move in 7 June 2014. Please pm me if you would like more details.

Thanks Kristian That makes sense to me. I put myself in the position of a prospective buyer and think "would I go for a 50% discount for an import? " I would buy an import all day long at a 50% discount! Your figure of 85% feels a lot more realistic and this is roughly in line with using the trade price listed in the red book. Just wanted to check with you whether the customs duty is corrrect at 10%? I have seen this listed as 5% elsewhere.

I have spent quite some time looking into the option of shipping a a BMW X5 to Australia and thought it would be helpful to share what I have found out so far. Following on from pretty comprehensive analysis, I have come to the following conclusions: Shipping your car will save you one extra hassle when you relocate (having your own car could also provide helpful familliarity if you have young children) but this will be offset but the administrative hoops that you will need to jump through Whether this is a good move economically depends on how long you are likely to own the vehicle for: If you are looking to keep the car and run it into the ground (depending on the vehicle you take) the cost of exporting + UK value is likely to be lower than purchasing the car in Australia. In the examples I looked at the saving was in the region of 25% butt this saving could be offset by higher costs of insuring an imported car. However, if you think you might sell the car at some point then it is possible that you will not recover your costs. I have spoken to 3 different garages and each said that the resale value of imported cars is approx 50% of an Aus spec. car. This sounds like a lot to me but the general view was that non Aus spec cars were not popular and selling on would be very difficult. If this really is the case then the best option might be to find an imported car and buy that! I have looked at a number of different cars and concluded that the AUS$ resale value needs to be just over 2.0 - 2.5 x the GPB£ value for your to breakeven i.e. that the cost of UK purchase/shipping/tax/registration is equal to the Aus$ value. I found a really helpful spreadsheet posted on the Moving2Melbourne website (see details and link below) which sets out all of the costs that you are likely to encounter when shipping your car and although many of them are small, they really add up. Link to moving2Melbourne here - thanks for your really helpful website guys! http://www.moving-to-melbourne.co.uk/news/574/general-australian-news/importing-a-car-to-australia/ My worked example below is based on importing a used BMX X5 Sport 3.0d - 2004 with approx 100kms on the clock. It is worth noting that I have based the resale or street value on the "trade in" price in the red book - this represnts a 17% discount to the resale value. I find it hard to believe that the resale value of an import is really as low as 50% of an Aus spec equivalent but if this is the case then the value will be much lower than that used in my example. I cannot claim to have put the spreadsheet together - I would love to hear from you if you thik that these costs or assumptions are not realistic. SUMMARY Australian Dollar to UK Pound 0.6493 UK Value of Car £12,500 AUS Street Value $29,000 AUS Customs Valuation of Car @65% $18,850 Total Cost of Shipping £6,157 Replacement Cost in Australia £18,831 UK Value + Shipping £18,657 Total Gain £173 DETAILED COSTING Shipping UK Charges RORO Shipping from UK to VIC £700 Insurance (2% UK Value) £250 £950 Customs Duty & GST Customs Value $18,850.00 Customs Duty (10% Customs Value) $1,885 GST (10% Value + Duty + Shipping) $2,073 Luxury Car Tax @ 25% over $57,180 $0 Total $3,958 (£2,570) Australian Agent Charges Agency (Estimated) $200 Quarantine Entry Fees $25 Customs Entry Fee $35 Air Conditioning Fee $50 AQIS Fees / Quarantine $300 Local shipping charges $200 Customs Levied Customs Entry Fees $72 Total $882 (£572) Australian Compliance Charges Vehicle Valuation (done in UK) $220 VASS inspection $290 Personal Import Plate $76 Roadworthy Test $85 Child Seat Anchor Point (optional) $500 Total $1,171 (£760) Charges from Vic Roads (DVLA) Appointment Fee $10 Inspection Fee $22 Registration Fee $168 Transport Accident Charge $356 Insurance Duty $35 Number Plates $27 Motor Vehicle Duty $754 Total $1,374 (£892)

Many thanks Iron Chef for all of your advice on this topic. This is a really helpful thread. We connected briefly in the chat room and I mentioned that I had a Mazda 5 which sadly has never been released into the Oz market. I like the car a lot but not so much that I would be happy to get stuck with a big loss when we come to sell it. Selling a car that no-one has heard of will not be easy and I dont fancy doing that. Given that we are not coming out for about 18 months we have time to buy an alternative and bring that with us instead. We would need another family car with big boot etc and am wondering if you have any advice about particular makes/models that could make export a lucrative option. We will be brining our furniture out also so am also curious to know whether I am best to bring the car in a container or RORO? Many thanks