ZephynAndy

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Are you, when taking up permanent residence in Aus, importing a non-motorised caravan to Aus that you have owned and used for more than 12 months, and which will be for your continued personal use in Aus?

If so, then you are able to get customs to clear your caravan free of Import Duty and GST, as it is deemed to be a personal effect.

Happy Caravanning,

Andy

In reverse order:

 

My livelihood is based around my customers, not the compliance industry. If there's a cheaper and reliable way of getting things done (that is still legal) then we will choose it. Part of the reason we recommend the person that GeorginaWay's caravan has gone to is because he's been in the car industry for 35+ years, has plenty of connections for the unusual things that often come our way, and charges around $7-800 rather than $2500 as we've seen with other people doing similar work, who really are price gouging new arrivals who don't know any better.

 

Extortionate charges are partly due to our federal government policies that restrict competition (and bearing mind my company would benefit greatly if that changed, I'd be quite happy for that to change), but mostly due to the fact that with a smaller population comes less competition. In South Australia, for example, there are only 3 engineers in the entire who can sign off on ISOFIX seatbelts, the cheapest of which charges $300 to inspect the car and look for the ISOFIX tags. In Victoria, you have a government heavily geared towards using motorists as cash cows, and therefore it's far more beneficial to fine drivers who are 3km/h over the limit than it is to defect death traps - there's nothing wrong with the regulations, just the way they're enforced.

 

Yes I have a problem with legislation resulting in silly prices - the $375 per appliance was the price given to the workshop by a licensed gas fitter, not by the workshop themselves. Our guy was reserving judgement until the caravan was in front of him, as he thought it sounded very silly to be charged so much too.

 

For the UVP, 28 days is the maximum allowed, not how much they will automatically give you. A UVP is meant for specific purposes, not as a replacement for normal registration so you can drive anywhere you like for a month. If you can convince them that you need the permit for 28 days, then good luck to you, but I suspect in practice you'll need to get separate UVPs every time you want to move the van somewhere.

VicRoads didn't take much convincing in my case. I simply asked for 28 days and they gave it to me. I found them to be very nice helpful people.

We are probably closer in belief than I might have initially imagined, so just to clarify that I have no specific gripe against any person or entity..... Georgina's quote just happened to be posted recently and so became the example that started this discussion.

My gripe is a generic one, and I know of two people who have been given even far more exorbitant quotes.... $6,000 and $10,000+ respectively.

I reckon that in this skewed market where customers are captive and uncertain of the local regulations in a new country, there is simply no incentive to contain costs, and if left to the market this leads to price gouging as you call it. Business will naturally aim at maximising profit and customers will aim at getting their caravan legally registered as cheaply as possible, which aims are a tad conflicting.

I find it amazing that Oz regulations include no regulatory brake to prevent extortion. By way of example, the UK's MOT system works well in that the Government regulation specifies both the tests to be done and the maximum amount that may be charged for the tests. I think this is a fair regulatory example and food for thought for Oz.

Also we Poms are used to getting onto the web to get accurate and current pricing about almost everything, which practice generally hasn't started in Oz yet.

That's where PIO comes in to help reduce the conflict! The experiences and opinions listed on PIO in this regard can surely only but help give some idea as to what is a fair price for the regulatory work required to make caravans compliant. The postings of others on PIO has helped me, and I am posting on PIO to help others who will follow me.

If you could post what your colleague in QLD believes is a fair price to certify a gas appliance, and a brief summary of what the task entails, that would be a great starting point!

Just to correct you on a few things:

 

The registration requirements are completely different from state to state.

 

Every state will, however, need the gas fittings certified if the caravan is not "type approved" to meet relevant standards - this comes from the manufacturer, so it becomes problematic, particularly with second hand caravans.

 

Regardless of how roadworthy a caravan (or car for that matter) was deemed to be in its home country, it matters nought when it gets to Australia. An MOT certificate is not worth the paper it's written on, for example.

 

You may want to check carefully how long your UVP in Victoria is for, because I've never heard of any UVP lasting 28 days. I may be wrong but generally UVPs aren't much longer than a week, and usually you need to specify the roads you intend to travel on for your journey. It may be different for caravans though, so I'm happy to stand corrected if that's the case.

For a UVP lasting 28 days, please check the VicRoads webpage at http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/Registration/PermitsModificationsAndDefects/UnregisteredVehiclePermit.htm

With respect, I don't believe your posting has corrected any of my opinions.

IMO real-worth is not based on regulations, but something bigger than that. I don't have any gripes with sensible Good-regulations, but detest Bad-regulations. And I detest the people who take extortionate advantage of their captive customers under the guise of "regulations". Don't you think that the $375 quote given to Georgina to certify each appliance is extortionate?

And I still maintain that the extortionate charges around certifying for ADR is used primarily to protect the local vehicle industry. I have seen far more very non-roadworthy rust buckets roaming the roads of VIC in the short time I've been here, than I have ever seen in the UK, so the local regulations are not working IMO.

If the local vehicle industry was not protectionist, we could all have easy access to cheap used Japanese imports like is already the case in NZ, UK, and all the non-protectionist countries on Earth. And the overall cost of vehicles in Oz would come down too.

But if my livelihood was based around this compliance industry, I would naturally support the current status quo.

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