ruthwin

They were the cheapest for us, in the end they wouldn't accept my letter for no claims as NRMA had listed we had made a claim although, we apparently rating one for life!

We insure with RAC, they accepted no claims but I needed a letter from our Oz insurers stating how many years we had insurance and how many claim free years.

Hi, we brought our patrol over. A 2012, cost us £1495 for all paperwork, mot, reg, tax, modifications (rear gigs and mph) testing etc. we used Sigma automotive for all that. Shipping was same as you as it was in the go tai er with everything else. No demurrage luckily as there had been a strike at docks day our car arrived and port/shipping co waive red all fees to customers for the week. We we couldn't buy our car here, nothing later than a 2009 patrol plus we've modified it to do done overlanding st a later date. We just weighed up what we would like had we sold it and couldn't find a car comparable. It was fitting at my parents house getting ridiculously low offers to buy, for 6 months before we decided to out it on a ship. But I am not having luck getting any decent ibsurance quotes, despite it being fully road worthy, checked and tested and registered with DVLA, short term insurance is crippling. Now waiting on the British car insurance association to help me. Have you managed to get good ibsurance? My quotes so far rNge from £1500-2500!!!

I used @Dogtainers Pet Transport , she flew from Brisbane to Munich, we stayed there with her as my husbands family are German, we then bought a car ( uk car) and hit her European pet passport and she came yo the uk with us through the tunnel. Digtainers were about $300 cheaper than all the others, had exceptional service, sent emails with photos while she was boarding ( 3 free days and 2 extra) while we were in Japan for a week. Cant recommend recommend them enough.

Gosh I feel for you Geordie, my children aged 11 and 12 have been in tears many times over the last 6 months since we left OZ, we left to be closer to my husbands family ( his father passed 3 years ago and we couldn't come to the funeral then) as his mother us quite old and not in the best health , but I gave left my family , including elderly parents, back in Zoz. It's been quite emotional. some days we are all happy, others we are all miserable ( crap weather and long winter nights font help) but we wanted to be in Europe for a while, to travel and experience a different life. Also our kids will complete high school here and I found think that they are getting a richer education here ( in Scotland) than they were in Oz. me and the kids are citizens, my husband us a pwrament resident only do we plan to return before that expires, by then kids will be close to finishing school. they would go back tomorrow if we suggested it, but I know each day being here helps them to adjust. While we are here we are going to take as many trips to Europe and see this side of the world. Everything is so close and we do have family here ( just not my immediate family () i dont think you you are wrong to feel sad/regretful so soon, just give it abit more time.

Fair enough, like I said I am not a pensioner just saying what my parents do. They still live in OZ. they were once out of oz for 9 months and their pension did decrease while away.

I'm in Scotland , so not 100% if I can help on all your questions. But re schooling, really tricky age to move. Year 11 is technically the last year of school in England, although you can go on to 6th form (year 12/13) but I think they would need to have sat certain exams to get into those years. Scottish system is very different so I am only speaking from the experience of cousins/friends in England. How old are your boys? 15? As in Scotland ( and I think England) kids can leave school at aged 15, even before the end of the school year IF they have sat exams. Personally i I would stay there till they have finished year 12. Also I think they have to be in School for a minimum of 3 years for entry to uk universities as a uk national, otherwise they have to pay fees as a foreigner. Which are steeeeeep. if you can't wait, maybe call a school in areas you are looking at or the local authority got advice. It was a big consideration for our move. Our daughter us now in her last year of Primary and our son is in S2 ( in Scotland that's the last year of what they call broad education, before choosing subjects for nationals ) the system here is very different to Oz and may take you a while to get your head around. Let alone your boys.

Not sure what you mean by wanting a car that's ready, you can buy a car in 5 mins once you've found one. Have a look at auto trader website to get an idea. We bought a car after half a day looking. You buy tax online ( no car comes with tax anymore) and Aldo insurance, we got short term insurance while we shopped around ( online) for an insurer who would accept Oz NCD ( we found RAC the cheapest) I would get a letter from your oz insurer before you go stating your ncd in years ( not %, must be in years) drivers name etc and how long you held insurance. We actually used a compare website in the end , it brought up quite a few who would take overseas ncd you will save on stress by test driving and finding a car yourself Esther than letting soneone else organise it..

I think you can only stay out of OZ a maximum of 6 months when getting an Australian pension, so you can't just move and keep getting it. My parents go away every year for 3-4 months and they have yo tell Centrelink when they yo and gone back. Not sure the jobs and it's of it though.

they were cheap, we got a really good deal. Less than $2k one way from Tokyo ( we used FF to fly Gold Coast to Tokyo) for 3 fault tickets and 1 child. That's the positive. But the crew were really abrupt, plane was really old/tatty, my screen kept falling down and the kids ear sets didn't work at all ( the plugs in the seats didn't work) so my husband and I switched with them. Food was, just not nice, they literally ran out of everything, at one point for us there actually was no hot meal available so I was given a crew members meal. Towards the end the crew were so embarrassed at having to say no to people. Possibly why their service was so scant was because they couldn't face having to disappoint people. i also ( my kids) left a bag with iPad cables and my hard drive in board, I rang the airport, airline and lost property within an hour of arriving home and it was never found. Left a really bad taste in my mouth. It was left on the seat by my kids. There was a crew member standing next to the isle and she was obviously too keen to get off that she didn't notice it. I hope you you gave a better experience.

Thanks for the info, that's great. We arn't sure exactly where we want to buy yet so will hold off, but now that our stuff is on its way it would be good to find something in the next two months. We we didn't know we still had our account here, it was when we went yo open new ones that they said ' oh you still have an account' it only had a penny in it! I was still registered on electoral roll from years ago, changed the address when we first hit here too do all that helps I guess. Thanks again.

Yes it is, very spread out, some nice parts, some not so nice. We're hoping to move to Edinburgh. Where we are us just too isolated for us as a family right now.

I'm in Scotland too, but up in the highlands. Where do you plan to move to?

Ok, that's what my husband has ( I'm a citizen) he rang to see about his super before we left and he could take it out, but only if he gave up his visa, but he would also lose 40% to tax on taking it out. So we decided yo leave it there. He renewed his re entry visa before we left just in case we decide to go back st done point.

W have just used OSS world wide shipping from Brisbane to isle of Skye. 40foot sole use container ( including our car, a 2011 Nissan Patrol, that IS NOT cheaper to buy here) cost $10,500. Most competitive quite we got and do far they have been brilliant. Not it sure why everyone thinks cars are cheaper here, yes, if they are over the MOT requirement age ( more than 4 years old ) and particularly around 8 plus years. But new cars or 2/3 year old they are about the same. We priced our car here ( although they only have upto 2009 model) was around £15k if we sold our car in oz ( current book price around $35) we would have roughly enough yo buy an older model without the improvements ( ours has bull bar, roof rack, big tyres/ second battery and fitted with lighting got camping and various other bits) we weighed that up and decided we wanted the car we had bought from new and knew all about mechanically rather than buying a second hand one) we did buy a second hand 11 year old Volvo v40 fir £1200 too. So do it really depends on your quote for shipping, the age, make model of your car and what you will lose from selling and re-buying. . the little bit we would lose bringing ours over wasn't worth the hassle of finding a similar car here. Which would be older and not as good.