ArrowsEng

First question, is it right hand drive? Personal Imports must be RHD (only commercial vehicles over 30 years old can be left hand drive). secondly, whats the wheelbase of the truck and the distance from the center of the rear wheels to the furthest point at the back of the truck? This has to be less than 60% of the wheelbase. If these are both ok, contact @Iron Chef / Ironlady imports for a RORO quote.

If your coming to Melbourne, I have a 2011 Holden Captiva 7 LX i've decided to sell, only because we don't need the 7 seats having only 2 kids. Otherwise, look at some of the people movers like the Toyota Tarago / Estima, Australia didn't get the European people movers like the Sharan / Galaxy / Alhambra, just the Japanese and Chrysler Voyager. The 7 seat SUV is more popular in Australia and would get a better resale value if you go to sell it 5 years.

You don't need to change the speedo / odo over to kilometers as long as there is a km indicator on the speedo (odo can still read in miles). As you say though that with the $AUD dropping and the pound increasing you are getting closer to being better off selling in UK and buying second hand in Aus, especially a Yeti, which will get ok money in UK but as Australia still doesn't realise how good Skodas are yet, you can pick these up quite cheaply here. I just got a 5 year old Superb 2.0L diesel with only 30K km on it for $20K aus, absolute bargain!

You might want to read this bit also from the Vicroads website: https://www.vplates.com.au/before-you-buy-second-hand-plates regards.

I know VW are well appreciated in the UK but in Australia they tend to be quite expensive. Most people looking for a 7 seater go for the grey imported Toyota Estima (but be careful as many people wind back odometers on these so you need to see the Japanese auction report or Japanese de-reg certificate to check the mileage is right!) or go for the many 7 seat SUV's such as Holden Captiva, Hyundai Santa Fe or Toyota Klugers. It depends on what your willing to accept for mileage, fuel economy, price or features. For a family of 6, I'd go for an Estima 2.4L petrol front wheel drive. If your coming to Victoria I can guide you to the reputable guys that will not sell you one thats been to the moon and back.

Try Carsales.com and look for VW's that carry more than 6 people and you'll find quite a few: http://www.carsales.com.au/cars/results?q=(((Make%3D%5BVolkswagen%5D%7B%26%7DModel%3D%5BMultivan%5D)%26Seats%3Drange%5B6..%5D)%26Service%3D%5BCarsales%5D)&sortby=~Price&cpw=1&limit=12. Regards, Blake.

Hi, I think the guy to talk to is Iron Chef, he runs Iron Lady imports. The car will be valued at a bit above 50% of the full australian price for customs because when the car enters australia it is not yet complianced, nor has it been hit with the 10% GST or 5% import duty etc. So if the car is currently selling on carsales for $50K then it might be $25K for the customs value. People like Iron Chef can give you a correct customs evaluation according to the formula set out by the authorities.

Our son was diagnosed with Aspergers, and our daughter was on the cusp of being diagnosed but was generally too smart to fulfill all the boxes required. As such we were able to access funds for an Occupational Therapist and Teachers aid for our son but not for our daughter. Both our kids go to Vermont Primary school in Melbourne and the Prep teacher was brilliant, understood all the ideas and how to help when our children were feeling a bit overwhelmed by having a break spot in the room with a bean bag that they could go to to chill out and also by letting my son bring a small bear to school that he could use as a fiddle toy to keep him busy when he felt restless. Grades 1 and 2 were a little less successful as the teachers didn't quite understand as well as the Prep teacher did, for both my son and daughter but in Grade 3 my son made a good friend and the teacher was much better at keeping the whole class relaxed and not noisy so that helped in leaps and bounds with social and learning situations. My sons in Grade 4 now and really doing great with friends and class work and playing cricket in summer has helped a lot too as its more controlled and structured than any type of football. My daughters in grade 2 and struggles with friendships at time but we believe that things will get better in grade 3 as the kids mature a little and friendships develop as many of the teachers and teachers aides that have seen many kids with Aspergers come through say this is a typical scenario. Unfortunately I would have to say that it is very much conditional on the teachers and the effort you put in to work educating the teachers as to your childrens need as to what you will get out from the school. I have had not so good reports from some other parents with children with special needs that went to a catholic and another local state school where there was very little help for the student and so ended up moving schools.

I should add to this that the Fee that Niddrie Nameplates charges for the PI Plate has increased recently from $86 incl GST to $94.60 incl GST, which you will see on the Vehicle Import Approval that goes to Niddrie.

Yep thats a Child Restraint Anchorage that should be accepted in Australia. The only thing is there must be one for each of the 2nd row seating positions so if your 530 has 3 back seats (designated by the number of seat belts) then you will need 3 of them. Most places doing compliance on your car in Australia can get them fitted but may look a little different to that one unless you specify you want a factory CRA fitted.

Heathmont is a nice suburb. The way Melbourne property prices are going though it is one of the next suburbs to skyrocket in prices as Blackburn, Forest hills, Mitcham and Vermont are all heading for Million dollar mark it will soon be Heathmont and Wantirnas turn to skyrocket!

If the Vespa is Pre 1989 then you can bring them in without restrictions, only cars and bikes built after Jan 1 1989 have import restrictions such as needing to own them for more than 1 year overseas before you can import them as a Personal Import. Even better, if it was built before June 1975, then there are no compliance requirements as there are no ADR's for bikes before this time, so you only need an import approval and then a RWC.

Hi Ben, What sort of car are you looking to bring over? Contact Iron Lady for a quote to see if its worth it. If your moving to Perth it needs to have Air Conditioning otherwise sell it and buy something in Perth. Yes cars in Australia are expensive, especially second hand cars, compared to UK so if its a car you trust then even if the cost of bringing it over is similar to getting another car in Oz, at least you won't be buying someone elses problems they're trying to get rid of!

it takes between 1 and 3 weeks for the quarantine inspection and possible 2nd inspection if the car needs to be steam cleaned, which happens quite often. Then depending on which state you are in depends on what needs to happen to get the car registered. Some states need engineers reports and Road worthy certificates some states its straight to the registering authority. Check with the registering authority in your state what is required.

Hi, just adding to the advice from Iron Chef, I'm a member of the Lotus Club of Victoria and good Elise and Elans are hard to come by. Some Elises can be imported under the SEVS scheme but the RAWS that do the compliance want close to $10K whereas if you bring yours under the PIS it would cost you less than that. If you have the early Elan, in good condition, then these are also good to bring in under the Pre-89 rules as there are few ADR's you would have to comply to if its built before 1973. It would be great to see some more Loti in Australia.

Carsales.com.au is what most people will look at as it has a significant share of the used car market on its website and it shows cars for all over Australia. I would personally stay away from VW / Audi / Skoda cars, not that they aren't great (in fact they are fantastic - I have one) but because their servicing costs are extortionate when it comes to the 60K, 105K, type services for DSG gearbox and timing belts where the services are $1000 to $1500+ If you are travelling a distance then maybe look at one of the newish medium SUV's for space. Something like the Nissan Dualis (Qashqi for POM's) or Holden Captiva comes in 5 or 7 seat options to give extra space for luggage.

Have you talked to Iron Lady Imports on this forum? they have done many car shipments for people on PIO.

Hi Garrant, I was interested in reading your Post but I have to say that although the Cossie is on the SEVS list, there is no Registered Automotive Workshop that is currently authorised to comply the Cossie. Go to: http://raws.infrastructure.gov.au/ and on the LHS go to the tab, Search for a RAW. This shows you which workshops can comply which cars and at the moment, no one is doing them. To actually get one on their list costs a RAWS many thousands of dollars so one would be unlikely to comply it for you but they could apply to bring it in as a Sample vehicle but then you could never register it unless you got the RAWS to fully comply it. Your Ford Focus RS LV was sold in Australia in limited numbers and so a replacement could be found such as: http://www.carsales.com.au/dealer/details/Ford-Focus-2010/AGC-AD-17095685/?Cr=7 Which would leave you free to import the Cossie as your Personal Import with the bikes. As the Cossies are pretty rare in Australia, this is the only 4 door for sale: http://www.carsales.com.au/private/details/Ford-Sierra-1988/SSE-AD-2617341/?Cr=0 I know Iron Chef will look after you, whatever you manage to bring over.

I have to admit, I always fly through Singapore for 2 reasons, the first is that the stop over is generally an hour or less and the shorter the trip the better when travelling with 2 kids (I've done it with a 2.5 year old and 3 month old and again with 8 and 6 year olds!) 2ndly if you have to stop over, Singapore has a swimming pool and other things you can take kids to to refresh them and yourself. Sorry this doesn't help your KL flight.

I have talked to Iron Chef last week on the phone, so he is around but maybe not seeing the forum at the moment. If your moving to Melbourne, there's no question, you always bring a Porsche to Australia! I have just helped a guy comply his 2008 Porsche 911, 3.8 DI, nice car that one! If both the cars are in your name and you have owned the 1989 for more than a year, then apply for the 1989 as a Personal import, this is the only way to bring a post 88 Porsche into Australia. For the 1970, you apply for it as a Pre 89 car and when you want to register it you only have to make it comply to the Australian Design Rules in force in 1970, these are ADR 4 - Seat belts, ADR 5A - Seat belt Anchorages and ADR 7 - Hydraulic brake hoses and possibly ADR 20 (if built after July 1970) - Safety rims. Due to the race car modifications, you might get some issues with a road worthy certifcate but as long as the car is sound and not structurally damaged then it should be ok. I'm a VASS engineer in Melbourne, which is one of the guys working for Vicroads that certifies Personal imports or Pre-89 to be registered on Victorian roads. I also brought a 40ft container back from the UK about 7 years ago with 3 cars in the bottom of it and it was about 6-7K in UK pounds for shipping and insurance. Hope this helps you. Regards, Blake A.

If your moving to Melbourne, there's no question, you always bring a Porsche to Australia! If both the cars are in your name and you have owned the 1989 for more than a year, then apply for the 1989 as a Personal import, this is the only way to bring a post 88 Porsche into Australia. For the 1970, you apply for it as a Pre 89 car and when you want to register it you only have to make it comply to the Australian Design Rules in force in 1970, these are ADR 4 - Seat belts, ADR 5A - Seat belt Anchorages and ADR 7 - Hydraulic brake hoses and possibly ADR 20 (if built after July 1970) - Safety rims. Due to the race car modifications, you might get some issues with a road worthy certifcate but as long as the car is sound and not structurally damaged then it should be ok. I'm a VASS engineer in Melbourne, which is one of the guys working for Vicroads that certifies Personal imports or Pre-89 to be registered on Victorian roads. I also brought a 40ft container back from the UK about 7 years ago with 3 cars in the bottom of it and it was about 6-7K in UK pounds for shipping and insurance. Hope this helps you. Regards, Blake A.

Hi Jlew, I'm a VASS engineer in Melbourne (one of the guys that signs off your Pre-89 classic for registration on Victorian roads). I imported a couple of classic cars from the UK 6 years ago and one of them is still waiting for me to rebuild it and then register it. There is no limit to the time it takes you to get it registered. There are 2 ways to register a classic car in Victoria, by the way. The first is full registration, where a VASS engineer checks the car meets the Australian Design Rules for the year it was built and writes a report for Vicroads to tell them it complies and then you get a Road Worthy Certificate and finally full registration. The second way is with Vicroads club or classic car registration where you can drive the car for either 45 or 90 days in the year by filling out a log book. You also need to join a classic car club and have the club secretary sign that you are a member. This way your yearly registration cost is about $90 as opposed to $600. Also your insurance is much less as you are telling the insurance company that you are not a big risk as you are only on the road your much less time in the year. Regards, Blake A.

Which trim level (LX, Zetec or Ghia)? how many doors (3 or 5)? whats the color inside and out? do you have a photo to put on? Regards, Blake A.

Adele, your car was not imported to Australia and when Citroens have been imported they haven't had a big following so you would probably find it hard to get some parts for your Picasso, think of things like a windscreen that if it is not in really good condition will prevent you from getting our equivalent to its MOT. Also think that what it costs you to ship it, you could put into an Australian delivered small people mover or SUV that will be more saleable if you need to sell it. I know the Picassos are quite good in the UK but you might find that insurance costs for a car not imported to Australia and parts and servicing just might not be worth it.

We live in Vermont, 26km due east of Melbourne. We have a fantastic view of Mount Dandenong and no view of CBD. We are a bit more than a stones throw from Eastlink so we don't hear any traffic noise but we can be from our house to my parents beach house at a place called McCrae on the mornington peninsula, 75km away due south in 45mins. If we need to go to CBD, the train line is not far away and the local high school and primary schools are well sort after as they have high achieving results and are government schools instead of private ones. There are still houses in your price range but these are going as we have noticed that many of the Chinese and Indian new comers also like the schools. There is Dandenong creek bike trail that takes you quite a distance in 2 directions. In the end, there is nothing like just driving around and seeing a suburb for yourself!