Time to Jump

15 minutes ago, Iron Chef said:

You won't need to change the registration to her name, you can still bring both over (assuming your wife lives at the same address you do!).

Ah thank you. More great information shared. Yes we both live at same address. 

I'm heavily leaning to what I'm guessing is your company Ironlady to help facilitate this process. 

Really appreciate all the advice given .  

17 minutes ago, fosseboy said:

Just to add Nissan, Suzuki, Mitsubishi and Subaru as well.

We brought 2 cars. My Wife is Aussie but I had a spouse visa so we had no problem bringing in 2 cars as long as they are registered in the separate names. We added my XC60 to the furniture container and then had to change all the declarations as the container had to come in the name of the car owner, not the returning Aussie. We sent the Clio later by RoRo.

By the way, my Wife had more problems with Medicare and Medibank etc than I did as she had to prove that she was returning permanently. She hadn't resigned a job, the container of furniture was in my name, she had rented her UK house out and not sold it, not changed her passport to her married name, had property in Perth but it was all rented out and so on, so had to file a Stat Dec before Medicare would accept her change of residency and issue a new card. 

Ah man, 

It shouldn't be that hard, should it!

interesting point again re 2 cars. 

We have an XC90 which my wife drives and I have a high spec VW Transporter combi van. Both are in my name. Might change one of them to my wife's name and bring both. She has a permanent spousal visa so that should work as yours did. 

Excellent information again thanks. 

23 hours ago, fosseboy said:

Just to say check with Volvo.  I brought my one year old Volvo over (a 2015 model top XC60) and thought all would be OK as Volvo confirmed the warranty would be honoured in Australia.

I used Iron Lady. They helped through their agent in Perth preventing the Licensing centre from rejecting the car because they said it had non standard tinting not of Oz standard. Then RAC refused to insure it. Shannons was the only insurer who would cover it, did at a great rate and we have stayed with them because of their service and premiums.

But the biggest bugbear was the GPS which could not be converted to Australian maps as Volvo said the car was built for Europe. I asked for help from Sweden as I didn't believe this and got a rather nasty note back to say it was true and in future just deal through the Australian Volvo Office.

Then I got a puncture (a split which the inflater wouldnt repair), had to have the car recovered to a dealer and found the tyres were different here and had to buy 2 ($800). Also I ordered the small spare wheel realising that a puncture in the remote areas would be a problem and that cost another $1200. 

Then selling it was another issue as the dealer was not keen but is required by Volvo to encourage loyalty and part exchange. I sold the car privately for 25% more than the dealer offered to a European who wanted a Volvo XC 60 but wasn't bothered about built in GPS. I bought a Mazda CX5 Akera and am on my second one now.

Finally it depends how near the Volvo dealership is for servicing. When I arrived in Perth there were 2 North and South of the City and I lived within 15 minutes of the Northern one. I moved South, was thinking of buying another Volvo but Volvo closed the Southern one, reduced the dealers to one IN THE WHOLE STATE , and that was going to be over an hour away.

thanks for all that info. 

I never considered that main dealers would be less than helpful on this sort of thing. I wonder if it's like that across the board from most manufacturers such as BMW and Audi as well?

So even given all those issues do you still think it was a good move to bring it?

5 hours ago, Iron Chef said:

Hi Charlie, and welcome!

Of the two, the Volvo is a better bet, financially. Based on those numbers, I wouldn't bring the VW over ( althoughworth also checking Car Sales for retail prices here, as I suspect they're much higher than Redbook at the moment). Bear in mind you would only be able to bring one vehicle over, unless you have a partner who also has the correct licence for the car you want to import.

Many thanks. I'm concerned the volvo may bridge the LCT threshold and if so is that an extra 40% or something? Crazy rule. 

Now that the local car manufacture has pretty well disappeared with holdon and Ford the LCT is a useless rule is it not? I sort of get it when they were protecting the local boys but now? 

I'm actually Aussie although been in UK since 2000. My wife is English and has been given the permanent Spousal visa so will check to see if she too can bring a car. 

Thanks for the info. 

Many thanks. I did find that thread on car import. 

Hello @Iron Chef

I see you were last on here a while back. 

About to make the Australia jump and Its really hard to work out this Car import/ value/LCT thing. 

Are you still using the calculator you developed or has it been superseded by red tape and rule changes?

Anyway any info would be greatly appreciated if you are still about. 

I have 2 Cars here in UK. 

Which if either would be worth bringing please?

1. 2019 Volvo XC90 Inscription D5

Hello All,

Been a while since this thread had any action but will post here anyway. 

Looking to move the Family to Australia in Feb. House sale going thru now so need to get shipping sorted ASAP. Outer London to Brisbane is the plan. 

I have PSS coming around for a quote next week and given Covid, I'm suspecting it will be more expensive than what was listed above. Cant fight bad luck I guess. 

I too am looking at a 40ft container with a car as well. Any pitfalls or positives in getting cars in? I see that as long as I've owned it for over 1 year I can take 1 car but I'm confused on how the Australian customs will value it? List price when new or second-hand value?

Also, someone said you need to list every single item that goes into the container on a manifest? it that the truth? going to be a bloody long list. 

any thoughts or experiences are much appreciated. 

Cheers

Charlie