Kelpie Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 Hello. I have the opportunity to move from the UK to Australia with work. I've been asked to come up with what package I want for going and I'm not sure what to do about a car. I could transport my current car over to Australia, I've looked into it and prices are circa £1500 door to door. Alternatively I could lease one when I get there and I have been looking at novated leases which seem appealing because of the tax benefits. Does anyone have any experience of using a novated lease or shipping a car from the UK to Australia? My employer doesn't seem to think I will need I will need a car in Perth but I need a car there for the same reason I need one where I live now....to transport my bikes around. My car in the UK is on a PCP finance deal (what a mistake that was) so I don't really own it. I'm almost at the stage of being able to voluntarily terminate the contract and just hand the car back and get nothing for it. If I want to ship it to Australia then I will need to pay off the finance which means taking out a personal loan here to pay off the car finance so I'm allowed to take it out the country. Looking at car prices online, to get the same make/model and age of car would be about 30% more expensive in Australia and I think the insurance is comparable to what I pay now. I'm really rubbish with money so I don't have any savings to buy a used car when I get out to Australia and I wouldn't know where to start about buying a car privately out there without getting ripped off so if I can get my employer to somehow help with the car costs it would be a real help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelpie Posted September 29, 2019 Author Share Posted September 29, 2019 Actually, scratch the above. Transporting my car out to Australia is probably a daft idea and was more in response to being told I wouldn't need a car. I'll be the judge of that! What I really need to work out is what would be a sensible packing to ask for if I am moving from Aberdeen, Scotland to Perth, Australia so that I'm not out of pocket and also not taking the piss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eera Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 If you're still thinking about novated leases I've had four cars that way. They aren't the great deal they used to be as the rules around them were changed a couple of years ago and they are now done by a portion before tax, a portion after tax (mine is roughly 50/50 by the looks of it). What they are good for, however, is if you don't have the deposit, plus you can novated secondhand cars as well - check with the individual company favoured by your company what their rules are surrounding that, some will only let the car be a maximum 7 years old at the end of lease, some 13. There will be a balloon payment at the end of the lease which is set by the ATO, something like 40% after 3 years and 37.5% at the end of 4. trick is to get a vehicle that doesn't depreciate too badly as you pay the balloon and pocket the difference if you sell it (or lose money if it is a high depreciation car) While they aren't a fantastic tax saving, they are convenient as most things are taken care of - lease, fuel, tyres, tax, insurance etc. Downsides are that you are largely stuck with whatever fuel company the lease people decide (my last car was Caltex only, current one is Shell), and with insurance as well. When you go for a service or whatever you say it's a novated lease and the company takes care of it. Generally they will work by you pay into a budget every month, and the fees for each line item will be taken out. My leases tend to be based on 25000km per year, but I've never done that, and any money left in the account at the end of the lease gets refunded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammygirl Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 What visa will you be on? If not PR then you won’t be migrating permanently so check re car lease lengths. Also if you have kids then school fees will be payable on a temp visa so ask for help with that maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FOL Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 Sure you don't need a car. You can work from home, have groceries delivered and just watch TV when you have time off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelpie Posted October 3, 2019 Author Share Posted October 3, 2019 On 30/09/2019 at 03:58, Eera said: If you're still thinking about novated leases I've had four cars that way. They aren't the great deal they used to be as the rules around them were changed a couple of years ago and they are now done by a portion before tax, a portion after tax (mine is roughly 50/50 by the looks of it). What they are good for, however, is if you don't have the deposit, plus you can novated secondhand cars as well - check with the individual company favoured by your company what their rules are surrounding that, some will only let the car be a maximum 7 years old at the end of lease, some 13. There will be a balloon payment at the end of the lease which is set by the ATO, something like 40% after 3 years and 37.5% at the end of 4. trick is to get a vehicle that doesn't depreciate too badly as you pay the balloon and pocket the difference if you sell it (or lose money if it is a high depreciation car) While they aren't a fantastic tax saving, they are convenient as most things are taken care of - lease, fuel, tyres, tax, insurance etc. Downsides are that you are largely stuck with whatever fuel company the lease people decide (my last car was Caltex only, current one is Shell), and with insurance as well. When you go for a service or whatever you say it's a novated lease and the company takes care of it. Generally they will work by you pay into a budget every month, and the fees for each line item will be taken out. My leases tend to be based on 25000km per year, but I've never done that, and any money left in the account at the end of the lease gets refunded. Thanks for the information. I wasn't quite sure how the fuel side of things work so that's good to know. I also didn't realise that money could be refunded at the end of the lease. Since I might only be out in Australia for 2 years I think a novated lease would be the simplest option instead of messing around trying not to buy a total turkey and then losing money trying to sell quickly when I leave. A novated lease also means I won't have to worry about services etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelpie Posted October 3, 2019 Author Share Posted October 3, 2019 On 30/09/2019 at 07:08, rammygirl said: What visa will you be on? If not PR then you won’t be migrating permanently so check re car lease lengths. Also if you have kids then school fees will be payable on a temp visa so ask for help with that maybe. I am not 100% sure what kind of visa I will be on yet. I think it will be an employer sponsored skilled worker type of visa but that's something my employer is looking into. No children so I don't have to worry about schools but that's good to know in case any colleagues follow me out eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelpie Posted October 3, 2019 Author Share Posted October 3, 2019 12 hours ago, FOL said: Sure you don't need a car. You can work from home, have groceries delivered and just watch TV when you have time off. Ha ha. That's exactly what I was thinking. I'm going to be working in the CBD and I think my employer envisages me living in East Perth or somewhere else very close to the CBD. That's something that needs to be ironed out because in my mind it is up to me where I choose to live and in what type of property. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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