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Transporting your car to Oz - everything you need to know!


Iron Chef

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How long did it take from sending it off to getting the magical email ????

 

Sent application by Interparcel on 1st July

Received by VImports on 5th July

Email confirmation of approval 27th July

 

So 22 days from receipt to approval - 3 weeks seems pretty standard I think

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I have mulled over this one a fair bit - whether it would be possible to bring a vehicle over on a carnet, use it here for 12 months and then cover your qualifying period for keeping it here as a personal import.

 

A CPD Carnet is issued by your AA not by DIT here in Canberra, so it would be up to them to decide whether you're allowed to have a carnet when you're technically not coming to Australia on a tourist visa. I'm not sure how the carnet process works in the UK.

 

At a minimum, if you were able to get an import approval as a personal at the end of carnet, you would need to export the car, re-import it and pay all the taxes and duties you didn't pay when you first arrived. It would just be a matter of finding the nearest country that could store the car safely.

 

Given the fines for getting it wrong are fairly hefty, I DON'T advise trying it. If someone were to ignore my advice and give it a shot though, I'd be very curious to see how they managed to pull it off...

 

Some good news on this after speaking with the RAC here in the UK. It seems that after taking out the Carnet here for 12 months (all questions logged about the fact we are possibly going out earlier than first thought) that there should be little problem in changing it to a full import once we have full residency. Should this take longer than the initial 12 months then we will lose the 1.8k and have to pay another 0.9k for the following 12 months in which I hope all would be sorted out.

 

The RAC seemed to think that this was becoming not common but at the same time not an unusual scenario and that every case would be assessed on merit.

 

Fingers crossed that this maybe the case as with all the cash lost in cars this year I really don't want to be losing anymore :P.

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Just remember that it's not the RAC that have the final say on import approval though ;)

 

Totally - more happy at the thought that someone might actually listen to circumstances rather than an absolute no.

 

During the time I guess I will need to look at other options like exporting and re-importing etc but really wish that doesn't end up being the case otherwise my track car might have to wait a little longer ;P

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Guest tabatha

Hi

can any one help. we own a fendt caravan, owned for 3 years, all paperwork etc have just recieved an import certifcate for our car(so aware of what we need) but our van is 2.5 meters wide and 26 feet long, had quotes for ro ro shipping but wondered if they would allow this into the country???? or would our motorhome be the best bet?? Also do you pay duty on these items???? some say yes other say no?? please help?????????????thankyou..

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If it has import approval, yes they will allow it into the country. Remember that the importation process and the registration process are two separate matters. If you've owned your motorhome for more than 12 months, then you should be eligible to bring that in with you too.

 

Just to clarify for you (and anyone else reading) if you're bringing something to Australia permanently you will ALWAYS pay duty and GST on its customs value. This applies to cars as much as anything else that is more than $1000 in value.

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Guest sunnydays

Hi Iron Chef

 

We have a toyota rav4 2006 (56) plate XT3 5 door model with 48k miles, manual, petrol. Worth in UK in current market about £8k. Looked at carsales.com.au and the nearest model with nearest mileage is $16+. Do you think it is worth our while looking into shipping it over??

 

Any advice much appreciated.

Thanks:notworthy:

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Hi does anyone know if you can take your car to OZ from the UK without paying the tax if you need it for your job. I will have a job offer but whilst waiting for the 457 visa to come through which I'm told could take up to 3 months I need to get it shipped now as I know it can take weeks if not months to get there. I will be staying in OZ with my job so it won't be returning. Thx Lynne

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Dont know the answer to that, but I doubt it. I would say that if needed for a business, then even moreso you would pay tax on it! The tax wasnt too much in my experience as they have a very complex way of calculating it that is difficult to follow. Its not based on your value in the UK. As an example, my 2004 mercedes clk was imported 18 months ago, and it cost me $2,300 in tax. Lots of other associated costs, but that was purely the tax. Hope that helps in some way.

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Guest Guest31881
Hi does anyone know if you can take your car to OZ from the UK without paying the tax if you need it for your job. I will have a job offer but whilst waiting for the 457 visa to come through which I'm told could take up to 3 months I need to get it shipped now as I know it can take weeks if not months to get there. I will be staying in OZ with my job so it won't be returning. Thx Lynne

 

 

Hi Lynne,

 

I have moved your post to this thread where you will get more information, The thread you posted on was years out of date. I hope you will get answers to your question.

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Hi Ironchef,

 

Just a quick question on aircon.

 

My reading of the legislation is that if the car is imported under the personal import scheme and is shipped along with a migrants unaccompanied personal effects (ie in the same container) then no license is needed, and pre-charged aircon does not need to be degassed.

 

My car is coming over in a 40ft with my UPE's - have I understood this correctly or do I still need to de-gass.

 

Also, is it best to get a valuation sorted from the UK or wait until we arrive in Australia.

 

Ta

 

Trampy

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Hi Iron Chef

 

We have a toyota rav4 2006 (56) plate XT3 5 door model with 48k miles, manual, petrol. Worth in UK in current market about £8k. Looked at carsales.com.au and the nearest model with nearest mileage is $16+. Do you think it is worth our while looking into shipping it over??

 

Any advice much appreciated.

Thanks:notworthy:

 

Based on those sums, no not really, unless you really love the car and want to keep it. Financially, it's a break-even proposition at best.

 

Hi does anyone know if you can take your car to OZ from the UK without paying the tax if you need it for your job. I will have a job offer but whilst waiting for the 457 visa to come through which I'm told could take up to 3 months I need to get it shipped now as I know it can take weeks if not months to get there. I will be staying in OZ with my job so it won't be returning. Thx Lynne

 

If you're keeping the car in Australia and you're not returning to the UK in the foreseeable future, then yes, you will definitely have to pay tax on it, regardless of the circumstances.

 

Hi Ironchef,

 

Just a quick question on aircon.

 

My reading of the legislation is that if the car is imported under the personal import scheme and is shipped along with a migrants unaccompanied personal effects (ie in the same container) then no license is needed, and pre-charged aircon does not need to be degassed.

 

My car is coming over in a 40ft with my UPE's - have I understood this correctly or do I still need to de-gass.

 

Ta

 

Trampy

 

Hi Trampy,

 

I have seen it done before, but it only applies to certain gases, and if you get it wrong, you end up with a car stuck on the docks (in the case of Brisbane, at $77/day storage costs) while you either get a licence (which also costs $600) or pay someone to go down to the docks to degas it (at an exorbitant costs) then pay for Quarantine to physically inspect the vehicle to ensure the gas has been removed (at your expense once again).

 

Given that de-gassing the air-con in the UK and re-gassing it in Australia shouldn't cost any more than about $200 total, it's a much easier way to go.

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Based on those sums, no not really, unless you really love the car and want to keep it. Financially, it's a break-even proposition at best.

 

 

 

If you're keeping the car in Australia and you're not returning to the UK in the foreseeable future, then yes, you will definitely have to pay tax on it, regardless of the circumstances.

 

 

 

Hi Trampy,

 

I have seen it done before, but it only applies to certain gases, and if you get it wrong, you end up with a car stuck on the docks (in the case of Brisbane, at $77/day storage costs) while you either get a licence (which also costs $600) or pay someone to go down to the docks to degas it (at an exorbitant costs) then pay for Quarantine to physically inspect the vehicle to ensure the gas has been removed (at your expense once again).

 

Given that de-gassing the air-con in the UK and re-gassing it in Australia shouldn't cost any more than about $200 total, it's a much easier way to go.

 

Thanks mate (just realised I'd used another username from a different forum - oops).

 

Regarding the customs valuation, is there any strategy to get this as low as possible (legally)?

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lol well some valuers tend to be more generous than others, but there are always limits to what can be achieved. Valuations that are wildly incorrect can result in the valuer losing their licence.

 

Presumably, if I don't get one, then customs will get one and charge me - is this correct.

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Customs will ask you to get one at your expense (this is par for the course), but if they disagree with the valuation, they will get it revalued at their expense. As you can imagine, if that happens (never happened to me yet, touch wood), chances are it's gonna hurt ;)

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This is the quote I have got to send my car over..

 

Thank you for your enquiry concerning the cost and details for the shipment of a 2004 BMW 320CI M-SPORT Motor Vehicle (UK value £6-7000, Aus value $25-30000), which you may require to have transported from the UK through to BRISBANE, Australia. The total costs for UK shipping plus Australian taxes and destination charges could be about £6-6500/$9500

 

This seems outrageous! This cant be right surely!?! :mad:

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hi iron chef

we are going out to sydney on a 457 visa. with talking to removal companies here they have said that we have to get our jeep valued here ( 2005 nissan patrol sve 5dr auto) i have done so and got a quote of between £6000/£8500 now pickfords have told us we will have to pay 20/25% of this to cover customs duty- is this correct, as another company said no and then another company told us it gets valued over there then we pay the 20/25% of the value for customs. i guess im just looking to know to know if it is really worth to bring it out..

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There is so much hype and confilicting information out there about this, I am phoning Canberra direct tonight to find out for myself as nobody seems to know how much it actually costs! All the quotes I have had so far are confusing and have no bottom line. Some people tell me it will be approx £2k in total, some people tell me it will be £7k... how hard can it be!

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There is so much hype and confilicting information out there about this, I am phoning Canberra direct tonight to find out for myself as nobody seems to know how much it actually costs! All the quotes I have had so far are confusing and have no bottom line. Some people tell me it will be approx £2k in total, some people tell me it will be £7k... how hard can it be!

 

I looked into taking my car with a uk value of £5000 and an oz value of $18000..

The estimate i arrived at was around £4000 but that was at an exchange rate of 1.6. When it fell to 1.5 ish i gave up and have sold my car in the uk.

With a bmw it might still be worth it but spares will be horrendous.....

Good luck!

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Customs will ask you to get one at your expense (this is par for the course), but if they disagree with the valuation, they will get it revalued at their expense. As you can imagine, if that happens (never happened to me yet, touch wood), chances are it's gonna hurt ;)

 

Any chance you can recommend a valuer for my 530d?

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Awesome thread, thanks ....

 

Question: When does a car become a car?

 

I'm in the process of building an AC Cobra replica, I could finish it before I go, or I could ship the parts and finish it there. It's never been registered or on the road in UK. I also wanted to take my 2006 BMW 325 SE, as I could probably only get £10k here but it looks like it's worth $35k-40k there.

 

Any info would be appreciated so I can start to work out how best to approach this.

 

Thanks

P

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LOL ... he's not the first person to offer to look after it ... still needs a fair amount of work to finish it though ...

 

I would have thought a new(ish) good spec Freelander in good nick would be worth a fair amount there still, so would be financially viable ...

 

Cheers

P

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