Iron Chef Posted April 21, 2017 Author Share Posted April 21, 2017 3 minutes ago, coladuna said: Hi Ironchef, We are moving back to Australia in October 2017 and was wondering whether it would be worth taking my car below? Thanks - year of manufacture 2013 - make, model & variant Mercedes Benz C63 AMG - body type (coupe, convertible, etc) Saloon - engine size & fuel type 6.2L Petrol - transmission Automatic - drive type (4WD, front wheel drive, etc) Rear wheel drive - mileage 38,000 miles - any special features, options or modification 19 inch wheels, Harman Kardon sound system - does it have aircon Yes - realistic current UK market value £27,000 - Australian RedBook value (www.redbook.com.au - click through to the page with 'Private Price Guide', 'Trade In Price Guide' and 'Price When New' listed, then tell us the 'Private Price Guide' range) $75,200 - $81,600 - Australian market value (http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/search.aspx - search for the closest matching vehicle) $80,000-$90,000 - which Australian state/city QLD / Brisbane It's a no-brainer, bring it over. C63s are very popular here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coladuna Posted April 21, 2017 Share Posted April 21, 2017 2 minutes ago, Iron Chef said: It's a no-brainer, bring it over. C63s are very popular here. Thanks Ironchef. I have requested quote through the Ironlady website. I wasn't sure whether I would lose too much money when I come to sell it due to it being an import as I know imports usually scare peole in Australia and it being quite an expensive car, whether it would be too difficult to sell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomapg Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 I'm thinking of impotting my 2012 Lexus GS 450h Fsport. (New model) It's on 160km but fully serviced and warranted by Lexus uk from new. I'm the first owner. realistic uk price £10-15k destination freemantle. a, b or c . regards pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impasse Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 A couple of years ago I asked whether it would be worth bringing my Jaguar XF over, and was told it would be. I thought I'd share my experience with you, briefly. The actual process of importing was quite simple and the physical part was not actually very expensive; the various duties and taxes payable in Australia weren't unexpected but were considerably more than the shipping! The only slight fly in the ointment was that the driver who collected my car and took it to the docks picked up a speeding ticket - I wasn't very impressed by that. Once here, getting the car taken to a local garage for its blue slip was easy enough. There were no problems getting it approved either; the dual speedometer was good enough and the slightly curved wing mirror wasn't a problem even though I thought it might be. Things that weren't so good: I had expected that updating the sat-nav to local maps would be as simple as buying an Australian data upgrade for a couple of hundred dollars but it has turned out that I (apparently) need to replace the entire sat-nav unit, at the cost of a couple of thousand. Needless to say I haven't bothered with doing this. Replacing the speedo card was more cost than I could be bothered to incur too - no doubt a back street garage could have done it cheaper than Jaguar's quote but there's a digital speed readout too and I've been fine with that. And that's about the only problem really. Now then: I have just decided to sell the car as a trade-in. Red book indicates that a typical XF of similar type and vintage should be around the $30,000 mark as a trade in. Mercedes Benz offered me $12000 since they were apparently under the impression that a) the car was a year older than it is and b) that the odometer was reading 70,000 miles rather than kilometres. Audi had a good laugh at this and offered $25k which bearing in mind the reasonably high kms, no sat-nav, dual speedo and generally being an import, I was quite happy with. So come July, I'll be driving a local car. Would I import again? I probably would - the experience was on the whole a positive one, with a few surprises with proposed costs that I declined, and gave me two more years with a great car which would cost me a whole lot more to buy over here. So thank you for the advice! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coladuna Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 8 hours ago, Impasse said: A couple of years ago I asked whether it would be worth bringing my Jaguar XF over, and was told it would be. I thought I'd share my experience with you, briefly. The actual process of importing was quite simple and the physical part was not actually very expensive; the various duties and taxes payable in Australia weren't unexpected but were considerably more than the shipping! The only slight fly in the ointment was that the driver who collected my car and took it to the docks picked up a speeding ticket - I wasn't very impressed by that. Once here, getting the car taken to a local garage for its blue slip was easy enough. There were no problems getting it approved either; the dual speedometer was good enough and the slightly curved wing mirror wasn't a problem even though I thought it might be. Things that weren't so good: I had expected that updating the sat-nav to local maps would be as simple as buying an Australian data upgrade for a couple of hundred dollars but it has turned out that I (apparently) need to replace the entire sat-nav unit, at the cost of a couple of thousand. Needless to say I haven't bothered with doing this. Replacing the speedo card was more cost than I could be bothered to incur too - no doubt a back street garage could have done it cheaper than Jaguar's quote but there's a digital speed readout too and I've been fine with that. And that's about the only problem really. Now then: I have just decided to sell the car as a trade-in. Red book indicates that a typical XF of similar type and vintage should be around the $30,000 mark as a trade in. Mercedes Benz offered me $12000 since they were apparently under the impression that a) the car was a year older than it is and b) that the odometer was reading 70,000 miles rather than kilometres. Audi had a good laugh at this and offered $25k which bearing in mind the reasonably high kms, no sat-nav, dual speedo and generally being an import, I was quite happy with. So come July, I'll be driving a local car. Would I import again? I probably would - the experience was on the whole a positive one, with a few surprises with proposed costs that I declined, and gave me two more years with a great car which would cost me a whole lot more to buy over here. So thank you for the advice! Thanks for sharing your experience Impasse. Did you have any problem getting insurance? A few things that makes me hesitate taking my C63 with me is not knowing how difficult it would be to sell at a reasonable price due to it being a personal import and difficulty of getting insurance, especially due to it being a high performance car. Your experience with sat nav is a bit off putting as well. Apart from sat nav, did the radio etc all work ok? Not sure if you have DAB, but if so, did this work ok? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impasse Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 21 hours ago, coladuna said: Thanks for sharing your experience Impasse. Did you have any problem getting insurance? A few things that makes me hesitate taking my C63 with me is not knowing how difficult it would be to sell at a reasonable price due to it being a personal import and difficulty of getting insurance, especially due to it being a high performance car. Your experience with sat nav is a bit off putting as well. Apart from sat nav, did the radio etc all work ok? Not sure if you have DAB, but if so, did this work ok? Thanks Yeah, the DAB and ordinary radios and everything else works perfectly. Insurance has not been a problem; I think I only found one of the main insurers who wouldn't touch an import and premiums have been roughly what I'd pay in the UK I think. I would definitely check with Mercedes Benz about the sat-nav before going; Jag here got in touch with the UK to get the scores on the doors so you can cut out the middleman, perhaps. Frankly even for my car I'm still not convinced that it *isnt* just a case of changing the data but I've given up arguing. All Jaguar would say is that the specification of Australian cars is different to their U.K. Cars which did surprise me, I admit. Perhaps Mercedes will be a bit more global in spec and there's no harm asking. As for value, I would expect to pay less for an import myself (unless it was something highly exotic) but I would still expect your car to be worth it; Mercedes Benz is very popular over here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coladuna Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 2 hours ago, Impasse said: Yeah, the DAB and ordinary radios and everything else works perfectly. Insurance has not been a problem; I think I only found one of the main insurers who wouldn't touch an import and premiums have been roughly what I'd pay in the UK I think. I would definitely check with Mercedes Benz about the sat-nav before going; Jag here got in touch with the UK to get the scores on the doors so you can cut out the middleman, perhaps. Frankly even for my car I'm still not convinced that it *isnt* just a case of changing the data but I've given up arguing. All Jaguar would say is that the specification of Australian cars is different to their U.K. Cars which did surprise me, I admit. Perhaps Mercedes will be a bit more global in spec and there's no harm asking. As for value, I would expect to pay less for an import myself (unless it was something highly exotic) but I would still expect your car to be worth it; Mercedes Benz is very popular over here. Thanks. I've done some man-maths and I just can't see how I would benefit from taking it with me. I could sell it here and get about £27-29k for it which equates to A$46-49k. Taking it with me and getting it on the road will cost roughly £10k or A$17k. That means the car has cost me in the region of $63k-66k. In Australia, similar cars cost around $80-85k. Assuming I get 20% less than market value due to it being an import, that means I will only break even as I can only get $64-68k for it. Both insurance and rego seems more costly in Australia too. I pay around £370 a year for insurance in the UK but I tried getting a quote from Allianz (tried few others but they won't even give a quote online due to the high performance nature of the car) and they quoted me $1400. It just seems like a lot of effort for not much gain. I'm also located in Aberdeen so it will probably cost me more to get the transported over to the nearest port. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomapg Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 Iron chief I'm thinking of impotting my 2012 Lexus GS 450h Fsport. (New model) It's on 160km but fully serviced and warranted by Lexus uk from new. I'm the first owner. realistic uk price £10-15k destination freemantle. a, b or c . regards pete Quote Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAMIL Posted April 30, 2017 Share Posted April 30, 2017 Hello Iron Chef, Advice please for bringing the following vehicle - year of manufacture 2014 - make, model & variant Hyundai i30 Hatchback 2014 1.6 CRDi Blue drive Active 5d - body type (coupe, convertible, etc) hatch - engine size & fuel type 1.6l diesel - transmission manual - drive type (4WD, front wheel drive, etc) FWD - mileage 30,000 miles - any special features, options or modification - does it have aircon Yes - realistic current UK market value £8,000 - Australian RedBook value (www.redbook.com.au - click through to the page with 'Private Price Guide', 'Trade In Price Guide' and 'Price When New' listed, then tell us the 'Private Price Guide' range) $14,000 - $15,800 - Australian market value (http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/search.aspx - search for the closest matching vehicle) $17,000 - which Australian state/city SA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruflix Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 Apologies for cross-posting, see below, I was advised to post here ... I wondered if you had any advice @Iron Chef? *patiently joins the back of the queue ?* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Chef Posted May 2, 2017 Author Share Posted May 2, 2017 My apologies everyone (and to those who've emailed recently) I've been knocked out with a bad case of man flu - lucky to make it through, to be honest. I will work my way through the ones here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Chef Posted May 2, 2017 Author Share Posted May 2, 2017 My apologies everyone (and to those who've emailed recently) I've been knocked out with a bad case of man flu - lucky to make it through, to be honest. I will work my way through the ones here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Chef Posted May 2, 2017 Author Share Posted May 2, 2017 On 4/30/2017 at 9:09 AM, Thomapg said: Iron chief I'm thinking of impotting my 2012 Lexus GS 450h Fsport. (New model) It's on 160km but fully serviced and warranted by Lexus uk from new. I'm the first owner. realistic uk price £10-15k destination freemantle. a, b or c . regards pete Quote Wow you've certainly been using it! The combo of high mileage and hybrid may scare off potential buyers here, but I can understand if you want to bring it, given you know it has been well looked after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Chef Posted May 2, 2017 Author Share Posted May 2, 2017 On 4/30/2017 at 5:16 PM, MAMIL said: Hello Iron Chef, Advice please for bringing the following vehicle - year of manufacture 2014 - make, model & variant Hyundai i30 Hatchback 2014 1.6 CRDi Blue drive Active 5d - body type (coupe, convertible, etc) hatch - engine size & fuel type 1.6l diesel - transmission manual - drive type (4WD, front wheel drive, etc) FWD - mileage 30,000 miles - any special features, options or modification - does it have aircon Yes - realistic current UK market value £8,000 - Australian RedBook value (www.redbook.com.au - click through to the page with 'Private Price Guide', 'Trade In Price Guide' and 'Price When New' listed, then tell us the 'Private Price Guide' range) $14,000 - $15,800 - Australian market value (http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/search.aspx - search for the closest matching vehicle) $17,000 - which Australian state/city SA Sell it in the UK if you can get GBP8,000 for it. You have chosen the best state to move to, but it can be expensive bringing cars to SA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Chef Posted May 2, 2017 Author Share Posted May 2, 2017 4 hours ago, ruflix said: Apologies for cross-posting, see below, I was advised to post here ... I wondered if you had any advice @Iron Chef? *patiently joins the back of the queue ?* Welcome if your employer will pay for the shipping, then sure give it some thought. If you have to pay for the shipping yourselves, I'd advise selling it in the UK. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unzippy Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 Glad you are feeling better! Related - sort of. Is there an Aus gocompare/confused.com or equivalent so that I can get a rough idea of insurance costs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Chef Posted May 2, 2017 Author Share Posted May 2, 2017 5 minutes ago, unzippy said: Glad you are feeling better! Related - sort of. Is there an Aus gocompare/confused.com or equivalent so that I can get a rough idea of insurance costs? https://www.comparethemarket.com.au/car-insurance/?gclid=CNP_76qn0dMCFY-TvQod42YL3Q 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unzippy Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 Just now, Iron Chef said: https://www.comparethemarket.com.au/car-insurance/?gclid=CNP_76qn0dMCFY-TvQod42YL3Q DOh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Chef Posted May 2, 2017 Author Share Posted May 2, 2017 This version is a little more fun though: https://www.comparethemeerkat.com.au/?cid=ps:ga:meerkat:108229&gclid=CO2Sq_in0dMCFZcGKgodhd4J2A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeCarnys Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 Hi Iron Chef - hope the deadly man flu is abating: Advice please for bringing the following Porsche Boxster in great condition: - year of manufacture 2006 - make, model & variant Porsche Boxster S - body type (coupe, convertible, etc) convertible - engine size & fuel type Petrol 2687cc - transmission auto (tiptronic) - drive type (4WD, front wheel drive, etc) RWD - mileage 17,000 miles - any special features, options or modification detachable hard top - does it have aircon Yes - realistic current UK market value £8,500 - Australian RedBook value (www.redbook.com.au - click through to the page with 'Private Price Guide', 'Trade In Price Guide' and 'Price When New' listed, then tell us the 'Private Price Guide' range) $26,700 - $30,000 - Australian market value (http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/search.aspx - search for the closest matching vehicle) $39,500 - which Australian state/city Gold Coast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruflix Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 On 02/05/2017 at 2:17 PM, Iron Chef said: Welcome if your employer will pay for the shipping, then sure give it some thought. If you have to pay for the shipping yourselves, I'd advise selling it in the UK. Thanks that's kind of how I feel about it. I am still waiting to hear. I'm half feeling that I'd be happy for them to say no, it makes it any easy decision and there's all the paperwork hassle but then we could do with a few thousand more dollars towards a house as we settle into Victoria. Anyone know how long it takes for the import licence to come through? I signed up just in case. We're off in just over 2 months... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Chef Posted May 5, 2017 Author Share Posted May 5, 2017 4 hours ago, DeCarnys said: Hi Iron Chef - hope the deadly man flu is abating: Advice please for bringing the following Porsche Boxster in great condition: - year of manufacture 2006 - make, model & variant Porsche Boxster S - body type (coupe, convertible, etc) convertible - engine size & fuel type Petrol 2687cc - transmission auto (tiptronic) - drive type (4WD, front wheel drive, etc) RWD - mileage 17,000 miles - any special features, options or modification detachable hard top - does it have aircon Yes - realistic current UK market value £8,500 - Australian RedBook value (www.redbook.com.au - click through to the page with 'Private Price Guide', 'Trade In Price Guide' and 'Price When New' listed, then tell us the 'Private Price Guide' range) $26,700 - $30,000 - Australian market value (http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/search.aspx - search for the closest matching vehicle) $39,500 - which Australian state/city Gold Coast I'm presuming it would be a second generation model, correct? (working from memory here). It looks like a pretty safe category A based on those numbers. It'll fit in perfectly on the Gold Coast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Chef Posted May 5, 2017 Author Share Posted May 5, 2017 4 hours ago, ruflix said: Thanks that's kind of how I feel about it. I am still waiting to hear. I'm half feeling that I'd be happy for them to say no, it makes it any easy decision and there's all the paperwork hassle but then we could do with a few thousand more dollars towards a house as we settle into Victoria. Anyone know how long it takes for the import licence to come through? I signed up just in case. We're off in just over 2 months... Allow 4 weeks for the import approval to arrive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky G Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 Hi Iron Chef, My wife, 2 kids and I are moving from the UK to Australia in early 2018 and I we are trying to weigh up whether its worth taking our beloved camper van, the details of which are as follows. The question, is whether it's worth it? - year of manufacture 2003 - make, model & variant Vauxhall Movano Camper Self Conversion - body type (coupe, convertible, etc) Van - engine size & fuel type 2.2 Diesel - transmission Manual - drive type (4WD, front wheel drive, etc) Front - mileage 112,000 miles - any special features, options or modification Fully kitted self converted camper - does it have aircon No. Could cost £1.7k to fit apparently. - realistic current UK market value £8,500 - Australian RedBook value (www.redbook.com.au - click through to the page with 'Private Price Guide', 'Trade In Price Guide' and 'Price When New' listed, then tell us the 'Private Price Guide' range) Not sure because it's difficult to value - Australian market value (http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/search.aspx - search for the closest matching vehicle) $30,000 (assuming air con is fitted) - which Australian state/city QLD / Brisbane Any advice you might have would be much appreciated! :-) Thanks, Ricky G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Chef Posted May 10, 2017 Author Share Posted May 10, 2017 7 hours ago, Ricky G said: Hi Iron Chef, My wife, 2 kids and I are moving from the UK to Australia in early 2018 and I we are trying to weigh up whether its worth taking our beloved camper van, the details of which are as follows. The question, is whether it's worth it? - year of manufacture 2003 - make, model & variant Vauxhall Movano Camper Self Conversion - body type (coupe, convertible, etc) Van - engine size & fuel type 2.2 Diesel - transmission Manual - drive type (4WD, front wheel drive, etc) Front - mileage 112,000 miles - any special features, options or modification Fully kitted self converted camper - does it have aircon No. Could cost £1.7k to fit apparently. - realistic current UK market value £8,500 - Australian RedBook value (www.redbook.com.au - click through to the page with 'Private Price Guide', 'Trade In Price Guide' and 'Price When New' listed, then tell us the 'Private Price Guide' range) Not sure because it's difficult to value - Australian market value (http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/search.aspx - search for the closest matching vehicle) $30,000 (assuming air con is fitted) - which Australian state/city QLD / Brisbane Any advice you might have would be much appreciated! :-) Thanks, Ricky G Ok it makes sense to bring it over, as the prices of an equivalent here would be much higher. From memory, the Movano is a rebadged Renault, is it not? In which case parts won't be a problem here. A couple of caveats - 1) the cost of shipping will rely heavily on whether or not you can get it into a container, 2) no aircon could be problematic in Qld - it may be cheaper to fit aircon to the back section than to fit to the factory air-con (obviously bearing in mind you wouldn't be able to use it while you were driving if you took that option, but it's something to consider). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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