That'd be me
Hi guys - my first post here!Going back on topic, as I have first hand experience with importing cars (as you can see from my Audi), there are a LOT of things you need to know. You have to have a PERMIT TO IMPORT A VEHICLE which is obtained through Canberra I believe.
dotars.com.au sould have all the info on getting that. It takes at least a month to sort out from outside the country, but may be quicker if you live here already.1. You have to be able to prove ownership of a vehicle for 12 months in an overseas country to be allowed to import it. 2. You need to prove the value of the vehicle in the country you bought it from. This is a NIGHTMARE. The AU authorities will try to hit you with duty & GST based on THE ORIGINAL PURCHASE PRICE - with depreciation, this can be significantly more than the current value. I paid 30k GB pounds for my S4 almost 2 years ago. Current market value of a pristine one is about 22k, but I got mine valued by Audi before I left and luckily they priced it at 17.5k which is what the AU authorities based my duty and GST on. That, plus brokers fess, storage etc all came out at around $12k.3. Quarantine - THIS IS A PAIN IN THE BACKSIDE!!!!! As Deano said, I had my car professionally steam cleaned inside and out, plus a full valet. Receipts to prove this had been done. The car was in showroom condition when it went into the container. They still wouldn't release it from quarantine until it had another 'clean' which of course I got charged for. Dont bother cleaning it before you ship as they will get you to clean it again when it arives. Just make sure it's not covered in dirt or bird crap and you should be fine.Thats just to get the thing into the country. There is more fun to be had yet!So, you finally can pick up your car. Hold on! Not yet! You have to have a temporary permit to move your car from where it is stored to a test centre. These are obtained from a licensing centre and cost $15.15 and are valid for 48 hours. You are only allowed to use these permits to move your car from the shipper to the test centre and from the test centre back to the shipper or home again. Thats it.OK. The test centre WILL FAIL YOUR CAR - this is guaranteed. One of the pieces of paper that comes with the import permit is a form to obtain a PRIVATE IMPORT PLATE. You cannot get this until the test centre have seen the car and stamped the form. If thats all your car fails on, you are very lucky. The PIP takes about a week to get hold of. Only one place in the whole of AU is authorised to issue them - Niddrie Nameplates in Niddrie. Chances are you will not have child seat restraint anchor points and you may need to rewire your cigarette lighter (AU rules do not allow these to work if the ignition is switched off - most cars in the UK allow them to be operational at all times as some people plug thngs other than the lighter into them). As you can gather my car failed on these three points.All in, importing my S4 from the UK is going to have cost me in the region of $20k AU give or take a few grand once I'm finished. Even after this is all done, I'll have paid less than it would have cost me to buy the same thing here, but it's a major pain in the backside. Not sure I'd bother with it again.That said, I should be up and running middle of next week hopefully. Toot if you see me out and about
:dance:
