Importing cars from europe

[iXNAY]

hey guys,

just been talking to people at work and the conversation about importing cars from Europe came up!

so i thought id ask on here do people know anything about it?

is it just the same as importing a car from japan?

im expecting charlie or mal to have some info.

regards
Ryan

[dirtygalant]

shipping costs are higher, and be careful regarding corrosion - they use salt on their roads over winter and cars can start rusting out very early. I've seen 5 year old UK cars with rust holes through the guards already.

[panda]

My friend imported a rare Renault Alpine GT a couple of years ago from Europe I got hit with large import duty. Not sure if the same applies to Jap imports.

[fugazi]

I can confirm the saltproblem!!!
But, the northern sweed-cars are better than average,
thous they use A LOT less salt up north.
(Cold all whinter and the salt doesn't work below -7°)

[dirtygalant]

yeah but unless you want to get a specific LHD car, I would say all European imported cars bound for Australia would be from the UK. I've seen a handful of Mercedes and Volvos in Australia which have been brought over from the UK as personal imports, but unsure if any have been brought over as an alternative to coming from Japan or NZ.

My Volvo came from Singapore via New Zealand strangely enough.

[1320ft]

My understanding is:

The duty is huge
You must either have genuinely owned & driven it over there for a min of 12 months, or
It must be a model/variant not available here
It must be original/stock standard
If no one else has imported the same model, you have to bring a couple in as crash testing has to be done
Lhd only pre 60's allowed or must be rhd converted

[iXNAY]

so i'm assuming the end verdict is no one imports cars from European countries just due to the high cost to get them on the roads here :(

also why are the cost so much higher than an Japanese import?

[dirtygalant]

Europe is about twice the shipping distance as Japan.

[JDSTAZ45]

I haven't actually looked at bringing a Starion in from Europe seriously but I remember costs involved with shipping are considerably higher.
Mostly container shipping....
Freight On Board (roll on, roll off) from Japan is good value which is about 100-120,000yen (~$1200) and shipping is in US dollars which is about $1000.
I would imagine import duty(5%) and GST(10%) would be the same on all imports and is based all payments made on the car, not just the purchase price!
Extra costs are involved with Customs as well with container shipping especially with cleaning and inspection fees. It all adds up!

[RiceThief]

My understanding is:

The duty is huge
You must either have genuinely owned & driven it over there for a min of 12 months, or
It must be a model/variant not available here
It must be original/stock standard
If no one else has imported the same model, you have to bring a couple in as crash testing has to be done
Lhd only pre 60's allowed or must be rhd converted

In QLD you don't have to convert to rhd when the car is 30 years or older and its a rolling date.

[NXTIME]

Also, the increased shipping costs will most make pre-1989 cars not worth importing.

Aaron's list above applies to personal imports. Add to the list that you can only personally import one vehicle every 5 years.


Most of the European/UK imports are for luxury/sports car that were never sold locally in high volume.
Compliance isn't cheap, but there are still savings to be made.

For eg, Ferrari's and Lambo's

[RiceThief]

I thought Aaron's list was personal imports as one option the other being SEVS. Complying a personal import is similar to pre 89 rules, where as under sevs you have to do things like crash testing for compliance.

Also I just found that in NSW you can keep cars lhd if they are 30 years or older as well.

There would be a couple of cars you could bring under the pre 89 rules that would be worth it, something like a Audi Quattro, Lancia Delta, Lotus or Porsche as well as the Ferrari's and Lambos charlie mentioned.

[dirtygalant]

My understanding is:

The duty is huge
You must either have genuinely owned & driven it over there for a min of 12 months, or
It must be a model/variant not available here
It must be original/stock standard
If no one else has imported the same model, you have to bring a couple in as crash testing has to be done
Lhd only pre 60's allowed or must be rhd converted

In QLD you don't have to convert to rhd when the car is 30 years or older and its a rolling date.

And thank god for that! It still pains me to see nice 30+ year old American cars converted to RHD though.. half the appeal of having a yank tank for me is being left hook! Australians don't seem to like LHD for some reason!

[WIDEBODYMAN]

I brought my 2L Widebody with me from England when I moved to Oz in 2001.It was classed as a personal import as I'd owned it for over 12 months.My company paid the freight costs but i picked up the Customs and GST and port clearance charges.I didnt have any probs with the process.Had to have the child seat anchors fitted only..The UK cars I think are better than the Jap ones, especially the Interior..The only downer..No AirCon..(Although my second ever widey (bought in 1989 had it!!)
In April 2011 I bought another from UK which is coming to the end of its full resto here in Perth.This was classed as an 'Import" of which You're allowed one per year as a resident or citizen.(as long as its built prior to 1st Jan 1989, no restrictions appy).
This time I had to pay for freight as well as import duty/GST/Cleaning charges etc..not cheap!!
I'm hoping its gonna sail through the 'pits' although there seems to be something about side impact bars for the front doors.I never had an issue with the last one so, dont know?..

One other thing..You must apply for the import approval BEFORE you ship the thing here or you wont be able to bring it in..Hook up with an Ozzy agent before you ship it.The freight companies usually have agents they use in Australia.
Oh and yes Salt=Corrosion..especially on Starions...hence my full restoration!!

You're looking at around $3000 total when it lands here in charges to the agent..add about $2000 freight costs ..(more if you put in in a container)..

You've gotta love your Starions to do it!!!!

If you need any other info let me know..

Peter