Shipping a car from the UK

[fordel]

Ok, I got this in an email the other day from the EuroFordClub.com site , and as its not asking me for any money, im possibly thinking it might be legit.

If so what are your opinions/facts, so i can email this person back

Originally Posted by email

Hi!

I'm in the UK and I've been offered a postgraduate study place at the University of Adelaide. As this is a mid-career sabatical for me, I have a large quantity of domestic items I'l be bringing along.

From what I've heard, cars are cheap over there, but a bit of exploring on

websites like autoweb.com.au and carsguide.com.au shows this is just not true for older cars. Therefore I'm thinking of bringing my car with me.

At the moment, I have a brand new Ford Transit Tourneo (8-seat GLX), the most perfect vehicle in the known world for a family, and something you don't have your end. The thing is, it'll be less than 6 months old when I arrive, so I'll be charged full import tax - AGAIN! Already been extorted for that by UK Government!

By comparison, my Ford Scopio Ultima Estate, 1996, 150000kms, with every option you can imagine, at all for £750 (AUS $1700). Compare that with, say, a Falcon of the same age (probably closest model??) and the Falcon comes out at $5000 minimum, no?

My question: DO you think bringing over the scorpio would be a bright idea? The tax will be based on purchase price minus shipping costs (i.e. virtually nothing!), and, if I read the regulations right, I can keep it with the UK reg and pay a temporary licence for a foreign reg, until I take it back out the country, and get [any] tax back. I've had an email from the Aus customs, and they say this is for one year, but I can keep renewing that status each year of the four I'm likely to be over there for.

(I'd certainly like to bring the Tourneo, but I can't afford paying tax twice, plus can't affor the loan repayments while student status!)

Problems with the scorpio are - will your vehicle certification agency be happy about it, as it's not a model [I'm aware of] that was sold in Aus? .. and for that same reason will I have difficuties with parts?

All thoughts welcome!

best regards,

Chris Bradley.

Cheers

Chris

[Kryton]

if he gets a temp permit to use it then why does it matter if the RTA dont have one on file since they werent officially sold here? a permit for an over seas car covers all cars.
and of course he'll have trouble getting parts for it here unless its something we already have here but is branded differently.
maybe send him a link to the RTA in S.A so he can directly contact them by email.

[fordel]

Anyone else ?

Chris

[RSgerry]

i looked into importing a cra and if it is less than 10 years old, it has to be complianced. depending on what powerplant the scorpiio has, it could be a very costly exercise. if nobody in SA has worked on one of these befrore, there will be a lot of trial and error in getting it registered. for me, the whole exercise became too costly and difficult. oh, and shipping the car and clearing customs on this end is a slow process...he would be better off buying the $5000 falcon.

[fordel]

Cheers for that, i will have to reply with that to him i think

Chris

[JADED6]

OMG - Definitely better off buying a car here.
The car will need to go through customs (and that will probably take a month)
Costs to get it here wouldn't exactly be a few hundred dollars. I know he mentioned he can get the tax back on it but no mention of shipping costs.
Add to that alllll the phone calls, running around & the time it'd take to do it all.

Better off spending his time studying for his course & not worrying about where his car is and why it's not where it's supposed to be.

He is on the money with car prices and the logic is there based on that but it isn't as simple as loading and unloading the car unfortunately.
I don't think we want mad cow disease so every grain of dust and dirt would need to be cleaned off before it left Oz customs. There is another $500.

[Cheech]

Fellow AFF members be aware that importing a car can be an expensive experience. You need to consider the following costs:

1. Origin shipping agent charges (AUD 500)
2. Seafreight charges ( approx US 1600 each way = AUD 4266.66)
3. Local port charges ( Approx AUD 500 )
4. Customs clearance charges ( approx AUD 250 )
5. Duty & GST & customs fees ( N/A on temp import but you may have to lodge a cash security with Customs which will be refunded on export)
6. AQIS Clearance fees + any treatments eg. Fumigation / Cleaning ( approx AUD 350 )
7. Transport to you as its not road registered. ( Approx AUD 250 )
8. Re-Export customs clearance charges ( approx AUD 600 )
9. Customs clearance back in UK. ( UNknown cost )

You also need an MVSA import permit BEFORE you ship the vehicle.
You cannot sell the vehicle here without losing the cash security.
Renewal of the one year limit is at Customs Discretion.

SO total cost = Approx AUD 6700.
Not really worth it, is it ?

PS. I am a Customs Broker in Sydney.
PSS. I've copied some info from my previous post in "Shipping Kaos" in the "The Bar".