Bringing a car back from overseas

[T3rminator]

Has anyone here had recent experience with bringing a personal car back from overseas? i.e. you lived overseas, bought a car, moved to australia and brought the car back. What sort of cost would one be looking at to get this done?

Also, can you send a car back to oz (say to a family member) that you have owned for more than 12 months overseas, but not actually come back to live for good yourself?

[gcg2503]

Been in the same position

basically you can bring a car back as a personal import but you must be able to prove you have owned it greater than 12 mths

you need to get permission to import the vehicle as well from the relevant govt dept in your state

please note, the following costs per my research when i was in london and looking into it

cost of car
add shipping
add insurance
add gst
total price
then add luxury car tax
customs clearance fees etc etc

it can be quite risky because you are essentially gambling on the cars worth when you buy it now on what it may be worth in a year back in oz

as a grey import it will be less than an aussie equivalent (if imported here)

I myslef decided against it as it was too hard!

all the best in your quest

PS: where you at in LDN and what are you doing there? I did 6 years and had to eject out for my sanity

[gcg2503]

here is the spreadsheet i was working off

hope it helps

[T3rminator]

I was there for working holiday in the last 12 months. Had too much fun (the parties, the european girls ehehe) and managed to score a work permit so will be heading back longer term.

I got back yesterday and this place feels like a ghost town :P The drive in the TE50 was insanely awesome though........missed it so much!!!

I was thinking of getting a BMW Z4 (decent one can be had for GBP 10-13k) then bringing it back here in the future. Thanks for the spreadsheet I'll take a look.

Do you know if you can personal import it back to Oz without coming back to live for good?

[gcg2503]

didnt look at it from that perspective sorry mate!

i could see no reason why not though

[RSgerry]

as gcg2503has said, be careful with teh grey imports. they can be worth considerably less than a factory imported car. i knew someone who tried to make a few bucks out of a 944 and ended up losing quite a few dollars. silly things like speedo being in mph rather than kmh etc. if you are looking at keeping the car for a while, then it could be a cheaper way to own a Z4, but if it is a money-making idea, be very careful.