Importing cars

[Black XR6]

I am considering for a future plan importing a car from the US. I want to hear from those who have done it.

What advice they could give?
What company handled the import/export?
Was it an american based company or Aus?
What troubles they ran into?
How much it cost total at the end of the day not including the GST etc which will vary? But the straight import charges.

Anything else you may want to share.

I wont say what car im thinking of yet as it will be atleast a year off. Im just in the beginning phase of planning.

[Black XR6]

Surely someone has had experience with this?

[PH47]

Not personally but a friend did.

I can try get details of who he used etc.

He imported an Impala from the US, used an american company to handle it all I know that much, but had the advantage of family friends living over there who checked out the car and helped organise that end.

Will see what I can find out though..

[Black XR6]

Cheers

[BJ]

How old are the cars you want to bring in. IF they aren't older than 25 years you want get them complied.

[EBII Fairmont]

Hi black xr6,

I am currently about to finish my studines in international business, which mainly consists of importing and exporting. One of my assignments was to choose a product and import it. So i decided to import a mustang from america. Now a word of advice. If you do not know much about importing or even tried it before, don't bother. Now i say that because if you don't know about all the different types of laws and all the rest of it, your pretty much screwed, and try talking to customs, they are bloody difficult on getting information out of them. Look for a company and who know people over in america and can bring it over for you. It will cost more for you to get someone to bring it over than you, but if you do the slightest mistake on paper work, you won't be seeing that car for a fair bit of time till everything is sorted out.

This guy i know imported two mustangs from the US in the last 2 years. If i see him soon, ill get the details, as he has paid for these cars very cheaply, but they have been pretty good. You won't be able to pick one up in australia in the same condition for the emmount he did.

Ill try get some more details for you for shipping one over. Also the car has to be crystal clean, or else it will go into quarantine, and trust me, you don't want that to happen. You will look at the bill and you will faint. But its best you get someone else to do the work for you, as it may cost you dearly if you slip up somewhere along the lines.

Bill

[Racecraft]

send a pm to dodge.. he imported that Mustang direct from the states

[Black XR6]

The age of the car would be around 30 yeas +

I wouldnt be handling the importation of the car myself. That would be handled by a specialist company. Ill drop dodge a PM. Thanks Racecraft.

Thanks for the help peoples.

[GTP 320]

Yeah i was going to say the same thing PM Dodge,he's had experience.
Cheers John

[Transit Truck]

I want to import a brand new F-350 top of the range, so it would be interesting reading this thread...

Anyone know much about steering wheel conversions?

[buickman]

I imported a 1982 Corvette Collector Edition in 1994.
I went with a freind on his bussiness trip into the states. My main target was a 65/66 Mustang fastback. But being the 30th anniversary of the Mustang somehow the price from 1992 when I was there previously had sky rocket through the roof in prices.(e.g A 1965 clean 6cyl for $9,000US far to dear)
I attened car swapmeets such as Pomona, Long beach & at the mesa sports stadium in San Diego where most half decent ones where over $8 grand US I came across a guy selling the vette in Gilroy outside San fransico at 7 hours drive nth. So I made the trip & bargined the guy down to $6,300US dollars.
Drove it back to Los Angeles to a trucking yard in Long Beach to be shipped back to Australia.Was the only time I did do it but here are some tips.

1/ Know the exact year & make of car you want import into Australia.( makes it simpler) try for a older car its easyer

2/ Contact importing broker in Aust who will give you a trucking yard to drop the car off at.They handle all the paper work there.

3/ If the car is a late model you will have to have a vehicle import approval which means you need a compliance plate before you sell it or a $12,000 fine some do it. I don't know how though.

4/ A pink slip or certifcate of tilte plus a DMV bill of sale in the U.S.

5/ I used a 20ft reefer cheaper about $1,200 us( A food container that needs to come back to Aust) & loaded mine & friends other items into it as well as the car. I had the direct route to Aust faster & safer (eta 17 days from LA to Melbourne )

6/ A few unexpected costs from customs like for a $8,489 AU a duty of $2546au plus $200au quarrantine stamp $400US for the trucking company over in the states to load & $500 AUs here to the trucking company's to unload and store. plus I think it was about $200-400 for the brokers fees.

Good experience could have done it cheaper using somone elses container going the China route in a 40ft.But thought the container would be lost either at sea or some sleazey Russian or Asia wharf mafia schemers.

All up the car cost me about $14grand then another $9grand the convert compliance & rwc & reg Total $23,000 approx to drive & be able to get insurance.

I used a guy called Darren Waugh connot remember his ph/n & George Morrales trucking yard in Long Beach CA.
As this was 10 years ago some things with grey imports might have changed .
Ring the Dept of Transport in Canberra on (06) 2747506 they will send you a information kit on importing cars into Australia A pic of the Corvette I imported

buickman

[Black XR6]

Thanks buikman. What was the $2546 aud for? That seem very high, like a 1/4 of the cost of the car.

I wont be going over to the US before making the purchase. Or atleast I dont plan to. I would be relying on private company to do independant inspection of the car prior to me buying. Maybe even two different inspections to make sure. Then go from there.

Nice vette.

[buickman]

Mate I was shell shocked at the theiving Goverments stamp duty on that myself. The car cost about 8,500au dollars then all these hidden costs for duty. But the car was in very good nick so in the end it was worth it. Unfortuntatly due to family commitmentsI sold it in !998 + made a profit. But a couple of years back I saw thecar advertised I think unique cars for $42 grand so if he got that for it he would of made a profit

As the Mexican help Loading the container said this cars goooood man but most of you Australians buy same trashed out cars to ship back home.
Refering to the many POS Mustangs & *** cars in the yard to be shipped & restored in Australia including a 67 Mustang with a feral cat with kittens inside it.

buickman

[Black XR6]

67 Mustang with a feral cat with kittens inside it.

Lol, quarantine would have loved that

[LTDHO]

CRUSHU is currently over there now and is bringing a Muastang back

[bluovl]

Dont know if this will help at all but here goes.

I brought a 69 convertible Mustang out from the U.S. just about 5 years back.
I know a guy that goes to the U.S. a couple of times a year so I asked him if he could keep an eye out for a 69 convertible. He found me one just a few days before he was due to fly back home. It was a good solid car but needed a full resto. Originally it was a 'full house' car, loaded with stacks of options.
Things like factory speed control (cruise control in 1969) tilt & swing away wheel, deluxe interior, power top etc. It came minus the motor & box.
Good news was if I bought the car it also came with slightly bent 1970 coupe, a Grande (lux interior etc). This coupe was cut up for parts. The coupe came with 351, auto and another 9". Getting all this was a bonus.
Paid $4500 u.s. for everything when the dollar was around .58 cents.

Getting back to your original questions, main thing is to make sure the car you buy comes with a clear title. In other words make sure you get the rego papers. This is the main thing the U.S. shipping yard will need to clear the car for export. I was lucky in that my man in Los Angeles was able to get all this sorted when he picked up the cars.

The freight yard I used was Cerritos, near Orange County. Unfortunately this yard shut a couple of years back so I cant recommend any yards.

Documentation this end was handled by Smith International in Castlemaine, Vic. Nick Smith organised the import approval with the Department of Transport. He also sorted my customs ($215), unpacking at the docks ($220),
paid the freight company ($1650), loading in Los Angeles ($700) and GST, duty etc. All up I paid $3400 Aus to get it here. A bit higher because of the low value of the dollar at that time. You can save yourself hundreds if you buy when the dollar is good, even from day to day fluctuations.

Biggest problem I reckon your going to face is finding a person to trust in the U.S to honestly appraise any car you might find. It would be worth the plane fare to get over there and look around yourself. What you spend could end up saving you thousands. I dont know if us aussies do the same, but some other countries have different ideas of what is a good restorable classic, and what is a piece of junk. I've been at the docks when cars have been unpacked and what was supposed to be a good restorer have been only good for the odd part here and there. Not even restorable.

I reckon it might be a good idea to check out the Just Mustangs website.
They offer to import a car for $3150 Aus, not including the GST.
This is hopefully the link http://www.justmustangs.com.au/transport.html
Steve Lond is also mentioned in the link. He runs Mustangs of Melbourne and is the President of the Victorian branch of the Mustang Owners Club.
He's been into this sort of thing for years and would definately be worth speaking to.

Overall my import was a good experience, and one I will definately be doing again.

Hope this may have been of some help, sorry for rambling.

Dale

[buickman]

Do a trip over there & have a holiday as well. But unless you want to bring other items in as well ( e.g engine parts, wheels & personal items) cheaper to use a importer to bring it in for you All you have to do is deliver the car to their trucking yard over there with pink slip (rego) & DMV (bill of sale). they will handle exporting paperwork for you & hand back the papers for you to give to the importer.

buickman

[Black XR6]

As i said I wont be heading back there to make the purchase. I only just arrived back from there. I will be researching some independant inspection companies and probably get two seperate companies to check it over for me just to be sure.

The yanks seem to have a grading system for cars condition. 1-5. 1 being fully restored, 5 being rusted bomb. Id be after a condition 2 vehicle.

I will continue researching.

[OzJavelin]

Biggest problem I reckon your going to face is finding a person to trust in the U.S to honestly appraise any car you might find. It would be worth the plane fare to get over there and look around yourself. What you spend could end up saving you thousands. I dont know if us aussies do the same, but some other countries have different ideas of what is a good restorable classic, and what is a piece of junk.

My personal opinion is that most Americans you deal with via "specialist" message boards (eg. I'm a member of AMC and CBody Mopar boards), etc are very honest people. Dealing with them buying parts I have ALWAYS been very happy with what I've purchased. I cannot say the same for stuff I've bought "long-distance" in Australia. I currently have '70 Fury convertible in pieces in a shed because the a-hole who inspected it in Qld (a paid inspection; PM me and I'll tell you which "well-known" company it was) was either a liar, stupid or blind. It's condition was NOTHING like what it was said to be ..
Anyway, sorry to sidetrack the thread. Goodluck with the import.
BTW: What are you looking at bringing in???

[Black XR6]

That exact problem is the reason I would probably use two seperate companies to perform inspections on the car.

I wont say what im looking at at the moment. It wont be happening for atleast a year i would imagine. Ill do more research on it and if it proves viable go from there.

[OzJavelin]

OK .. I'll take a guess. My guess is a '70 Torino GT? [ XA-XC Falcons are too expensive so you're going the cheap route? :voldar02: ]