GGG mentioned about me doing a post on importing a car into Aussie here is mine, I had intended to do this much earlier but due to family circumstances I have just got around to doing so.
Please correct where I have missed something it was a while ago.

And yes it was worth it for me and I would do it again. Car Import from the UK. Prices March 2020 prices Ł and AU$

Warning I may have missed some details, this is just some I hope helpful information.



Car Import from the UK. Prices March 2020 prices Ł and AU$

Warning I may have missed some details, if it’s wrong don’t blame or sue me.. this is just, I hope, helpful information.

At time of writing shipping costs were high due pandemic.

You need to own the car for a year under the personal import scheme. Information about required documents:

Personal Imports Option (infrastructure.gov.au)



Apply for import permit Ł50, about 4 weeks to come through.

Once that comes through decide how to ship it, RORO (Ł1280), shared container with other cars (Ł1100), sole car container (Ł1600) or ship with your household contents which I went for Ł5K. Export fee of about Ł40 if doing it yourself.

RORO is the cheapest but due covid there are reduced car transporters from the UK-Australia. A number of people said they are fine with cars even very expensive ones.

Single and shared car container will incur a handling fee for unloading at depot ($500)

Take Loads of photos and I mean loads should the worst happen you at least have something to show the insurance company or should you decide not to insure it, they can remind yourself what it used to look like… containers do fall of ships and ships do sink.

Get it insured for the transit, about 2% but peace of mind, insurance will generally stop when it’s out of the container so I got my normal comprehensive car insurance from the date it arrived. Shop around for Marine insurance, cheapest option.

I chose to ship with house contents option, with a 40-foot container, they will load the contents and then build a wall separating the car from the goods. It is secured to hooks on the container floor with straps through the wheels, caution with Carbon Ceramic discs as they can be easily damaged. Be careful about loading goods on a floor section above the car, apparently this has been done and they have been known to collapse in rough seas. Shipping with household goods method saved me some import tax as you are charge duty on both shipping and insurance cost. If you go shared with personal effects ask the shipping agent what proportion of freight was the car. It all helps.

If you do put it in a container yourself, remember to drain the windscreen washer fluid, don’t worry about A/C gas as it’s a personal import, does not count. Don’t put stuff in the car unless you want to lose it or pay extra import taxes. Run the fuel level down, but leave enough for moving it around. I just ran it till the refill light illuminated. You can give it a really good clean so will not have to pay $500+ for it to be done at the behest of Australian Quarantine, but you will fail as they will always find a reason to have it cleaned. Mine was a leaf in the engine bay, yea!! I was told it would happen so not surprised. Some UK shipping companies suggest having an expensive deep clean, doing it in the UK at a few hundred pounds, forget it, it will still will not pass quarantine.

You will MUST disconnect the battery, wrap the connector in a cloth so it protects it and can’t flop around, my battery is in the back of the car with an electric boot, so I prevented the boot from shutting fully during transit. I charged it fully and even after 6 weeks not being connected it was fine to start the car (assumption here as I wasn’t charged for a battery charge/start)



Don’t ship just close to the 1st March, the container companies put the rates up on that day and you will get stung for an increase in charges, mine was Ł800 nothing I can do as they have your car and goods, you will not see them again unless you pay and they will charge you storage till you do pay, good ruse hay..



After it arrived the car and contents went separate ways, as I used a shipping company for my household goods, their agent sorted all the paperwork for both, saved me having to find my own agent. If you ship it yourself you will need a handling agent in for the paperwork. RORO at Kemble (Sydney Port) were very helpful and provided handling agent details but I couldn’t get it out in time to use them.



You need a valuation ($300) to get a “Landed Price”, that is before all taxes which apply to cars which are imported into Aussie. I was told and it seemed about right, that they should be about 50% of market value here in Aussie. You may miss the Luxury Car Tax threshold; rates for LCT keep changing each year so check with the government website. Luxury car tax rate and thresholds | Australian Taxation Office (ato.gov.au) They do not need to look at the car to value it just see what the market value would be for that spec and work backwards.

This need to be done by someone who is approved. (Search engines). I originally contacted a chap to see how much he charged for importing it for me and valuation, he told me the price he would value the car at, however typically, because I didn’t use him for transporting the car, due shipping household goods together, he actually turned out to be the person my import agent used, so he stung me by giving me a higher value for the car than the one he said he would use if I used him.

This valuation will generate a bill for import duty, GST and maybe LCT, once you pay it whey will then release the car for you to have shipped or picked up.

Quarantine Charges - PE + VEHICLE 1,650.00
Customs Formal Entry Fee 400.00
Expert Valuation - Motor vehicle 296.00
Port Congestion 986.60 ( Yea)

Import tax/GST/LCT depends on car value

GST, Duty & Luxury Car Tax Calculator for importing to Australia (tauruslogistics.com.au)

Agent Handling agent fees and probably others I forgot about.



Once you get your car here and it has cleared quarantine, depending on which state you are in you have to decide how to get it home. I am in Canberra so needed to get it from Sydney. Shipping was about $800-900. However, one thing in Australia is you may/can (State dependent) get a “unregistered vehicle permit” This allows you to drive a road legal vehicle while unregistered. Get it from your local government Access Centre, comes with 3rd party insurance and allows you drive from A to B even if B is out of State. Cost about $50 for one day. You will use another one when you go to get your Vehicle inspected for being roadworthy, (Import Compliance Plate which is stuck to your car) import agents will say they will do this for you $800+ but it is easy to do yourself and cost $75.00. This is not to the same standards as an MOT, they check vehicle VIN and engine numbers match, make certain everything works but no emissions check (ACT).

You then send the paperwork off to the Plate manufacture (Niddrie Compliance Plates) pay $102 a week later get a plastic sticker which you then have to go back to the inspection station (UVP again) to tell you where to stick the thing.

Then go to your local Access Centre pay your rego (comes with 3rd party insurance) and because it’s a first-time registration, you will pay State duty on the value of the car, Motor vehicle duty | ACT Revenue Office - Website

This for me was another $6K

Arrange Fully comp insurance, as an import Imported Vehicles | Find an insurer

I used Ryno, for me good. Shannons is probably the largest and has a good rep but when I tried to correct a mistake they made on the valuation (where they left off over 40K of factory extras in carbon ceramic brakes) they refused as “they don’t make mistakes” that was enough for me not to use them.

You will notice insurance is more expensive here and seeing the way people ignore amber traffic lights I am not surprised.

 

Great write up.

That's a lot of steps involved and a big chunk of money. I better understand now why used Jaguars are so expensive in Australia.

Graham

 

Im in canberra also love to get in touch as i want to bring in XKR from Scotland. Im on 0401 867 655