Moving to Australia and bringing the Disco

[Daisy Driver]

Sorry if this is not in the right place. We are planning a move to Australia in August. Our Disco has 90k miles and is on the original clutch and exhaust. We've had her since '07 at 22k miles. Only faults to date have been a duff clutch master, injector loom and the parking sensors threw a wobbly last week. The car is clean and (almost unmarked) and if we weren't moving we would be keeping her for at least the forseeable. With lots of kids we need a 7 seater. Cars in Australia appear to be expensive by comparison so importing ours is beginning to look attractive. Does anyone have experience or thoughts about this? Are there any Australians (or ex pats) with thoughts or experience about this?

[bee utey]

Some recent info here:

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/general-chat/120705-my-visa-has-been-granted.html

[twodoors]

Greetings,

Our biggest regret was NOT bringing over our 'fleet' of vehicles!!!

I came over with a group of 80.... WE ALL REGRET NOT BRINGING OUR CARS OVER....

That said look at the cost of shipping said vehicle... If it goes in a container with your households they WILL NOT fill the car with personal stuff... ( so don't think it as an easy way of shipping stuff) Approx £2500 - 3500 we were quoted..

Allow a couple of Aus$ grand for tax/rego/adr compliance etc..

Vehicle will need some mods... child seat restraints/speedo.. also car will need to be totally de-gassed aircon wise.

Now work out what you can sell your truck for over there...

THEN google over here and do a price comparison of what you can get...

The selection of vehicles from state to state varies quite a lot...

Transfering ownership between states will cost you a %age value of the declared value of car!!!!Best to buy in the state you are living...

HOWEVER you will be bringing a car you know the ins and outs of and that may well be worth $4000 in itself....

If you do bring over make sure It is fully serviced and ALL the BIG SERVICE ITEMS / CONSUMABLES ie Discs/Pads/clutch/Maf/Fuel Pump... (Make sure No leaks....) are done over there as prices are a fraction there compared to here.... Also big tyres/snorkel/lift etc stuff...(paid $225 for a britparts dog guard here....£150ish... UK listing is £56!!!!!) You may already be friends with Rimmer Bros,Paddocks,Craddocks RPI V8 Engineering make them relatives before you do the move!!

As I said it may have cost us just over / equal what we 'have' here BUT it would have been less in the long run...

Hope this helps

WE moved over here with Ridgeways... VERY VERY GOOD.

Give us a shout if I can assist further....

P.S Bring everything you can!!! There isn't a Screwfix /B+Q here!!

James

[Milkman Dan]

There are a couple of threads I believe around about personal importing.

Good luck.

[jerryd]

A move I'm sure you won't regret for you or your family ;) I opted out of bringing our Landrover with us as you can find good rust free examples here, although with the dollar rate as it is, it might be in your favour to bring it with you.
Good luck with the move :twobeers:

[p38arover]

Unless it is totally rust free, I wouldn't bother. Getting rid of rust is expensive and you will need to do that to register them here.

Rust free vehicles are easy to find here. When I sold my '86 Rangie in 2002, it was like new on the chassis - not a trace of rust.

[blackbuttdisco]

There is no pound or dollar cost to the hassles that can occur. Moving is a big enough job and traumatic anyway. Make life easier for yourselves, buy a LR in Oz. You can still buy your parts from UK and you will not pay UK VAT! So you save 20%.

[muddymech]

That said look at the cost of shipping said vehicle... If it goes in a container with your households they WILL NOT fill the car with personal stuff... ( so don't think it as an easy way of shipping stuff) Approx £2500 - 3500 we were quoted..


we were allowed to fill 90 when we bought it over from uk. only space i left was for driver.
might depend on which shipping company u use.
ian

[twodoors]

we were allowed to fill 90 when we bought it over from uk. only space i left was for driver.
might depend on which shipping company u use.
ian

All I can say is as we found/were told at the time.... Its not to do with the company BUT the authorities... The car is supposed to be removed and taken to bonding,pending the checks etc immediately and items NOT to be separated from it...... Unless legislation has changed... again differing states.. different countries!!!.. And Law.....

James

[twodoors]

There is no pound or dollar cost to the hassles that can occur. Moving is a big enough job and traumatic anyway. Make life easier for yourselves, buy a LR in Oz. You can still buy your parts from UK and you will not pay UK VAT! So you save 20%.


Again advised 2 others to bring over and they 'cleaned' the car... drove it into the box. Forgot about it for 4 weeks... Made an appointment for checks.. Made an appointment at the fix it garage and another vehicle check immediately after. Waited 3 weeks.... Turned up with jump pack spent 6 hrs with check, ADR alterations and re-check paid their money and drove home....

Trauma Nil

BIG Smiles - LOTS

Again do your research in advance... Life is then easy and potentially cheaper than taking on an unknown bag of nails... Especially as they have known their car from as good as Birth....


AND again it would appear he is talking about a Disco from 2006ish and won't need to worry over rust anyway...

James

[Reads90]

There is no problem bringing the car over from the Uk
As long as you meet the regs pay the import duty and gst. But the car has to be speacial to be worth it.

But I would not bother will a disco as there are plenty here and as already said they really don't know what rust is here in Aus ( they will tell you they do but really they don't )

An imported Disco will always be worth alot less than an LRA bought one and you will always have a problem insuring it due to the fact or is an import. To a car yard an imported truck is worth nothing. Yeah I imported my 90 but that is different and rare in Aus , but a disco, there are loads of them around here and for sale with alot less rust than yours has and I can say that with out even looking at yours as I know what Uk cars are like with rust .

BTW my 90 came in a container with my personal stuff. The car was full of spare parts for the car and camping stuff. Not too overloaded but all my furniture was packed around it. The container was about £2000 to ship from Southampton to Brisbane and took 5 weeks. And don't do roll on roll off as only half the car will be there when it gets to Aus. I was told this by the bloke that organises the roll on roll boats for land rover at Southampton docks


Ali


Sent from my iPhone

[Ivan]

Same as Ali above. Brought our 2 90's over with us. Cost was about 3,500 GBP for a 40 foot container. Filled the back of both 90's with stuff and had no problems with Customs etc. We did have to pay an extra $30 AUD for the extra inspection but was not a real problem. I had both 90's professionally steam cleaned and waxoyled underneath, both passed AQIS inspection with no problems. I have now started to rebuild my 90 and you should see the mud and crap that's coming off it which was missed by AQIS :p.

HTH

Ivan

[Disco44]

I have now started to rebuild my 90 and you should see the mud and crap that's coming off it which was missed by AQIS :p.

HTH

Ivan

Ivan that's not really that funny.The UK has many nasties that we don't have in Australia..foot and mouth is just one of them and it was rife when I was last over there.It would devastate our live stock industry if it came here.What did you do with the mud?

[Daisy Driver]

Guys

Have been reading your replies and this is what strikes me:

1. British and Australian definitions of rust are very different
2. Getting the admin sorted is important and there are no corners to cut
3. Australia does not want contaminated vehicles entering the country - get over it and get it steam cleaned.
4. Those that didn't import their vehicle generally wish they had.
5. But a lot of people warn against the admin hassle

I'm having a long think. If we were not leaving the country we would not be disposing of daisy but if leaving for a LHD country we would sell up and buy in country. The hard maths are that we can, in theory, import the car for much less than (cost of import- what we can get for her in UK).

I am seriously impressed with the amount of interest my frankly standard question has generated. Many thanks to all for your interest. You can be assured that when we get to Australia that we will be driving something from Solihull (and maybe Abingdon), I will keep you posted.

PS. Our kids are very clear on the subject: They love Daisy and I am inclined to agree with them. Don't tell us that 'it's just a car'

[Bigbjorn]

Interesting that some are allowed to stuff the vehicles with goods. I have imported a few cars from the USA and both the stevedoring firms and the shipping coys are definite about there being nothing inside the cars. At least one required books, tools, and spare tyre to be out of the car in a crate that travelled in the same container. This may be to prevent pillage. They do let you fill the container with appropriately packed goods if you are hiring a full container, not just space in one for a car.

[fraser130]

Greetings,

Our biggest regret was NOT bringing over our 'fleet' of vehicles!!!

I came over with a group of 80.... WE ALL REGRET NOT BRINGING OUR CARS OVER....

That said look at the cost of shipping said vehicle... If it goes in a container with your households they WILL NOT fill the car with personal stuff... ( so don't think it as an easy way of shipping stuff) Approx £2500 - 3500 we were quoted..

Allow a couple of Aus$ grand for tax/rego/adr compliance etc..

Vehicle will need some mods... child seat restraints/speedo.. also car will need to be totally de-gassed aircon wise.

Now work out what you can sell your truck for over there...

THEN google over here and do a price comparison of what you can get...

The selection of vehicles from state to state varies quite a lot...

Transfering ownership between states will cost you a %age value of the declared value of car!!!!Best to buy in the state you are living...

HOWEVER you will be bringing a car you know the ins and outs of and that may well be worth $4000 in itself....

If you do bring over make sure It is fully serviced and ALL the BIG SERVICE ITEMS / CONSUMABLES ie Discs/Pads/clutch/Maf/Fuel Pump... (Make sure No leaks....) are done over there as prices are a fraction there compared to here.... Also big tyres/snorkel/lift etc stuff...(paid $225 for a britparts dog guard here....£150ish... UK listing is £56!!!!!) You may already be friends with Rimmer Bros,Paddocks,Craddocks RPI V8 Engineering make them relatives before you do the move!!

As I said it may have cost us just over / equal what we 'have' here BUT it would have been less in the long run...

Hope this helps

WE moved over here with Ridgeways... VERY VERY GOOD.

Give us a shout if I can assist further....

P.S Bring everything you can!!! There isn't a Screwfix /B+Q here!!

James

I don't suppose you know anyone with a P38 DHSE that is planning to come over?????

(I know I'm dreaming - but hey, life would be boring without dreams!)

Cheers,
Fraser

[Bigbjorn]

I agree with Reads90 that the car has to be special to be worth the expense of importing. There are a lot of makes/models on the UK market that quite frankly are bloody rubbish. There are others that are outwardly the same as their sisters sold here but have not had engineering input to suit Oz conditions and these do not like heat and dust or being bounced around on our good roads let alone the bad ones. If they are five or more years old with a gutful of salt then they are pretty much worthless to a used car dealer and would usually be sent off to auction if traded in.

[Yorkshire_Jon]

Are you coming out on a work visa and are you getting a relocation allowance?

The reason I ask - thats what I did and it cost me (personally) virtually nothing to bring the 110 out. Like Reads90, my 110 is a bit special and for me even the $ value of the vehicle was worth it.

The process can be very easy, depending on how much you are willing to spend. If you do bring it out my advice would be not to skimp on the process.

For example, speak to Richard at www.karmanshipping.com (http://www.karmanshipping.com) he is very helpful. From memory I had a 20ft sole use container and it cost me 1800GBP. Then speak to Steve White at Cargo Online Motor Vehicle Import Approval - Personal Import Car Shipping to Australia (http://www.cargoonline.com.au/importapproval.php) (he and Richard work together from what I can gather) - Richard is in the UK and Steve is based in Sydney and receives that car from the dock and organises all the paperwork so you can collect and drive it away.

The moving process is quite stressful at the best of times and worrying about your car is one thing you can do without. I think the total cost of importing and registering my car was about AU $5500 (including the 1800GBP).

The hardest part of the process for me was obtaining the personal import paperwork from Camberra - they kept asking for silly things that only people who actually live in Australia would have... A dozen emails and %50 later though and all was sweet.


If you decide to bring the car out and "do it all yourself" at the same time as your trying to set up a home here and find your way around... Good luck!

Would I do it again... You bet I would, for a special / nice vehicle and I cant recommend the above two companies highly enough.

Hope that helps.
Jon

[dullbird]

Same as Ali above. Brought our 2 90's over with us. Cost was about 3,500 GBP for a 40 foot container. Filled the back of both 90's with stuff and had no problems with Customs etc. We did have to pay an extra $30 AUD for the extra inspection but was not a real problem. I had both 90's professionally steam cleaned and waxoyled underneath, both passed AQIS inspection with no problems. I have now started to rebuild my 90 and you should see the mud and crap that's coming off it which was missed by AQIS :p.


Ivan

Same here....we brought out 90 over too before it came we cleaned it and then had it professionally undersealed so it looked like new:)..

couple of months of it landing the gearbox needed a rebuild..the garage said they have NEVER seen or had so much Mud in their workshop:D

[MickS]

Ivan that's not really that funny.The UK has many nasties that we don't have in Australia..foot and mouth is just one of them and it was rife when I was last over there.It would devastate our live stock industry if it came here.What did you do with the mud?


Swine flu too....

[dullbird]

I don't think he is laughing at the mud more funny that Aqis never picked it up like they didn't on ours...we had no idea ours was there until the gearbox was pulled. yet they are supposed to be so stringent.

My car came out of the docks MUCH MUCH dirtier then it left the UK in fact I was annoyed at just how dirty the car was

As for Foot and Mouth when were you over in the UK I'm sure they have not had an outbreak for years?????

[Ivan]

Dullbird

Thanks for that you are quite correct. I was laughing about the fact that AQIS missed so much. I had no idea it was there (having had it professionally steam cleaned before it came over). AQIS are supposed to be so stringent but anyone with a torch would have seen it.

Ivan

[Disco44]

I don't think he is laughing at the mud more funny that Aqis never picked it up like they didn't on ours...we had no idea ours was there until the gearbox was pulled. yet they are supposed to be so stringent.

My car came out of the docks MUCH MUCH dirtier then it left the UK in fact I was annoyed at just how dirty the car was

As for Foot and Mouth when were you over in the UK I'm sure they have not had an outbreak for years?????

2001 and once there it can always crop up again.Australia's last outbreak was in the 1870's.We have been lucky that another has not occurred.We have never had rabies here too and what about those horses that got through with horse flu that nearly wiped the racing industry.

[Psimpson7]

For example, speak to Richard at www.karmanshipping.com (http://www.karmanshipping.com) he is very helpful. From memory I had a 20ft sole use container and it cost me 1800GBP.


I used Richard too when I brought mine over and he is excellent. Can't recommend them highly enough.

I used allports logistics when mine landed in BNE, at Richard suggestion and they were also great.

All Ports International Logistics (Qld) Pty Ltd
Ph 61 7 3862 1544
Fax 61 7 3862 1642

www.allports.com.au (http://www.allports.com.au/)


Car arrived safely, with everyting I had packed in it (a lot of stuff)

[dullbird]

2001 and once there it can always crop up again.Australia's last outbreak was in the 1870's.We have been lucky that another has not occurred.We have never had rabies here too and what about those horses that got through with horse flu that nearly wiped the racing industry.

This is true but I thought it only lasted months in the environment not years but I could be wrong. it is also easily killed by disinfectant and Heat it thrives in colder damp conditions I believe.

And the horses that got through yeah that wasn't good either but wasn't that due to the relaxing of the quarantine period? EI is quite rife in Uk and Europe however all horse in the UK have to have passports by law and thus be fully vaccinated so they are quite stringent on that part, but of course its like all things only the people that care do it.

Not sure what horse being let into the country with a disease has to do with having mud on the gearbox being missed though..:D unless your confirming that quarantine isn't as stringent these days:p:D

Oh and for the poster to keep it on subject we also packed heaps of stuff in the car the only space was a small one for the driver. Remember to have a good battery on the car that doesn't mind sitting for a couple of months disconnect it when it gets loaded as it has to start at the other end to drive it out of the docks;)

[kenleyfred]

Working as a courier I often get to pick up freight, take it to aqis for inspection and then deliver to customer.
No polite way to say this. I think all aqis inspectors ( that I have witnessed anyway) are incredibly lazy. None have ever looked more than an inch or two into any carton or crate that I have had to open up for them.
If they are our last line of defense on what comes into the country it is inevitable that something will get through soon.

So your stories about mud being still on the vehicle after paying for inspection does not surprise me.

[Disco44]

.

Not sure what horse being let into the country with a disease has to do with having mud on the gearbox being missed though..:D unless your confirming that quarantine isn't as stringent these days:p:D

Yes Dullbird that is what I am implying.After the horse flu outbreak AQIS was supposed to have had a big shake up.Alas that does not appear to have been the case.What next beggers me.
Cheers.

[Mike_S]

An ex-work colleague emigrated to Oz last July and after consulting me on the price of the same car in Oz, took his 3 year old / 90,000 mile Disco3 with him. He'd owned it from new, iirc it's a full spec HSE. Packed it to the roof with all his expensive electrical gear and various other things from home, then had it crated up. I'm sure the figures he was quoting were about £1500 landed and registered in Melbourne, which to me seemed a bargain.

He's now tooling around Melbourne in it, happy as a sandboy, the lucky swine.

[Reads90]

An ex-work colleague emigrated to Oz last July and after consulting me on the price of the same car in Oz, took his 3 year old / 90,000 mile Disco3 with him. He'd owned it from new, iirc it's a full spec HSE. Packed it to the roof with all his expensive electrical gear and various other things from home, then had it crated up. I'm sure the figures he was quoting were about £1500 landed and registered in Melbourne, which to me seemed a bargain.

He's now tooling around Melbourne in it, happy as a sandboy, the lucky swine.

As I said you have to look at Each car and see if it is worth it

Disco 3 full loaded maybe. Disco 1 or RRC or early 110 forget it


Sent from my iPhone