Thread: Importing a Disco from UK to Aus - our experience.

I have just completed import of our 2004 Discovery TD5 from UK to Australia so while the experience is fresh I thought it might be worth jotting down a few notes on how we did it. This is not meant to be a comprehensive guide, just what we did.

We had already applied for and been granted, permanent residency visas under an employer sponsored labour agreement. My employer assisted with my move but the car was not part of the deal - I had to pay for it myself. To qualify I had to demonstrate that I owned and used the car myself in the UK for at least 12 months prior to export. That precluded buying a newer car as we had less than 12 months notice of the move. (As an aside, you can’t buy an Australian spec car in the UK but our car did not need any modification in any case).

First stage was to apply for an import licence. We did this from the UK. You will need to prove ownership and useage of the car. Documents that you need to copy are the V5, purchase receipts and every page of your passport, I also threw in a photocopy of all our tax discs. You need to pay $50 for the licence and it has to be paid on an Australian bank account. It took about 6 weeks for a copy of the licence to arrive with a promise of the full and original documents once I had an Australian address.

Next stage was to contact a shipper - I used the same company that was shipping the rest of our stuff. I cleaned the car thoroughly, got her valeted then took the car to their depot, presented my import licence and other documents left the car with them and took a train home.

Then we emigrated.....

Once we had an address, I wrote back to the licencing authority to get the originals of the import licence. Then we waited, and waited, for word that the car had arrived. I got the shippers to use their own agent to get the car through customs. This involved getting the car valued and paying customs against that valuation.

Then the car went on to quarantine. This took about a day. The car passed first time and did not need a steam clean or any other work.

(Brits should start paying attention now because it gets complicated - Aussies be ready to roll your eyes as this poor Pom tries to explain rego....)

To get the car onto the road I needed to get it insured, then take it for a ‘blue slip’ inspection then take those papers to the local RTA office to get a set of number plates.
Insurance is in 2 phases - ‘green slip’ insurance is your compulsory third party insurance, fully comp is a separate, optional policy. I phoned around and took out both policies with the same company. At this stage the car was still unregistered but this did not phase the insurance company at all and I was not hammered on my premium. The RTA website lists approved testing stations who can issue a blue slip and weighbridge ticket and I took the car to the nearest one to my home for inspection. The inspection took about 10 mins and about 20 mins to fill out the paperwork. The only pick up was that the engine number was corroded and unreadable, 2 mins with a Dremel and a brass brush sorted that out. The inspecting station then applied for a compliancy plate for the car. However, the compliancy plate could only be issued to the address on the import licence, which was my now defunct UK address. I solved this by writing to the issuing company with proof of ID and my Australian address and the plate was issued. I took the plate back to the inspector who fitted it and issued my blue slip.

Next stop was the local RTA office. I presented the blue slip, insurance papers, weighbridge ticket, import papers, original purchase receipt and UK V5 and was issued with a pair of number plates.

At the same time, I presented my UK licence and got an Australian one in return.

Only remaining action was to phone up my insurance company and let them know our registration number.

Best part of the whole process was the look on the kids’ faces when ‘Daisy’ finally came home!

Total cost? About £6000

Originally Posted by Daisy Driver

Last time that head won I bought a Renault Laguna .

No offence intended, but inside your head must be an interesting place to be!