Thread: importing a 90 tdi

yeah well i dont know about England but I priced shipping from America and it was about 2-3k, but remember you will have to pay 10% gst and 5% duty tax to get it here.

Good luck

I'm not sure if the rules have changed since I migrated here nearly 5 years ago, but back then you had to have owned the car for a year, and prove it was available for YOU to drive regularly (So no buying on eBay, storing it for a year then shipping it over!) before you'd be granted the right to bring it in.

The info you want is here, and from a brief read it seems the regulations are much the same - pre-1989 vehicles, or a personal import meeting the conditions I outlined above.

Have a read of this thread, loads of useful information there

Importing to Aus

I think the only way you can do it is to buy a pre-89 car, there are different regulations around importing vehicles of that age that don't require ownership for a year. I'd have a talk to these guys as well, they could source you one and rebuild it to your spec using a pre-89 donor with whatever running gear you want. As a minimum though I'd be putting a galvanised chassis under it, anything that's been exposed to our salty roads will be knackered, or well on its way to being knackered. Galv chassis swaps are quite cheap.

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As for shipping costs, based on my enquiries it's £1800 for a 20ft container and you'll have to list everything in it. You could ship it roll on roll off and save a load, but you'll not be able to put anything in or on the car, it'll likely get pinched. The paperwork is fairly impressive but it's all doable.

I'll be shipping my car next year, once we're settled in Melbourne.

Yep forget it if you have not owned it for one year and can show a gas bill power bill rates etc in the country of origin.
Or it must be an 89 or earlier vehicle.
Or a race car or vehicle not intended to be road registered.

And by the time you spend a couple of thousand on freight, plus pay gst, plus import taxes and duties, you are up for a fair bit to get it complianced as all the items must meet Australian standards if you are going to register it. Seatbelts usually have to be replaced with aus complianced ones, full mechanical inspection etc etc. Your costs could be phenomenal.

Unlikely to recoup the cost of it as a commercial proposition mate.

And remember that the new 90's sold here were only complianced as 2 seaters, I think we are the only country in the world that do not accept the factory station wagon (Estate), I was told that it was a not so level playing field favouring Japanese coy's, also they do not recognise the folding forward facing rear seats

You would be best off importing an ex-MOD soft top with rear seats,with a sick non turbo motor (engine model not sold here) then fitting a 300TDI and get it complianced as a private import

Originally Posted by tangus89

Hey
I am looking at importing a 90 300tdi/td5 from the UK. I am thinking of going over after Christmas to look at them, then throw one in a container and ship it back. a few questions. how hard is it to import one? has anyone imported one before? (i assume its the same as any other car). what sort of approximate shipping am i looking at? (i was thinking 2-3 grand - way off?)
and also was thinking well seeing as i am importing one, why not just buy another two (3 will fit in a 40ft container) import them and sell them here. how much interest is there in people buying 300tdi or td5 90's ? and also fill the rest of the space in the container with other landy parts.

cheers
Tangus

Easy to import 1, or 2, or 3. We are importing a few next month. Shipping one 3k, it gets less as you can put 3 90,s in a 40ft iso. add another 4k for costs here. As for interest here, ummm, tyre kickers abound.