Thread: Importing-Personal or pre '89

I have no experience, but I doubt there is much difference in paperwork, procedure etc. But I suspect the charges may be less for personal. A search on the Customs (now Borderforce) website should be able to find out.

John

I don't think there will much difference. However the laws will be changing in 2018. Refer the follow the following web site for the current situation.

https://infrastructure.gov.au/vehicles/imports/

But it is critical to get everything in order and approved before your car gets on the boat to oz. Once the car is legally in the country then each state has different requirements to get the car registered, to get these details start with a Google of the relevant state and vehicle registration.

Cheers

Steve

hello, this is my first post here.
we are in south africa and will be importing via the pre 1984 option...

please, if anyone has experience with this procedure i would love to hear how it went?

Cheers

The Bruces.

About 6 years ago I imported a vehicle from Canada. It is a '52 model.
It is undergoing a full restoration so yet to try and register it. A friend imported it for me and did all of the paper work, and he picked it up from customs and I picked it up from his yard in regional Victoria. Had no issues bringing it in. Was lucky they did not decide to steam clean it so saved some money there.
Only thing I did was give it a good wash before getting it transported to my mates holding yard in Canada.
I have been told by my mate (who has imported 100's of vehicles in various states of repair) there is no rhime nor reason to how customs decides which cars they want to give a steam cleaning too. He has seen immaculate detailed cars get steam cleaned and old dirty ones not. So budget in a steam clean on arrival.

Originally Posted by Bruce

hello, this is my first post here.
we are in south africa and will be importing via the pre 1984 option...

please, if anyone has experience with this procedure i would love to hear how it went?

Cheers

The Bruces.

There is currently an issue here where Australian customs/quarantine are taking a zero tolerance to asbestos and targeting classic car imports. Customs management of this is very Ad Hoc at present and still evolving so beware as pre 1984 cars will undoubtedly have some asbestos somewhere.

A bit of googling will give you lots of reading!

Cheers

Steve

Originally Posted by Rok_Dr

There is currently an issue here where Australian customs/quarantine are taking a zero tolerance to asbestos and targeting classic car imports. Customs management of this is very Ad Hoc at present and still evolving so beware as pre 1984 cars will undoubtedly have some asbestos somewhere.

A bit of googling will give you lots of reading!

Cheers

Steve

+1 to the above.... I imported my 2013 Defender from Malaysia almost a year ago. (Personal import, as I had owned and used it from new - meeting all the requirements for personal import).

I had to get letters stating that there is no asbestos used in the vehicle (from LR) or in replacement brake pads I used (from manufacturer). They are getting tough on it.

I did a personal import on my 1996 Camel Trophy 110 in 2013, it was shipped from Swakopmund Namibia to Perth, get an agent is the best advice, and whilst it has probably changed the customs were very slack, we found camel thorn branches still in the roof rack and Kalahari sand through the vehicle... we had relied on someone else to clean it as we waited for approval but in the end it was very easy. And they valued it at $2700 so duty was marginal.

With respect to Asbestos, Australian border force only started to have a zero tolerance attitude to it in classic cars in the last year, despite the regulations being in place since 2003. For cars manufactured in the 2000’s they should be OK as asbestos was progressively removed during the 90’s from components such as brake pads, clutch plates, gaskets etc.

The problem is cars older than that or which come from places such as the USA which has a more relaxed attitude to asbestos in aftermarket parts. Cars resident in Australia and sent overseas for restoration or for travel are also not exempt when they come back in.

The following links give some detail and a few horror stories.

Australia, Asbestos and Collector Cars

https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/Custo...ce-2017-21.pdf

https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/Impor...the-border.pdf

Global Maserati Gathering soured by Border Force

Inaccurate claims around asbestos testing of classic cars - All News - Australian Border Force Newsroom

Cheers
Steve