Bring a Land Rover to Australia???

[clyde]

Greetings folks, I signed up here over a month ago & am only getting around to posting now.

Myself and my wife are planning to move from Ireland to Australia (hopefully before Christmas) & we are trying to decide what to bring or not bring.

Her car isn't worth bringing but I have a 2002 Discovery Td5 with 171,000 miles (276,000 kms) on the clock. I bought it in Northern Ireland in 2008 with 91,000 miles on it & converted it to commercial spec which meant cheaper Import Tax & road Tax in Ireland. The conversion was fairly basic, remove rear seats & seat belts & seal up all holes to prevent re-installation. Rear passenger footwell was covered over & rear side window switches were disconnected, windows blacked out. I've since removed the blackout & re-connected the side windows, (slightly bending the law in Ireland) just so the dog can stick her head out & pull faces at the neighbours!

We both love the Disco & it's given no serious problems, the wiring harness on the injectors had to be changed at around 110,000 miles & it needed roll bar bushes done for the DOE last year. I managed to get a full set of poly bushes at a good price & had the whole set fitted. Front discs were replaced last year too & rear discs are being replaced soon. The air suspension gave trouble last year so I had it removed & springs fitted instead. It does need to have the chassis cleaned down & treated as it has never been done as far as I know. The engine is near perfect in it. The mechanic who services it was an Independant Land Rover Specialist in London before he moved over here. He drove it at around 140,000 miles & reckoned it was driving as good as, if not better than 1 with 40,000 miles on it.

I hate the thought of selling it as it's been such a good vehicle & I've got it set up as I like it for carrying the dog & bits & pieces. Also I would only get around €3500 (Aus $4445) for it here at the moment. I've looked into bringing it over but when I add up the cost of shipping, Import Tax, GST, preparation for shipping I reckon I'd be looking at a cost of around €5000-€6000 ($6350-$7620). On top of that there is all the hassle of getting it cleaned inside & outside, discharging the gas from the air conditioner & I am told that the rules have changed now & diesel tank will have to be drained & battery removed. Also if I did bring it over, whenever I did decide to trade up it would be worth bugger all as it's only got 2 seats & would have very high mileage.

I've been looking at similar Discos on Australian Car sites & they seem to be selling for around €12,000-€16,000 plus they are all 5 or 7 seaters so I'd be back to having to rip out seats & extend the floor for the doggy.

Are the prices I've been seeing for real or is it possible to get a decent Disco out there for less?

Any comments, advice, (offers of a free Disco ) gratefully recieved.

[ugu80]

Beside all the other import problems (officialdom and cleaning) you will need your seats and seat belts. You can remove and drive around without the rear seats, but all seat belts and anchorages must be retained. You will need to compy with Australian Design Rules (ADRs) which will negate most of your changes. Discos tend to be good value here 2nd hand, they drop a lot on their new price and many have had an easy bitumen only life. Save yourself a lot of bother, leave the Disco in Ireland.

[frantic]

Dollar wise its borderline to bring it or buy a good 2nd hand one here. Do a search on here as a few have imported lr's and got hit with other bills on arival such as cleaned and storage costs. Then you will have the joy of our rta or equivalent in each state which will cost more to comply and register. With an oz disco there should be less rust(no snow) but plan your mods before leaving ireland as uk parts are cheaper so bring a big box full.
Anyway welcome to the forum and soon welcome to oz.

[Landy Smurf]

i would op for just buying one in oz which state are you going to be in?

[clyde]

Thanks guys, ye have more or less confirmed what I was beginning to
suspect, send my beloved Disco to a new home. Is there an annual test over there on vehicles for road worthiness?

Ugu80, is it just the seatbelts & seatbelt anchorages that have to be retained or do the seat anchorages have to be retained also? Is there any compliance issues around sheeting over the rear footwell ? Can the vehicle be sold on without the rear seats or would they have to be re-fitted for sale?

Thanks Frantic, I hope we get there. It depends on whether the wife can get a decent job out their or not, she's the one with the education & qualifications! Regarding mods, if I bring a big box of shiny new Land Rover bits, snorkel, winch, roof rack, bull bars, rims, spots etc; but no Land Rover, will I get hit for Import Duty or some form of tax on them? Could I just take them out of their boxes/packaging & bring them as my own "used goods"?

Schmierer, we haven't any solid plans yet. Our preferred location would be WA, although the wife has applied for jobs in most states so far.

[UncleHo]

I would suggest that you purchase here,then the vehicle would have an Australian Compliance Plate (ADR= Australian Design Rules) which take in such things as Pollution control,seatbelt fixings,exhaust type and location of exit,and headlight & tailight regs,that is why the Discovery 1's did not recieve Aust ADR compliance until 1991,also the overall costs would make possible to get a better quality vehicle without any salt damage.

cheers

[JayBoRover]

I have a slightly different view to the other posters. I brought my car (at the time a SWB TD42 GQ Nissan Patrol) over with me under the Personal Import Scheme when I moved to Perth from New Zealand in 2001. I did it for reasons similar to yours. It had a great engine that was well looked after and I had fitted a turbo to it, I had put a good suspension kit under it, had a great roof tent on it and I loved it. It was worth nothing (NZ$12 - 15k on a good day) back in New Zealand due to the flood of Japanese imports on the market there but prices here in Oz to replace it were ridiculous (around AU$22 - 25k). The exchange rate at the time was around 0.85 so made the gap even bigger!).

The process for bringing it over was fairly simple. Applied for a "Vehicle Import Approval" and waited a couple of weeks for that. I then drove it to the shippers on the way to the airport after a reasonable clean (although it rained all the way on the 160km drive on the last day so was well covered with road grime by the time it made it to the container).

When it arrived at this end there was a little mucking around to arrange for a "permit to move" (cost $13 at the time - 2001) to drive it from the shipper's back to my home. Then another permit required to drive it to the testing station ("the pits") a week later for a check over. Everything was fine (a fairly cursory glance compared to the intense annual "Warrant of Fitness" checks in NZ!) so they gave me the paperwork required to request a Personal Import data plate to be made for me. It took another couple of weeks for that to come back and then I had to rivet that on the firewall. Another permit to drive it back to the pits so they could confirm the data plate had been rivetted on and then completed the registration (licensing) process there and then.

It did take a little effort but wasn't really complicated and I had no real issues with it. I did have to pay a few charges at this end, but none were surprises as they were all clearly identified early in the process. I avoided any storage charges by being able to pounce as soon as I learnt the car was available for pick-up. (You get about 2 days notice, so an understanding employer is useful).

I did end up with a vehicle that would have cost a lot to buy here - in fact impossible to buy here in the condition that mine was in. Several years later I sold it on and had no issues at all with selling it with the Personal Import paperwork and data plate fitted and the price I got for it was the same as for a local car. Mind you, the SWB Patrol with the big 4.2lt turbo diesel 6 cylinder are a bit sought after. I had removed all the custom storage and camping mod's I'd made over the years, so it was sold with the rear seats and belts back in.

So, at the end of the day, do your research on the values and compliance requirements (my truck required no changes at all but things like seat belts, side mirrors, headlights, etc are often required to be changed), but don't be frightened of the red tape or hassle. Use a good agent (I used "Crown Relocations" and they were brilliant) and be methodical with your documentation (keep a file with everything laid out clearly so you can access things readily when required - it reduces the stress) and you shouldn't have many issues.

It really comes down to "how replaceable is your vehicle" and "how do the costs stack up" (factoring in a "value" for the known condition and history of your vehicle).

[Bardizzo]

Hey there Clyde
I brought my commercial disco over from Ireland 4 years ago. Had basically the same experience as jayborover.

When I emigrated I threw my personal belongings, tools etc. in the back of the landy, then put it in a 20 foot container, collected it in fremantle nearly 3 months later. It was delayed in Rotterdam and Freo.
I did get hit with a cleaning charge inside and out when it arrived even though I had it done before I left. So I'd advise not to spend too much on cleaning it as they ll have it done anyway which is understandable. I was told clumps of muck were found up in the rear wheel arches, between the skins. So they do a thorough job.

Cheers

Dave

[DiscoMick]

Financially it seems borderline, but if you like the vehicle, bring it.
I recommend you return it to original spec. with seatbelts, seats etc as it will avoid the need to do it for registration once you get here anyway. You can always take them out again when here.
I would load it up with tools, spare parts etc and drive the lot into a container.
If you import the parts as new then you will pay GST on anything above the first $1000 in value, so take them out of their boxes and just bring them in as spares.
You will be required to pay for it to be cleaned, which could be about $800 or so. Clean it anyway before you leave, just to reduce the chance of them finding anything dodgy.
Customs here can be super-anal. For example, do not bring in anything with untreated timber, as it will have to be burnt on the docks at your considerable expense. I know about this because I brought in a container load of personal furniture and items when we moved back from living in Thailand. The pallet on which the shipper placed our goods had to be burnt on the docks, in case it contained bugs.
Hope this helps.

[clyde]

Thanks JayBoRover, shipping costs are the biggest expense for me, then there's the hassle of the paperwork you mentioned. I think I will sell the Disco here, buy most of the usual mod stuff here, bullbar, winch, snorkel etc; either new or second hand and crate it up (plastic crate ) & ship it over as personal goods. At least then when I am in a position to buy another Disco I'll have most of the stuff to kit it out!

Bardizzo, can I ask what shipping company you used? My wife has a Harley Steet Bob which we will be bringing over and the dog is coming too. We would like to find a shipping company that will take everything, rather than dealing with two seperate companies. We are limiting the amount of furniture etc; we are bringing over as we don't know yet if we will have our own container or be sending it over as groupage. Although after checking out the prices of washing machines, fridges, TV's etc: over there it might work out a cheaper to buy them here & bring them over if we do have our own container going.

DiscoMick, if the seat belts and/or seats have to be re-fitted for any reason then it's definitely a waste of time & money cos they are long gone from my possession.