I have read and seen quite a bit about GVM, it's ups and downs and of course there is the law.
My original plan was to take my P38 range rover around the globe, probably starting in oz. I like the country a lot and love to see it so it is #1 on the bucket list. Also, since the import of a vehicle is damn hard (needs to be extremely clean) cleaning it here to the bone and then ship it in a container down under would be the easiest way to do things, all other countries don't really give a damn
I wanted to take a P38 since they look awesome imho, I like the ride and because not many people choose this type of vehicle. Over the past 5 years or so I have been building up my car as best as I can taking most of the weak points out of the equation. After installing:
- front and rear bar (both terrafirma)
- bash plates
- diff protectors
- HD half shafts front and read
- HD prop shafts
- diff lockers
- winch
- roofrack
- hard range lift kit
- larger wheels
and an assortment of new parts that weigh the same like new airbags, shocks, rebuild engine from the ground up, etc. etc. I recently had the opportunity to drive my beauty up on the weighbridge at a mates job and with a full tank of fuel I had some 300kg to spare. Since the car was empty at that point (no batteries, no fridge, road tyres, people, etc) I think it's going to be a very hard challenge to stay below GVM once fully loaded.
To put it into perspective, I plan to have a 60L water tank, I was not planning on lithium batteries since I am no fan but I would go there if need be for weight reasons and I was planning to convert the spare wheel well into an extra fuel tank.
I would be overweight before I would start on a trip like say the canning stock since I would have both the extra fuel and water tank filled to the brim. They would "quickly" drain though so I would only be over GVM for a short period of time. Also, when a copper would stop me I could drain the water tank for example to reduce weight but, yeah...
Anyway, I have looked up the GVM rules throughout europe and some countries have a 0% tolerance but most have a 5-10% tolerance where they don't necessarily fine you but just give you a slap on the wrist. This may not seem like much but on 2.7 tonne 10% is 270kg which is extra fuel and water and then some.
Outside of europe, in most parts of the world I am not worried since they are likely never going to check or enforce anything but I am not sure how oz is dealing with this?
- is there a tolerance?
- is there a fine and you are on your merry way?
- are you given the chance to reduce weight to continue (like draining the water)
- is the car towed and can you only continue once you have reduced weight at the police station of whatever
Cheers,
-P
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