ImportingI'm not on about
Discussion
Before I hear a chorus of rolled eyes I don't mean to turn a quick profit or to fill a clearly backwards market with decent, cheap second hand cars.
I'm moving over next year and had the naive notion that with Mazdas being a Japanese car that they would be cheaper in NZ (they didn't have to go as far or something silly).
Yet your amazing second hand market (where there are cars with 200km at the price we'd pay for a 30km car!) means that I could be paying double for a decent Mazda RX-8.
If any of you are immigrants, did you find it cheaper to take your car over or get a new one?
ETA the title of the thread wasn't an attempt at being stupid, I can't figure out how to remove the 'I'm not on about' bit.
I'm moving over next year and had the naive notion that with Mazdas being a Japanese car that they would be cheaper in NZ (they didn't have to go as far or something silly).
Yet your amazing second hand market (where there are cars with 200km at the price we'd pay for a 30km car!) means that I could be paying double for a decent Mazda RX-8.
If any of you are immigrants, did you find it cheaper to take your car over or get a new one?
ETA the title of the thread wasn't an attempt at being stupid, I can't figure out how to remove the 'I'm not on about' bit.
Edited by Vantagefan on Tuesday 22 May 11:36
Vantagefan said:
Yet your amazing second hand market (where there are cars with 200km at the price we'd pay for a 30km car!) means that I could be paying double for a decent Mazda RX-8.
That's not exactly correct. I did find a few where the higher kilometer vehicle was more expensive than one with low kilometers. 
Mazda RX8 search of Trademe Motors
According to the relevant authorities, any car imported from the UK is full of rust - and you have to prove otherwise.
They wanted a friend of mine to have the entire underside of his van shotblasted, and then take the body apart piece by piece to get non existent rust out of the seams, reassemble and repaint. He eventually found another place with some common sense - but still some surface pitting (scratch behind bumper etc) had to be attended to.
At least with an NZ car rust is unlikely to be an issue.
They wanted a friend of mine to have the entire underside of his van shotblasted, and then take the body apart piece by piece to get non existent rust out of the seams, reassemble and repaint. He eventually found another place with some common sense - but still some surface pitting (scratch behind bumper etc) had to be attended to.
At least with an NZ car rust is unlikely to be an issue.
I've been here for 4 years and have to say that I find the cost of older and high mileage vehicles quite unbelievable. I put it down to the 'moon' syndrome, i.e. on the moon even a rust bucket would cost a fortune due to the difficulties of getting it there. I also think the acceptance of pricing goes some way to explaining the high asking prices. Of course lots of the cars are permanently up for sale. in effect they're not really for sale (well not in the way I understand the concept) the owners' are just fishing. I've seen cars that were for sale over a year ago that are still for sale now, same goes for houses.
FWIW given the same circumstances I would have brought my 2005 Focus 2.0 diesel with me in the container and not worried about the MAF inspection and compliance test. It would have been no problem but at the time I thought it was one less thing to worry about.
FWIW given the same circumstances I would have brought my 2005 Focus 2.0 diesel with me in the container and not worried about the MAF inspection and compliance test. It would have been no problem but at the time I thought it was one less thing to worry about.
AutoDreamer said:
I've been here for 4 years and have to say that I find the cost of older and high mileage vehicles quite unbelievable. I put it down to the 'moon' syndrome, i.e. on the moon even a rust bucket would cost a fortune due to the difficulties of getting it there. I also think the acceptance of pricing goes some way to explaining the high asking prices. Of course lots of the cars are permanently up for sale. in effect they're not really for sale (well not in the way I understand the concept) the owners' are just fishing. I've seen cars that were for sale over a year ago that are still for sale now, same goes for houses.
FWIW given the same circumstances I would have brought my 2005 Focus 2.0 diesel with me in the container and not worried about the MAF inspection and compliance test. It would have been no problem but at the time I thought it was one less thing to worry about.
+1FWIW given the same circumstances I would have brought my 2005 Focus 2.0 diesel with me in the container and not worried about the MAF inspection and compliance test. It would have been no problem but at the time I thought it was one less thing to worry about.
Except I would have sold all the cars I had in the UK and put the money into something nearly new to put into the container. Loosing money on selling the cars in the UK, then paying 'NZ' prices when I arrived upset me
Another factor is the current exchange rate - not good for bringing money down.Having seen the prices over here before leaving the UK I brought both my cars and my bike with me.
We left my wife's Citroen C2 behind as there was no room and it didn't seem economical to ship it separately.
I wish we had brought it though as we had no trouble with MAF or compliance on the other vehicles and the prices for small runabouts are ridiculous. More than twice the price fog something comparable.
My advice is to ignore the horror stories, give it a good jet wash underneath, vacuum the inside and engine bay and chuck it in the container.
We left my wife's Citroen C2 behind as there was no room and it didn't seem economical to ship it separately.
I wish we had brought it though as we had no trouble with MAF or compliance on the other vehicles and the prices for small runabouts are ridiculous. More than twice the price fog something comparable.
My advice is to ignore the horror stories, give it a good jet wash underneath, vacuum the inside and engine bay and chuck it in the container.
I'm just going through this now, having bought my 03 s4 back with me. I don't think that there's any hard and fast rule on car values between the UK and NZ, and you need to do the research on the specific car that you want to bring back. Apples with apples and all that. Where there have been good margins and a wide market, our importers here have jumped to take advantage, obviously more so from Japan, but also from the UK, and those margins rapidly decline with increased supply.
You pay gst on the car if you've owned it less than one year, but this is reduced relative to how long you have had it (simple explanation on the NZTA website). Maf costs for me have been no problem. After checking the car, they decided it needed a vacuum, which cost an extra nz$80. Total of maybe $200. Port costs are higher though and worth checking ($670 to offload container and then $300 for me to empty container).
Another consideration is what else is going into the container. Due to timing, I did two 20's rather than a 40. The s4 came in the second container and was full of clothes and gear that didn't make the first container. If you're organised to load together, and it's only an extra 800 quid for a 40 than a 20, then maybe not so bad?
Regardless of what you do, household contents and any vehicles, make sure you go to Ian Harrison at Letton Percival & Co Ltd (0151 236 4568) for insurance. Much, much less than through the removal companies, and a decent bloke about it all.
You pay gst on the car if you've owned it less than one year, but this is reduced relative to how long you have had it (simple explanation on the NZTA website). Maf costs for me have been no problem. After checking the car, they decided it needed a vacuum, which cost an extra nz$80. Total of maybe $200. Port costs are higher though and worth checking ($670 to offload container and then $300 for me to empty container).
Another consideration is what else is going into the container. Due to timing, I did two 20's rather than a 40. The s4 came in the second container and was full of clothes and gear that didn't make the first container. If you're organised to load together, and it's only an extra 800 quid for a 40 than a 20, then maybe not so bad?
Regardless of what you do, household contents and any vehicles, make sure you go to Ian Harrison at Letton Percival & Co Ltd (0151 236 4568) for insurance. Much, much less than through the removal companies, and a decent bloke about it all.
losthours said:
Regardless of what you do, household contents and any vehicles, make sure you go to Ian Harrison at Letton Percival & Co Ltd (0151 236 4568) for insurance. Much, much less than through the removal companies, and a decent bloke about it all.
Watch your shipper. Some have clauses that prohibit use of any external insurance and thier own insurance is worthless. I ended up shipping my Cerb without insurance, crossing fingers, toes, testicles until it landed. I'd say the same - when I shipped a container over the small shipping agent I delat with - 50 years in the industry and well past retirement age - advised me not to bother with insurance and as well as what Daniel has said, quoted the ridiculously low percentage of containers that suffer any mishap anyway.
Yeah, without trying to start a tandem discussion on the merits of insurance... I'm a pretty risk averse guy (non turbo, quattro)and the sight of containers sinking around the Astrolabe Reef didn't exactly inspire confidence in shipping. My premium for the car was 1.25% of the value. I've ended up with light scratching on the passenger side of the car, which I'm polishing out. Assume that this is from the shippers pushing down the side of the car when it was in the container (why can't everyone wear nice, soft, pyjama bottoms) and I'm not too worried about it. My concern was a lost or dropped container.
A quick look through the expat forums gives an idea of the extent of misinformation spread about what you can and cannot do when shipping. Some of the lines told by shipping agent representatives are pretty bad.
A quick look through the expat forums gives an idea of the extent of misinformation spread about what you can and cannot do when shipping. Some of the lines told by shipping agent representatives are pretty bad.
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