What car should I take over?

[TVP993]

Hi All,

I may have an opportunity to take another car over to Oz. Just wondering what is highly desirable in Oz and one where I can have some fun with and sell later on at a profit.

I fancy a convertible as we will have a hardtop as our family car and my 993 is also a hardtop.

Your suggestions appreciated.

Thanks

[Stablelad]

Zonda?

[TVP993]

If only.....

Out of our league unfortunately.

Stablelad said:

Zonda?

[Colonial]

996/997 911

Min of 70KAU here.

Anything a bit more left of field may be hard to sell on.

[TVP993]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the suggestions. Just had a look on carsales.com.au and 997's are silly prices over there. You could pick one up here on an 07 plate which will cost around £65k and prices over there are $200k. Even at todays exchange rate £65k works out at around $105k. That leaves quite a bit to play with. However what are the tax implications on importing a car at these prices?

Forgot to thank you for your e-mail re property prices in Sydney a while back. Would like to pick your brain when we finally get over in a few weeks.

Regards

Thang

Colonial said:

996/997 911

Min of 70KAU here.

Anything a bit more left of field may be hard to sell on.

[randomwalk]

I think a nice GT2 or GT3 Porsche, or perhaps an Aston Martin DB9, they are like 50K used in UK, but sell for 200K aussie dollars, amg merc also good.

[MudGuts]

Don't forget if it was made after 1989 you have to have owned and used it continually (and show proof of usage) for 12 months before you ship it. No real restrictions on Pre-1989.

[deviant]

MudGuts said:

Don't forget if it was made after 1989 you have to have owned and used it continually (and show proof of usage) for 12 months before you ship it. No real restrictions on Pre-1989.

Not strictly true if there is a RAWS workshop / import scheme available for the car.

This handy search box will let you search by manufacturer if a car can be imported under RAWS. http://raws.infrastructure.gov.au/rawswebpublic/RA...

[TVP993]

We're actually moving in 2 weeks. However my wife's cousin is moving back to Melbourne in 2012 so my cunning plan is for him to bring the car over.

Can anyone tell me about the tax implications for a DB9 or 996/997? And are these actually selling?

Is there is a tax for cars that are worth over a certain amount and what percentage is this.

Thanks

deviant said:

MudGuts said:

Don't forget if it was made after 1989 you have to have owned and used it continually (and show proof of usage) for 12 months before you ship it. No real restrictions on Pre-1989.

Not strictly true if there is a RAWS workshop / import scheme available for the car.

This handy search box will let you search by manufacturer if a car can be imported under RAWS. http://raws.infrastructure.gov.au/rawswebpublic/RA...

[TVP993]

I do like the idea of a DB9. However after a bit of fun this car has to sell as this is more a way of making a little money than actually owning a DB9. My wife will have my head on the chopping board should we not be able to sell it.

So will the DB9 or a 996/997 be easy enough to sell?

randomwalk said:

I think a nice GT2 or GT3 Porsche, or perhaps an Aston Martin DB9, they are like 50K used in UK, but sell for 200K aussie dollars, amg merc also good.

[randomwalk]

no wont be an easy sell, took me 5 mths to sell my Boxster and it was realistically priced, I did have some offers but they were stupid offers. I think a Porsche would sell easier than a DB9 and remember a UK derived car will not be worth as much as an Australian delivered example, probably 20% less.

[TVP993]

thanks randomwalk. Did you make a small profit taking into consideration all the costs involved in getting the car to Oz in the first place.

randomwalk said:

no wont be an easy sell, took me 5 mths to sell my Boxster and it was realistically priced, I did have some offers but they were stupid offers. I think a Porsche would sell easier than a DB9 and remember a UK derived car will not be worth as much as an Australian delivered example, probably 20% less.

[Hasbeen]

Morgan +8s are in pretty short supply.

[randomwalk]

TVP993 said:

thanks randomwalk. Did you make a small profit taking into consideration all the costs involved in getting the car to Oz in the first place.

randomwalk said:

no wont be an easy sell, took me 5 mths to sell my Boxster and it was realistically priced, I did have some offers but they were stupid offers. I think a Porsche would sell easier than a DB9 and remember a UK derived car will not be worth as much as an Australian delivered example, probably 20% less.

No I bought the Boxster in Oz, (i am from Oz, now in UK). I intend to maximise the profit when/if I return to Oz by buying a high end Aston or Porsche here in the UK and keeping it here for 12 mths. Just bear in mind these high end cars do take time to sell in the present environment. The Australian economy is in good shape but selling presiige used cars is slow, particularly when you have a car with UK providence. Check out the Oz sales sites of carsales.com.au, drive.com.au, also redbook.com.au gives values of cars in Oz. eg 2005 Aston Martin DB9 with 50 - 90,000 kms, $155,000 to $170,000 AUD.

[robm3]

TVP993 said:

We're actually moving in 2 weeks. However my wife's cousin is moving back to Melbourne in 2012 so my cunning plan is for him to bring the car over.

Can anyone tell me about the tax implications for a DB9 or 996/997? And are these actually selling?

Is there is a tax for cars that are worth over a certain amount and what percentage is this.

Thanks

I'm moving back to Sydney in December and taking my 630 convertible and Discovery 3.

In answer to your tax question, the car is valued portside without Australian compliance e.g. it's valued as unroadworthy.
In my discussions with two car importers they seem to think these valuations are generally around 60% of Australian onroad value.

Roughly speaking rates are:
Up to $57K (including all freight charges) - 10%
Any amount over that is 33% due to Luxury Car Tax

What I've done with my two cars is to not repair any minor damages over the last two years, scratches, small dents, rips etc.. This plays a big part with the valuation.
With the 630i it's true it's not as desirable as a 650i in Australia and was never sold there, this has a negative if I want to sell it but a big positive when it's valued portside for import tax.

The 630i is worth around £15K here but will fetch around $60K in Australia (£40K) so it's worth the hassle.

If you want to do this for making money only then my advice is to buy a higher mileage 997 or 650i as both these have the highest ratio of UK buy price to Aus selling price, the BMW in particular, I spent many weeks comparing prices with a range of cars and have a handy spreadsheet somewhere. Convertibles are not as popular in Aus as UK so wouldn't really bother unless its something you want in particular to use for a few months.
Lastly your cousin will have to use it or at least get it serviced to prove use.

[TVP993]

Hi Robin,

Many thanks for your advice. Is there any chance you can e-mail me a copy of your spreadsheet when you get chance. Would be an interesting read. I think my issue is what car to take over that 1, would be easiest to sell and 2, give me the most profit from.

What area will you be moving to in December?

We land on the 1st Dec and will be in Northbridge. If you're not too far away and arrive before the 18th then then Colonial is organising a meet. If you can't make this then I'm sure there will be other meets.

Regards

Thang

robm3 said:

TVP993 said:

We're actually moving in 2 weeks. However my wife's cousin is moving back to Melbourne in 2012 so my cunning plan is for him to bring the car over.

Can anyone tell me about the tax implications for a DB9 or 996/997? And are these actually selling?

Is there is a tax for cars that are worth over a certain amount and what percentage is this.

Thanks

I'm moving back to Sydney in December and taking my 630 convertible and Discovery 3.

In answer to your tax question, the car is valued portside without Australian compliance e.g. it's valued as unroadworthy.
In my discussions with two car importers they seem to think these valuations are generally around 60% of Australian onroad value.

Roughly speaking rates are:
Up to $57K (including all freight charges) - 10%
Any amount over that is 33% due to Luxury Car Tax

What I've done with my two cars is to not repair any minor damages over the last two years, scratches, small dents, rips etc.. This plays a big part with the valuation.
With the 630i it's true it's not as desirable as a 650i in Australia and was never sold there, this has a negative if I want to sell it but a big positive when it's valued portside for import tax.

The 630i is worth around £15K here but will fetch around $60K in Australia (£40K) so it's worth the hassle.

If you want to do this for making money only then my advice is to buy a higher mileage 997 or 650i as both these have the highest ratio of UK buy price to Aus selling price, the BMW in particular, I spent many weeks comparing prices with a range of cars and have a handy spreadsheet somewhere. Convertibles are not as popular in Aus as UK so wouldn't really bother unless its something you want in particular to use for a few months.
Lastly your cousin will have to use it or at least get it serviced to prove use.

[HSVGTSCoupe]

easy... R35 GTR. They are nearly half the price in UK comp to here. Bring it over, enjoy it for a year, as soon as you've lost your license whilst getting used to our ridiculous speeding laws, & inattentive drivers, I'll buy it off you for $100K. simple



PS.. a black one please

[Panayiotis]

Personally I would bring something over that wasnt ever sold here or had only very few for sale. Before I returned to Australia I was out here on holiday discussing the importation of a 996 GT3 Mk1, generally an import would attract about a 20% discount on the locally released product, however he did mention that rust on the underside would limit its value further. By rust he meant even just surface rust. UK cars are significantly worse off than Australian cars in this area, so it makes it just that little bit more difficult to sell.

Having said that the availability for parts may be an issue if you bring over a unique vehicle, however most exotic or low volume cars here seem to have long waiting times for replacement parts anyway, so it's less of a hindrance.

I still kick myself for not bringing over a CSL, I was about to buy one in the UK when the values dropped a bit to about the 25,000GBP mark, a car which here goes for over $100k, that is if you can find one with only 20 being sold in Australia originally.

[randomwalk]

The rust that develops on UK cars, even if surface rust is quite in contrast to cars in Australia. I was shocked to see the state of the undersides of relatively new cars in the UK, in Oz you do not see really any corrosion. I can see the combination of salt and damp takes its toll.