is it just me or...

[mrhatmostly]

ok, does anyone else think i'm weird that i'm moving to england for a year for the sole purpose of owning the only street-legal 340r in australia???

the deal is, if you own a car overseas for a year, then bring it home - it becomes road-legal!! so sod the 3 340's lotus australia brought in as track only $160,000 shaftings.

my friends do not understand me, my family has shunned me... and i still haven't told them it has no doors or roof!

[Bonce]

Good man, that's dedication to the cause beyond anything I've ever heard before.

You won't regret it!

[Nightmare]

I think thats a great idea...!! mad, but great

[hungryjim]

Good idea!
Thats devotion to Lotus

[Izza]

Dont worry mate your not the only one.
My plan is to go to the uk for a 3 month holiday, the main reason is to buy myself a 111s, and then ship it back here to NZ. I reckon I could pick one up for about NZ$10,000 less than what they go for here, that's including shipping too.
Still that's gonna be a few years away yet.

Top notch idea, got for it!!!!!!

Or you could buy one in the UK on holiday, put it in storage, go back to Oz, then come back a year later and pick it up. You've owned it overseas for a year so.........



>> Edited by Izza on Tuesday 24th September 22:57

[kiwi le]

Izza,

I know of a yellow Elise 96'(i think), hard top, 12,000 km's, mint condition (garaged etc)here in NZ for NZD $ 55 K, maybe less for cash. That's about UK £15 K

I have checked the UK web sites if you can get an Elise the same as the above for that money, including shipping, GST etc, etc good luck to you.

It took me a year to find/buy my Red Elise 97' and I paided about the same. No hard top, but engine mod's etc. Check before you buy & fly, there some good deals to be had right under your nose - check www.lotus.co.nz

[Izza]

Really???
The ones I've ever seen over here go for $60,000+ I'm expecting prices on the S1 to fall in the UK soon but stay high over here.
hmmmmm Donset really matter anyway as it's gonna be a few years before I can raise that sort of cash. Esp when I see soon many other cars I'd like (E30 M3, Delta Integrale Evo) but at the end of the day I still want an Elise.

[womble]

Or you could buy a 340R in NZ (much cheaper than $160,000!), get it certified as low volume, then ship it to AUS.

We looked at doing it for 190's as they are road legal in NZ - then shipping them to the UK

[matt_ward]

What you could do is buy one. Garage it for a year here in the sunny Uk and then get it shipped out.

Then you don't have to stay in rainny UK. I think your mad coming here to stay...

[Maca]

"the deal is, if you own a car overseas for a year, then bring it home - it becomes road-legal!!"
not exactly...it depends on a number of factors including which state your importing it in to. getting your australian compliance plates isn't always simple, but i found brit cars are 'usually' the most straight forward to take through the process.

[mrhatmostly]

maca, do you know something about this?? most i've found from talking to imports is, road-legal overseas and then has to pass obvious basic safety rules ie seatblets, brakelights, wipers etc. in vehicle import rules there apparently is none of the standing and passing noise regs which are what stopped the 340r from coming to oz. talking to the tasmanian inspection officer, he also said that if officially its a lotus elise 340r, then just tell them its an elise. so as far as i know, there is no reason they can stop me bringing one in and registering it...

what do people know of ireland?? i've been offered a fairly decent job there. any probs with owning a lotus over there (apart from rain?)

the only other thing is what is the deal with different reg types?? i notice in ads u can get v/r/t reg lotii etc? what is the deal??

[Maca]

hi. getting them into the country is no problem. the rules a couple of years ago simply stated that you had owned the car (and not left the country ie UK) for a minimum of 3 months. this initial minimum period got you a hefty discount on the import tax, then for every month you continued in the UK you received an extra reduction. (from memory there's an issue with the age of the car as well - i've a feeling the car had to be over 10yrs old to qualify for the personal import scheme...do you know if that still exists?)
i took in (via nsw) an m6 and a lancia fulvia hf. they put both cars through compliance testing and then a road worthy and were just plain bloody picky.
check out everything in detail before you start and hire a handling agent in australia (couple of hundred bucks well spent) to sort the paperwork. if you need shipping company details etc email me. Maca.

[xsaravtr]

The reg numbers relate to the cars age...

For instance R reg implies 1998.
You usually see cars advertised as 98 R or 99 T...

quote:
the only other thing is what is the deal with different reg types?? i notice in ads u can get v/r/t reg lotii etc? what is the deal??

[xsaravtr]

Just found this on a site... might be useful.

Gives the Reg letter and the dates it was issued from and to...

Y 01.03.01 - 31.08.01
X 01.09.00 - 28.02.01
W 01.03.00 - 31.08.00
V 01.09.99 - 29.02.00
T 01.03.99 - 31.08.99
S 01.08.98 - 28.02.99
R 01.08.97 - 31.07.98
P 01.08.96 - 31.07.97
N 01.08.95 - 31.07.96
M 01.08.94 - 31.07.95
L 01.08.93 - 31.07.94
K 01.08.92 - 31.07.93
J 01.08.91 - 31.07.92
H 01.08.90 - 31.07.91
G 01.08.89 - 31.07.90
F 01.08.88 - 31.07.89
E 01.08.87 - 31.07.88
D 01.08.86 - 31.07.87
C 01.08.85 - 31.07.86
B 01.08.84 - 31.07.85
A 01.08.83 - 31.07.84

After "Y" they changed the system to numbers. So after "Y" came:

51 Sept 2001 to March 2002
02 March 2002 to Sept 2002
52 Sept 2002 to March 2003
03 March 2003 to Sept 2003
etc...

[Ferrari355]

Err that seems a little over the top.....one might say!!!

[mrhatmostly]

from the info i've gathered, i think the 10 year rule only applies if u want to import a left-hand drive as they can now only come as "enthusiast vehicles" or some tosh like that. apart from that the man has been clamping down big time on commercial imports but fairly relaxed on personal imports (except its now 1 year instead of 3 months and max 1 per year)...

i would hate to bring back a 340 and get shanked big-time.