[Ham09]

I might have the opportuntity to be living in Australia in the near future and out of curiousity I start pricing up a 335i.

Well I almost fell out of my chair when I found adverts like this

http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/...7476&silo=1011

A 2008 335i SE with 25k Miles (41km) is listed for $73,000 AUD. I know imports are expsensive over there but thats £48k GBP

That got me thinking, surely I could get a UK car (say cost £22k) shipped over, paid the import duty, have any required certifications/inspections etc for alot less than the £26k difference. Ok the resale value would be crap (as it's an import) and there could be warrantly issues but it if I planned on keeping the car, does it matter

So has anyone been there, done that and got the T-Shirt?

[dxb335d]

My mate moved to OZ in 2003 and imported a Corvette. He though *HAD* to have his LHd Vette converted to RHD. Overall it cost alot.

I think it would be cheaper to import yours over than buy used
there but remember you may be hit at resale as it's an import.

[Ham09]

Thanks for the input Carl.

I've found this post of a guy shipping a 2001 Audi TT back in 2009. It cost him 4.5k to ship it and certify it. That equated to a £1.5k loss back then since there was only 3k difference in like for like car costs (not like £24k difference for the BMW currently).

http://www.moving-to-melbourne.co.uk...-to-australia/

However either the exchange rate or the value of certain cars is very different now. The biggest obstical I can see is the pre-requisite to having to have owned and used the car for atleast 12 months prior to exporting since I don't currently own one.

[TikoV]

Can I ask why you'd want to do that?? Buy a Holden man!!

[PerthBMW]

The other option is to stay where you are.....

Originally Posted by Ham09

I might have the opportuntity to be living in Australia in the near future and out of curiousity I start pricing up a 335i.

Well I almost fell out of my chair when I found adverts like this

http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/...7476&silo=1011

A 2008 335i SE with 25k Miles (41km) is listed for $73,000 AUD. I know imports are expsensive over there but thats £48k GBP

That got me thinking, surely I could get a UK car (say cost £22k) shipped over, paid the import duty, have any required certifications/inspections etc for alot less than the £26k difference. Ok the resale value would be crap (as it's an import) and there could be warrantly issues but it if I planned on keeping the car, does it matter

So has anyone been there, done that and got the T-Shirt?

[kaishang]

The price of cars in Australia has no basis in reality whatsoever. $"$k paying 250% of the European price for one.

To import a car to Oz:

- You need to have owned it for 12 months, in your name. This means leases may not be eligible if you buy out the lease.

- The car must have been available for your personal use in those 12 months (ie you can't have lent it to someone else, although this would be impossible to check). It also means you can't buy a car, immediately move to Oz then import it in 12 months, because then the car won't have been available for your personal use in that time.

- You must have obtained prior approval from the Aust federal govt

- You must pay import tarrif 5% + GST 10% on the DEPRECIATED value, ie it will be valued as a used grey market import. A 1yo 335i may for example be valued at $55,000 meaning you would pay 0.15 * $55,000 = $8,250.

- Even though you have obtained prior import approval from the federal government, once it is imported the car needs to be inspected a state licencing office.

Overall it is definitely worth it to import a car, given the outlandish prices of cars in Oz.

Personally, I wouldn't import a 335i since they have a known HPFP failure problem and any warranty goes out the window when you import it. I wouldn't import a 335d either, since that model is not sold in Oz and parts may be harder to find.

Go big car for a big country, 535 diesel or something. The 535d is sold in Oz for some ridiculous price like $140,000 (oh we need to fit Australian Design Rule child restraints when we import cars. Each child restraint is $35,000, that's why our cars are expensive, we aren't actually ripping you off etc etc etc) so this would be a good model to import. If you want a 3-series, then the 330d is sold in Oz.

[kaishang]

Look under the personal imports link; then more links on the right hand side.

http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roa...les/index.aspx

[Ham09]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

@TikoV - A holden had crossed my mind lol. However if I'm in a position to bring something 'exotic' over at a very good price (compared to local prices) then I thought it's worth investigating.

@PerthBMW - Erm no, cars don't mean so much to me that I would forsake a career option.

@kaishang - Thanks for all the information. I appreciated you going into the detail. It has given me lots to think about, so thank you.

Cheers.

[kaishang]

Originally Posted by Ham09

Thanks everyone for the replies.



@kaishang - Thanks for all the information. I appreciated you going into the detail. It has given me lots to think about, so thank you.

Cheers.

No problem. The 12 months ownership requirement will determine if the import will work for you or not. There is no way around it, although if you have a family member joining you later, they could import it if the car is in their name. If you satisfy the 12 months requirement, importing a car is a no-brainer IMHO.

Some general advice: The cost of living in Oz is significantly higher than in UK. The average annual income for a working adult is A$60,000 or about £38,000 at the current exchange rate. Someone cleaning toilets really could be getting paid $100,000pa if it is on a remote mine site. The labour dynamics are different to the UK because there is no subclass of low paid workers (eg Eastern European in the UK), because it is a resources based (mining, oil, gas) economy and there is a skilled labour shortage.

This means: don't be shy about asking for shitloads of cash when it comes time to talk about your pay package.

The AUD is also quite cyclical; at the moment it is high. A few years down the track it could be low again. A$1 was worth US$0.50 a few years back. Now it is US$1.10.

[Ham09]

Originally Posted by kaishang

No problem. The 12 months ownership requirement will determine if the import will work for you or not. There is no way around it, although if you have a family member joining you later, they could import it if the car is in their name. If you satisfy the 12 months requirement, importing a car is a no-brainer IMHO.

Some general advice: The cost of living in Oz is significantly higher than in UK. The average annual income for a working adult is A$60,000 or about £38,000 at the current exchange rate. Someone cleaning toilets really could be getting paid $100,000pa if it is on a remote mine site. The labour dynamics are different to the UK because there is no subclass of low paid workers (eg Eastern European in the UK), because it is a resources based (mining, oil, gas) economy and there is a skilled labour shortage.

This means: don't be shy about asking for shitloads of cash when it comes time to talk about your pay package.

The AUD is also quite cyclical; at the moment it is high. A few years down the track it could be low again. A$1 was worth US$0.50 a few years back. Now it is US$1.10.

Thanks again kaishang. I assume from the amount of knowledge on the subject, you have spent some time over there yourself? LOL @ $100k for cleaning, just tell me where to sign up

This is a little bit off the original topic but might interest other users. I had taken a look at the exchange rate of GBP to AUD. It was at AUD $2 to £1 a couple of years back but now it's sitting lower at $1.53 to £1. I am discovering the cost of living does seem higher, which is suprising as most people assume the opposite. An added plus of the the working visa I would be on offers an additional AUD$20k tax free as part of a 'living away from home allowance' however that goes if you apply for permanent residency. With that said, I'm not sure what % above my UK wage I should expect to receive to have the same or better lifestyle over there. The research continues...

[kaishang]

I'm Australian. Depends where you live. House prices are a large multiple of average incomes. Rent isn't so high in comparison to house prices. If it is Sydney, the house you want starts at $1m. Less than that and you compromise on location or you are looking at an apartment, although the Sydney median house price is around $600k, but this includes a lot of undesirable 'burbs miles from anywhere which bring down the average.

When you newly arrive, you will be on a different and more beneficial to you tax scale than long term residents. There is a lot more scope for personal tax deductions under the Aus tax system.

To give you some perspective:
Starting salary for probationary 1st year out police officer (age early 20s) $57,000.
Teacher, a number of years experience about $70,000
Engineer, resources sector $180,000
Average pay is higher than UK but Oz is missing the really high paid City finance jobs.

Get on google or a job website like seek.com.au and look up pay scales for similar jobs to yourself. If you look at that UK TV show with the bald guy (can't remember what it is called) where they help families relocate to Oz, that is quite realistic about house prices except they filmed it when the AUD was lower than it is now. Oh, if you buy a house in Oz, once you sign the offer it is immediately binding on both parties. You cannot change your mind and back out after a month of flaffing around like in England.