To Aussie-based members - help with advice.

[mitSUBishi-guy]

Are there any Aussie based (Sydney) forum members out there who could offer some advice?

May have a job opportunity in Sydney. Work would pay to ship belongings which includes a car. Normally it's not really worth taking a car, but with free shipping and clearing costs, it works financially (vs selling up and trying to buy an equivalent legacy over there.)

In Sydney, who are the good independent workshops there who know their Subarus?

This is probably a one-way trip for the car. When it comes to selling it there, how does the market view private imports? Our car is a NZ new 2007 facelift GT wagon. And a further complication is that there's not really an equivalent Aus DM model - ours has the 2.0L twinscroll turbo motor whereas I believe Australia went to a 2.5L single scroll turbo in the facelift model.

[subieboy]

Importing a car into Aus is fraught with problems, hurldes and issues

Problem one will be compliance (i.e. was the car sold there in the exact spec you are bringing in, is it modified...)

Then Aircon refrigerant - you need it certified IN NZ BEFORE you ship it to Aus

etc

EDIT:

Not to mention the import tax...

Hope the job works out for you tho

[paulngui]

Maybe try find a Liberty forum? Bound to be one, or an Aussie Subaru club at the least.

[mitSUBishi-guy]

 

Importing a car into Aus is fraught with problems, hurldes and issues

Yeah I've heard its a massive bureaucratic exercise in frustration. Have done a bit of research and will talk to people when I'm next in Sydney. My rough financial calcs with lots of fat built in appear to be favourable hence why I'm entertaining the idea. Figured what helps with compliance is that the car's nz new, stock and I bought it from Wingers rather than privately. To get anything near equivalent there is so much more expensive as far as I've seen. If the Leggy doesn't make it over, we'll be driving a falco-dore. Cos they're cheap. In every way!

[webup]

110% not worth taking it.

[kwikaus]

I would dig alot deeper into their red tape on imported cars, contact customs, they are there to help you, remember that there is a reason why these cars are not in Aussie in the first place.

use an import agent or shipping service, they should be able to advise you on the procedures. If you are not using a company that specialises in imports to Australia then you will need to contact Australian customs to ensure you are following the correct procedure. Failure to do so could result in delays of your possessions reaching you at your new residence, or even refusal of entry into the country which could become very costly.

check this link out.

http://www.expatfocus.com/expatriate-australia-customs-duties

hope this helps and good luck.

[Kiwi_Fozze]

yeah, you are better off buying the aus spec car over there i believe. it'll be a beurecratical nightmare, and even then you may not be able to get it in...

[subieboy]

 mitSUBishi-guy said:

If the Leggy doesn't make it over, we'll be driving a falco-dore. Cos they're cheap. In every way!

Perish the thought they are pieces of Sh!t and cost more to maintain

Do yourself a favour and go fro a Toyota (Camry/Aurion) or Mitsi (380 sedan or similar) at least they will not disappoint

[mitSUBishi-guy]

Mitsi 380s are dead, sadly. Toymota good, reliable, but dull as dishwater, but to be fair, ain't gonna be going above 60kph most of the time in Sydney! Recently spent 3 months there on assignment. Serious congestion. But the condition of the roads there - worse than a rutted farmer's track! You'd think with all the money there they'd fix the damn potholes!

What guts me is that there's not an equivalent legacy there - all facelift BPs were the 2.5L turbo with 180kw vs 205kw out of ours. For similar power, would be looking at a Tuned by STi Liberty... for a cool A$40k. No thanks.

[subieboy]

Go the Camry then, they surf over the potholes

Buy from the auction houses, you can get some really good deals (almost 50% cheaper that way)

[Dv8er - FSTWRX]

Been driving a Aurion a bit lately and was surprised at how much get up and go they have, would probably give a 6cyl falcon/commy a run for its money. FYI the Camry of the same year is essentially the same car with a smaller motor that uses the same amount of fuel. If they weren't so dam ugly it would be all good haha.

[subieboy]

 Dv8er - FSTWRX said:

Been driving a Aurion a bit lately and was surprised at how much get up and go they have, would probably give a 6cyl falcon/commy a run for its money. FYI the Camry of the same year is essentially the same car with a smaller motor that uses the same amount of fuel. If they weren't so dam ugly it would be all good haha.

Yep Aurion is good. Earlier versions running the 3.5 L 2GR-FE V6 made 200 kW 336 Nm.

Supercharged versions with 3.5 L 2GR-FZE V6 (petrol) makes 241 kW 400 Nm

[D-Style]

The trick I learnt, is if a a given car (or a car like it) is or was sold new in Aussie, you going to have a very very hard or costly time trying to import it.

[subieboy]

 D-Style said:

The trick I learnt, is if a a given car (or a car like it) is or was sold new in Aussie, you going to have a very very hard or costly time trying to import it.

More so if a similar but not same model was sold there.

i.e BH5 Legacy VDC3.0 was sold there but not the GTB, however they did have the B4 sedan...

[Guest]

to the TA. when you say the relocation includes a car.. i assume that means they will also pay for the costs of getting the car on the road over there?

i think you need to clarify this with the relocation service..

there you will find your answer.

[mitSUBishi-guy]

 

when you say the relocation includes a car.. i assume that means they will also pay for the costs of getting the car on the road over there?

Basically if I can get it in a 40' container, then my work covers the shipping. I do need to confirm whether the clearance cost is also covered for a car - everything else will be. But that's a negotiation point...

If clearance costs for the car are covered, then it could well be worth taking the car. Getting approval to take a car is fairly straighforward for Kiwi's going over to live, under the Personal Imports scheme.

It's meeting the ADR requirements that could be potentially costly. Imagine the cost of replacing something like headlamps or wing mirrors to comply with ADR. It's probably a bit difficult to borrow a set of headlamps to get me past the ADR!

But I guess my questions were more on the assumption that I had gotten the car in the country, and therefore who were the best workshops in Sydney, and do you take a massive hit on resale because it's an import (even if it's NZ new).

[Guest]

I was talking to an aussie mate of mine about this earlier, some points he mentioned:

-With something like an '07 Legacy there really shouldnt be much to change to get it on the road. It was a lot of the older cars (eg gen1 Legacy's needed side intrusion bars, anchor points etc to be eligible for rego) that needed things done. As far as safety items go the 2007 Liberty and your 2007 Legacy would be close if not identical.

-The used car market over there is pretty shitty at the moment (like everywhere I guess), and stuff needs to be a 'GOOD' buy for someone to lay down the cash.

- They had a factory delivered turbo model similar to yours, so it's not as attractive as the earlier import (gen2, gen3 wagon) turbos, where the ONLY way to be able to drive a factory turbo was as a personal import. The other thing is people who personally import vehicles such as yours overprice them to a stupid level. While they may slightly better specs than the Aus delivered car, nobody is going to pay a substantial amount more for it, sellers also tend to think their cars are "RARE", which is true to an extent but to the majority of people they are identical for all intents and purposes.

[smithcd]

My parents recently relocated to NSW, they brought over both their cars (c70 volvo and 2003 Legacy b4)

It took an extremely long time from when they landed to getting it to the point of picking up the cars (read 2 months)

Although the only real problems they encountered with the cars themselves on getting complied for roadworthiness in Australia was anchor points for child restraints, which are compulsory here, so had to have them installed.

Otherwise it was just all the taxes, customs and stamp duty that was the problem.

The legacy is a JDM import with less than 40k on the clock with them being the only owner, and being so has a much greater market value over here if they were to resell it (from what I gather is due part to it's rareness as being badged as a legacy and being JDM, along with the massively lower k's that most 2nd hand Liberty's seem to have here.)

(All cars get valued on landing for stamp duty purposes, for eg, the b4 was valued at around 15k NZD in NZ, but on hitting AUS soil was valued at around 26-27k AUSD by customs)

The bureaucratic s*** they went through to get it into the country is not worthwile personally though, but if all costs are paid then by all means I think it would be worthwhile bringing a car over

[D-Style]

It was going to cost me about around 15k to get my V9 Sti shipped and put on the road. (rego fee was like $1000 a year alone)

Plus, depending of where you going to live, is a Subaru good car of choice? not as easy just nip into Wreakers are get spare parts/access to fuel/the type of roads