The Import Industry

[Mr Eps]

^^^ a good point...

and to z240...

perhaps that cost has never been mentioned because not many of us are aware that is even exists!

i for one didn't know it costs $20 grand for an evidence package...

how can you justify that to a consumer though?

as in how do you stop them from thinkng "so, not MY problem?"

[sbyder]

some evidence providers will charge you 20K for a pack. We would if its a one off and only for one company to use.

Usually evidence packs are about 3-5K depending on the cost of testing and how many workshops want to buy a pack. If we spend 30K on testing and sell 10 packs, then we'd only want a smidge over 4K to make a profit. If we spent 60K on testing we would obviously want more.

[Chris Rogers]

^^^ a good point...

and to z240...

perhaps that cost has never been mentioned because not many of us are aware that is even exists!

i for one didn't know it costs $20 grand for an evidence package...

how can you justify that to a consumer though?

as in how do you stop them from thinkng "so, not MY problem?"

it becomes their probelm when the car they bought can't get registration because there is no one left to certify it.. then the whole thing comes full circle.

if you think $20k is a lot try the guys who deal in grey exotics. some of those are $100k+ I have heard.

sbyder/z240,

its too hard to explain what you do to the general public. they only seem to care whos cheapest and who can comply their 21 yr old GTR that they paid 320FOB for and on its final legs for nothing.(citing the 15 yr cars that surfaced before the door closed.) In the two years I have been involved in it from a repair aspect I have only just grasp the majority of what happens from auction to registration.

I see what you do a a full service/repair/modification for Oz transport rules with a fair bit of paperwork in the middle.

now the other side of the coin are those that will drop their pants on the premise that if they don't someone else will. mate of mine worked on this premise for a while and found all he got were the tightarses with shit cars and shit jobs. think the same idea sort of applies here. correct me if I'm wrong.

[DRIFTT]

Part 1,

a particular user of this thread said in another thread of the future risks to our car import industry... i'm starting this thread to discuss exactly what that is and what that will mean to us on the consumer side of things - and what it means to business owners in the industry...

i personally was a bit shocked to find nobody here in WA has any evidence packages or plates to comply any Toyota Soarer 1996 onwards - becuase nobody wants to touch them... nobody wants to take that risk on board...

also feel free to discuss opinions on the SEVS rule as a whole here, good and bad points of it... not just as a "reminisce over the 15 year rule" point... but more as a SEVS is here to stay, it's been here for years... how's it changed or changing the import industry since it's inception?

any light that can be shed on it by other users?

My words are below,

thats if you can find a complaincer that wants to keep his doors open.... big problem lately well QLD side is that compliance shops are closing. due to price cuts to much no money is being made. looks like the goverments long term goal is slowly being acheived.

With some help from some rocket scientists in Japan certain Brokers (not Kristian), car dealers and key board warriors pushed the workshops to bid against each other and drive any profit into the ground, it is a know fact.

How can a Broker offer a car like the M35 Stagea to be complied for $2,200 when it is $1,400 just for the catalytic converters and fitting, the workshops don't advertise pricing like that.

I know a couple of workshops who have cut there pricing to keep brokers, rocket scientists and key board warriors happy and have admitted it actually did not make any difference in the amount of jobs coming in.

yes its very wet days....... Australia just needs to deregulate you need a license to take a dump..

Well you don't need one to be a broker which helps the keyboard warriors and rocket scientists in Japan who all of a sudden become experts to set up shop as a broker, but the dealers act in certain states helps to fix that problem.

So again, as an example it is around $1,400 to do cats on the M35, just call and exhaust place and ask for 2 X SUPERCAT CA/CE 50005 and 1 X SUPERCAT CA/CE 91006 plus fitting. There is $1,000 in parts plus pads and plus tyres in the M35 and if anyone tell you less they are full of shit. So do the sums with plus import approval, plus Compliance Plate and fitting of everything at prices being quoted at $2,200 they must be doing it for free or doing nothing (yes even check your oil).

With Soarers I am not 100% why after 1996 but I know there is an issue with VVTi single turbo for the later model ones as I know of one sitting like new ready for wrecking due to only emissions.

i think maybe itemising could be the problem.

So we know that all but compliance and broker fee are static, they are set by business who dont care to haggle.

We deal with the brokers and ask them to find us good cars. so we tend to look after them and dont haggle there.

That leaves compliance.. the poor faceless man in the middle. Buys will do whatever they can to make a saving and they'll shop around here.

Maybe all brokers should agree to mask the aus side fees as a single Aus service fee. They can negociate an good price with their preferred workshop and factor it into their own bill.

It does require more trust form the buyer, but it should stop destructive bargain hunting. and should hopoefully allow the brokers and the raws shops to come to a mutually beneficial arrangement.

First of all compliance costs are not fixed, when looking at estimates understand that is all it is, I only believe a price a workshop will put on paper is a true price. They wont put the pricing on record for the very low ones as it doesn’t take much to work out what has to happen to be viable on some models at $2,200.

When you say should agree to mask side fees well hate to break you the news but some already mask those kick backs, this isnt a general rule but for some we have the customs broker, the guy in Japan and the workshop who slings some money there way or free compliance to push the work towards them. Again if you think that isnt true please tell me what you are smoking but again it isn't a general rule.

The current mutually beneficial arrangement is do it for this price or I go else were.

Its the above that makes me think that bundling the complience and broker fees together is a good idea, well maybe not good... but better.

Remember theres a difference between an enthusiast and yr average young'n who wants an import. the former will budget for and pay the cost of quality complience, to a point. the average mug however wont and will instead go to the raws that is looking to gain market share at all costs.

End result is, corners cut and quality raws start thinking about leaving. Education is only useful for those that care to start with.

I dont think my suggestion is that bad, and it wont lead to run away costs. Brokers will have their costs advertised for their vehicles, and the buyer can shop between brokers. fixing the price to 3200 per vehicle smells of price fixing, however justified it may be.

but brokers partnering up with preferred raws and offering packaged broker+complience fees could help cut down on the low balling as the respected brokers would always use their respected raws, and anyone with stupidly low package prices will suffer from both low margins and bad reputations, and they shouldnt last too long.

thats said. i always did suck and business studies

You have two separate business here so it will never happen, the scheme “IS” meant for enthusiast’s not your average young guy who just wants an import. It is a numbers game and the dealers/ brokers see it as the more the merrier.

Price fixing by RAWS well how many brokers charge less or more then $1,100, it isn't many. Brokers (some) partner with certain RAWS already, they go with who ever sweetens the deal the best as stated before, I have heard some of the biggest crap as to why job had to go to a certain Broker.

Stupid low pricing is what RAWS were pushed to, margins just meant less work is done as same bills come in either way, they wont last long that is for sure.

your gripe is with the ADRs, not with the RAWS that have to comply with them or risk losing their RAWS status.

There is no problem with the ADR's, everybody importing or manufacturing cars has to abide by the same ruling so no special treatment.

The RAWS don't comply them that is the problem and it is because tight arse FU#*ERS wont pay for work to be done, "Boo Hoo why do I need new tyres when they look ok". The book says they are required so just fit them, when brokers state price plus tyres (they state may or may not require new ones) people don't car about tires as long as it is black and round.

[DRIFTT]

Part 2

when you're paid shit all to comply a car, you can't afford to spend much time on a car or pay a mechanic a good wage to do so.

Along the lines of what you are saying I personally know of workshops putting the same oil into a Diesel Delica that they put into an EVO, it is about saving money nothing more. You pay for what you get and the first thing you should do to your car especially cars like the EVO is dump all fluids or have big bills fixing it.

Again as stated that is the price and there is a reason why, but people don't understand and why should we explain how much it costs to run our business just because some little F@%KER who thinks he is an expert thinks $2,200 is a fair price.

So people will pay $1,100 for some one sitting on there arse who half the time just cuts and pastes from a mates web site and people think that is value for money. But a workshop who has more over heads then you think (F@#K explaining all of them) cant ask a fair price to do the job correctly when the job is to make sure a motor vehicle meets the ADR's.

the GFC of 2009 (and current) has brought this industry to it's knees, from all sides of it, however... to repair itself it's not as simple as "cutting costs" to keep the customer happy... because there isn't any profit for the businesses which support us... however if the businesses have it their way entirely... many of us on the customer end are squeezed out of a market...

so there's two sides there... either compromise on profit... and risk sustainability for the industry in the (near) future... or maximise profits, guaranteeing the economical safety for the industry in the long term... but also removing a good 20-30% (guess) of the eligable market, causing more strain on the already difficult

I think one of the killers also was a flooded market just before the GFC, a lot of people bought cars with dollar so strong and even after dollar picking up not much change, there is only so many buyers out there.

This isn't a basic industry were you can go profit low well more sales, profit high well less sales, workshops have long forgotten about economical safety for the industry a long time ago. Most don't have insurance or money in reserve to cover new models, god forbid a serious recall as they will just go alright boys shut up shop we are going fishing for a long time. The people who screwed them on pricing are left with a problem to fix on there own (business have no problem stating they will just brush there hands and walk off with no liability).

A question for the brokers,

Those that have been in it for a while, are volumes of imports coming down?

I ask because the most popular imports are easily now available here in Aus, with hundreds to choose from - skylines, supras etc etc, so i would think that the large selection of cars already here are more of an issue to sustainability than any cost associated issue will ever be.

The newer models eg V36 skylines, simply don't have the cult followings that the older turbo cars do and I don't think there will ever be the demand for these cars, regardless how much they come down in price.

Could be wrong though

Late last year it was about 54% of the year before and that year was about 80% of the year before that, so will be looking at about 1/3 the amount of cars imported in 2007/2008 will hit the shores in 2010, the numbers are correct. So now the market is smaller after the workshops who did just volume close down, the price will rise as the left over workshops have the same bills no matter how many cars they plate (to a certain extent).

Less people in the industry means less workshops sharing the expense of the testing required for new models so they need to charge more as there expenses are higher. Especially with the later models as I have seen $40,000 bills just to get a 2008/09 car through emissions testing.

^^^ a good point...

and to z240...

perhaps that cost has never been mentioned because not many of us are aware that is even exists!

i for one didn't know it costs $20 grand for an evidence package...

how can you justify that to a consumer though?

as in how do you stop them from thinkng "so, not MY problem?"

I added 6 new models to my old workshop in a 12 month period so there was $35,000 in evidence, $10,500 went to DOTARS that year as fee per model added and yearly fees and ISO is around $2,700. So that is $48,000 plus rent, wages, calibration and a few smaller costs, how long do you think it will take to recover that amount of money............ F#%KING AGES! The money has to be recouped some how as it doesn't come out of Kevin Rudds arse as a favour for doing such a good job at pissing the big boys off.

I don't pay kick backs to anyone so I don't have to deal with the rocket scientists trying to line there own pockets, I have no issues with the idea of "Brokers" just obey the law and do what you are being paid to do which isn't to much to ask.

A comment by a certain government department employee sums it up, "Brokers are what killed the industry"..... The majority F#%KED it up for the minority not the other way round.

More to come.

Edited May 20, 2010 by DRIFTT

[Mr Eps]

Nigel, elbaorate... how did the brokers f**k the industry up, though?

and what sort of brokers?

[Chris Rogers]

give me a sec (I want to get a box of pop corn.)

[Iron Chef]

The problem Nigel is alluding to (correct me if I'm wrong) is that it's very easy to become a broker, but it's difficult to do the job properly.

So what happens that the established players have to put up with new backyard brokers who find a car on Trade Carview, send an email to the seller in Japan, and then think they can import cars cheaper than anyone else. I'm sure the same thing happens for other brokers who've been around for a while, but every couple of months I have someone call me up with a horror story. The best I've had is some rocket scientist attempted to import a 1992 Cefiro...

Here's one I got last week, from a customer who bought an auto S15 Spec R for $14K landed and complied....what a surprise it turned sour...

I was just wondering, is there any way that you (or another broker) can work out the vin number of a car sold on USS auctions from say .. last september?

I bought an S15 through ******* ******, and i'm positive i'm getting ripped off. I paid my compliance money to ***. I gave them a call up yesterday and they were VERY quick to tell me they dont do S15 compliance etc etc and that i've been misled. On their website, they are selling a car that is SCARILY similar to the one i purchased off USS (no bodykit, same K's, lowered, stock wheels, same tinting, etc..).

Now since ******* is a criminal, and the guys at *** are dodging me, i want to try and find if the car they have for sale and the car i bought at auction have the same VIN.

I don't want to bring you (or anyone else) into this, i just have this terrible feeling i'm going to lose a shitload of money, and i'd rather ask than do nothing.

What do you reckon the chances of this guy importing again are? Situations like this stuff it for everyone.

As far as workshops go, the airline travel industry is a classic analogy. Common business practice these days is to undercut everyone else on price so you send them all broke, then when you have a monopoly you can charge whatever you like. I bought tickets last week from Adelaide to Sydney on Tiger (and the plane actually left at the scheduled time!) for $25 - now there is no way in hell that can be covering the costs of running the plane, but Qantas (via Jetstar), Virgin and Singapore Airlines (via Tiger) have been slashing prices for so long that people eventually start to EXPECT to pay those kinds of prices.

Workshops are in the same boat - someone starts charging $1500 for compliance and suddenly everyone thinks that's what compliance is worth, when in reality, a proper job should be bringing in closer to $3000, but workshops will cut of their noses to get the work when things are tight.

Dealers buy cars with telephone numbers on their odometers, knock them back to 80,000km and still make reasonable profits on crap cars, but end up selling them at LESS than what I can import a similar car with genuine kms from Japan. Again, this goes on for a while, and people start thinking I'M ripping them off, because they're not worth that much.

I even see it in the broker's world, where people try and haggle over my broker's fee! I ask them if they would go to work next week and work for free lol. Everyone wants businesses to make money, but just not off them...

Another classis example is I often cop flak for suggesting that people should be selling their cars locally (and this includes deaers) for more than what we import them for - given the risks associated with importing something yourself versus being able to see a car in the metal, test drive it etc, that SHOULD be worth a premium over importing. Yet again, try selling a clean manual Chaser for $22K locally and see how many whingers ring up and low-ball you with $15K because that's what they reckon they can import them for.

[C-Red]

Rowan,

The name rings a bell but I can't place you. I've been keeping my head below the parapet. Whilst I retain my interest in importing and import cars in general years of the beforementioned lowballing, whining and bullshit in the industry made C-Red as an importing business a PITA. The workshop is still going strong and I'm still building stuff personally, just landed an FD this week from Kristian.

Basically no-one here is going to do a single turbo Soarer, having said that there is quite a few here already. You may just have to bite the bullet and get the compliance done in the east.

Everyone in this thread has made extremely valid points. I dont know what it is about imports but they seem to attract the lowest , snakiest and frankly the most dimwitted of douchebags. And I'm talking about the people that import and comply them - present company excluded of course. These f***tards have no thought about the longeivity of the industry or anything other than what is happening right this instant. If it wasnt for guys like Kristian and I pushing the SEVS envelope then all these greasy haired fat bastards who would be better suited to selling mobile phones would still be selling ECR33s. I mean f**k, some of them still are.

Personal vendettas seem to be more important for so many people in this game rather than doing something worthwhile, or even making a good dollar.

My recent experience with purchasing a C34 Stagea for myself made it abundantly clear that so many of these c***s are belting 100k off cars and rolling them out onto their lots - shit like that does no-one any favours and ruins it for us all.

Jash

[djr81]

Everyone in this thread has made extremely valid points. I dont know what it is about imports but they seem to attract the lowest , snakiest and frankly the most dimwitted of douchebags. And I'm talking about the people that import and comply them - present company excluded of course. These f***tards have no thought about the longeivity of the industry or anything other than what is happening right this instant.

The other downside of the multitudes of tards is that as a customer it is really difficult to find an importer/compliance shop who CAN dedicate the right amount of time to do a quality job.

Razor slim margins & constant whinging from tight arses makes it hard for proper customers to get proper service.

[BASHO]

A question for the brokers,

Those that have been in it for a while, are volumes of imports coming down?

I ask because the most popular imports are easily now available here in Aus, with hundreds to choose from - skylines, supras etc etc, so i would think that the large selection of cars already here are more of an issue to sustainability than any cost associated issue will ever be.

The newer models eg V36 skylines, simply don't have the cult followings that the older turbo cars do and I don't think there will ever be the demand for these cars, regardless how much they come down in price.

Could be wrong though

As just a consumer I sadly can't see how performance imports can grow, this is only an IMO but the halcyon years for the popular performance cars we all know and love seem to have only had a 10 year run basicly from 1992 to 2002 before that we dodn't know enough and after that the authoritys --all of them-- knew to much.

Supply , demand , legislation and the manufacturers have all worked tirelessly endlessly and unjustifiably against import free choice and the consumer.

Its also largely been a law of diminishing returns as far as actual manufacturers producing performance vehicles is concerned as well with later cars (what few there have been) being legislated into fat traction contol everythings with the accompanying price tags to match, but more importantly, to me anyway, booring farks to drive they just don't earn the sports tag somehow , no matter how quick and super they are.

I don't however believe it will be all doom for the freelance importers though , there's a whole range of quirky cars out there with new attractivenes and a new generation of idiot buyers who will buy them --as they should , they just won't be performance cars.

To all you brave bastards who import and comply the things , for farks sake don't stop , you are probably the last bastion of automobile free choice left.

My two bobs worth

[Mr Eps]

as for your last point about charging higher for prices Kris, it's a good idea really... but in theory only...

for instance, my current Cefiro was imported under the 15 year rule, complied properly mind you, but try telling a potential buyer what it's worth n they'll always have a whinge... i even had some guy come around n check it out n told me i was asking too much cos "it's an auto"

mind you - i told him i wanted 8 for it... and he's chasing a total hack... which my car is unfortunately not...

or even in my case...

i'm currently looking at a particular soarer and am finally getting close to committing to purchasing... but it's landed + complied price will be about 15 /16 grand... (trust me.. it's worth it... well... i think it's worth it.. i can email pics if you are interested in seeing it, i'm a bit proud of it TBH)

but once i get it here and let's say one day i want to sell it...

try telling a buyer that it's worth what i paid for it... they'll cry!

even on carsales, there's a white soarer 97 vvti with 19" work VSXX, manual, genuine km and official TRD parts

looks in FANTASTIC condition from it's pics... and he is asking 19K for it... is he going to get offered anything NEAR that for it??? i doubt it!!! poor bloke

australians have a culture of boganism and greed instilled in all of us (as both customers AND as dodgy raws / brokers it seems) are to (what i feel) blame for the current problems you guys may be facing...

customers are greedy in aust and want to pay for the car HERE what the car was worth in japan... say the car was 600K yen FOB then once landed people only want to pay 7K for it... because they want to screw anyone down so they can save up for second hand TEIN coilovers..

brokers are greedy because of what's already been said... undercutting and giving false promises, i had no idea that those backyard brokers actually MADE moves!!! i've ALWAYS looked at those sorts of ads n thought to myself "that's gotta be a lie" when they sugest S15 for 14K but that's just me / most people... obviously some people get bitten, by THEIR greed... because THEY are greedy for expecting a 14K imported s15

RAWS workshops are greedy because they want market share in the short run in an attempt to gain a client basis and recoup lost costs at all costs...

it's not ONE SINGLE PARTY that's causing the problems i don't think... i think it's just majority of australian's culture of expecting something for nothing and our nature of being "grass cutters" and thinking that we deserve a "piece of the pie"

=/

[xscape237]

There are some very good points raised by everyone in this thread, and I agree with the most part of it. The biggest problem as I see it, are the dealers who snap up the crusty cars, slap on some polish, reset the odometer, and on sell for a price that doesn't make sense. It ruins it for everyone and its as simple as that.

At the end of the day, the basic economics of the import business would be no different to any other industry in our capitalist culture. It is ruled by greed and tightarsedness. If it were possible, we would be seeing compliance being undertaken by illegal mexicans in a shed somehwere off the coast of shit creek.

Anyhow I just cant help but to stir the pot a little, from a customer and enthusaist's point of view. Can you imagine how wrapped I am when I pick up cars from compliance, only to realise that my factory HIDs are still in tact, my project-mu pads are still there, my semis are still fitted, and I'm about a grand richer than I expected to be when I left?* I, and many other consumers, probably couldnt give a stuff if my cats have been changed or if the car "meets ADRs". What I want is a purple sticker at a good price, and to keep my JDM goodies.

*note - may or may not have actually happened.

[Chris Rogers]

Anyhow I just cant help but to stir the pot a little, from a customer and enthusaist's point of view. Can you imagine how wrapped I am when I pick up cars from compliance, only to realise that my factory HIDs are still in tact, my project-mu pads are still there, my semis are still fitted, and I'm about a grand richer than I expected to be when I left?* I, and many other consumers, probably couldnt give a stuff if my cats have been changed or if the car "meets ADRs". What I want is a purple sticker at a good price, and to keep my JDM goodies.

And we have the root of all evil - human nature.. (sorry brad) never mind the fact that since the car does nto conform to ADRs that you$3k/yr of insurance you pay doesn't mean squat, never mind the fact that if you bolted a kid seat in the back and it came loose under hard braking due to shoddy or non fitment of kid anchor points. nope its all about a good price over safety

[xscape237]

Chris, I understand what you mean, and I agree with it, but yeah..

I'm talking about things like $1500 cats, fluid changes (which i would rather do myself), pad changes (unneccissary), etc.. I take cars to compliance for the purple sticker and the purple sticker only.

[Chris Rogers]

exactly. and that purple sticker generally requires ALL fluids to be dropped, tires changed, cats changed and the car modified to suit the rules for passenger vehicles for this country. those in turn are used by the insurance companies to insure the vehicle. now if a insuance company wanted to they could void insurance on 90% of these cars simply by applying ADR rules to them.

again it all comes back to the shops and $$. (or lack of it form a shops point of view and the customer wanted the best deal possible.)

[sbyder]

To put it simply, the Japanese import industry is dying due to people wanting to save a buck to have a fun car while owning a mortgage (house). You just cant have both these days without sacrifice.

So much for Dotars trying to help the industry make money, its more the opposite!

[sbyder]

Chris, I understand what you mean, and I agree with it, but yeah..

I'm talking about things like $1500 cats, fluid changes (which i would rather do myself), pad changes (unneccissary), etc.. I take cars to compliance for the purple sticker and the purple sticker only.

The workshops are forced to do those things by the regulations. If we dont change cats, or have stock brake pads on cars when we affix the purple sticker, we will eventually get caught out and will have our license terminated. You think its unfair for you, try having a set of OEM wheels on the shelf for every model of car you own, knowing that you are supposed to have the car sent out to the market in completely factory trim but the owner will not pay for stock wheels soley for compliance. Same goes for brake pads, tyres, cats, EVERYTHING.

[Chris Rogers]

The workshops are forced to do those things by the regulations. If we dont change cats, or have stock brake pads on cars when we affix the purple sticker, we will eventually get caught out and will have our license terminated. You think its unfair for you, try having a set of OEM wheels on the shelf for every model of car you own, knowing that you are supposed to have the car sent out to the market in completely factory trim but the owner will not pay for stock wheels soley for compliance. Same goes for brake pads, tyres, cats, EVERYTHING.

and we have a winner! DOTARS do random inspections as as well so these guys are under the gun to do things right. forcing their hand to cheat does not help things.

also I agree with the previous post re cake and eat it too.

if you cannot afford to bring the car in. get it properly certified then have the money spare to maintain it - why buy it. everyone has to make a living from their chosen profession and screwing them to bottom or below $ doesnt work for long. I see it daily in what I do and I simply pass the job in for someone else to do. I maintain margin and do not see why I should drop my pants because teh next guy witll fit a radio for $50 to a car I know its not possible to.

[DRIFTT]

Part 3

Supply , demand , legislation and the manufacturers have all worked tirelessly endlessly and unjustifiably against import free choice and the consumer.

I don't however believe it will be all doom for the freelance importers though , there's a whole range of quirky cars out there with new attractivenes and a new generation of idiot buyers who will buy them --as they should , they just won't be performance cars.

To all you brave bastards who import and comply the things , for farks sake don't stop , you are probably the last bastion of automobile free choice left.

They actually don't have to work to had fighting the RAWS and there short cuts now as "it has hung it self". They cut each others throat till there was nothing to cut, with numbers down big time the main stream boys don't care as much.

Since imports are so easy to get hold of due to the internet and the cars flooding the market with dealers getting on the band wagon the attitude is "So what if you have a Skyline any F#@KER can have one".

Unless the little FKERS be it the tight arses who cant afford one to start, the short cutting dealers/workshops and the pricks that push the workshops who solely do Compliance to break the rules that free choice will be lost forever.

australians have a culture of boganism and greed instilled in all of us (as both customers AND as dodgy raws / brokers it seems) are to (what i feel) blame for the current problems you guys may be facing...

brokers are greedy because of what's already been said... undercutting and giving false promises, i had no idea that those backyard brokers actually MADE moves!!! i've ALWAYS looked at those sorts of ads n thought to myself "that's gotta be a lie" when they sugest S15 for 14K but that's just me / most people... obviously some people get bitten, by THEIR greed... because THEY are greedy for expecting a 14K imported s15

RAWS workshops are greedy because they want market share in the short run in an attempt to gain a client basis and recoup lost costs at all costs...

it's not ONE SINGLE PARTY that's causing the problems i don't think... i think it's just majority of australian's culture of expecting something for nothing and our nature of being "grass cutters" and thinking that we deserve a "piece of the pie"

If the workshops don't exist the dealers will move back to what ever has 4 wheels and they can push if needed off the lot, the Brokers well most I dont give two shits what happens to them as there is also so few.

It is the people who want to own an import and treat it like it is gods gift to man that are the ones most affected and are facing the doom and gloom.

How do you support the statement of "RAWS workshops are greedy because they want market share".

It isnt a single party but it is a small group of people who are to blame.

Anyhow I just cant help but to stir the pot a little, from a customer and enthusaist's point of view. Can you imagine how wrapped I am when I pick up cars from compliance, only to realise that my factory HIDs are still in tact, my project-mu pads are still there, my semis are still fitted, and I'm about a grand richer than I expected to be when I left?* I, and many other consumers, probably couldnt give a stuff if my cats have been changed or if the car "meets ADRs". What I want is a purple sticker at a good price, and to keep my JDM goodies.

*note - may or may not have actually happened.

The law is the law, the promise was made to DOTARS to do certain things to cars granting them entry to our shores, so if not done the car is un-road worthy. When it doesnt meet the ADR's the short cuts will catch up in various ways.

exactly. and that purple sticker generally requires ALL fluids to be dropped, tires changed, cats changed and the car modified to suit the rules for passenger vehicles for this country. those in turn are used by the insurance companies to insure the vehicle. now if a insuance company wanted to they could void insurance on 90% of these cars simply by applying ADR rules to them.

again it all comes back to the shops and $$. (or lack of it form a shops point of view and the customer wanted the best deal possible.)

Over here DPI have seen so many cars not complied even close to the requirement they are now flagging all first registered imports (especially from QLD) and checking every thing, with the emissions issue over here they know any car just imported late 2004 or older needs new CAT's to be fitted be it OEM or not.

East Coast Licencing Authority's actually complained to DOTARS on a certain model not being complied correctly they are cracking down every were, doing DOTARS job for them.

The workshops are forced to do those things by the regulations. If we dont change cats, or have stock brake pads on cars when we affix the purple sticker, we will eventually get caught out and will have our license terminated. You think its unfair for you, try having a set of OEM wheels on the shelf for every model of car you own, knowing that you are supposed to have the car sent out to the market in completely factory trim but the owner will not pay for stock wheels soley for compliance. Same goes for brake pads, tyres, cats, EVERYTHING.

I just don't plate cars if the f**ker doesn't want to do the correct job and pay for things like CAT's fitted, brake pads or tyres as DPI go over it with a fine tooth comb, there is also the requirement for the car to be road worthy which is another issue.

Cars have been knocked back at inspection over here for various compliance issues including CAT's, placards and Tyres but when it is child restraints not fitted that is quite bad. I saw 3 skylines last year not fitted with child restraints.

Edited May 22, 2010 by DRIFTT