Importing Costs

[dreamresult]

I'm looking at importing something (thinking 180sx, r32, r33, haven't really decided yet) and so I've been researching tax, GST, shipping, and all that other stuff.

With "Carizma" as my source, there is a 10% GST, and a 10% import tax (http://carizma.com.au/Pages/Import%20-%20Regulations.htm)

It costs roughly $1000 to ship a car, and an additional $200 for insurance (http://carizma.com.au/Pages/Import%20-%20Shipping.htm)

I've found a nice, clean, late model 180sx for less than $7000 AUD on "Tradecarview" (http://www.tradecarview.com/used_car/japan%20car/nissan/180sx/4929207/)

So all this will cost around $9600, which is a pretty good price I reckon.

Thing is, this seems too small a price to pay. I've been looking around on SAU and they say there are other costs that cost several thousand dollars.

FOR WHAT?!

Anyone who has experience/knowledge on this topic, please share your wisdom!

Thanks everyone

[DRIFTT]

First of all do your research on Tradecarview and you wont buy from them, below is about the only cost calculator on the net giving you the true cost of a car (yes it is WA but no real difference).

Best advice going on what you want and experience is buy locally and it has more then been covered on SAU.

Edited August 23, 2010 by DRIFTT

[Pete Cummins]

They GST has changed to 5%, I had done my calculations on 10% GST and was surprised to see it was only 5%.

[mxfly]

GST has always been 10%. It's duty that has dropped to 5% from the beginning of this year.

[nickperth]

Can someone explain to me what does this custom's fee involve, i thought the inspection was only $150?

[vspecIInur]

From my experience with importing my car, the customs fee would be quarantine checks ie. drugs, bugs

[Mr Eps]

checking whether it needs steam cleaning of foreign dirt - let's not lie..

customs / quarrantine etc are basically the government leg of australia's stitched up secretive corrupt lucrative shipping industry..

case in point my soarer was inspected n paid for, them steam cleaned, then re-inspected and re-paid for..

i get the car and there's japanese rocks n sand n god knows what still in the car - no work was done.. it was just fees.

sorry to make such a swooping generalisation but yeah - they charge you the fees they want to charge you to do no work what so ever - and because it's government we have no choice BUT to pay it..

so - we pay for these fees then we take our cars and try to screw a RAWS down on the cost of our vehicle compliance.. irony?

[Iron Chef]

Don't forget paying tax on a tax Rowan

[ModaFUR]

checking whether it needs steam cleaning of foreign dirt - let's not lie..

customs / quarrantine etc are basically the government leg of australia's stitched up secretive corrupt lucrative shipping industry..

case in point my soarer was inspected n paid for, them steam cleaned, then re-inspected and re-paid for..

i get the car and there's japanese rocks n sand n god knows what still in the car - no work was done.. it was just fees.

sorry to make such a swooping generalisation but yeah - they charge you the fees they want to charge you to do no work what so ever - and because it's government we have no choice BUT to pay it..

so - we pay for these fees then we take our cars and try to screw a RAWS down on the cost of our vehicle compliance.. irony?

Mate I honestly hope this isn't the case with all the Customs shops. I just imported my 05 v35 and it gets here next week, they've quoted me around 7k for the customs rubbish

[Mr Eps]

^^^what he said.. not that im angry at the steam cleaning guy - i'm happy to pay money to a small business - what im saying is - it failed first inspection because it needed "steamcleaning" then passed the second inspection..

soooooooooooooo if it passed the second inspection with rocks and foreign sand and everything - then it should have passed the first time - clearly this second inspection is just fees from AQIS. (my opinion)

and as you said - tax on a tax..

but.. in reality - if i get my car that i'm absolutely happy with and totally in love with with all it's porny goodness and high spec'd features... and get it for a price lower than what i'd otherwise pay for a toyota yaris.. then australia's import system cant really be that bad..

oh, side note - 7grand AUD car cost for a 180sx seems a bit steep for me? i haven't seen the car obviously but a majority of the 180sx's are graded R and don't fetch much

EDIT FOR QUICKDRAW MCGRAW!!!! ^^^

the what he said was at mister ironchef..

as for you, mister.. can you please elaborate what you mean by "customs shops"???

that seems a bit suss.. are you sure you know what you're saying when you say "customs shops"? are you sure you're not saying $7K for:

shipping from japan RORO

taxes + GST

aqis + Customs

steam clean

towing

compliance

???

Edited October 21, 2010 by Mr Eps

[ModaFUR]

I'm looking at importing something (thinking 180sx, r32, r33, haven't really decided yet) and so I've been researching tax, GST, shipping, and all that other stuff.

With "Carizma" as my source, there is a 10% GST, and a 10% import tax (http://carizma.com.au/Pages/Import%20-%20Regulations.htm)

It costs roughly $1000 to ship a car, and an additional $200 for insurance (http://carizma.com.au/Pages/Import%20-%20Shipping.htm)

I've found a nice, clean, late model 180sx for less than $7000 AUD on "Tradecarview" (http://www.tradecarview.com/used_car/japan%20car/nissan/180sx/4929207/)

So all this will cost around $9600, which is a pretty good price I reckon.

Thing is, this seems too small a price to pay. I've been looking around on SAU and they say there are other costs that cost several thousand dollars.

FOR WHAT?!

Anyone who has experience/knowledge on this topic, please share your wisdom!

Thanks everyone

Btw, yeah you're just looking at the real base fee's... There are a lot of other things you need to take into account from my personal experience. Not sure how tradecarview works although some of the fee's are: Buyers fee (from the auction) was about 100k yen and compliance (for me was $2200) which is actually a pretty good price considering there are a sh*t load of dodgy workshops out there that may not do a good job + customs which is usually where it gets ya.

This is from the research I've done + what I'm looking at paying next week.

Anyways, hope that helps.

[ModaFUR]

^^^what he said.. not that im angry at the steam cleaning guy - i'm happy to pay money to a small business - what im saying is - it failed first inspection because it needed "steamcleaning" then passed the second inspection..

soooooooooooooo if it passed the second inspection with rocks and foreign sand and everything - then it should have passed the first time - clearly this second inspection is just fees from AQIS. (my opinion)

and as you said - tax on a tax..

but.. in reality - if i get my car that i'm absolutely happy with and totally in love with with all it's porny goodness and high spec'd features... and get it for a price lower than what i'd otherwise pay for a toyota yaris.. then australia's import system cant really be that bad..

oh, side note - 7grand AUD car cost for a 180sx seems a bit steep for me? i haven't seen the car obviously but a majority of the 180sx's are graded R and don't fetch much

EDIT FOR QUICKDRAW MCGRAW!!!! ^^^

the what he said was at mister ironchef..

as for you, mister.. can you please elaborate what you mean by "customs shops"???

that seems a bit suss.. are you sure you know what you're saying when you say "customs shops"? are you sure you're not saying $7K for:

shipping from japan RORO

taxes + GST

aqis + Customs

steam clean

towing

compliance

???

Haha I'm at work and I'm pretty lazy when I type... but yes the costs come from all of the above (shipping, towing, "steam cleaning" etc - Though compliance was actually quoted about $2200 and the other 7k quote was from the custom guy I'm dealing with. Ripped off?

Edited October 21, 2010 by ModaFUR

[Mr Eps]

ahhhhhhhh well that makes sense then =)

well yeah - steam cleaning may or may not leave you with a clean / rock free car - and it may leave you with a bit less money in your wallet

hope your importing experience has been a smooth sailed one (wow... excuse the pun) and welcome to the forums!

edit: wait what??? customs guy you're dealing with??? why are YOU dealing with customs? are you self-importing? or going through a broker..

and why is a customs officer quoting you on anything??

see this is what shat me about importing... everyone wants to throw in their two cents about something that didn't concern them - i got told by a (nameless) RAWS mechanic that i would have NO hope in HELL of getting my car registered if it's been complied over east.. and was told that unless i brought the car into him FIRST THING when i get it so that he could work on it - i'd have no hope of getting registration.

..if he has that opinion then fine, but registration is not up to him? so why did he go off his tree at me for choosing not to register in WA?

Edited October 21, 2010 by Mr Eps

[ModaFUR]

ahhhhhhhh well that makes sense then =)

well yeah - steam cleaning may or may not leave you with a clean / rock free car - and it may leave you with a bit less money in your wallet

hope your importing experience has been a smooth sailed one (wow... excuse the pun) and welcome to the forums!

edit: wait what??? customs guy you're dealing with??? why are YOU dealing with customs? are you self-importing? or going through a broker..

and why is a customs officer quoting you on anything??

see this is what shat me about importing... everyone wants to throw in their two cents about something that didn't concern them - i got told by a (nameless) RAWS mechanic that i would have NO hope in HELL of getting my car registered if it's been complied over east.. and was told that unless i brought the car into him FIRST THING when i get it so that he could work on it - i'd have no hope of getting registration.

..if he has that opinion then fine, but registration is not up to him? so why did he go off his tree at me for choosing not to register in WA?

Hahaha thanks mate. I actually went through a company called Prestige motorsport. The guy who runs it lives in Perth and I'm in Syd. He - himself was actually quite good in regards to being prompt in replying and has always kept me updated. Although now I'm dealing directly with the compliance workshop (in syd) that I've been referred to as well as the Custom's agent who is taking care of my car. Tho the customs agent so far hasn't been that great.. So yeah, hoping I won't be running into any dodgy "double steam cleaning" garbage. Btw, I've got a couple of friends who have gone through this and they told me they found Japanese lollies + jap condoms in their cars after they got it back hahahaha did you find any of that stuff besides rocks and dirt

[Mr Eps]

bahahahhaa WHOOOOWOWah.

no no... in the first car i imported (cefiro) i had a packet of tissues, a fewpics of the owners wife (?)(he was an old man) and actually yea i got a japanese lolly. i ate it - bad idea..

in the car i got monday - not a damn thing. but then again the soarer is not a funny business car.. it is actually an actual nice car for realsies. =)

[zebra]

Hmm this is kinda up my alley, Im looking at getting a ratty R grade 180 as a track bitch, No need for compliance etc and dont really care what the car looks like etc etc,

What do I need to know, because I phail at working out import costs.

So lets say a 10,000JPN 180 in ratty condition.

about 1000 bucks to get it here, about that again for GST and import duty.

What have I missed?

[Beer Baron]

dude, ichiman or AUD$120 is not going to get you a 180 in any condition except maybe one crushed into a cube!!! anything decent need to multiply the budget by about 50 times....

going to need $5000-$6000 to get a nice 180.

the FOB costs in japan alone will be around 100,000yen

so say 400,000 for car

100,000 for FOB

$1500 for ocean freight

$200 steam cleaning

$300 other various customs costs (aqis attendence, etc etc)

10% GST $600

5% duty $330

Looking at about $9K realistically. and bear in mind it can NEVER be registered in any state in australia. EVER.

Considering all the fixed costs of importing I reckon you are better off paying more for a nicer/higher specc'd car. cheap cars just aren't that viable as you end up spending a great proportion of the car cost on stuff that adds no value to the car (like freight, customs, compliance etc).

You could buy a track ready and road registered silvia in aus for $15K easy. track only ones around $10K to $12K

Take my silvia as an example.

S13 silvia with 100,000kms.

has SR20 converion with S14 5 speed.

Blitz twin plate clutch

nismo 2 way LSD

trust T518Z turbo kit

550cc nismo injectors

Z32 AFM

custom stainless intkae pipe with blitz pod

bosch 044 pump

Power FC and HC

Profec E-01 EBC

tomei dump pipe

tomei front pipe

Uras stainless manifold

S14 radiator (larger)

Trust front mount intercooler and piping kit

Trust PE II exhaust with Uras titanium tip extension

full 5 stud converion

GTR brakes front and rear

ISC coil-overs

adjustable arms

tomei 3 point strut brace

cusco rear strut brace

whiteline swaybars front and rear

full genuine Uras N+ kit (front bar, skirts, rear bar)

genuine Uras tail lights

respray in silver

Uras 17X8 +25 wheels all round with toyo proxes 4s 235/45/17

car makes 235kw atw on about 16psi and is pretty extensively modded with lots of very nice gear. and of course it's road registered and complied etc too.

When I sell it I'll probably be lucky to get $15,000 for it. if you bought a basic cheap S13 it takes a fair bit of dough just to do basic stuff like 5 stud conversion and some nice mods.

[zebra]

dude, ichiman or AUD$120 is not going to get you a 180 in any condition except maybe one crushed into a cube!!! anything decent need to multiply the budget by about 50 times....

going to need $5000-$6000 to get a nice 180.

the FOB costs in japan alone will be around 100,000yen

so say 400,000 for car

100,000 for FOB

$1500 for ocean freight

$200 steam cleaning

$300 other various customs costs (aqis attendence, etc etc)

10% GST $600

5% duty $330

Looking at about $9K realistically. and bear in mind it can NEVER be registered in any state in australia. EVER.

Considering all the fixed costs of importing I reckon you are better off paying more for a nicer/higher specc'd car. cheap cars just aren't that viable as you end up spending a great proportion of the car cost on stuff that adds no value to the car (like freight, customs, compliance etc).

You could buy a track ready and road registered silvia in aus for $15K easy. track only ones around $10K to $12K

Take my silvia as an example.

S13 silvia with 100,000kms.

has SR20 converion with S14 5 speed.

Blitz twin plate clutch

nismo 2 way LSD

trust T518Z turbo kit

550cc nismo injectors

Z32 AFM

custom stainless intkae pipe with blitz pod

bosch 044 pump

Power FC and HC

Profec E-01 EBC

tomei dump pipe

tomei front pipe

Uras stainless manifold

S14 radiator (larger)

Trust front mount intercooler and piping kit

Trust PE II exhaust with Uras titanium tip extension

full 5 stud converion

GTR brakes front and rear

ISC coil-overs

adjustable arms

tomei 3 point strut brace

cusco rear strut brace

whiteline swaybars front and rear

full genuine Uras N+ kit (front bar, skirts, rear bar)

genuine Uras tail lights

respray in silver

Uras 17X8 +25 wheels all round with toyo proxes 4s 235/45/17

car makes 235kw atw on about 16psi and is pretty extensively modded with lots of very nice gear. and of course it's road registered and complied etc too.

When I sell it I'll probably be lucky to get $15,000 for it. if you bought a basic cheap S13 it takes a fair bit of dough just to do basic stuff like 5 stud conversion and some nice mods.

Cheers Rich,

I kinda knew 120 bucks wasnt going to get me anything, was just a round number.

Thought Id ask the question anyhoo

[Mr Eps]

andrew talk to kristian about buying the garage RYO s14 he may still have it. do ittt

[xALmoN]

what about go man yen? what can i get for that?