Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hello to all,

Now residing in Japan, I own:

- 2007 Audi RS4 wagon (RHD), fully stock

- 2005 Honda S2000 type V, fully stock, very low mileage

- 1994 Mazda RX-7 touringX with MazdaSpeed SportSound2 muffler, otherwise fully stock, 70k km

- 124cc Suzuki scooter, fully stock

Planning on moving to Australia (NSW) in summer 2012 with wife and kid.

Can you confirm my understanding:

1. I can bring under Personal Import just 2 of my 4 vehicles (one per adult)

2. None of them could be imported under SEV, so I will have to leave behind the other 2

3. Those I choose to bring in, might require some modifications for registration

Assuming a large enough budget, would you recommend I bring in instead a high value RHD car (Aston, Ferrari...) such as:

http://www.gooworld....4003472001.html (F430 12.6M¥)

http://www.gooworld....4005976002.html (DB9 11.2M¥)

and sell it upon arrival ?

Cheers,

Nic

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/363160-personal-imports-choices/
Share on other sites

Planning on moving to Australia (NSW) in summer 2012 with wife and kid.

Can you confirm my understanding:

1. I can bring under Personal Import just 2 of my 4 vehicles (one per adult)

2. None of them could be imported under SEV, so I will have to leave behind the other 2

3. Those I choose to bring in, might require some modifications for registration

Assuming a large enough budget, would you recommend I bring in instead a high value RHD car (Aston, Ferrari...) and sell it upon arrival ?

Cheers,

Nic

Your cars will require barely any mods, RX7 will require Child Restraints as JDM ones are not fitted but a trained monkey can fit them to an RX7 they are that easy. Audi should have "facilities" to fit Child Restraints which is the minimum requirement rest is nothing, Honda isnt a issue at all as no rear seats. Look on websites like www.carpoint.com.au to see retail value of your cars when it comes time to choose, or look now as you might find something worth buying.

For high end stuff people I know doing it are buying out of the UK as people dont seem to trust the servicing standards in Japan, Ferrari's are bad enough especially when not looked after.

One thing to remember there is a push to make a requirement for Personal Imports to be owned for a minimum of 2 years, not saying it will happen just keep it in the back of your mind.

Same people pushing that one car to be imported every 2 years under SEVS by non dealers, dont know why two years but that is what they tell the government.

Edited by Guest

will require Child Restraints as JDM ones are not fitted but a trained monkey can fit them

^^^ i think that with many RAWS - employing trained monkeys IS the case... that would explain why so many compliance things get "forgotten" about!! :P

Edited by Mr Eps
  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you for the answers. My Audi already has Isofix hooks for the rear window seats.

Will I have to pay GST and possibly the Luxury Car Tax on my personnal import ? If so, based on what value, since I purchased the cars years ago ?

Indeed I plan on selling the cars before I eventually leave Australia but that should be years away.

Thank you for the answers. My Audi already has Isofix hooks for the rear window seats.

Will I have to pay GST and possibly the Luxury Car Tax on my personal import ? If so, based on what value, since I purchased the cars years ago ?

Indeed I plan on selling the cars before I eventually leave Australia but that should be years away.

The correct way on working out a valuation of a vehicle for the purpose of a landed costs value is based on the cost of the vehicle at time of purchase and exchange rate at time of purchase, insurance and shipping plus other incurred costs getting the vehicle here.

This is how I valued a few personal imports this year as per the GUIDE TO THE VALUATION OF IMPORTED ROAD VEHICLES.

and yes you do have to pay import duty, GST and LCT (if car value inc shipping etc is over $57,000, or there abouts). So most likely you'll be up for just duty and GST. also any LCT is 25% but only on the portion of the value that is over the LCT threshold.

Out of curiosity, why the hell do you want to sell the rs4?

Are you planning on upgrading to the rs6 or are you just mad?

I would give my left nut to own one.

Seriously, one left nut

Good condition

One careful owner

No STDs

Only used to ride girls from church on Sundays

I'll sell the RS4 when/if I move out of Australia back to Europe, as I will probably be in a LHD country then, and when that happens a B8 or B9 chassis based RS4 might exist for replacement. Otherwise you are correct: there is nothing an RS4 could be replaced with today of the same nature.

  • 2 weeks later...

The correct way on working out a valuation of a vehicle for the purpose of a landed costs value is based on the cost of the vehicle at time of purchase and exchange rate at time of purchase, insurance and shipping plus other incurred costs getting the vehicle here.

This is how I valued a few personal imports this year as per the GUIDE TO THE VALUATION OF IMPORTED ROAD VEHICLES.

What if the purchase price of the vehicle overseas is still cheaper than the valuation over here after taking depreciation into account? Can you still choose to use the lesser of the two?

What if the purchase price of the vehicle overseas is still cheaper than the valuation over here after taking depreciation into account? Can you still choose to use the lesser of the two?

The purchase price of the vehicle is the base of the valuation, depreciation isn't a factor now when working the price out for customs.

The use of depreciation was suppose to cease over 2 years ago officially according to customs.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Apologies for the long post, but needed somewhere to lay out the entire timeline of events and actions taken:   I've got an 89 GTR with a R34 RB in it. It's been running great all year, driven probably 500KM in the last month. It's not my daily driver, just a weekend fun car.    Build info: R34 RB26 - HKS 2.7 stroker kit, HKS adjustable cam gears, HKS turbo upgrades, Trust intercooler, R34 factory DENSO 440cc injectors, JUN chipped/tuned R32 ECU. All of this work was performed in Japan back in 2019.    Thursday 10/2/25 - It's a nice day and decided I'll drive it to work, I start it up in the garage and I notice it took a few extra cranks and sounded a bit funny. I figure maybe it was just because it was a pretty chilly morning. I pull it out into the driveway to warm up a bit before leaving. As I leave the driveway, it feels very off and sounds like a misfire. I pull it back in the garage to deal with after work and take the daily to work. I was able to diagnose it as a cylinder 5 misfire with the old spark plug test (unplugging each plug until a sound change with the engine running). I take off the whole ignition system, ignitor, plugs, spark. *Important note, it is still on the R32 ignition system with the separate ignitor system. I test each system with a multi-meter and nothing presents as a smoking gun. I put it all back together and it starts up no issue. I go ahead and order the PRP R35 ignition conversion kit. It should arrive today (10/13/25)   Friday 10/3/25 - Another nice day, car starts up great and drives great all day. Very pleased that everything seems to be OK   Sunday 10/5/25 - Decided I'll take it to play some golf, load up and drive to the course about 25 minutes away. Drives wonderful the whole way there, I pull in the parking lot and the engine completely comes to a stop. I do not recall if it sputtered at all, but just remember all of the sudden the engine was off. I roll it into a parking spot, try to crank it back on and nothing.  It'll crank and crank and not even try to start. End up getting it towed back to my house and push it up into the garage.    Items I have checked: Fuel in the tank Fuel Pump relay Fuel pump fuse  Spark Plugs & gap Coil packs Ignitor    I know the cylinders are getting fuel as the plugs smell like fuel after a start attempt. I tried spraying starter fluid into the manifold and cranking and not even a sputter.    I decided to do the live CAS test (removing the the CAS, ignition on and spinning the CAS stalk to see if the injectors pulse and spark is active). All of the injectors were pulsing and I have spark at the plug. The half-moon end of the CAS did seem very loose, I'm not sure how much play is supposed to be there, but it was more than I expected. There was no in/out play of the shaft, just the tip end that is pinned on had quite a bit of play.    CAS Play video   When I put the CAS back in, I stupidly did not re-time the engine. I know I need to do that tonight, however, I do not think it will start given it seemingly was not the issue. My plan is to do the PRP R35 coil kit and retime the engine at the same time.    I plan on ordering the Haltech Nexus Plug-in ECU once they are available again, but ideally would like to get this sorted before firing the parts cannon at it and potentially adding more variables.    Anything glaring that I am missing here, I'm a bit at a loss?          
    • Get it on a dyno. Get something logging Consult. Run it up and find out what is causing it.
    • Looking for a plenum for rb25 de+t neo  Not looking to push much power maybe 300kw at the wheels, is there much difference in flow for Freddy “Greddy style” compared to original Greddy or options like Proflow or Otaku garage?    I won’t be porting the de Neo head for now as I think it’ll be fine 280-300rwkw but appreciate the help and any experiences anyone has between them and any advice. Thanks  Looking at this plenum for now below 
    • engine wise almost no mods: stock ecu Greddy front mount intercooler Greddy forward facing intake w R33 TB stock fuel system, stock injectors, rail etc. Kakimoto racing hyper 3 inch exhaust system Apexi intake filter New NGK –R BCPRES (.8 gap) plugs  
    • Nice one @Pac - looks like a fair few 1600's there! 
×
×
  • Create New...