R33 Gtr Importing From Uk

[amervyn123]

Hi all,

I live in the UK and am a member of www.gtr.co.uk.

Recently I have been seriously considering relocating to Sydney for a year or so to work there and get some more experience under my belt in my area of work.

Having just recently bought my car about 3-4 months ago, I would hate to have to sell my car before I leave. I didn't plan on going when I bought the car and my circumstances have changed recently.

I was wondering if anyone might be able to give me some advice as to how difficult/easy it is to ship my car to sydney and what kind of costs are involved. Moreover, it would be really helpful if I could get some pointers from someone who has actually taken their car to Australia from the UK.

I have googled around a bit and found some quotes from shipping companies, but they seem to be unbelievably high and on top of that there are tons of registration/dock handling fees to be paid which I am not too familiar with.

I have also been told that some turbo/intake mods are illegal in Australia.

Here is a brief spec of my car from the gtroc forum:

http://www.gtr.co.uk/forum/183985-my-new-r33-gtr.html

So any help or advice appreciated.

Thank you

[BigWillieStyles]

The government used to allow some visitors to bring their car on a temporary permit, but I believe these may be limited to a time frame of 3 months. I couldnt find anything on the DOTARS website, so they may have removed this. I doubt you will find another way to import. Why not sell the GTR, and buy something that is unique from Australia to take back?

All the info about importing is listed on the DOTARS website.

Australia is much stricter than the UK in terms of importing. Australia has a local car industry to protect and thousands of jobs.

Edited September 9, 2013 by BigWillieStyles

[lidz]

The temporary permits thing sounds familiar & would definitely be worth investigating further. You may be able to import it via sevs (same process as us importing from Japan) or another option is a 'personal import'. This allows you to bring your vehicle across to Australia & avoids a lot of the costs & restrictions normally placed on importing a vehicle (such as importing a vehicle that was sold locally). You need to be relocating or returning to Australia but, & here's where I think you'll have an issue, I believe you need to have owned the car for 12 months prior to bringing it over. Member Iron Chef on here is very popular & has a uk business too, 'Iron Lady Imports' & would be well worth contacting.

[amervyn123]

Thanks for the valuable advice guys.

I will get in touch with IronChef and see what he says. If one of the requirements is to have had the vehicle for 12 months, then I am screwed.

I will slowly gather the required info and see what my options are.

Cheers

[foibles]

you have two options;

1. personal import...you are ineligible as you must have owned for 12 months

2. RAWS / SEVS...which means you must contact a compliance agent here in Aus and have them apply to import and 'comply' the car for you (comply means to bring 'up' to Australian Standards)

Option 2 will cost you....aside from the freight and handling which you refer to....an additional $2500 or so in engineering costs.

R33 GTR normally fetch around 10K GBP for the year (95 judging by steering wheel?), spec and mileage of yours. That's about $17K AUD. To bring it over will set you back another $7K AUD or so by the time it is on our roads - you'd be better off selling that one there, and buying another here. Little issues like the odometer and calibration in MPH and not KMH can be nuisances...trust me!

My advice - sell her up - get on a plane, and go shopping for one when you get here. Most of ours DONT have rust...lol!

Cheers,

foibles

[amervyn123]

foibles,

It is looking like selling the car here and coming over there is the only viable option at the moment

I'm going to miss the car as I was starting to get attached to it and planned lots of work to do on it. Dammit!...

Anyway, thanks everyone for the advice.

I really hope I can get one over there with a brilliant spec for around about the same money. I wouldn't want anything less than 550bhp 'ish ....What are some of the most popular places to get a good r33 gtr?..in terms of websites?

Thanks

[lidz]

other than here, http://www.carsales.com.au/ and http://www.carpoint.com.au/ will be your best bet. Then ebay, gumtree, etc.

[10 4]

Classifieds too.

[Iron Chef]

Yeah probably wiser to sell it off and buy here Anton, presuming you paid a reasonable amount for it in the UK. On the upside, there are plenty of good GT-Rs here

[amervyn123]

Thanks for all the comments.

After much thought I have decided it is probably wiser to either sell my car here (((

or..leave it here at my parents' place and mark it as a SORN for the DVLA.

IronChef, you mentioned there are plenty of good GT-R's there....but I have read elsewhere that there are lots of restrictions by from the authorities with regards to what kind of mods you can on your car. Do people get pulled over/stopped for having modded GT-R's and is it quite common? It sounds like quite a lot of hassle to me.

Thanks for the help.

Cheers

Anton

[KiwiRS4T]

You can get a tourist carnet for your car for up to one year. Enquire through the Automobile Association (or whatever it is called in the UK).

[Plattsy]

Thanks for all the comments.

After much thought I have decided it is probably wiser to either sell my car here (((

or..leave it here at my parents' place and mark it as a SORN for the DVLA.

IronChef, you mentioned there are plenty of good GT-R's there....but I have read elsewhere that there are lots of restrictions by from the authorities with regards to what kind of mods you can on your car. Do people get pulled over/stopped for having modded GT-R's and is it quite common? It sounds like quite a lot of hassle to me.

Thanks for the help.

Cheers

Anton

yep modding a car is a nightmare here compared to home mate....

[niZmO_Man]

If I were you, I would park your current car somewhere (like your parents' as suggested), come down here, work your butt off, party a bit, maybe buy a cheapish car as a run around, go back to UK with heaps of cash, splash out on your GT-R .

[Plattsy]

If I were you, I would park your current car somewhere (like your parents' as suggested), come down here, work your butt off, party a bit, maybe buy a cheapish car as a run around, go back to UK with heaps of cash, splash out on your GT-R .

lol at going back with heaps of cash.....

dat exchange rate.

[amervyn123]

lol....that's not a bad idea...work hard and come back with heaps of cash. However, I don't know how much I will end up saving after paying for rent in Sydney and enjoying myself over there..but will certainly try..

I think I will most certainly keep my gtr here rather than selling it, as it took me almost a year of searching before I finally decided on the one I wanted. Good gtr's are not that easy to come across and it takes ages to get a descent well looked after example.

Cheers

[Sklyn]

lol....that's not a bad idea...work hard and come back with heaps of cash. However, I don't know how much I will end up saving after paying for rent in Sydney and enjoying myself over there..but will certainly try..

I think I will most certainly keep my gtr here rather than selling it, as it took me almost a year of searching before I finally decided on the one I wanted. Good gtr's are not that easy to come across and it takes ages to get a descent well looked after example.

Cheers

Looks like a really nice example too!! Nice find, they are a lot less common in UK.! So def try to get it stored if you plan on returning. Just be sure to do it properly so it doesn't deteriorate whilst away.

Modding here can be very troublesome =( so maybe just get something you can enjoy for a while.

The websites listed above are pretty much they best way to find used cars, even the dealers advertise some stock there, so if you find one that looks interesting then go to browse the rest. Just remember to get them checked and "you get what you pay for"!!

[amervyn123]

Looks like a really nice example too!! Nice find, they are a lot less common in UK.! So def try to get it stored if you plan on returning. Just be sure to do it properly so it doesn't deteriorate whilst away.

Modding here can be very troublesome =( so maybe just get something you can enjoy for a while.

The websites listed above are pretty much they best way to find used cars, even the dealers advertise some stock there, so if you find one that looks interesting then go to browse the rest. Just remember to get them checked and "you get what you pay for"!!

Thanks. Yeah I am quite happy with the car except for the minor rust issues underneath. But it is expected I suppose for a car of this age. Seems the owner has made some good upgrades to it and the engine work alone is worth quite a lot I think.

I just had a thought after reading your comments.....I have lately been very curious about trying an R32 GTR and I think if I am in Sydney I shall certainly have to look out for one...doesn't have to be in top condition but one which drives quite well so I can finally see what all the hype about these models are lol

i dont have access to a garage here, but a drive at my parents place so I guess I will have to use that and cover it up properly while I am away.

[Sklyn]

I'm certainly no expert on car storage, but i think there's things to do for engine if not being started regularly (like fill with oil) and put stands under the car to protect tyres if they deflate..