Fat Cow

[cath jones]

I am coming to NZ in November on a Holiday visa for six months.
I am thinking of Shipping my Land Rover Discovery over as transport, will I have to pay GST or any other Duties on it.

[Taffy]

Hi,

You want to ship over your car to use on holiday, then ship it back over when you've finished? I've never heard of that being done before! To be honest, I wouldnt do that as it'll take around 6 weeks to arrive, then 6 weeks to get back, by which time it'll be in a pretty sorry state from all that time at sea. It'd also be mega expensive, and probably cheaper to buy or hire a car for the term of your stay. I don't think you'd have to pay GST on it unless you try and sell it, but you may well have to put it through vehicle compliance, and get it re-registered for that length of time. You'd also need to get it cleaned by MAF, which isnt cheap either. All in all, you could be looking at up to 10,000 pounds for the pleasure.

I have to ask - Fat Cow?

[cath jones]

Sorry Taffy I misled you a bit with my question
I am coming over on a Holiday visa as I will be looking to buy a business in NZ and then applying to stay on a business visa. I have asked this question to NZ House in London and they say it can be done this way.
The shipping cost from Wales to NZ is ?1430= (3700nzd)
so I will be staying in NZ with the car for longer than 6 months, but I need to know of the taxes and also the MAF charges.

[MotherBear]

Hi Cath, to MoveToNZ. Good to have you with us.

Here's a link to a car shipper in the UK and there may be some useful info on here about shipping your vehicle or perhaps you could contact them for advice. Also, this is a link to the NZ Customs Site . Perhaps there's a bit of information on there that will be helpful. And yet another link to the biosecurity site where it tells you all about what processes your vehicle will have to go through. Doesn't mention anything about the costs involved though.

[Welshgirl]

And the 'fat cow' comment??

[kokopeli]

[MotherBear]

Originally Posted by Welshgirl

And the 'fat cow' comment??

We've just bought a new treadmill. I'm doing my best, honest, but it may take a while.

[Taffy]

Riiiight... If you're planning on staying, then you must keep the car for 12 months I think, else you'll have to pay GST on it. It will need to go through compliance to be re-registered in NZ. This could cost anything from a few hundred to several thousand dollars, depending on what they find wrong with your car! There'll be MAF charges for importing too, but I'm not sure how much they are.

[kokopeli]

The physical process of importing a vehicle is fairly straightforward.... This is how we did it this time last year.....

If your Disco will fit into a container, that would be the best option. Our campervan was too big for a container, so it had to come on a Roll-On/Roll-Off ferry. We used Bargates, who (despite problems reported elsewhere on the forum) were spot on. Unless it's in a container, the cost will depend on the cubic volume of the vehicle. As a rough guide, you're looking at around ?100+ per cubic metre.

Before the vehicle leaves the UK, make sure you get a Statement of Compliance (SoC) from the vehicle manufacturer. This proves that the vehicle is fit for use on the road in NZ. Not all vehicles are allowed into NZ, so make sure you get this before you leave the UK . Check the LTNZ website which has got lists of the vehicles that are (and aren't) allowed in.

You get the SoC from the Homogulisation Department at the manufacturer's Head Office - not your local dealer. Fiat do them for free, can't say about any other rmanufacturers. You will also need to supply copies of your passport and proof of ownership to the shipping company. Keep the originals because you'll need them in NZ.

We insured our van with a Maritime Insurance agent for damage in transit. We had to have it inspected and get a vehicle condition report. Luckily, our old neighbour was an authorised vehicle examiner so he did it for a few beers. We also took loads of photos just in case.

The ship took 42 days from Southampton to Auckland. Fortunately, the van arrived in NZ with not so much as a scratch

When the vehicle arrives in NZ, you will have to get Customs clearance. If you've owned the vehicle for more than 12 months and are coming with PR or can show that you intend to settle here, you won't have to pay any GST or import duty.

You will have to show your original documents and pay for (and sign) a Declaration of Undertaking (DoU) to say that you won't sell the vehicle for 2 years. If you do sell it, you will have to pay Import Duty and GST on the price of the vehicle at time of import, plus the shipping and insurance. Owch! If you don't meet these criteria, you'll have to pay the GST and Import Duty. As I remember it, the DoU cost about $60.

You'll also have to get release authority from the shipping agent in NZ, which cost about $300. This covers the port movements when they get the car off the ship. The port will give you three or four days free storage to collect the van. After that, they'll charge you 'wharfage'. You can get the rates online from the Port company's website, but it will be about $100 per day........

Once you've got your customs papers and shipping release forms, you can go to the docks and arrnage to collect your car. Customs will check it for contraband and MAF will check for dirt. It will probably have to be steam cleaned, which cost me $150 and was done at the port there and then.

When that's all done, the wharf manager will stamp your forms and you're free to leave. You have to take the car to a Vehicle Inspection Station for compliance checks, registration and Warrant of Fitness. We borrowed some trade plates from our car hire place and just drove there. You might have to hire a transport company which will be about $100 for a 10km trip. In Auckland, there's a VTNZ station right next to the docks.

Inspection, registration and WOF cost about $1000. We had to have an engineer's report done on our camper which cost another $450, but you might not need that on a Disco. All that took us about three days because our engineer had gone fishing, but can usually be done in the same day...

When you've done all of that, you can fit your plates, put the stickers on your windscreen and drive away.

Apart from using Bargates to book the space on the ship, I did ewverything else myself. Like I said, it's fairly straight-forward if you do your homework and get the right papers before you leave the UK.


One other thought......

We met some Aussie bikers at the Burt Munro museum in Invercargill who had brought their motorbikes over from Queensland and were touring NZ for three months. They said they had to get a CARNET which is like a temporary registration because they weren't intending to stay and were using the bikes for leisure purposes. I can't tell you any more than that and don't know if it's a special thing between NZ and Australia or if you can do it from other countries as well. You might get more info from the AA or LTNZ - both have got good websites.

Hope that helps

[KiwiHopeful]

We didn't ship a car, but everyone who we talked to about our move of course asked if we were shipping our car. When we said 'no' the response was usually, 'Good, because ...' followed by horror stories of how poorly cars fare in containers.

My mother works for a freight trucking company, so I've heard the stories and see the pictures from reliable sources.

If you must ship, I would definitely go the route Koko has suggested, and drive on/drive off.