Shipping to Australia - advice needed...
 

Hi,

I am thinking of shipping my landy to Oz from Africa. Dirt is in every crevice, nook and crack.

If I make some kind of effort to clean it, get a fumigation certificate, but it is not exactly spotless, what happens when you arrive in Oz and they inspect it?

Do you get fined/charged a lot of money? And is the vehicle held in quarantine for weeks at your cost?

Advice please ;) I'm assuming the fee's are quite high to make people clean their vehicles properly, but I don't think I will be able to get mine clean enough.

You can give it a rudimentary clean before shipping, but generally speaking , its never clean enough for the Aussies, so will need to be cleaned and inspected at port of arrival. There is no fine regime, you just pay to have it cleaned when you arrive. IIRC its about $200 , varies port to port. If its a temp import(ie you are not staying) ie using carnet, then you wont need extra expense changing vehicle items. Soon as cleared customs , get it to quarntine clean , which gets you cert and quarantine release to you.

Thanks,

As with all overlanders I have various boxes and modifications inside where it is also unlikely to be clean enough - assuming I just pay extra for this to be cleaned also? will be quite a chore pulling it all out...

Other than shipping/port and cleaning fee's is there anything else that needs to paid? Road tax per state or anything?

hi we shipped our 6x4 r/rover into westen oz [freemantle] in 2009 and because it had dust on top of the chassie it failed the quarantine inspection, elevan days latter it passed they even took the door rubbers off to clean the inside it cost me 960$ but we were lucky because we met a french couple and there defender was in quarnantine for 4 weeks, The inspectors say that tha vehicle has to be as clean as new You also have to pay for an oz mot [just a quick look round then a 10min road test] and a road tax of 285$, steve

Clean, as far as AQIS is concerned is "clean as new", so dust, insects stuck in the radiator, dirt caked into grease will all cause the vehicle to fail inspection. The interior is really quite easy with a vacuum cleaner and air gun to get the stuff stuck in the corners. Sort of things that will get you a knockback is water in tanks - even a windscreen washer bottle. The underside of the vehicle is really important to clean - high pressure and then flooding with low pressure to wash away all the left overs. The inspector will do a simple tap test on the underside - if anything drops down it fails, a finger along the top of chassis - dirt, it fails, insects or seeds in the radiator, it fails. I reckon it takes about 20 man hours (with the right tools) to detail most vehicles to new standard. If the underside is really bad you can just spray paint it underseal or chassis black as a way of making it look really well cleaned!!

If you goto the AQIS website they have advice and a printed standard for importing used vehicles from overseas. http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/import/v...motor-vehicles
http://www.aqis.gov.au/icon32/asp/ex...LogSessionID=0

Depending on where you land the vehicle will depend on how the import process goes - NSW is by far the easiest place as once you have completed the customs and AQIS formalities you can drive away with no need to take out third party insurance, have a roadworthy inspection, obtain permits, etc etc etc as the other states demand. Land it in Queensland and the vehicle cant be driven on the road until its inspected at a Queensland transport inspection station, which means a vehicle transporter. If you enter Australia via NSW then the reciprocal arrangements recognising each States registration and third party insurance legislation apply in all the other States - just make sure you have a letter/email from the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority - someone here has a copy which can be retrieved if you look back in the posts about Australia. http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registrati..._overseas.html

Just remember that if they consider it too dirty they will ship it back to where it came from at your expense! It happens. So at least try to have it clean.

That tends to happen to used earth moving equipment a fair bit. Its interesting how the US Military avoid AQIS completely, they ve just landed a few hundred vehicles for exercises in Queensland straight off the landing ships and onto the beaches. Whilst AQIS may have the best intentions in these days of global trade I think they are little more than an adminstrative hurdle to overcome. We have infestations of S American fireants in SE Qld that snuck in, Tasmania has starfish that come from Japan brought by water ballast in ships tanks.

Did I hear that they even get fussy about the type of timber used in any construction of your cabinets / boxes / body? Anyone know for sure?

We shipped our Landy to Perth, Got through without any fuss. Really depends on who you have on the day.

We also spent a week before hand, 96 man hours, cleaning though.

Wood wise we where told as long as it was commercially manufactured and treated it would be ok. Ours was simple ply wood painted and was fine.

Good luck, be aware though if it needs extra cleaning it cost's a bomb.

Simon
Trek to Oz

I met the military attache to the Australian High Commission in Ethiopia a few months ago. We'd just been shopping at the expat supermarket in Addis and were loading the groceries into the car, and he spotted our NSW plates so came over for a chat. Shipping / importing came up in the conversation, and he said AQIS make it really difficult for the ADF when they're bringing back vehicles from overseas so it really is interesting that that the US can avoid them.

Many thanks everyone!

@steve/m - why did it take 11 days? Were you cleaning it more and more each day and it kept failing? Also if it is left in Quarantine for 4 weeks, does that cost any more to be stored? Did they still have to clean it etc?

@RogerM - ok, NSW sounds best, but any idea about WA or NT - these are the areas I'd prefer to ship to - but NSW sounds easiest so far.

@maple - did they search inside thoroughly - make you unpack everything, look inside each box, every corner etc?

Thanks all for your help - after two years in Africa my landy is extremely filthy, and also highly customised inside, so it is not easy to clean.

My fear is that after all of the shipping, flying, road tax, insurance etc that I get hit with a huge bill for quarantine, storage, cleaning etc. I'm receiving from a very bad bout of electrocution so spending 50 hours scrubbing is not possible without any chest, sholder and bicep muscles ;)

One last question which may decide if I move to Oz for a while:

The Australian AA say that basically you can't leave Oz if you have your vehicle there on a Carnet which is fairly outrageous! Is this true and is it enforced?
Bringing Your Car to Australia - Australian Automobile Association

"It is a condition of use of a carnet in Australia that you, do not leave the vehicle that is covered by a carnet in Australia while you are not here. Should you do so, this is a breach of the provisions of the Customs Act 1901 and Customs Regulations 1926. Once a breach has occurred, the security amount equivalent to the duty and GST (and Luxury Car Tax (LCT), if applicable) will be called up by Customs."

What happens if your Mum is sick in Canada, you want to pop over to NZ or you need to travel for work (I'm thinking of mixing travel with a bit of work (as a Kiwi I can work in oz etc)

It all adds up to being a pain in the butt if true ;)

Raw, untreated timber will get you a fumigation at your cost - if there are signs of insects, wood borers, etc it may result in a refusal to let the vehicle in. Plywood is fine as the phenolic resins used in most plys kill anything that eats it. If the wood is painted or varnished it will pass.

I cant help with specifics about WA or NT other than I know that inspections similar to a roadworthy inspection are required, they then issue permits and third party insurance, of course you pay at every step.

You may need to check about whether you can bring a vehicle into Aus on a carnet - if you have a right to residence then you cant use a carnet and must use the Import Approval process (weblookup VSB10). Its a bloody messy system if you ask me and is just bureaucratic customs duty.

The usual conditions on carnets is that if you leave so does the vehicle - however - leaving the country can be by putting the vehicle into a customs bond area and paying their exorbitant storage fees. Then bringing the vehicle "back" into Aus when you return.

To be honest we left it with our agent and were not present for the inspection. This is something that our agent encouraged as to witness the inspection would of involved extra insurance for us and safety inductions to get on to the quay.

However we were told they just had a quick look inside and under the bonnet and it was very quick. If they see you have made an effort they are less likely to strip the car down and empty everything out. As i said 96 hours of cleaning was well worth it.

Again though, it really depends who you have on the day.

Good luck!

Simon
Trek to Oz

Im pretty sure that Carnet condition is the same for all countries. We had a bit of a scare in Senegal when the border official wrote in my mates passport when we were on the MAPA Project. He basically linked the vehicle to his passport. The vehicle wasn't ours and we were flying out of Dakar!

Luckily we got out with no issues, but you never know what the men with badges will do next!