Hi,

Some of you will have read that I was looking to buy a bike in Australia for this the final leg of my RTW.

After a week or so of looking I found an immaculate 2006 R1150GSA in Sydney. The price was high but the bike had only covered about 2,500km and had only seen rain once and so I went for it. My base was in Brisbane so we had to fly down and stay in a Motel for a few nights. Sorry I'm rambling a bit here. The main thing is we weren't aware that there is STAMP DUTY payable on vehicle purchases which is claimed when you register the bike in your own name. In New South Wales, it amounts to approx $AU 28 + 3% of the purchase price, which when the bike is $AU22,000 amounts to a lot of wonga. In Queensland it is around $AU250 + 2% of purchase price.

The bike also is required to be REGO'd which is the combination of Road Tax/licence and compulsory 3rd party inurance, this amounted to around $AU350 although in my case it was already paid for the next 8 months. As far as I make out this insurance only covers you for 3rd party people, not their vehicles so you still need to buy 'normal' insurance on top.

Please be careful when buying a vehicle down here-make sure you know all the costs or you will get the nasty shock as we did on the day we took delivery of the bike.

Regards,

Mike

P.S For those of you thinking you'll get round it by altering the purchase price, be very careful as if it is stolen you may only get what you claimed you paid for it. It is very different down here to the UK, there is a lot more trust involved all-round.

The purchas price inculdes the rego, 3rd party personal insurance, tools, any accessories .. so the bike is one part of the purchase price.

Trust?

---------------------- There are a lot of things that locals assume that 'every one knows' like where the toilets are... and how much tax you get to pay ... travellers get caught out all the time. Best to ask, most locals will acept that the traveller does not 'know' and needs to .. at least you understand the language well .. lots more tolerence needed in places where the languge gets in the way ..

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Regards Frank Warner
motorcycles BMW R80 G/S 1981, BMW K11LT 1993, BMW K75 G/S

I don't know where you got the "$250+2%" from. I have just registered my Campervan which I imported from New Zealand and paid a flat 2% on the "Dutiable value" which is a lot less than the market value. Matbe it's an extra tax on "Aliens"!!

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Just Ride!
www.rocktravels.blogspot.com

Aahhhh Mike, you've discovered the great Australian scam of "stamp duty".

Nobody knows what it's for or why it is charged. Certain items (cars, bikes, houses etc) attract stamp duty even when privately sold. I sell a bike to my mate and I have to pay the government a commission which they call stamp duty. There are no administration costs to cover, those costs are paid when you register the car or property. Legal fees (ie the transfer) for a house attracts considerable fees on top of the stamp duty.

It's essentially highway bloody robbery. You're right to warn people of this sneaky little charge which leaps out from behind the bushes and pulls your pants down. Most countries have some henious charge the taxation spawn have dreamed up - ours is called stamp duty.

If you buy private most sellers are happy to give you a bill for less than you payed . If you dont take the p*ss & dont make it unbelivable you can save quite a bit as the diference in price between good condition & bad condition is quite a bit . Just dont push it too far.
Kev

It's fine in theory, but what happens if the bike is then stolen ? it's registered value, which is based on the reciept you produce at the time of regsistration, is what your likely to get, or possibly even less. For the sake of a few hundred dollars at maximum you could lose a whole lot more-is it worth the risk?.

Regards,

Mike

[quote=Frank Warner;148127]The purchas price inculdes the rego, 3rd party personal insurance, tools, any accessories .. so the bike is one part of the purchase price.

Trust?

Hi Frank,

What you say is generally true but not all the time. Whilst looking for a bike I saw that some aren't REGO'd, in which case the buyer is liable for another $AU350 or so which then theoretically makes the bike more expensive. I'm not sure however how you feel that undervaluing the bike for the transfer(if that is what you are suggesting) will help.

The trust aspect I mentioned is that the Insurer in Australia is generally a lot more interested in what you are insuring and how much experience you've had on a particular bike size/style. Hence, you are left to tell the truth without dodging issues as some have learnt to do in the UK. It is hard to explain but in a nut-shell I'd say the Australians are still in touch with the people side of thie business whilst in the UK the rider is just business generally until a claim, and then they check if you were telling the truth when taking out your policy. I.e. looking for a way not to pay out. (This is not true of all though.)

Regards,

Mike

Interesting and confusing. :confused1: I looked on Queensland RTA web-site and saw what looked like a flat rate charge of around $AU100(although I really am hazy on this figure.) Not content I rang the RTA in Queensland who told me the bike would need to be certified as roadworthy, I'd have to surrender the NSW number plate and then register the bike in Queensland. The cost for this was the figures I've already mentioned. If you managed to get your van registered for just 2% I'm gutted as I registered mine in NSW in the end as it was cheaper(although too flipping expensive for my liking !) As for the duitable value that is a complete non-plus for me. In NSW they charged the duty on the price that had been paid.

Kenny, what other costs did you incurr bringing it over? Did you have to REGO it as well ? Perhaps that was the missing figure ?

If all else fails I'll ascribe to the Alien theory....just as long as Bill Murray and his crew are ready to cart me off in one of their boxes !!

Regards,

Mike