Where do I buy my vehicle?
 

Could anyone help with this problem? I am a British citizen moving permanently to OZ at the end of next year. I would like to travel there overland in perhaps a defender 90 as it may be the last of my big trips.
SO........Do I??

1. Buy the vehicle (LC or Def 90) here and import into OZ when arrive?
2. Buy in OZ, ship to UK and drive back to OZ?
3. Buy in UK and ship vehicle back to UK from OZ when done??

Has anyone been in a similar situation. I think I would prefer the cheapest most hassle free solution.
Any Ideas or comments? Am I entitled to bring a vehicle to OZ on a working visa? Too many questions!
Cheers
Orrin

I've only done it the other way, buying a Defender in Aus when I lived there and bringing it back with me and importing into this country but trying to think through you issue, I would probably do 1 with a fall back of 3.

You can definitely enter Aus on the working visa with the vehicle on a Carnet. In theory, inspite of the finite timescale on your working visa, this shouldn't be an issue to importing the vehicle. The key here would be making sure the chosen vehicle conformed to Aussie rules so it can be imported but I know a Brit in Sydney who imported to LR90s back in 2000 when Landrover Australia didn't sell LR90s, only 110s and 130s. I think since then they have started selling LR90s as well so should be no issue. Also no issue for Landcruiser.

The problem with option 2 is that you will have to mess around getting a carnet to bring the vehicle back to this country to start with. You may have problems getting a carnet because British firms may not wish to provide one on a vehicle that is not registered in the UK, Australia may also not wish to provide one as you won't be living there prior to starting your trip. The only rational I would have for option 2 is if you want a particular Aussie spec vehicle (eg Landcruiser 105 series) that you can't get in the UK. If this isn't the primary driver then I wouldn't bother.

I'd treat Option 3 as you fall back on Option 1 but I think you will be successful with Option 1.

Cheers Tobias

Look into all the options
 

Orrin

look into all three options to check on the hassle factor, then depending what vehicel you want decide upon 1, 2 or 3.
Factor in making your decision: if you want a Landie probably buy it here in the UK if you want a Cruiser then Oz is probably better, unless its an 80 or 100 series which are plentiful here, then you would have to see where it is cheaper to buy.
You will have to look into the price of vehicles both here and Oz, the kit to fit them out - almost certainly cheaper in Oz, stuff like ARB and OME are made over there.

So in essense do your home work and make your choice

The buying in Oz choice I would do purely as I would be gagging for a Toyota Factory 1HD turbo 79 Ute or 78 Troopy. Carnet even on a non-UK vehicle you can get (RAC) in certain circumstances. Otherwise option 1 is probably the easiest and cheapest assuming that Oz is like UK and you can import the car duty free so long as you have owned it for some time and you do not sell it on arrival!
Gil

I'm currently prepping an 80 series for an Aussie couple who are doing the same thing, leaving next August and then heading East to Aus.

They bought a UK 80 series and then will import it into Aus.

From memory the 80s are cheaper here than in Aus, it certainly wouldn't be worth getting one in Aus and then importing it.

Having said that, a lot of the best kit for prepping the vehicle comes from Aus, but even so I think that it will still be cheaper to buy one prepped here or prep it yourself than to import a prepped one from Aus.

I won't even try to enter into the LR v's LC discussion - LC's always win :clap:

In a two horse race yes, but there are lots of other fine steeds out there to look at:hammer:

Hi,

I'm one half of the Aussie couple that Julian was talking about. We bought a 1993 Land Cruiser 80 here in London for £3000, and then we are spending around the £4000 mark to fit it out... so about £7000 all up. If you look on autotrader.com.au you'll see standard 1993 LC 80 selling for around AU$9000-$13000. If you sell on the upper and of that scale, as the vehicle will be better than standard, you should be able to get about £5000 back. Not too bad I think considering we'll be travelling through lots of countries and we'll just treat that £2000 loss as the "airfares" we would have spent if we flew from London to Perth.

As for the import side, if you own the car for more 12 months before it hits Australia then you don't pay import duty. You will get fees and all that stuff but it should be much less than the full duty of actually importing.

When are you doing the trip? And what route?

Cheers,
Duncan.

I don't think you'd need a carnet for an OZ vehicle in the UK/europe.

Cheapest is to buy it in the UK/Euope and drive it to India and ship from there (or Bangaldesh (sp?) ?) to OZ. [Only one shipment] (you'll need a carnet for Iran, Paki and India)

As part of your permant residency I think you are allowed to import a vehicle .. but check that out first .. then you'll need an import permit ... yes lots of paper work . but it only takes time.

------------------
The toytoas are poupular here .. more so than the LRs .. the extra size does not matter here ..

And if you do buy a LC 80 (or any other kind of LC) and you do end up driving it across Asia, bear in mind that Pakistan is absolute Landcruiser HEAVEN. Any work you need doing on the LC - get it done there. If interested, PM me and I can give you the contacts of the people who I used in Islamapindi.

Also - and I admit I don't know the current situation on this - it may pay you to investigate getting an ADAC (German) carnet.

Mark

overlandcruiser.net

Have you considered a campervan? you can usually pick them up for pretty cheap from here:

Used Ute Sales Melbourne - Second Hand Van - Gumtree Melbourne Free Classifieds