Shipping bike to Australia
 

I need some advise on shipping a bike to Australia, possibly Sydney or Melbourne. Can you tell me (or give me the websites) the requirements and restrictions on shipping my bike from Vancouver.

I did ship a bike to Europe and that was a simple affair (i.e. no carnet requirement). How long can I keep a bike in OZ? Would I be required to have my bike pass an inspection in OZ? Can insurance coverage be bought prior to arriving in OZ?

Thanks

Dunno about shipping companies from Vancouver to Melbourne - when I returned to Oz from Toronto in the mid '90s my removalist arranged for vehicles and furniture to all go in the one container.

Re other questions.

Yes you need a carnet.
Your bike can stay for up to 12 months
No inspection required.
If you want insurance you are going to have to buy it in Canada as you won't be able to purchase any locally for a temporarily imported vehicle.

There will be a quarantine inspection. If your vehicle has no dust, seeds, mud anywhere (including the air cleaner) you will be fine. In other words .. they will examine it minutely. If it is not up to their standard you will have to pay for steam cleaning .. and it will not be cheap as the run off should be treated. Very few people are lucky and have a fast visual inspection, don't count on it.

Some say you have to have a registration inspection .. I think that depends on what state you first come to.

Insurance .. you should be able to buy the legal minimum required within Australia. Good luck buying insurance for Australia in any other country (or within Australia for a foreign registered vehicle with a foreign licence holder) at something like a reasonable price.

Quarantine inspection for sure, you will need to book and pay that inspection yourself and if they find anything of bugs and seeds etc as Warin mentions you will need to get the bike sprayed/desinfected and you will have to pay that and its not cheap.

All different states in Oz seem to have differerent rules when it comes to temporarely imported vehicles. I shipped my bike to Darwin and to get the third party compulsory insurance I needed to have the bike going through a roadworthiness test, and if you pass that you can get the third party insurance. But mind you - the insurance purchased in NT was only valid in NT. When I got to Perth in WA I had to do it all again, roadworthinesstest first and if ok you can buy third party insurance at the road department. I never found out if the insurance purcased in WA was valid in other states. I presumed it was. And I gave a f*** gettin insurance in the other states.
Best would be if you could get an insurance from a private insurance company that covered all states of Oz. But I suppose that wont be easy with a temporary imported bike.

Maybe Ivan at Bikes Abroad can help you - or at least point you in the right direction. Its a company that ships bikes from Australia to other destinations but he should have contacts overseas that might can help you....

Bikes Abroad