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Importing a car


Charlie

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Just out of interest, what and from where do you plan to import from? Because my old man has imported a couple of classic Japanese motorcycles from the States over the past few years - most of the lessons he's learned from that could come in handy.

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We have bought a few in from these guys -

http://www.tau-sales.com

This was about five years ago and I do not know what the story is now in regard to importing cars, but we had not trouble getting damaged cars in to fix and use for ourselves.

Customs wise, if you have a customs number you must get a customs agent to handle the import, MAF clearance and tax paperwork for you. If it the first thing you have imported into the country sometimes Customs will do it for you, but this may not be the case now.

Depending on the value of the car, sometimes the freight, customs, MAF and GST will cost you more than what you have paid for the car.

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I have seen companies that import a car for you, can't remember any names but should be easy to find just google around.. Think the story was, you find the pay on the online auction sites buy it and pay a fee for them to bring it into the country. I haven't tried it so don't know how it works but apparently works out cheaper.

I think you can still do it all yourself and maybe save money but think it is probably one of those things that will be a nightmare to coordinate without the proper knowledge and contacts.

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+ there are restrictions on what cars you can bring in...

+ vin charges ( if there is a small amount of rust that hasnt been noticed (due to you not being able to see the car really b4 importing) youll fail that) and they rip up everything in the car to check it over... seats etc removed

this is information that i have been told,might have changed since?

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Also, if you are importing a European car, you have to get a certificate from the New Zealand importer for that marque to say that the car conforms to NZ Standards in order to get it certified for use. If the NZ Importer does not want to do this, you cannot get the car on the road.

It does not matter if the car make and model is already imported into NZ by a dealer, it is based on chassis number.

There is some guy in the country with a Ferrari in a shed that he imported into NZ himself that he cannot get on the road because of this.

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you can only bring in post 1998 cars, maybe even 2000+ since the law was changed regarding frontal impact standards a few years ago (ie airbags, abs brakes etc). Either that or something 25+ years old as a classic.

costs about 2g i believe. and yeah exchange is rubbish at the mo, very hard to find classic parts now

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give trent at the link below a go if your keen. he can give you a price on what you want i'm sure.

the craig family have been importing cars for probably 20 years or more & if i was looking at buying a japper i would contact him.

see how the prices ompare with local stuff & go from there.

http://www.vehicles2order.co.nz/index.html

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Be careful to read up on current legislation regarding imports and ownership requrements

We bought a 1972 Mustang Sprint and between the time of purchase and time of VIN'ing the rules changed. We nearly ended up with a huge lump of scrap metal because of the import /ownership laws. Thankfully the original importer was a great guy and helped us along .. but it was looking pretty dodgy for awhile.

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