ship car to nz?

[pixiegumboot]

anyone done this who can provide advice/experience? it will cost us an extra 2k to do, and we couldn't buy anything for that money over there!

[specialsubject]

£2k is about NZD 3500. You can buy plenty of old but serviceable Kiwi cars for less than that.

[pixiegumboot]

yeah, not really looking at returning to the old serviceable cars I had as a student growing up in NZ! don't really want to swap what we've got for that.

[kiwidreamer]

My parents have been looking into this recently, on paper it looks to be a very good idea, the vehicles they were looking at buying here for £5k are on Trade Me for over $20k nzd. To ship a car on a personal basis you need to have owned it for 12mths prior to shipping. Considering the exchange rate is so crap now this could be a way of getting a bit more bang for your buck as it were.

When our time to move back comes we will seriously consider it.

[nowwearefour]

As long as it isn't a diesel as you can't get domestic car diesel in nz......

[kiwidreamer]

Can't import a diesel do you mean nowwearefour?

[IsItMeOr]

Both of our friends who moved back to NZ recently did this - the way that they described it, it sounded like a no-brainer if you owned the car for a year before you were moving and kept it for a year after.

[pixiegumboot]

yeah its the exchange rate ATM that's making us consider it. only worries we have are the cleaning of the car to import standard, plus, have a small problem of mould growing on a seat back if unattended for a while. previous owner, 4 kids, perfect spew position from a car seat! think we will have to get seat cover replacement as this in itself may cause the car to be crushed. aside from that its in good nick and we certainly wouldn't get anything near it back home.

[nowwearefour]

I mean that you can buy only petrol to refuel your car- kiwis don't have diesel as a means of powering a domestic vehicle

[kiwidreamer]

Sorry but thats not true :) we had diesels growing up, drove one at Xmas when we were home!!

[kiwidreamer]

pixiegumboot I bet there are companies who do valeting to import standards, we had a mobile valet service come to us and do a brilliant job of cleaning up a car we wanted to sell.

[ZacharyQuack]

Nowwearefour Are you sure about that? I'm in NZ, and all these diesel cars must be fueled by something.

[Athrawes]

Oh at last something on MN that I know something about.

First off - we have diesel!!

Second - yes you need to have owned it for 12 months prior or will be stung for huge import taxes.

Then - cars imported into NZ have to be in truely excellent condition - we imported a 1980's classic which was in top notch excellent condition for its age in the UK and which was taken apart and stripped down to its sills and needed respaying etc etc at ENORMOUS cost. So unless your car is really quite new, like within the warranty period, or is a classic that you can't bear to part with, take great care.

Then - it will need various certificates and registrations when it gets here - more expense.

Finally - cleaning - with a toothbrush. EVERYTHING needs to be pristine and spotless. The car will be in a container and crossing the tropics for weeks - the slightest bit of dirt will attract bugs and mould and mildew.

This last part - cleaning - if you are moving to NZ clean everything with a good smelly disinfectant or buy the stuff that they say to use online - I imported bikes, a kayak, boots, car, camping gear - everything is opened and inspected - and nothing got fumigated because it was all super clean. Put all the shoes in one box and make it clear what is there so that hopefully MAFF only take that box apart.

[Athrawes]

And, we bought a car here for $4000 5 years ago and it is going strong - something about generally having a drier climate (even in the wet area where we are, it rains then dries out rather than staying damp for months) means that cars are a lot less rusty. You can get good cars here - just not many European ones - tend to be Japanese and reliable.