DaiOni

I'm trying to find a freight forwarder in the sydney area, with little success. The one that I have found has a ridiculous quote, in relation to others I have seen (in other states).

so... if you imported into sydney, who did you use and what was the quote? (not the 'extras' - tax, gst, etc - but the basic service charges for the freight forwarder)

actually, I'd be interested in hearing from those in other states, also

chopstix

Heres one company I found in Metropolis magazine....

www.autodirect.jp

Ill try to find some others...one company quoted around 60,000 yen just for shipping plus insurance etc.

I'll try to find some other contacts.

When are you sending yours back?

DaiOni

nah, I need the freight forwarder at the australian end - to process the port/customs/quarantine etc fees

Sukebe

When you say freight forwarder, do you mean a Logistics company, ie the people that get your car customs cleared, quaranteened and ready for you to pick up? There are dozens of logistics companies in the phone book. Their fee was the least of my worries when I imported (can't remember how much exactly, a few 100 maybe?). It was the shipping and import duties that really hurt....

DaiOni

yeah, freight forwarding is usually one aspect of a logistics company - but few deal in vehicles.

if anyone wants to add who they shipped with (NYK, etc) - I'd also be interested in that

DaiOni

this is the breakdown I have so far:

* transport to yokohama (unknown $ at this stage, but not a problem to organise)
* shipping (NYK have quoted me US$79 m3, RORO, - but still shopping around)
* customs, quarantion, 'washing', associated port rubbish (adds up to about $800-$1k in other states, but can't get concrete info on sydney)
* freight forwarder (the one quote I have seen, for WA, stated $195 for 'proffessional services' - but the one I've been quoted is waaay more)
* import tax + gst - should be close to $4k
* compliance (fluctuates wildly depending on complier)
* registration (as per standard rta fees)

= don't want to think about it, because I have two cars coming in

Sukebe

That shipping is expensive. Kiwi Carriers is the way to go - $72/m3. Ive seen $66/m3 but I know Kiwi Carriers is reliable. All port stuff (customs clearance, quaranteen, logistics, unloading etc) was around $800. Import duties are 25% (it may be now 20%) of whatever the price is on the invoice you provide to the Logistics agent (who gives it to the customs agent). If you can swindle an offical looking invoice (ie has a company stamp or the like) that states the car was cheaper than you paid, you can significantly reduce import duties. The agent I bought my car through provided an invoice quoting a price half of what I paid. It got through customs just fine.

RE compliance - tell me about it! I had quotes ranging from $600 to $1500! E&M Motors in Sydney should do a good rate for you. $600 is about as cheap as it gets as the engineers certificate is rock-bottom $400, and parts are around $150. It can be a DIY thing but personally it wasn't worth the headaches over a couple of 100 bucks.

An after thought, get your compliancing done by a reputable importer (E&M is the obvious choice as they hold compliance approval for the Series 8. Ask them who they use for logistics and use the same company. Keeping those things in one loop will maintain certain 'mates rates').

DaiOni

kiwi only ships to brisbane, IIRC (and no longer do free delivery interstate)

wantok

Daioni, are you bringing your 7 back to oz through the personal import scheme? 4k customs and tax? Does that mean you paid 16k oz for your 7? What year is it?

I have a 1994, modified with stillway parts: downpipe, muffler etc. I was concerned what mods id have to make in oz. It could b too noisy.

I am in Kobe.

DaiOni

it should be a little less than that, I was using someone else's (similar) actual quotation, and they paid around the same money as I did. My car is a late 93 (type II), had 43k km (with logs) on it when I bought it two years ago - for 1 mill.

interestingly, they didn't charge tax/duty on his purchase price - they valued the car

according to the import regulations, you only need to comply with 'safety regulations', not ADRs - so, by that legal wording, noise testing might not be an issue - but it would depend on the cop, and your willingness to fight it (if it came to that). I know someone with a personal import plated car, and he carries a letter from the RTA in his glovebox - any time he is threatened with a defect, he pulls it out (apparently it has worked for him so far)

wantok

re personal imports and the duty/tax calculation, if you have the purchase documents, then you can use them for the valuation. If you don't have bank receipts, then they can step in and do their own valuation, which inevidably ends up costing you more.

My efini had 68k on the clock, and according to the logbook, hadnt been driven for an entire year. Only put a few 1000 km more on it since then. I don't put my foot down so often. I am no kanemochi!

HEns

if you want someone to organise it all for you, you can try www.mytrading.org

DaiOni

I've found a freight forwarder at a reasonable price - at last!

btw sukebe: import duty is now 10%.

IMO, it's bloody rude that a personal import attracts GST!!

DaiOni

for anyone who can be bothered looking in this thread again...

if you have successfully imported your FD - what did they use to calculate import duty - your purchase documents (purchase price) or did they get a valuation done?

Sukebe

For me, they used my *original* purchase invoice. This was a fabricated invoice for a price less than half what I actually paid. It was not questioned and saved me around $2000 in duties...I sold my car to the first person who saw it. Last week I bought an EVO6.5 T.M.E. with the proceeds......

DaiOni

this is the official line from customs:

"Your vehicle will need to be valued by a motor vehicle assessor as the
purchase price cannot be used because their will have been a significant
lapse in time between purchase and import i.e. the price you paid for the
vehicle 12 months ago is not what it will be worth now due to usage, wear
and tear etc."

Sukebe

My invoice was dated 1month prior to sailing date. As I said, I had no worries. I did the same thing for my GTiR I imported. The purchase document said I paid 50,000yen so I only paid about $200 in import duties on that car......

The 'official word' and what actually happens on the dock are different things it seems.....

DaiOni

so the car wasn't a personal import then?

Sukebe

Daioni has PM

eric e

this is the guy that gets cars through for us in brisbane, maybe worth an email to him to see of he has any recommendations for syd.

adam kemp
Sunstate Customs & Cargo
4/5 Navigator Place
Hendra Qld 4011
Phone: 61 7 38683533
Fax: 61 7 38684422
Mobile: 0413 731 241
email: adam@sunstatecustoms.com.au

eric e

eric e

as far as i know they used my receipt, the freight forwarder knew to ask me for it and said that using it would be cheaper than letting them value it

eric e

Ripzta

What are the actual steps involved to import a Japanese car into Sydney? An FD to be precise. Buying the car in Japan, importing to Sydney, then what? I don't understand what import duties are.

MAVrick

Hi Nathan, Just wondering how you can use a purchase invoice a month old when you need to have owned the car 12+months? Or is this something else they dont question?

Sukebe

Maverick, the papers required for Import Approval and the papers required for customs clearance are not the same. Import Approval requires the original ryoushushou (official receipt of purchase), customs need a piece of paper with your agents stamp/signature and a price, on a shipping document. The date is irrelevant. It was all prepared by my agent, I had nothing to do with it and was concerned when I noticed it (the false price and date). The response I got was 'dont worry, everyone does it all the time'.

DaiOni

as it turns out, looks like I'll be in japan for another 2 years (hopefully I can find a job in that time!) - so the car is staying Will be sending the forester back later this year though

Though part of me is strongly saying - "sell both, buy an evo 7"