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Bringing my GTR from Australia to UK

1K views 15 replies 10 participants last post by  Cris 
#1 ·
Hi all,

My name is John and I have just moved from Australia to the UK. As such it seemed appropriate to join gtr.co.uk.

Back in Aus I drive an R34 GTR which I have owned for the past 3.5 years which I am not quite ready to part with just yet. As many of you can probably appreciate, finding a good clean skyline is becoming harder and harder, not to mention the time taken in looking for the 'right' one.

As such, I am looking into bringing mine across to the UK rather than sell it and look for another one over here. I would therefore like some insight in potential costs that I would be up for in doing so, including shipping, taxes and on road costs, so I can decide whether it is financially viable to bring it over. Obviously there are a lot of factors to consider, but ball park prices will help me decide whether it is worthwhile or not.

Any suggestions of companies to help with the process would also be appreciated.

Other relevant information includes;
- Car is mildly modded with only bolt ons i.e. larger turbos, intercooler, radiator, full exhaust, ECU, intake and a few other odds and ends.
- Also has an atmosphere BOV which is legal in some countries but illegal in others. This may provide issues with EPA in UK if it is illegal here.

I don't intend to move back to Australia for some time so I feel that importing it, pending associated costs, is justified.

I searched the forums for this topic prior to posting this and did find two threads of the same nature, but one was 2006 and the other was 2003. As such, I felt the information in these would be outdated, hence this post.

Any advice and suggestions is appreciated.
 
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#2 ·
Registering it here will be pretty cheap and easy. You just need a valid MOT, insurance and then send off the forms to the DVLA together with their fee. Probably about £200-300 all in for the registration process.

Find out about insurance as I don't know if they'll take into account your Australian driving history.

Not sure about shipping but I think Robbie733 on here may be able to help out on that
 
#4 ·
I hope you're coming over here for a good reason! Most of us are looking to move out there!

Speak to some of the traders on here about container rates etc to see what you can get, if you can't get any straight answers, give me a shout and i can see if we can book a container through the company i work for :)
 
#5 ·
I am sure you havealready done this but given how much cheaper cars are in the UK, does it make financial sense to bring yours over?

We moved to the UK two years ago and have no plans to return to Oz anytime soon. Be sure to get letters from your Oz insurance company stating your rating, insurance history etc as some insurers will use this to determine your NCB. It took some time but we got there in the end.

Good luck!
 
#6 ·
This would depend how much you have spent on your car already, and if you see it being more cost effective to start again when you get here.

Personally I wouldn't buy a UK car thats been here long, unless its been kept dry. I found it hard to find a good 34.

Make sure when you get here, you also take into account you will need a nice dry place to keep your car and also I wouldnt personally drive it in the winter with the salt the put down here.

Shipping over, you will pay the relevant costs for taxes and duty. Getting an MOT on a 34 now is not hard at all. As people have said, get a letter from your insurance giving your basic details of your history (if its been good) and some good insurance brokers will work with it, I got 2 years NCB when I was here because of that which helped. Also be realistic with your yearly mileage, If you use the car just for fun, you can see mega low yearly prices based on low mileages.

Good luck!

Its not hard at all to get a car here, certainly not as annoying as importing and legalising in Aus from what im told.
 
#8 ·
Thank you everyone for your responses. Firstly, sorry for the late reply - I actually lost my posting and PM privileges on my first account (the one I started the topic with). After trying to contact the forum administrators twice over the past 6 days from the 'contact us' tab with no response, I felt starting a new account was the only way forward. Admins/moderators - please PM me with regards to this and we can discuss further to rectify.

Now - back on topic. I have emailed Robbie to get some shipping quotes so thank you for that. I have also been contacting other parties too so I have a good idea of what costs I am in for.

jonnypolish - I am coming for work and to be honest, was feeling a bit isolated in Aus. It is refreshing to be able to access all of Europe in 3-4 hours on a plane (same time wouldn't even get you across Aus, or to New Zealand only). That is a kind offer for organisation of a container. I will be sure to let you know if I can't progress with any others.

mondie - My reasoning for contemplation of bringing my car over is because I know what it is, what it's problems are and what it has going for it. Plus it is hard enough to find a decent gtr in Aus or Japan these days, let alone in the UK where they seem much rarer (looking on Autotrader and the classifieds here and only 3 on the market, whereas in Aus there is usually about 20 privately and many more in car yards), not to mention potential rust. Financial sense? Well that is what I am here to find out.

It is also a good suggestion to get references from my Aus insurance company - with a clean record, it is certainly worth my while to try and convert that to here. On the insurance note, back home I would be paying about 450 GBP per annum for <9000 km/yr, but a work college here said I would be looking at closer to 2000 GBP, does that sound about right?

Rain - Spot on with starting again. To be honest I wouldn't start again, at least not on a 34. Too much time, money and effort the first time round, not something I am up for again. And yes, I will be garaging the car, and keeping it for only weekends, with hibernation in the winter.

Another concern is compliance. From my understanding, an MOT is the equivalent of a blue slip in Aus (mondie to confirm?) i.e. roadworthy inspection. Compliance in Aus a much higher level of scrutineering and is a real head ache. I would also need to de mod parts of my car to clear Aus compliance i.e. external BOV, exhaust to something quieter and retune (its running very rich at the moment), whereas it passes roadworthy inspections without a problem. I assume I would have to go through a similar process for registering for the first time in the UK yes?

For a recap, my new understanding of everything I need to consider is as follows;
-Shipping costs and import duty/taxes
-Insurance
-MOT

Is there anything else I am missing?

Thank you again for your suggestions and contributions, it is appreciated.
 
#9 ·
To drive it on the roads here you'll also need to have Road Fund Licence (car tax) but I think that would be done at the same time as registration

If you're car is rust free, get it properly sealed up before you take it out on the roads in the UK to keep it nice and fresh
 
#14 ·
The MOT is the equivalent of a pink slip. There is an emissions test, which I dont know how strict will be for your car, as the requirements change with the year the car was built. They will check the speedo reads in MPH.. Brake test.. Check the indicators/brake lights, and for a separately switched rear facing fog light, which you wont have.. and general suspension health. Its not as in depth as a blue slip.
I shipped my modified R32 over here from Sydney a few years ago, and the only problems I had were the fog light and MPH on the speedo. Imho its easier to own a modified skyline here than in Australia.
 
#15 ·
Rain - Good to hear that it is all sorted now so you can enjoy the car for what it is again.

steve_gts4 - I was expecting that I would have to swap the speedo to MPH. Everything else is pretty straightforward by the sounds of it except maybe the emissions depending on how strict they are. When you say you had problems with the rear fog light is that to say that I will have to install one?
 
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