Vehicle Import and Shipping

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Toshi38

Toshi38

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Jul 23, 2008
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Location
Malmö, Sweden
I'm toying with the idea of purchasing another cruiser while I'm in Australia this fall.

I was wondering if anyone had any personal experience importing a vehicle and could give me some ideas on the following: (Especially if you brought it in from Australia!)

1. Shipping
- How did you ship your cruiser did you hire an importer or just ship it yourself?
-Cost?
-Do you get to toss other stuff into your shipping container (IE spare parts)
-What companies are good (importers or shipping companies)

2. Inspections
-I understand there's two types federal and provincial. From what I understand federal requires that you have correct lights, DRL's and such. Provincial is a standard provincial inspection.

3. Fees - What fees do you have to pay... obviously I will do my own research here too but its great to hear what all others had to deal with.

4. Limitations - Provided I'm importing a vehicle older then 15 years are their other limitations I need to concern myself with (DOT lights and such of course... what else?)

I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions if I keep thinking about this. Any help/knowledge people could lend me would be great!
 
hey crusty...you think you would be able to fire that same PM off to me as well?...its crossed my mind before but ya...i should really look into it before i go and do much traveling again
 
how long are you going to be in oz for? i just might get you to put one canada bound at some point. where u heading to? if only i could get that damn exponential growth thing to work...
 
I'm heading to oz for about Sept 6-14 (undecided on exact day) returning right after new years... total time about 4 months.

If you're actually interested PM me and we can look at a 40' shipping container with two vehicles... although I'm not 100% on shipping a vehicle back yet. Just very interested :D
 
I will have to see how cash flow is....i just finished my "B" level welding and im gunna be looken for work here pretty soon, could be headen back to AB...ill let you know if im to the point where im seriously interested tho my parents are also going over in jan/feb i think also
 
Don't know anything about the "shipping" end, but you can do the import side yourself. You will have to pay the Feds for a soil inspection (clean it well before you ship it) and duty, about 6% plus $100 if it has air, and GST. You'll need a provincial inspection only, and pay for a BC VIN after it passes. There will be container de-stuffing fees if you ship in a "shared" container. I would expect some other holding, local delivery fees if you take an entire container; they may require you to de-stuff off their property.
 
Ag. Canada was to busy to inspect mine, just faxed my paper work over and they sent it back... YMMV. after i spent about $80 at the car wash to get it VERY clean.

things went a bit smoother as i owned the vehicle and it was registered to me in oz, i had all that paper work as well. i still needed a bill of sale for import.

my container was "brokered" and that was about $600 IIRC, all i had to do was get the appropriate paper work from customs, and show up at the yard in new west.

they took care of the container etc... got a pumkin plate for 24 hours from icbc and i was on my way back to vic, on Aussie diesel and NSW tags.

you'll have to go to van anyways to get the proper papers signed and stamped at customs(pay yo' money) having it shipped to the island will add more cost than going to van and picking it up and taking the ferry home.

has anyone done it all from vic?

i did not investigate the LA or Seattle option (shipping is cheaper container or not) but if you are planning a vehicle NEWER than 25 years, might have problems and you'll have to deal with 2 country's customs. not a wise idea for your first time.

finding a port in Oz to RO RO to vancouver will be a challenge. there is way more traffic to the US, that's why a container is a good way to go. better shipping options, and it should stay sealed until it arrives.

best bet is to start calling some shippers and see what they are going to charge, it changes all the time.

cheers
crusty
 
thanks for posting that up
 
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