Exporting a car from UK to NZ - drive on drive off? Costs?

Me and my girlfriend are planning to emmigrate next year, and I'm starting to think about logistics.

I'm thinking of exporting my car, depending on cost. One big reason for me to do it is so that I can put a few heavy / bulky items in the boot (flatscreen TV and some weight lifting equipment) which are likely to be uneconomical to take otherwise.

From what I've seen, a container would be far too expensive, even if I just hire it myself.

Are there any 'drive on drive off' vessels that sail from the UK to NZ? If so, does anybody know how much it would cost to ship a car using this method?

From what I've read, If it's drive on / off then you can't put stuff in the car, especially flat screen TVs (security, as it would be nicked).

Welcome to the forum. :)

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From what I've seen, a container would be far too expensive, even if I just hire it myself.

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Are you aware that you can send stuff in a shared container? The companies will quote for the volume of what you what to send. It can take a little longer than if you have exclusive use of a container, because your belongings may have to wait for the other people's property to make up a full load, but some people have certainly found this a good way to proceed.

You also need to check if your TV will work in NZ. We checked with Sony when we left the UK and they advised us that it wouldn't work so it was e-bayed.

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Originally Posted by Ben123456789

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Are there any 'drive on drive off' vessels that sail from the UK to NZ? If so, does anybody know how much it would cost to ship a car using this method?

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This post http://www.enz.org/forum/showpost.ph...8&postcount=12 contains quite a bit of detail of the costs for bringing your car via a RoRo (roll on, roll off) ferry.

Would agree with others that if you are shipping your car in a container then you can pack it with whatever you want, but if it is going on a ferry instead then much more risky.

If you want to search for more posts then for ferry try 'roro' and for shipping your goods search for 'groupage' (where you share a container with others).

Ian

what type of car is it and how old ?
As far as i am aware you cannot load it with stuff.
Check with the AA here in nz if it can be imported and registered for road use.
The rules have changed in the last year and some cars are now not eligable for import.
You have to pay for maf to clean it, GST (12.5%) on the cost of the car, GST on the cost of the insurance you have paid to cover its journey here (they check the quoted insurance value againt your declaired value so you cant say its worth half as much to avoid the gst bill). It will need a brake compliance test so that generally means new discs and pads all round. You can then take it for a warrant of fitness check and then register it.
NZ cars tend to be well looked after and do a lot less miles than a uk equivelant car of the same age. Its worth comparing prices on trade me and auto trader against the value of yours + all the expences of getting it here.

You don't have to pay tax or duties on a single car when you bring it with you as an immigrant. Some of the compliance issues have been relaxed for immigrants' cars but you still need to check that the make and model will be acceptable in NZ. If it is a late model car in good condition I would allow $1000 to put it on the road. I had a ro-ro quote of about UKP1200 last year for a large saloon car and I think Auckland was the only choice of destination.

Thanks for the advice guys. I've got a roro quote for about £1100, which is reasonable.

It is a 1997 Subaru Impreza Turbo. I bought it for £2.5k 6 months ago, it has quite a few performance modifications (these would cost at least £2k to do on another standard Impreza) and it is in very good condition, although high mileage. It's also a limited edition. I would be lucky to sell it again in the UK for £2.5k next year because of the mileage, and the cost of an equivalent spec Impreza in NZ would be around £4k to £5k. It will be a marginal thing, but quite possibly worth it, since I am also very attached to the car! If I was going to stay in the UK, I would not be planning to get rid of it for many years.

And if I could put a few heavy items in the boot, I could offset some of the cost against what I'd otherwise be paying to ship them separately.

I don't think you'll be in luck. All the info I've seen about ro-ro states that the car has to be empty.

Also worth a note is that the Subaru is very popular with thieves in NZ so you might want a decent alarm.

Also you will have to pay GST on the import of the car if you haven't owned it for 12 months before you leave for NZ.

The GST cost is based on the price paid for the car overseas (so you'll need to make sure you still have the receipt) plus the shipping and shipping insurance costs less a little bit for depreciation.

More info here.

And you won't be allowed to put anything in the car as the car is likely to be going onto, and coming off, a number of different ships on the way over so theft is a distinct possibility.