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Thread: How do you ship a car...that's not compliant?

  1. #1
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    Default How do you ship a car...that's not compliant?

    I am not sure if anyone has any experience in this but I'll just give it a go.

    I have 2 cars in Singapore which I intend to bring over to New Zealand. They are a 2005 Nissan Latio/Tiida and a 2004 Honda Odyssey. Selling them would mean a substantial loss since they won't be fetching much in the current market right now.

    I am ok with paying gst, inspection fees, customs charges etc in order to get them through....and doing lots and lots of paperwork if necessary but I understand that not all cars can get through to NZ especially if they are from Singapore. I find this strange since NZ is one of our largest export markets for used cars.

    Has anyone had any experience trying to get non-compliant cars through? What procedures do you have to do exactly? No one can give me a straight answer so I am left confused. And I've tried reading through the requirements listed in LTNZ but they are so vague and technicalese, I could be reading another language.

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by batgirl1001 View Post
    I am not sure if anyone has any experience in this but I'll just give it a go.

    I have 2 cars in Singapore which I intend to bring over to New Zealand. They are a 2005 Nissan Latio/Tiida and a 2004 Honda Odyssey. Selling them would mean a substantial loss since they won't be fetching much in the current market right now.

    I am ok with paying gst, inspection fees, customs charges etc in order to get them through....and doing lots and lots of paperwork if necessary but I understand that not all cars can get through to NZ especially if they are from Singapore. I find this strange since NZ is one of our largest export markets for used cars.

    Has anyone had any experience trying to get non-compliant cars through? What procedures do you have to do exactly? No one can give me a straight answer so I am left confused. And I've tried reading through the requirements listed in LTNZ but they are so vague and technicalese, I could be reading another language.
    Try getting in touch with Wally Gee at The AA (WGee@aa.co.nz) - he answered loads of my questions regarding bringing our car over (from UK) and the equivalent of our Ian on ENZ

    Lx

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by YouMeAndThree View Post
    Try getting in touch with Wally Gee at The AA (WGee@aa.co.nz) - he answered loads of my questions regarding bringing our car over (from UK) and the equivalent of our Ian on ENZ

    Lx
    I would second this suggestion. Wally was great with me, no hesitation in recomending this font of all knowledge.

  4. #4
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    Thanks YouMeAndThree & Dylan, and good morning. I did contact Wally from AANZ before this posting and he was helpful and informative but the answers don't pertain to me because my cars don't have what you would call "whole vehicle approval plates" which seem to be only for cars coming from the EU.

    I've contacted the Nissan and Honda agents in my country and they are quite unknowledgeable about this. They don't know what goes into a statement of compliance and neither do I.

    I was hoping to import these vehicles under the immigrant's vehicle requirements which says I don't have to adhere to the frontal impact and fuels emissions standards but I still need to generally follow the other requirements within these regulations. It the "general" part which I don't get and it seems to be rather vague.

    I will probably contact Wally again and ask him what are the other general requirements I need to follow. Hopefully that would solve the problem with my Nissan. The Honda however is worrying because I had the car for only 8 months ongoing now and I need to know if it can be allowed into NZ.

  5. #5
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    I believe you have two issues:

    1. You must have owned the car for 12 months in another country BEFORE you arrive in NZ

    and

    2. You can only have 1 car on the immigrant's vehicle scheme.

    BUT

    The LTSA website lists ALL Honda Odysees as being compliant so you should not need an exemption for that one.

    From my experience they inspect the car in some detail for rust, accident damage, flood damage and some mechanical details such as brakes. The only modification that springs to mind is the fitting of a high level brake light.

    Allow around $1000 per vehicle to get it registered.

  6. #6
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    LTSA...what's that? Not LTNZ?

    I know the Nissan has a good chance of passing the compliance checks, qualifying as an immigrant vehicle and all, but it seems that getting a compliant statement is not that easy. Apparently they don't do that in NZ. So I am left with trying out the Nissan agent in Singapore whom I spoke to the officer-in-charge has never done anything like this before.

    Honda NZ on the other hand charges $350 for a compliant statement which is a lot of dough to cough up for a piece of paper...but even then it is not a sure thing. They may not want to do it in the first place cos it competes with their car market cos imports are definitely cheaper than agents cars in NZ model for model.

    I remember searching high and low for makes and models that comply with LTNZ regulations but can't find them. Do you know where you found it?

  7. #7
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    I know a Singaporean car dealer who exports to NZ. If you're keen I can pass you his contact.

  8. #8
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    Here is the list of vehicles and their compliance status. My understanding is that if your vehicle appears here (the exact make and model) you don't need the compliance statement because LTSA already know the answer.

    http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/importing/fr...ce-status.html


    For the Nissan, I don't think you need the compliance statement because you are going to be exempt from it under the immigrant's scheme. My understanding is that late model cars like this one are seldom a problem (it's the cars from the 90s that do) since they have been manufactured with the 'new' frontal impact standards. That model, the Latio Tiida is sold into the Australian market which has similar/same regulations.

    LTNZ, LTSA I think they're the same. They call themselves LTNZ but they used to be Land Transport Safety Authority. I notice that their website is still www.ltsa.org.nz

  9. #9
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    It was Wally from AANZ which stated that I need to meet the general compliant regulations when it comes to my Nissan Latio although I would not need to do the frontal impact/fuel emission regulations which I am exempted from under the immigrant's vehicle category.

    So I've just emailed to him the details which the Nissan agent has filled out. Hopefully the answer would be a positive YAH....otherwise its the scrapheap for this Nissan.

    As for the Odyssey, I emailed Honda NZ which responded that they will not be issuing the compliant statement as it does not meet the standards. No surprise there....at least they didn't waste my money. VINZ has already replied much earlier on that only Honda Odysseys which are Japanese domestic imports are allowed into NZ. Since mine is a Singapore agent import it would not meet the criteria and since I've had it for less than 1 year, I would not be allowed to bring it in.

    So I've decided to give my parents the Odyssey since it was theirs to begin with anyway rather than sell it at a significant loss. It hurts a little not to get to use it..... I wish I knew about this ruling earlier as we only found out about the "immigrant vehicle" category six months ago and we thought of sellings our cars over and buying them in the NZ like normal people. But then, the prices started plunging.....

    I am hunting now for a compliant vehicle to bring into NZ as it is much cheaper to buy one here right now and having it shipped than pay car dealer prices.
    Btw, Spooky- I found 2 Kiwi companies which also exports to NZ and another Kiwi guy who buys cars here and ships them exclusively to NZ. He's the expert and his prices are quite unbeatable. Depending on the make and model, the difference can be anywhere between $5K onward in savings. We found out about him through a referral.

    I have his no. if you need it. But a word of caution- not all cars especially Japanese models in Singapore can be exported to NZ. Imagine, He bought a 2004 BMW 318i for just under $10K while a similar one with the same condition and milege can fetch over $20K in NZ. I can see why the car export/import NZ is quite lucrative until lately.

  10. #10
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    I have a Subaru Forester. I think they are quite popular in NZ. Thanks for the headsup - will get your contact if we decide to move our car over.

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