Car import compliance woes

[Rik W]

I have imported a 1968 VW Beetle in good health which is under scrutiny at present and there seems to be some trouble ...

The car has been in a dry garage for over 10 years before having it collected and fettled to successfully pass the UK MoT test immediately before the dry weather drive to Abels in Cambridgeshire (about 50 miles). The engineer who worked on her (Bessie) was an enthusiast and helpfully pointed out and corrected a few minor ailments before passing the MoT, but that is nowadays a fairly rigorous structural test, even if it does little to consider mechanical fitness for older cars. The car had been involved in a crash many years ago but was repaired by another specialist to a high standard - I had done a fair amount of maintenance on her before and I'm quite familiar with such engineering work.

She is sitting in the compliance testers' yard after having been given a once-over by an approved crash repair specialist who has stated that there are some serious problems and has offered an initial estimate of $2000 to correct them . This is something of a shock, especially as the car is valued at not an awful lot more than that and, to the best of my knowledge, that's a heck of a lot of work to quote for! I have the name of an alternative approved specialist, but I would love to hear any advice from anyone who has any to offer ... I feel somewhere over a barrel, as this car is very dear to me!


Best regards in hopeful anticipation,
Rik Wells

[langers]

If I were you I'd leave it there and forget about it as even if you get it through compliance it'll cost an arm and a leg for parts.

I had to get a new plip key for my Pug 307 (2004) and the local Peugeot dealer quoted $450 plus an hours labour to reprogram. Euro car parts are ridiculous over here, sentimental it may be but I'd go and kiss it goodbye and have her put to sleep!

[bluesky]

If I were you I'd leave it there and forget about it as even if you get it through compliance it'll cost an arm and a leg for parts.

I had to get a new plip key for my Pug 307 (2004) and the local Peugeot dealer quoted $450 plus an hours labour to reprogram. Euro car parts are ridiculous over here, sentimental it may be but I'd go and kiss it goodbye and have her put to sleep!

You're right about the cost of euro car parts, but all modern car keys can cost a fortune to get replaced, including Japanese ones. $450 is actually quite cheap.

[langers]

You're right about the cost of euro car parts, but all modern car keys can cost a fortune to get replaced, including Japanese ones. $450 is actually quite cheap.

Maybe so but I just contacted Peugeot Uk and they sent one for a total cost of $100, how can they justify it as the keys all come from France so it's shameless profiteering

Plus to go back to the original point, where on earth would you get Beetle parts here?

[sophiedb]

Maybe so but I just contacted Peugeot Uk and they sent one for a total cost of $100, how can they justify it as the keys all come from France so it's shameless profiteering

We were recently quoted £150 fr a new Citroen key. Hubby got ogling and found one for £25on eBay. Slightly fiddly to switch parts around (the only prob with the old one was that a button had fallen off), but worth it considering!

Good luck getting your VW passed

[Rik W]

Thanks all so far for the advice & opinions. I am trying to find out quite what the work "required" is and will get a second quote ASAP. If I end up coughing up the money, then so be it and we'd finally have Bessie home, but it would be better, of course, to spend less!

I will post updates as they happen ... ;-)


Cheers for now,
Rik

[GrumpyGoat]

Oh Rik W I feel so terrible for you.

This is why OH's motorcycle still sits in the US. I just can't stand the thought of spending all that money to get it here to be put into a position such as this.

I have no info to actually share--just wanted to empathize. I hope it all works out for you.

Good luck!

[Rik W]

I had to cough up something like £132 last year for a replacement key for a 1998 Renault Clio in the UK, so $450 doesn't sound quite so ridiculous.

I am coming to the suspicion that the assessor quite fancies the car himself - it's not some modern run-around, it's a cherished possession for me - I learned to drive and passed my driving test in the car in 1982, and have covered around 100,000 miles in her. I seriously doubt that $2000 is necessary (I shall definitely get a second opinion) but if that is the hurdle which needs to be overcome, I shall overcome it. I do object to being taken for such a costly ride, however ...

Thank you for your empathy, GrumpyGoat - I also have a motorcycle (a 1996 Yamaha) in the process, but that's hopefully in the process of overcoming an administrative hurdle <touches wood>. I guess yours OH's bike is more of a "classic"?


Cheers for now,
Rik Wells

[langers]

I should point out that I owned an Orange 1302S (the meaty 1600cc) Beetle way back when so I am not against the car in any way but you'll need a fat wallet to run it over here. Good luck

[batgirl1001]

Importing anything old will always run into issues when it comes to NZ. so check around but in the end it may be the price you may need to pay to bring in something of "cherished value".

However my experience here with trying to import was just as frustrating as yours and it made us abandon the process entirely with great loss to us.

We wanted to import our 2005 nissan tiida as our second car into nz which we owned for 1.5 years and was supposed to be exempted for frontal impact standards and fuel emissions. nevertheless nissan nz wanted $1100 for a certificate of exemption, ltnz wanted further information on specifications about the car- the information we gave them was not up to scratch and needed more detail. the car had to be docked for 4 weeks before shipping and a further 2 weeks in nz for compliance checks, mechanical and mfa checks. all the issues surrounding it was so stupid, laborious that we gave up trying to do so.

in the end we had to sell the car for a measly SING$4200 in singapore which equated to just NZ$5500. which car company in nz sells a 2005 tiida for such a bargain basement price??? we lost out on quite a lot and had to buy our second car- a 2000 vitz for $6000 which made me madder about the whole thing.

i thought it was extremely unfair and we had to be put through the ringer for it but apparently nz rules are rules and the frustration about the import process and the unclarity of the entire thing was enough to get an agent to import our other car- a grandis into nz for a fee of course.