# Importing older cars from the UK to NZ



## kukura

Hi Everyone,

I've been in New Zealand for about 2 weeks now and overall the experience has been an extremely positive one. People have been extremely helpful, infact going out of their way to help out when they can. My first day I managed to sort out a driving licence, and IRD number, a hire van all in a few hours, and that included a 30minute bus trip. The beaches are lovely and the weather couldn't be better.

The one thing that has struck me more than anything, and this unfortunaetly is a direct comparison with the UK, something I said I wasn't going to do, is that Kiwi's tell it as it is, no lies no frills. Which can be a little off putting at first, but actually make complete sense.

I wish when I was getting advice back in the UK to import my Mercedes Vito Van to NZ, a trusted ally of mine for many years, that this Kiwi style had been adopted. I was told by many of the larger exports that a bit of rust was not going to be an issue when exporting cars / vans into New Zealand as long as it was mechanically sound.

Like so many people you have to go with what you have been told, and then you pay lots of money. Secondhand van can seem expensive in NZ and they will all have very high mileage. When you are looking at this from the UK with a UK perspective on cars it seems ridiculous to spend that amount of money on an old van, so the pull of sending your old van over is strong, especially as you can pack you vehicle with goods for free.

Actually having hired one of these older van with over 250,000Km's on the clock the van actually drove like a dream, made mince meat of the very steep hills we have to tackle where we live in Puhoi.

So to get back to my point, please, please, please think very carelfully about bringing a older car over to New Zealand form the UK as any rust found on the car is cause enough for the car to fail compliance. Any car that is imported into New Zealand needs to go through a process of Compliance. This is where the new Zealand motor compliance officials basically strip your car to pieces to make sure it fits in with the standards for New Zealand motors. A standard they are raising all the time. 

Although my van was mechanically sound passing its MOT in the UK just before it left and had a full service and had been completely cleaned to make sure it was NZ spec , the van was deemed unclean so we had to pay $600 for MAF to clean it (we had anticipated this one, so no shocks there), but then it failed the compliance, due to rust. Infact we were looking at about $2000-3000 NZ to do the work that was require to pass the compliance, and this was a conservative estimate.

Now my van was no worse than any other car in the UK, yes there was rust but nothing that you would think needed attention in the UK. The compliance in NZ wanted the undercarriage, radiator panel and pretty much anything that looked vaguely rusty completely sand blasted. They also wanted the flooring completely removed to see if there was any rust there. Bearing in mind your car/ van might be on a ship for over 10 weeks, if its a roll on then extra rust will be inevitable due to the salty air.

The total bill to get a perfectly good van from the UK on the road in NZ would have cost us of $5000, and you can buy a very good van/car in NZ for that.

If the shipping companies in the UK had actually got their facts straight first of all, and were not just chasing the money we certainly would not have entertained the idea of bring over the van. 

I appreciate that NZ officials are only doing their jobs and there is obviously a set procedure with set standards that you need to comply with, so I'm not trying to lay any blame on the NZ side, infact the mechanics and people that have been helping us have been very helpful, given the circumstance. They have all commented that this is such a common thing that they see with cars/vans that have been exported from the UK. They are just do not used to seeing the amount of rust that is on an average UK car here in NZ.

So if you are thinking of bringing your old car/van over please think carefully. Check the rust on the underside get it sandblasted and treated in the UK if you really want to bring it. But be prepared to fork out more money when you get here to get it on the road.

So $5000 for shipping, $250 for insurance, $450 for VIN compliance test + any worked needed for compliance (the rust issue) , $100 immigration exemption, $150 transport from port to mechanic, and then $450 registration. Then between $40-60 for WOF (NZ MOT) and then any other repairs that are needed (They'll be quite thorough as its an export).

If you decide like we have to not bother with the compliance work and therefore get the car scrapped or resold as is, you will need to organise all of this yourself, unless you happen to know someone who can help. You will also need to pay the immigration waiver amount if you sell th ecar within the first 2 years of import.

I'm writing this so other people don't get hit with large bills just at the very time when they need to have every penny available to them to make the transition from the Uk to NZ easy.


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## jenswaters

kukura said:


> Hi Everyone,
> 
> I've been in New Zealand for about 2 weeks now and overall the experience has been an extremely positive one. People have been extremely helpful, infact going out of their way to help out when they can. My first day I managed to sort out a driving licence, and IRD number, a hire van all in a few hours, and that included a 30minute bus trip. The beaches are lovely and the weather couldn't be better.
> 
> The one thing that has struck me more than anything, and this unfortunaetly is a direct comparison with the UK, something I said I wasn't going to do, is that Kiwi's tell it as it is, no lies no frills. Which can be a little off putting at first, but actually make complete sense.
> 
> I wish when I was getting advice back in the UK to import my Mercedes Vito Van to NZ, a trusted ally of mine for many years, that this Kiwi style had been adopted. I was told by many of the larger exports that a bit of rust was not going to be an issue when exporting cars / vans into New Zealand as long as it was mechanically sound.
> 
> Like so many people you have to go with what you have been told, and then you pay lots of money. Secondhand van can seem expensive in NZ and they will all have very high mileage. When you are looking at this from the UK with a UK perspective on cars it seems ridiculous to spend that amount of money on an old van, so the pull of sending your old van over is strong, especially as you can pack you vehicle with goods for free.
> 
> Actually having hired one of these older van with over 250,000Km's on the clock the van actually drove like a dream, made mince meat of the very steep hills we have to tackle where we live in Puhoi.
> 
> So to get back to my point, please, please, please think very carelfully about bringing a older car over to New Zealand form the UK as any rust found on the car is cause enough for the car to fail compliance. Any car that is imported into New Zealand needs to go through a process of Compliance. This is where the new Zealand motor compliance officials basically strip your car to pieces to make sure it fits in with the standards for New Zealand motors. A standard they are raising all the time.
> 
> Although my van was mechanically sound passing its MOT in the UK just before it left and had a full service and had been completely cleaned to make sure it was NZ spec , the van was deemed unclean so we had to pay $600 for MAF to clean it (we had anticipated this one, so no shocks there), but then it failed the compliance, due to rust. Infact we were looking at about $2000-3000 NZ to do the work that was require to pass the compliance, and this was a conservative estimate.
> 
> Now my van was no worse than any other car in the UK, yes there was rust but nothing that you would think needed attention in the UK. The compliance in NZ wanted the undercarriage, radiator panel and pretty much anything that looked vaguely rusty completely sand blasted. They also wanted the flooring completely removed to see if there was any rust there. Bearing in mind your car/ van might be on a ship for over 10 weeks, if its a roll on then extra rust will be inevitable due to the salty air.
> 
> The total bill to get a perfectly good van from the UK on the road in NZ would have cost us of $5000, and you can buy a very good van/car in NZ for that.
> 
> If the shipping companies in the UK had actually got their facts straight first of all, and were not just chasing the money we certainly would not have entertained the idea of bring over the van.
> 
> I appreciate that NZ officials are only doing their jobs and there is obviously a set procedure with set standards that you need to comply with, so I'm not trying to lay any blame on the NZ side, infact the mechanics and people that have been helping us have been very helpful, given the circumstance. They have all commented that this is such a common thing that they see with cars/vans that have been exported from the UK. They are just do not used to seeing the amount of rust that is on an average UK car here in NZ.
> 
> So if you are thinking of bringing your old car/van over please think carefully. Check the rust on the underside get it sandblasted and treated in the UK if you really want to bring it. But be prepared to fork out more money when you get here to get it on the road.
> 
> So $5000 for shipping, $250 for insurance, $450 for VIN compliance test + any worked needed for compliance (the rust issue) , $100 immigration exemption, $150 transport from port to mechanic, and then $450 registration. Then between $40-60 for WOF (NZ MOT) and then any other repairs that are needed (They'll be quite thorough as its an export).
> 
> If you decide like we have to not bother with the compliance work and therefore get the car scrapped or resold as is, you will need to organise all of this yourself, unless you happen to know someone who can help. You will also need to pay the immigration waiver amount if you sell th ecar within the first 2 years of import.
> 
> I'm writing this so other people don't get hit with large bills just at the very time when they need to have every penny available to them to make the transition from the Uk to NZ easy.


Thanks for the honest appraisal of this issue, Kukura. It is a shame that an otherwise great start has been blighted by this issue. 

Good advice for those people who are intent on bringing their vehicles over. Must admit, never even assumed that this would be an issue to that extreme!!! 

Good luck


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## kukura

jenswaters said:


> Thanks for the honest appraisal of this issue, Kukura. It is a shame that an otherwise great start has been blighted by this issue.
> 
> Good advice for those people who are intent on bringing their vehicles over. Must admit, never even assumed that this would be an issue to that extreme!!!
> 
> Good luck



As they say shaken not stirred. I couldn't ask for a better start to our new life.

I just wanted to make other people in the UK aware of the possible cash they might need to fork out if they listen to the shipping companies in the UK.

It couldn't be anything but a great start I'm sat on my deck overlooking wonderful rolling hills, native bush and a wonderful sea stretching out across the Orewa bay (Hibiscus Coast)... marvelous.

Someone tell me why I didn't do this 10 years ago?


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## eastendoflondon

kukura said:


> Hi Everyone,
> 
> I've been in New Zealand for about 2 weeks now and overall the experience has been an extremely positive one. People have been extremely helpful, infact going out of their way to help out when they can. My first day I managed to sort out a driving licence, and IRD number, a hire van all in a few hours, and that included a 30minute bus trip. The beaches are lovely and the weather couldn't be better.
> 
> The one thing that has struck me more than anything, and this unfortunaetly is a direct comparison with the UK, something I said I wasn't going to do, is that Kiwi's tell it as it is, no lies no frills. Which can be a little off putting at first, but actually make complete sense.
> 
> I wish when I was getting advice back in the UK to import my Mercedes Vito Van to NZ, a trusted ally of mine for many years, that this Kiwi style had been adopted. I was told by many of the larger exports that a bit of rust was not going to be an issue when exporting cars / vans into New Zealand as long as it was mechanically sound.
> 
> Like so many people you have to go with what you have been told, and then you pay lots of money. Secondhand van can seem expensive in NZ and they will all have very high mileage. When you are looking at this from the UK with a UK perspective on cars it seems ridiculous to spend that amount of money on an old van, so the pull of sending your old van over is strong, especially as you can pack you vehicle with goods for free.
> 
> Actually having hired one of these older van with over 250,000Km's on the clock the van actually drove like a dream, made mince meat of the very steep hills we have to tackle where we live in Puhoi.
> 
> So to get back to my point, please, please, please think very carelfully about bringing a older car over to New Zealand form the UK as any rust found on the car is cause enough for the car to fail compliance. Any car that is imported into New Zealand needs to go through a process of Compliance. This is where the new Zealand motor compliance officials basically strip your car to pieces to make sure it fits in with the standards for New Zealand motors. A standard they are raising all the time.
> 
> Although my van was mechanically sound passing its MOT in the UK just before it left and had a full service and had been completely cleaned to make sure it was NZ spec , the van was deemed unclean so we had to pay $600 for MAF to clean it (we had anticipated this one, so no shocks there), but then it failed the compliance, due to rust. Infact we were looking at about $2000-3000 NZ to do the work that was require to pass the compliance, and this was a conservative estimate.
> 
> Now my van was no worse than any other car in the UK, yes there was rust but nothing that you would think needed attention in the UK. The compliance in NZ wanted the undercarriage, radiator panel and pretty much anything that looked vaguely rusty completely sand blasted. They also wanted the flooring completely removed to see if there was any rust there. Bearing in mind your car/ van might be on a ship for over 10 weeks, if its a roll on then extra rust will be inevitable due to the salty air.
> 
> The total bill to get a perfectly good van from the UK on the road in NZ would have cost us of $5000, and you can buy a very good van/car in NZ for that.
> 
> If the shipping companies in the UK had actually got their facts straight first of all, and were not just chasing the money we certainly would not have entertained the idea of bring over the van.
> 
> I appreciate that NZ officials are only doing their jobs and there is obviously a set procedure with set standards that you need to comply with, so I'm not trying to lay any blame on the NZ side, infact the mechanics and people that have been helping us have been very helpful, given the circumstance. They have all commented that this is such a common thing that they see with cars/vans that have been exported from the UK. They are just do not used to seeing the amount of rust that is on an average UK car here in NZ.
> 
> So if you are thinking of bringing your old car/van over please think carefully. Check the rust on the underside get it sandblasted and treated in the UK if you really want to bring it. But be prepared to fork out more money when you get here to get it on the road.
> 
> So $5000 for shipping, $250 for insurance, $450 for VIN compliance test + any worked needed for compliance (the rust issue) , $100 immigration exemption, $150 transport from port to mechanic, and then $450 registration. Then between $40-60 for WOF (NZ MOT) and then any other repairs that are needed (They'll be quite thorough as its an export).
> 
> If you decide like we have to not bother with the compliance work and therefore get the car scrapped or resold as is, you will need to organise all of this yourself, unless you happen to know someone who can help. You will also need to pay the immigration waiver amount if you sell th ecar within the first 2 years of import.
> 
> I'm writing this so other people don't get hit with large bills just at the very time when they need to have every penny available to them to make the transition from the Uk to NZ easy.


Hi Kukura,

Very interesting reading this.We are looking to move in 2013 and will be bringing over 2 cars.The reason for this is that in NZ new European cars seem to hold their value a lot better then UK cars.
Our cars will both be less then 5 years old and be completely rust free(most quality modern cars are made out of carbon fibre therefore no rust).
My question to you(if you can help)is was your experience straightforward apart from the issues you had with rust?
How did it work with the shipping company?
Do they valet the cars for you at the export point/pick it up from your house?
The reason i ask this is i could valet the cars then drive through rain/mud on the way to the container and when they arrives in NZ they will fail the cleanliness tests.
Also we have 2 motorbikes and a scooter.Can we put all 5 vehicles in one large container.I noted you said that you loaded up your van with your possessions.I thought i read somewhere this wasn't allowed?
Please can you confirm it is ok to load the cars up with personal items?I'm concerned MAF kick up a stink about it.
I have a rough idea that a 40 foot container costs about GBP 8k including insuring the items for the journey.Does that sound about right?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.


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## 7slicetoastie

eastendoflondon said:


> Hi Kukura,
> 
> Very interesting reading this.We are looking to move in 2013 and will be bringing over 2 cars.The reason for this is that in NZ new European cars seem to hold their value a lot better then UK cars.
> Our cars will both be less then 5 years old and be completely rust free(most quality modern cars are made out of carbon fibre therefore no rust).
> My question to you(if you can help)is was your experience straightforward apart from the issues you had with rust?
> How did it work with the shipping company?
> Do they valet the cars for you at the export point/pick it up from your house?
> The reason i ask this is i could valet the cars then drive through rain/mud on the way to the container and when they arrives in NZ they will fail the cleanliness tests.
> Also we have 2 motorbikes and a scooter.Can we put all 5 vehicles in one large container.I noted you said that you loaded up your van with your possessions.I thought i read somewhere this wasn't allowed?
> Please can you confirm it is ok to load the cars up with personal items?I'm concerned MAF kick up a stink about it.
> I have a rough idea that a 40 foot container costs about GBP 8k including insuring the items for the journey.Does that sound about right?
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks.


Hi EastendofLondon,

I work for a company who specialise in shipping from the UK overseas and as Kukura pointed out the shipping companies should have pointed out the problems MAF will cause if you ship over older cars with rust.

You can ship your 2 cars plus 2 motorbikes and a scooter in a 40ft'er but will leave little space for your personal effects as with the vehicles in the container will pretty much be full ( even with a 40ft high cube ). 

Anything you leave inside the cars will most definitely damage the insides of the cars and may even break your windows ! The southern oceans get pretty rough with 30ft plus waves so anything loose inside will move about a lot.

You could build overcases over the cars to allow you to put your items on top and around your cars but even so will leave little space for your items.

I would recommend taking a 40ft for the vehicles and then arranging the shipping of your effects seperately by another container OR not taking as many vehicles.

Closer to the time I would get a few companies in to survey and confirm your requirement.

Hope this helps !


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## kukura

A quick update on the response from the company that dealt with our Van export. I don't want to mention the name of the company for obvious reasons,but it was one of the big International ones that advertise and attend the New Zealand Expo's. We had our personal belonging exported later on by PSS on a separate contract, so its not them, they were great.

This is the response to my compliant.

"Dear Mr Rowe, 

I am sorry to learn of the fact that you had some difficulties with passing the vehicle’s inspection. Your situation has been reviewed and I can confirm that our surveyor was correct in saying that the vehicles are fine to be shipped in this condition and to go through customs. Please note that we only specialise in shipping effects and clearing them through customs – compliance it is something what is always left for our customers’ to arrange before the vehicle is being shipped. 

Please also note that as per our contract we will use our reasonable endeavours to provide you with up to date information to assist you with the import/export of your goods. Information on such matters as national or regional laws and regulations which are subject to change and interpretation at any time is provided in good faith and is based upon existing known circumstances. It is your responsibility to seek appropriate advice to verify the accuracy of any information provided. 

Although I truly regret that this situation has occurred and that it brought so much of personal distress to you."

So they have told me, the customer, that it is my resposibility to find out all this information about regulations and stuff on the otherside of the world. Strange that, as when we booked the contract they gave me the name of one of their consultants that could answer all of my questions about the process of exporting a van/car we would need to know. As I said we lost £5000 worth of van as it had to be scrapped in the end because we couldn't afford to pay for the work to be done, not to mention the shipping costs and stuff.

I think its disgusting that these guys can provide a service like this and take no responsibility for providing information about part of the process (compliance) that is probably the most important. 

I'd be interested if there are any other people who represent shipping companies out there on the forum who can add to this, as it seems to be a problem in NZ as I have spoken to quite a few people who have had a similar ordeal.




7slicetoastie said:


> Hi EastendofLondon,
> 
> I work for a company who specialise in shipping from the UK overseas and as Kukura pointed out the shipping companies should have pointed out the problems MAF will cause if you ship over older cars with rust.
> 
> You can ship your 2 cars plus 2 motorbikes and a scooter in a 40ft'er but will leave little space for your personal effects as with the vehicles in the container will pretty much be full ( even with a 40ft high cube ).
> 
> Anything you leave inside the cars will most definitely damage the insides of the cars and may even break your windows ! The southern oceans get pretty rough with 30ft plus waves so anything loose inside will move about a lot.
> 
> You could build overcases over the cars to allow you to put your items on top and around your cars but even so will leave little space for your items.
> 
> I would recommend taking a 40ft for the vehicles and then arranging the shipping of your effects seperately by another container OR not taking as many vehicles.
> 
> Closer to the time I would get a few companies in to survey and confirm your requirement.
> 
> Hope this helps !


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## Song_Si

interesting topic and one I have not seen discussed before, thanks for the info.

Are the cost differences between buying UK/NZ really that high to make shipping a vehicle from UK economical? 

A former colleague used to bring in classic 1960s cars from USA and I know there was a bit of paperwork involved in that with them being left-hand driv and over a certain age exempt from having to be converted to right-hand drive, maybe 1975 was the cut-off for that. 

Am I right in thinking there are restrictions on resale in NZ, so if you decided it wasn't for you then you'd have to ship them back to your home country again?


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## kukura

I think if you resell your car and you have exported it under the immigrants act you need to pay a customs charge based on the price of the car. So it will cost you more money to move it on. Vans are very expensive in New Zealand and we have four dogs hence the reason originally for bringing the Van over as we also had dog cages to fit into it.







Song_Si said:


> interesting topic and one I have not seen discussed before, thanks for the info.
> 
> Are the cost differences between buying UK/NZ really that high to make shipping a vehicle from UK economical?
> 
> A former colleague used to bring in classic 1960s cars from USA and I know there was a bit of paperwork involved in that with them being left-hand driv and over a certain age exempt from having to be converted to right-hand drive, maybe 1975 was the cut-off for that.
> 
> Am I right in thinking there are restrictions on resale in NZ, so if you decided it wasn't for you then you'd have to ship them back to your home country again?


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## anski

We shipped our 9 month old LHD Peugeot from Spain in 2001. The reason being we could not sell the car in Spain without taking a massive loss. At the time you could import LHD cars under certain conditions. One condition was we could not sell it for 5 years. We arranged the shipping ourselves in a 20ft container but were told we could not put anything inside the car as 1) MAF required free access in order to inspect the car on arrival. 2) They could not vouch anything inside the car would not get stolen on arrival.
When it arrived we were not allowed near it until MAF had inspected it then it was driven to Penrose in order to be inpected & WOF to gain NZ plates. We were told MAF would pull the car apart remove interiors, lining etc to check for drugs. This they did & in doing so damaged the driver's air bag which cost almost $1,000 to rectify and always caused ongoing problems for the remainder of the 8 years we had it.
We paid IVA (GST) in Spain & could not reclaim it when the vehicle left Spain as we were told "why do you want money back, you had fun in the car in Spain!"
On arrival in NZ we paid GST again another $2,000 as well as clearance agents fee of almost $1,000. Headlights had to be changed another $1,000. But the joke was as the years went on & after the car was 3 years old we had WOF's at 6 monthly intervals & the last few inspections we were told we had to change our headlights & we would argue they had been changed on arrival. Finally one inspector refused to pass our car & we had to have the lights changed yet again this time $1,200. It finally emmerged the first set which we had paid for had never been fitted!
Oh and another thing on arrival AA had to contact Peugeot France to see if our car passed European Crash Tests which I thought was a joke considering the car was only 9 months old & Europe had very stringent safety in respect of their cars, This cost another $450. Made me laugh when I saw some of the Japanese imports at the time that appeared far from safe.
I would personally NEVER import another car again because there are so many vague areas & despite what advice you get from well meaning people, the people who decide if you can register your car to drive on NZ roads have the last say. The rules keep changing & yes you can always import a vehicle but that does not automatically mean you will end up with permission to drive it.


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## Song_Si

^ _so many vague areas_

I mentioned my colleague who was bringing in some big cars from USA - remember one day his utter rage when one was turned down as part of the certification process, the testing man said _'something's not quite right'_ but could not identify what that _'something'_ was. 

Maybe he expected a bribe/backhander; anyway, outcome was the car was transported to another licensed certification place who passed it OK.


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## eastendoflondon

Hi All, We are finally here in NZ. Our motorbikes and one of our cars have just about made it through the whole inspection process. Just waiting on our last vehicle which was always going to be the "problem". As we thought and expected it has failed on various things but we are still waiting to find out what the costs to get it through entry certification will be...i hope to have some good news over the next few days. I just hope that the repair bill doesn't outweigh the benefit of bringing it over!


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