# Removals Advice



## sam12345 (Jan 24, 2014)

We are in the throws of visa application. Medicals have been done and we are now waiting for our UK & German police checks to come back. All being well hubby will be starting his new job in Wellington in April the latest May.

The children and I will follow him at the end of July after my brothers wedding. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice about what to bring/pack etc. We have lived in German for the last 10 years and returned to the UK in Oct'13. During our 10 year stay in Germany we moved 6 times so moving is no buggy for me. Its not the move that I am worried about its what to move with us or sell before we come.

Can anyone shed some light on removal costs against cost to buy??

We also have a new Landrover Discovery 4. Is it worth bringing over to NZ??

Any advice is appreciated.

Many thanks
Sam x


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## Mark D (Dec 9, 2012)

Bring your car. I used auto shippers. Well worth it. As your other point that's nothing anyone can comment on but yourself. We do not know what you have and what values it has or what your taste is. Look at smith city website as with Harvey Norman. They sell furniture just half the $ and that's about the equivelent of the British £. I sold everything and started again bought cheap new furniture to get us started and are now buying things we want like new comfy beds and recliner sofas. We felt that was best for us but some folk want homly comforts, staying in a holiday let and BnB for a while ment our furniture had no use anyway but we made out own touches to our new rental. It's hard finding a rental and if you have big furniture how do you know it will fit in with your new house. You really can't work a house round your furniture as rentals are hard to come by.


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## escapedtonz (Apr 6, 2012)

sam12345 said:


> We are in the throws of visa application. Medicals have been done and we are now waiting for our UK & German police checks to come back. All being well hubby will be starting his new job in Wellington in April the latest May. The children and I will follow him at the end of July after my brothers wedding. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice about what to bring/pack etc. We have lived in German for the last 10 years and returned to the UK in Oct'13. During our 10 year stay in Germany we moved 6 times so moving is no buggy for me. Its not the move that I am worried about its what to move with us or sell before we come. Can anyone shed some light on removal costs against cost to buy?? We also have a new Landrover Discovery 4. Is it worth bringing over to NZ?? Any advice is appreciated. Many thanks Sam x


How long have you owned the LandRover ?
If it's under 12 months you will be charged GST at 15% of its considered value in NZ.

You must also declare you will not sell it for a period of 2 years after it is imported.

As you've seen some people would advise you to bring the car over, but me personally I'd say not.
You shouldn't have any problems actually shipping your car over for the agreed fixed price but I reckon it's gonna cost at least GBP 2k and you'll be without it for 12 weeks.
There'll be a bit of red tape to get through this end to get the compliance certificate off NZTA, have it warranted for the road then registered etc.
Issues after this are relatively not considered.
Your speedo is in mph - everything here is metric so kph.
Your odometer is in miles - everything here is metric so kilometres.
Easy to confuse the speed limits in kph and speedo in mph making it more of a risk getting done for speeding.
European cars cost more to service, more to repair with parts being astronomically expensive unless you want to source your own, but then there's the shipping delay while you wait for the post.
If it's a diesel you will have to purchase the diesel levy charge upfront which comes in blocks of kilometers - it's around $500 for 10 000 kilometres and this is on top of the vehicle license charge or "rego" as it's been nicknamed here.
It will be more difficult to sell on when you've had enough of it due to the above issues. No-one will want it. If you trade it in, it'll be worth peanuts.
Ok if your gonna keep it and just run it into the ground.

We sold 2 cars and a motorbike before we came out and I've no regrets. If you search around here you can get some excellent deals.


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## sam12345 (Jan 24, 2014)

Good things to think about. 

By the time we come over the car will be just over a year old. The kilometres/miles thing is not an issue. We lived in Germany for 10 years (only came back to the UK in Oct'13) and always drove UK cars. The car has a km digital speedometer on the dash board. I just have to change it from miles to km on the computer. The diesel thing is a good one to consider so thanks for the heads up on that. Thinking that we will sell it here and make the money back on it before we go. Thanks for the advice. Its really appreciated


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## escapedtonz (Apr 6, 2012)

sam12345 said:


> Good things to think about. By the time we come over the car will be just over a year old. The kilometres/miles thing is not an issue. We lived in Germany for 10 years (only came back to the UK in Oct'13) and always drove UK cars. The car has a km digital speedometer on the dash board. I just have to change it from miles to km on the computer. The diesel thing is a good one to consider so thanks for the heads up on that. Thinking that we will sell it here and make the money back on it before we go. Thanks for the advice. Its really appreciated


To avoid paying the 15% GST, you must have owned the vehicle for at least 12 months before its shipping date.
Doesn't matter how old the car is or the date it arrives. This applies to all vehicles - new or used. Cars, vans, campers, caravans, trucks, motorbikes etc etc.

Also the 12 months ownership rule applies to everything else you can own, namely - a toothbrush, sofa, fridge/freezer - EVERYTHING.
It's just a lot easier to bend the rules when it comes to everyday stuff in your shipping container. So long as it's not in its new box still sealed up then GST shouldn't be applied. It's highly unlikely customs will even inspect the container contents.
It's impossible to get away with it when vehicles are concerned as they have to have their own paperwork and are always xrayed for hidden concealments and inspected by MAF for cleanliness.

Yes buying the diesel levy can be a bit of a pain. There's no reminder unlike the vehicle license. Since it's a distance charge it has no expiry date so entirely your responsibility to keep it valid and to keep purchasing future kilometres.
If it's expired and you get caught by the rozzers it's tax evasion which wouldn't go down well with immigration I'm sure.
Diesel is cheap as chips though - currently $1.40 ish a litre at the moment so half price of UK.
Petrol (standard unleaded) around $2.10 a litre.

I wouldn't discourage anyone selling vehicles in their country of origin and buying over here. You can get ripped off but if your savvy and wary there's many bargains to be had and cars last a heck of a lot longer here as there's no road salt.
Also you'll be surprised at how many people and how many cars on the road are old.
There's no keeping up with the Jones's here. You don't have to be driving the latest Beemer or Merc like many feel they have to in the UK.


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## Mark D (Dec 9, 2012)

Every uk spec car has both moh and kph on the speedo so that's no reason not to bring it.


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## escapedtonz (Apr 6, 2012)

Mark D said:


> Every uk spec car has both moh and kph on the speedo so that's no reason not to bring it.


Tis when you've been driving a UK spec car in the UK for 5/10/15/20 plus years and your eyes are trained on the big mph numbers and not the tiny kph numbers on the inside of the dial.

This reason not to bring the car may not affect you personally. You've made this decision already having shipped your car.
I wouldn't have any issues myself, BUT there's many people who will have an issue with it - my wife for one. She'd be hopeless ;-)

May seem trivial to you but it could be a real issue for some and lead to many a speeding ticket plus demerit points if caught by the police.


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