The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

Just putting a question out there.

Its been a while since ive been on the forum. Have been busy replacing my EJ20T!

For those of you in the know about importing vehicles;

Whats a rough cost estimate of importing a older model vehicle like a brumby into Australia. I know that Subarino did this but im not sur ewhat the cost would be. Obviously to buy a mint brumby in Japan would cost a lot less than a mint one in Australia.

Any ideas?

cheers boys

more than it will cost you to buy one here.

freight - $1700 or so. compliance -$1000 or so. vehicle cost - ? GST =tarrif 27% on top of vehicle cost. done it once- never again.

now if you are buying something different (eg a hatch) by all means.

Couldn't comply it as the Brumby was sold new here for the complete model run.

Would you find a cheap one in Japan? Most of them are gone now aren't they? I think NZ is our friend for such things. The cars there seem to go cheap - and they have bugger all k's on them. I'd love to bring in one of those RX/II L Series coupes from there.

I thought if the car was over 15 years old, then it doesn't matter on the make/model? Could be wrong though!

Chris_Rogers wrote:now if you are buying something different (eg a hatch) by all means.

LOL Chris - least it was some other poor sucker that bought in your GT II

Yeah you could be right about that Fang.

Mine was found in a wrecking yard... so i know nothing about how it got here. My therory is it drove itself somehow.

Either way... im interested in the import costs too... if i ever meet someone willing to help me with importing a hatch i would definately get another one... even at the estimated costs above.

Dave

I've considered buying a hatch from the US and converting to RHD... never looked too far into it though.

At the prices above I'd highly consider it.

pre 88 cars can be imported without compliancing problems,as longs as u have belts,wipers lights etc.. the usual stuff u r free to import.
It used to be 15year+ up to last year when they changed the rules to cut back on jap imports.
I have imported cars from the US,it always costs more than u think.
From their exchange rate(feight co) to customs,quarantine etc,etc,etc,

Fang wrote:I thought if the car was over 15 years old, then it doesn't matter on the make/model? Could be wrong though!

This is correct.

The SEVS (Special something something something) rule states that you cannot import a vehicle 15yrs or newer.

Something to do with the variants to our cars...................

Im not sure about something that wasnt even introduced here, but the easiest thing to do would be to go and ask someone that does it for a living.

midnight wrote:The SEVS (Special something something something) rule states that you cannot import a vehicle 15yrs or newer.

Thought I would fill in the blank...
Special Enthusiast Vehicle Scheme.

Fang wrote:Would you find a cheap one in Japan? Most of them are gone now aren't they? I think NZ is our friend for such things. The cars there seem to go cheap - and they have bugger all k's on them. I'd love to bring in one of those RX/II L Series coupes from there.

I thought if the car was over 15 years old, then it doesn't matter on the make/model? Could be wrong though!

don't tempt me. that would cause me to make a retro STi

chriSTIan wrote:pre 88 cars can be imported without compliancing problems,as longs as u have belts,wipers lights etc.. the usual stuff u r free to import.
It used to be 15year+ up to last year when they changed the rules to cut back on jap imports.
I have imported cars from the US,it always costs more than u think.
From their exchange rate(feight co) to customs,quarantine etc,etc,etc,

correct. it doesnt matter what it is either. mate of mine brings in 15 yr cars from japan - bought a VERY tidy '88 BFMR familia 4wd turbo about a month ago. on that note brumby can come in IF its before the jan1 '89 cutoff date.

midnight wrote:This is correct.

The SEVS (Special something something something) rule states that you cannot import a vehicle 15yrs or newer.

Something to do with the variants to our cars...................

Im not sure about something that wasnt even introduced here, but the easiest thing to do would be to go and ask someone that does it for a living.

it was meant to cut back the 15/yr imports coming in. if you look at it laterally with the sliding 15 yr rule that allowed EVERYthing that was coming in at teh time to slide past the compliancing rules if you waited a year of so. I haev worked on a LOT of 15yr imports and 90% of them need a SERIOUS rebuild. best ones are the drag nissan skylines. some of these were landed for nix sold fo $10k and need another $20k spent on them!

tim,
ring dotars in canberra - they are easy to talk to. explain your idea and go from there. NZ would be an easier option for those cars though. it would mean a week of looking around over there though. there's 2-4 major subaru yards there that have a plethora of stuff you just have to look.

Fang wrote:LOL Chris - least it was some other poor sucker that bought in your GT II

true the original owner bought that one in back in 2001. only minor changes to it - needed seatbelts added in the rear ,the fronts replaced,rear high stop light and a full service.

coupe is STILL very tempting

Older cars are just real scarce in Japan now, lucky if you found a Brumby at all.