The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

Hi All, Can anyone give me advise on the cost of importing my subaru, Taxes etc, I have been looking at the cost of others in Melbourne area, of the same condition and kms as mine and they are way more expensive, possibly 3 or 4 times more, I paid £400 for mine and it is probably worth £1000 (book price) I previously had a looked at importing my 88 Golf Gti, but that came under a different catorgry, pre 89 is total different. Any help would be great,
Cheers in advance

Sorry, can't give exact info but..

If you've owned it in its country of origin for more then 12 months then you are allowed to import it (unless your a licensed importer). Then there is a Customs handling fee and customs tax, which all up is a couple of thousand. Then theres a few hundred in the registration inspections. Then its about $500 for 12months rego.
I've heard the import duty (customs stuff) can be over $5000. But that's probably with cars of more value.
Unless its a collector car, exotic or a nice classic they have it tied up so it's not worth it. I guess its good for Holden that way.

Which year model are you looking at?
Shipping you'd be looking at A$1000 - $2000, import duty on the price of the car, plus then GST on that, plus custom fees (plus GST again).

Unless you're looking at several thousands of dollars difference (and you can afford the time & hassle of the paperwork, plus the chance of damage), I'd recommend selling yours & just buying one here.
If you a car that was something really unique & different (Aus has a limited car market), then maybe it would be worth it.

If you had a Lexus IS Sportcross, I'd be knocking at your door willing to pay this stuff:???:

Mine is a 1998 legacy estate, 2.0 lx awd with 125000miles on the clock, i would say it is in good nick, few scuffs, but has a full subaru service history and only one previous owner, it's not the best model or the best car around but it was cheap, i have being doing my research , and i might just keep my £/$ that i have and get from selling it before moving over and invest in the Brumby that i have always wanted, its really the mileage of the cars over there that scares me, if a car that had that kind of mileage (200-300k) was over here it would be a miracle that it wasnt crushed, but is suppose thats down to the rust from the salt on the roads, i just dunno

So its 10 years old with 200 000km on the odometer.
That's actually above the average mileage for most city cars here.
A lot of city cars only average 12 000 - 15 000km per year, so I dare say you could quite easily find a similar age car with lower k's.
It will be more expensive than your car though, the UK has the highest depreciation rate of vehicles for all of Europe due to the way cars deteriorate over there. Like you said, it's the salt on the road.
If you want one for the same price as your UK one, you will have to put up with a higher mileage car.

Here, the rust problems come from the dirt & dust not being cleaned out properly.

rust would be caused by salt that uk uses on the roads. We don't have that here. Its just the matter of dirt buildup behind the panels and not being cleaned out, otherwise normally country cars have higher mileage but very good body. Mine 96 liberty GX is nearly 300.000kms and i do know that it'll easily get over 400. No rust at all as its country car.
Cheers
AP