Newbie Import Question

[viet_pridez]

When my r32 gts-t turbo arrives at the port and after going through customs and quarantine. Will I need to then towe it straight to the compliance workshop or can I take it home and wait a couple of hours/days before I have to bring it in?

Edited February 9, 2008 by viet_pridez

[kakimoto33]

Ideally it should go directly to compliance however you can take the car home if you wanted to swap parts around to make it standard for compliance, give it a good clean, or just play with it a little first.

[viet_pridez]

Thats good to know but how lond can i hold it for untill it has to go in?

[kakimoto33]

In theory it should go to compliance as soon as possible, but if you really needed then you could keep it for as long as you like ... the only real trouble would be if it goes past 12 months without being complied yet, at that point there will be some pressure to have it done or for the car to be destroyed or re-exported.

How long did you want the car to be kept at your house for - was it so you can remove non-standard parts or was it to give you time to save up money for the compliance or something?

[viet_pridez]

I would probably only need to keep it for a about 2 weeks, a month if everything goes wrong but yeah its got to do a little bit with the money and a lot with the compliancing. I just want every thing to go smoothly so it passes the regency people/defect test. Do you know if the compliers charge you a flate fee or do they charge you only for the stuff that needs replacing? I know that customs need to be there when the cars being unloaded but what about quarantine? Do they need to be there as well to clean the car on the spot? Or do they come later in the process, say maybe a couple of days?

[viet_pridez]

ps The car hasn't been shipped yet. The dealer is still waiting for my ok. Just making everything as perfect as possible and grasping the the approximate amount before it gets shipped.

[kakimoto33]

Quarantine inspection (and cleaning if required) and customs clearance will be done long before you get near the car.

Compliance workshops all charge different rates to each other and some include various parts if require (like brake pads, etc.) and others don't include any parts ... some will swap around non-standard parts at no cost to you sometimes and others will charge you an hourly rate for the time it takes, so you just need to discuss that with the workshop you will use.

[viet_pridez]

Quarantine inspection (and cleaning if required) and customs clearance will be done long before you get near the car.

Little confused on that bit. Does that mean that customs and quarantine will do their job as soon as the car is in Australia or before the car is in Australia?

[kakimoto33]

If you want to be exact then the car is not in Australia until it's been cleared through customs and leaves the ports, the port area is a customs controlled area and is technically not actually Australian soil. Being more realistic the car will be inspected by quarantine and customs cleared while it's at the ports, then after this is done it will be released from the ports and can be collected for delivery to the compliance workshop, your house or anywhere else you choose ... in any case there is no way you can collect the car from the ports before it's quarantine and customs cleared.