Putting Parts In The Boot And Forgetting About It

[ips]

Given the volume of cars that come into australia. I was thinking of putting some critical spare parts e.g timing belt, brake pads, oil filters in the boot and shipping it over at the same time as the car to save on the hassels and expense of airfreighting parts from japan ( i work in the freight industry so i know how expensive it is to airfreight stuff) ? Has anyone done this before and not got into trouble. I am not doing it constantly every month so the chances of getting into trouble are low and anyway if the customs did say something I would just blame it on the supplier in Japan and say i forgot. Is their a good chance they might x ray the car

Can anyone advise the merits of doing the above

[xscape237]

Somebody mentioned to me that you're not allowed to put cargo inside of the car.

Having said that, I imported an aristo several years ago now. It was meant to have a few things in the boot but they all disappeared... dont know if it was on the docks or before the car got to the boat.

[Moodles2]

In the past I've read anything in cars imported from japan that werent nailed down, were taken by warfies. turbo timers etc

[scissored sil]

Even things that are nailed or bolted down, when my mate imported his 180, the fog lights were unbolted and stolen?? surely people want better things than fog lights right?

[Slide]

If you want to bring something over simply send it to yourself or buy locally or instruct the seller from Japan to send it to you.

You are not allowed to bring over loose items in drive on drive off deliveries anymore and if you do put something in you will most likely loose it.

If you hide them in the car and they are found during inspection and they are new and not declared/valued over $1000 you will be spanked.

If you want to bring things over, get a container for an extra $800 or so and put another car in with a friend to make it more cost effective, then put what you want in the boot.

[Iron Chef]

Traditionally, shipping companies have allowed inner cargo, sent at the owner's risk. The problem was that theft was (and still is) pretty rife. It happens here on the docks in Oz, but for a variety of reasons, people seem powerless to stop it.

One shipping company last year decided that, as a result, they would no longer allow inner cargo, but forgot to let anyone know about it, so we had a case of staff in Japan ripping out all the inner cargo out in Japan, and making a small fortune on Yahoo auctions when the stuff wasn't claimed.

Only one shipping company still allows inner cargo, but you're very lucky if the parts actually make it to Australia. Thieving scum on the docks...

[ovaxitd]

my jzx came through with whole boot full of parts... only shit thing is that you have to pay twice for cleaning/inspection as they have to take it to another location to pull goods out then back in again... bullshit but its wat they do....

what we did though was pull the boot covers apart and put the important gear ie coilovers/globes/lights etc in there... outta sight outta mind... it all looked normal... nothing was asked...

[JiN_MaN]

I locked my glove box with some parts in it before sending it home from Japan. Got home with a broken hinge as somebody had tried to force it open. $15 for a 2d one, works out alot cheaper than frieght

[tm_r33]

Seems a bit harsh that you can purchase a car and arrange for it to be shipped somewhere but anyone who has access to the car on its way has the right to take/break whatever they like.

Im quite an anal person about stuff like that. I know id be majorly pissed off if some one broke my glove box or pinched shit out of a car i had just purchased. Why on earth cant the shipping companies guarantee some sort of protection for customers who give them business.

I'm an electrician by trade and if i sole from a building in town while i was working there i know for a fact my boss would fire me and call the cops on me himself.

just my 2 cents

[GTR-N1]

In the "French Connection", the tutorial shows how to store precious bits-n-pieces for transit.

[bipolardragon]

When a mate of mine imported his R34, he had a lot of random things go missing.

Then there was a lot of things just sitting in the boot.

Like the GTR badge of the back was stolen. I mean COME ON who wants the badge that badly.

Or the fact that his piping for his air intake was sitting in the boot.

Some weird stuff happens at wharfs man.

[funkymonkey]

Im quite an anal person about stuff like that. I know id be majorly pissed off if some one broke my glove box or pinched shit out of a car i had just purchased. Why on earth cant the shipping companies guarantee some sort of protection for customers who give them business.

quite frankly shipping companies don't give a rats arse about one-off customers (ie you bringing in a private import) compared to manufacturers like toyota and mazda who bring in hundreds. This is why when they bring in about 200 RORO cars, they get the VIP treatment, and when you bring in one car, it gets not so VIP treatment.

[tm_r33]

i understand all of this and yes, the big players (nissan, toyota etc) is where the shipping companies make their profit. You are completely correct about the average persons 'one off' shipment being worth bugger all in the big picture but good company practice should protect the average john smith from getting F***ed over.

sadly i cant see things getting better thought lol

[shnoog]

i imported a 180sx through imports101 a few years ago. i had fog lights under the seat and they weren't taken from the car on the trip over but i had no gear knob.

[dori34]

gearknobs are the most common thing ive seen that goes missing on an import lolz