Lhd Motorhomes

[R.Ware]

G'day all,

I am an American who married a lovely woman from Australia last year and am in the process of visa approval. ( for the background)

I owned 1 motorhome at the time of marriage, and the wife talked me into getting a second one with the intent of giving one to a son who does diesel mechanics for a mine company, and keeping the second for ourselves. Both vehicles are LHD, .. both will be over the 15 year past production age before the year ends. The plan is to transport them to our home in QLD. I am aware of the conversions required for the air con systems, the steam cleaning certs and safety inspections. I am under the impression I can maintain a LHD vehicle over 15 years old with the lovely caution sticker on the rear. I am looking for advice on the particulars of importing a 28" and 34" motor home to QLD. (Personally I would rather not worry with it but the little lady is determined to have them and its my duty to make it so) Any suggestions or advice is appreciated.

Roger W.

[Mr Eps]

yo mate how long ahve you owned either of the motorhomes???

[R.Ware]

yo mate how long ahve you owned either of the motorhomes???

about 6 years on the smaller one, and a bit over a year on the newer one. The newer one is in both the wife and my name, and I need to get her name put onto the older one.

[funkymonkey]

Importation is a two step process here. The car has to be eligible for import (regardless of LHD or RHD) first, and then once imported, needs to comply with Australian Design Rules and state registration requirements before you can register it.

So in your case, they can be imported if they were made in or before 1988 or if you've owned them for over a year (as a personal import).

However, cars need to be 30 years old before the LHD exemption kicks in (ADR/registration requirement, not importation requirement). I'm not 100% certain on the requirements of campervans for registration, but for cars that's certainly the rule.

[Mr Eps]

yeah what shan said

i know you are eligable to bring them in under the personal owner import scheme but as far as lhd / rhd conversion i have absolutely no idea, and will not comment on the matter in case i give wrong info... it may be different because it's a motorhome

here at SAU we tend to deal mostly with silly low suspension japanese coupe's with big wheels

i would suggest contacting either DOTARS (google it) for further info and

...whichever queensland government department handles the roads / car registration

[Beer Baron]

LHD rules are actually a state thing. it varies slightly from state to state what exactly is required. check with the state department of transport body in the state in which you intend to register the car.

if you can easily satisfy the requirements of 'personal import' then I'd suggest going that way. the approval process is a little more paperwork but after that it's easier. otherwise the pre-89 rule will still suit you.

just look into the rules on LHD vehicles in the state you are moving to.

[Munro]

You could always sell them over there & buy Australian built ones that are all compliant

& ready to go. I may even be able to help with that depending on what you want.....

[iseekool]

Importation is a two step process here. The car has to be eligible for import (regardless of LHD or RHD) first, and then once imported, needs to comply with Australian Design Rules and state registration requirements before you can register it.

So in your case, they can be imported if they were made in or before 1988 or if you've owned them for over a year (as a personal import).

However, cars need to be 30 years old before the LHD exemption kicks in (ADR/registration requirement, not importation requirement). I'm not 100% certain on the requirements of campervans for registration, but for cars that's certainly the rule.

Just wondering (just out of curiosity) - wouldn't a motorhome be classed as a "truck/bus"?

I've seen some modern motorhomes that are LHD with the big warning sticker - but i'm not sure if these were just (wealthy) tourists who will then take the vehicle back home once they have finished touring Australia.

I've seen one from China/HK (chinese plates + victorian plates) - It was an Iveco brand and another from Germany (euro + tasmanian plates) - that was a Mercedes.

Off topic - I've seen an Abu Dahbi plated (no Victorian plates) LHD Ferrari cruising around Melbourne area...