Quick Guide A car is shipped in a ‘sole use’ sealed 20’ Container from the near Barking/East London warehouse. Ships normally sail every week taking 4–5 weeks in transit to Fremantle/Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. It can take a further 1 to 3 weeks before a car is ready to be registered to be used on the road in Australia. A booking is made by completing our application for shipping space form and can be made up to 3 months or as little as one week before shipment. A copy of the UK registration document is required.

• The Personal Import requirements are normally that Australian permanent residency is required with only one car per person allowed which must have been owned and used in the UK for a minimum period of 12 months unless the vehicle is older than 1989.
  
  
• Personal Import Approval is required by sending an application form to DoTaRS in Canberra with copies of the car and personal papers and takes 3–5 weeks to obtain. Although the Approval is only required at the Australian port it should be obtained before shipment of the vehicle from the UK.
  
  
• The costs due in the UK are for shipping and shipment protection payable before the day of sailing. In Australia costs are payable for port fees and container unpacking, customs fees and clearance, quarantine inspection and possibly cleaning, road safety preparation and a roadworthy test, as well as, annual registration, possibly stamp duty, and driving insurance.
  
  
• Australian Import Taxes on most cars are 10% Duty (5% for ‘off road’ 4wd vehicles) and 10% Gst. Duty is paid on the customs value and Gst is paid on the total of the customs value + duty + cost of shipment. Usually the Customs Value is based on the Australian ‘as landed’ value which can be as low as half of the actual Australian market value. In only very few cases, if a vehicle was purchased before March 1998, then the CV is based on the UK purchase price less a depreciation allowance.
  
  
• Valuation method advice can be obtained from Australian Customs and the destination clearance agent can recommend a local valuer for an ‘as landed’ valuation estimate. An initial guide to the full Australian market value is available at www.redbook.com.au.
  
  
• Items packed inside a car travel free of charge. A list of goods is required by customs and quarantine and these would be cleared separately from the vehicle.
  
  
• A guide to the costs would be £1,300–£1,400 shipping, £100–£300 shipment protection, A$2,250–A$2,750 in Australia excluding taxes, annual registration and insurance.
  
  
• Procedure:
  
  1. Read our website
  2. Contact us for a written quotation
  3. Decide to ship a car
  4. Send to us a completed shipping and liability form and send to Canberra a completed personal import approval application form
  5. We arrange the export and our costs are settled
  6. Canberra/DoTaRS issues an import approval
  7. The car is handed to us and we ship it to Australia
  8. We send the shipping papers to you after the ship has sailed
  9. Shipping papers are put together with the import approval and all your car papers for the authorities when the car arrives
  10. An Agent can assist with the importation at destination
  11. Obtain a valuation when the car arrives
  12. Pay the import taxes
  13. The car is collected and then made roadworthy and registered.

Further information

We understand that you may have a Motor Vehicle here in the UK and that you may, in due course, require shipment of the vehicle to AUSTRALIA.

In this connection we should like to place at your disposal the services of our Company. We are Shipping & Forwarding Agents specialising in the shipment of Motor Vehicles from the UK to all parts of the world and, in particular, to Australia.

We have over 21 years experience of Motor Vehicle Shipping and we are able to provide a truly personal and, at all times, most efficient service. Although our Offices are located in Leighton Buzzard we have private warehouse facilities for the receiving and packing of vehicles into Containers on the A13 near to Barking/East London, with Underground connections from Becontree station into Central London.

Our normal services include the receiving of the vehicle at Barking (collection by transporter from anywhere in the UK at an additional cost), preparation for shipment including providing floor mats, seat covers and a quantity of silica desiccant bags to help avoid the possibility of condensation damage, packing/securing of the vehicle, by itself, into one 'sole use' 20' ISO Container at the private warehouse near Barking and securing with a security registered seal, export and UK customs documentation, haulage of the container to the UK export loading berth, UK port/handling charges, providing Bills of Lading (title documents to the cargo shipped) to your nominated address once shipment has been effected and ocean freight from the UK port through to arrival at the Australian port.

We would suggest that a car be cleaned prior to handover for shipment, vacuuming the interior and boot and removing mud especially from under the wheel arches, as this may save extra cleaning charges upon arrival in Australia.

The cost of shipping depends on the Shipping Lines frequent minor rate adjustments to compensate for currency exchange rate and oil price fluctuations. Although major changes in costs are infrequent, however, our quotations are normally valid for 28 days. No VAT is due on shipping costs to Australia.

In Australia many charges are payable include port, haulage, unpacking, customs clearance, customs fees, quarantine fees and possible cleaning as well as the costs associated with getting a vehicle on the road. We do not consider it to be worthwhile shipping a car in a shared/groupage Container or on a Roll On/Roll Off vessel as, although the UK shipping cost could be less, there could be delays in shipment and a risk of damage to the car.

Standard Liability shipment protection is not included in the shipping price and the cost would be calculated at £20 per £1000 value (2%) with a minimum charge of £100. The declared value should represent the full replacement value of the vehicle in Australia and not the UK value.

We have at our disposal regular Container Line sailing’s from the UK through to Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane every week with an average transit time of 30 / 38 days.

To proceed with the shipment of a Motor Vehicle we would only require one of our Application For Shipping Space forms to be completed and returned to us along with a photocopy of the UK registration document/V5C. This form asks for the vehicle details i.e. Make, Model, Registration and Chassis Numbers, a UK and Australian address, the Date and Place of Handover of the Vehicle and the Value for Shipment Protection. We would require payment in the UK before a car is containerised for shipment.

For your further information we can advise you that we can recommend Agents in Australia that would be able to assist with the import formalities, namely:

SYDNEY: Mr. Steve White, Cargo Online Pty. Ltd., PO Box 365, Seaforth, SYDNEY, NSW 2092, Tel. No. (02) 9400 2635, UK VoiP Tel. No. (0121) 288 4377 E-mail: steve@cargoonline.com.au.		MELBOURNE: Mr. David Stewart, All Ports International Logistics Pty. Ltd., 1, Mareno Road, Tullamarine, MELBOURNE, VIC 3043, Tel. No. (03) 9933 3600, E-mail: david@allports.com.au.
BRISBANE: Mr. Rob Addis, All Ports International Logistics Pty. Ltd., Unit 4, 139, Sandgate Road, Albion, BRISBANE, QLD 4010, Tel. No. (07) 3862 1544, E-mail: rob@allports-bne.com.au.		PERTH: Mr. Bob Gosling, All Ports International Logistics Pty. Ltd., Suite 23, Kewdale Business Park, 133, Kewdale Road, Kewdale, PERTH, WA 6105. Tel. No. (08) 9353 2990, Website: www.fpi.net.au, E-mail: bob@allports-per.com.au.
ADELAIDE: Mr. Paul Roberts, InternationalTransport Services, 149, Holbrooks Road, Underdale, ADELAIDE, SA 5032, Tel. No. (08) 8354 5700 E-mail: its@arcom.com.au

Once shipment of the Vehicle has been effected we can then forward within a few days all relevant shipping documents, together with our instructions concerning the clearance and delivery of the Vehicle at the port of destination, by Recorded Mail, to your nominated UK or Australian address.

We hope that our services may be of interest to you and we look forward to hearing from you soon. If there are any further points you wish to have clarified then please do not hesitate to contact us. In the meantime, we can assure you of our best attention at all times.