Hi, does anyone have some knowledge regarding importing my FL2 into Australia, any pointers or good websites with the information?
Thanks Phil

Why import in yourself? Just buy one privately or through a dealer

Dorko

Well, that's the thing, is it worth importing?
At least I know the exact history of the car and has the extras I added/wanted. Phil

Phil I understand that there are way too many caravans in the UK but moving to Oz to escape them is a bit OTT  At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

How much are they in the UK? A new TD4 in Australia is mid to high 50K's plus on the road, a near new one around 45-50K which equates to 22.5-25K pounds. I think you have a lower spec version available in the UK that we don't have. We have 2 models - flash and flasher. It seems that Freelanders are compared a lot with X-Trails or Foresters in UK. Here they cost a minimum 15-20K more than those cars and as a result are not that common on the road.
Freight in a container wouldn't be cheap but people wanting to drive Africa or Asia from here do it but its not common(only half as far as UK though). I don't know if any import duty is due but I would imagine it is. Cars already here have all this paid before we buy them and probably means we pay more. I have found the best value cars are dealer demos with 5-6000 km's on the clock and they usually have a range of accessories already installed.
Another factor is that I have heard that some manufacturers have to toughen some of the components such as suspension when building for Australian conditions as our roads are rated fairly poorly. We have a small population and hundreds of thousands of km's of road to maintain so the dollars in this area are spread pretty thin.

Mike

After a bit of research, FL2 are not worth importing, as cost of car are almost like for like (£) new or used.
Now, if I had a Porsche, then it would be worth it as they are very expensive there. Phil

where are you moving to phil? east coast or west coast?

East coast, most likely Sydney but Melbourne is possibility. Phil

Just dragging this back as I've got some questions which I can't find suitable answers for. If anyone can help.

1) Is it harder, thereby more expensive to insure an imported car?
2) Does an imported car sell for much less than native one?
3) Do I have to change 'stuff' on the car once there eg. speedo/odometer to read km, instead of miles
4) Servicing schedules seem different, what should I follow?
5) Would warranty companies cover imported car?

Some of these are very specific so it may be suck it and see... Phil

Hi Phil,
An "opinion" to a couple of your questions:
Based on my IT experience, any computer equipment imported direct doesn't have warranty unless you want to send the equipment back to the country it was imported from for repair. If Landrover Australia hasn't made money from the sale of the FL2 then I don’t believe they would be interested in warranty work.

The servicing schedule is based on the conditions the car is exposed to so therefore more regular oil changes in Australia due to our higher temperatures is the norm for most European cars.

Personally I wouldn’t buy a car with a mph speedo (unless it was vintage) therefore it would affect the resale value which would need to be considered in the total cost equation. I am not sure of the legal issues with a mph speedo as most popular private imports come from Japan which is metric.

When considering Australia don’t forget Adelaide and Perth, less stress and better lifestyle.

don't know if its of any use to you but this thread is on RRSport about going to Oz

http://www.rrsport.co.uk/forum/topic19019.html Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Thanks for the info so far. I was thinking after market warranty rather than the new car one.

In Europe, I'm sure majority of cars show both mph and km, but mph more prominently. If I had to swap it I would rather do it here as I believe it would be more expensive in Oz.

Are there any sites I can try and get an insurance quote for? Phil

For what it's worth, I considered importing a 18 month old E Class Mercedes to Australia some 8 years ago. Shipping costs in an individual container was about £1000, and import taxes were not too bad since I had owned the car from new and it was for private use. The killer was Mercedes - although the same model was sold in Australia, it would have many different components to suit Australian conditions and road rules, and they would neither honour the warranty or offer any guarantee that parts would be available if required. They made it pretty plain that they would not support such an idea. Land Rover may be different and more sympathetic, but I would suggest contacting them for guidance. What ever you decide, good luck with it and welcome to Oz!