There is some possibility that I may be offered a good job down under. So I was wondering about taking the Coupe, ideally and the Boxster (Porsche prices are really high down there)

I have seen a couple of FCCUK members that have Coupes down under - was it a huge hassle, especially with a slightly older car? (Emissions etc?) I think my goal would be to sell the Boxster down there, pocket some cash, and keep the Coupe.

Any advice/experiences would be welcome

There's a member on here - "Apogee" I think his name is - who did this recently, so it's worth dropping him a PM. Also my brother in law imported his Alfa 156GTA into Aus last year so drop me a PM if you like and I can give you a run down on how much it cost.

You will not be able to import two cars though, only one I'm afraid unless you have a wife/partner or someone who could bring the second car in for you? You need to do the sums though, because it aint cheap! You will get stung on import duty, plus GST, possibly luxury car tax on the Porsche, not to mention all the handling fees, port charges etc. The Aussie government have really clamped down on imports to try and protect the ludicrously high cost of cars in the country, which is a shame.

Check out this thread on pistonheads: click

The coupe would be a great car to take to Aus. I plan on taking mine with me when I move back to Aus in the future.

oh yeah, and unfortunately the aussie dollar is at an all time high at the moment which is not good news when it comes to paying for all the fees!

Thanks for that. Wow - that guy spent about £10k to get it down there. I had seen about £4-5K on a TT. Still, given the price of Porsches down there (I've seen similar to mine going for £32-33k) it would be still worth it. Even with those costs I could sell it 4 years after having bought it for a slight profit!

I guess the Coupe would save quite a lot in terms of duty, entry fees, tax and stamp duty i guess. I will send Apogee a message.

Due to the high prices of cars and limited selection of models overall I don't know a better place to take your car to. I took my Coupe from New Zealand. It's not hard but you need to do your homework. There are strict requirements and you need to provide a lot of documentation to get an import approval. As said you can only take one car each under the personal import scheme. And that is the only scheme you could get a Coupe in under. I advise using a good customs agent because the charges on the dock are a mine field of rip offs. Every car will be different. There must be dozens and dozens of seperate charges along the way but to summarise here is the basic process,

1: Import approval
2: Shipping (I did not bother with insurance)
3: Customs (Port charges et al, Quarantine and Govt Tax)
4: Compliance and personal import plate
5: Registration

Registration is a state requirement so will differ somewhat between states. The rest is mostly federal and the same for all.

The actual car is of no concern until you get to the compliance and rego stage. It get more difficult the newer and more expensive the car gets. But an old cheap car like a Coupe is easy to comply, it only needs child seat mounts fitted. For registration you need an inspection like an MOT. If your car is modified that will be a seperate issue. As far as emissions go you need all the emissions gear on the car but they don't actually check its working.

There is some advice in the above link that I disagree with. I will tell you my reasons if you get that far.

It does look really complicated, but probably worth it in the end. Btw, do you know if you can sell the car once there if you are on a work permit, or do you need to be a (or applying for) permanent residency?

It won't make any difference. Your visa or residency status is only a factor for getting the import approval. You can sell the car as soon as it has compliance and a personal import plate. You don't need to register it in your name

There's lots of info on the Customs website: http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page4371.asp#duty