Can't decide whether I should take my wife's car or not. :unsure:

It is only 2 years old and we stand to lose a lot due to the difference between sale price and loan resettlement. Meanwhile, we're happy with the car and have no real need to get rid of it. Does anyone have any experience, views, or advice? Be really grateful...Dave. :D

Dave

I've had a nightmare deciding what to do as I love my car but after looking into things we've decided not to bother. The reasons:-

1. alot of hassle and paperwork
2. the expensive of shipping
3. the resale value over there would be nil as no-one likes imported cars
4. we may of had to altered certain things on the car to be able to use it in oz
5. parts and labour

Some people imported their cars with no problems others found it a nightmare. The decider for us was the fact that the resale would be a lot less - we looked at the cost of what it would sell for over here against what we could sell it for over there plus the cost of shipping, extra work etc. and it would have been a major loss for us.

Have a look on this webpage and check out how much your car would be worth over in oz and see if it is worth while.

www.redbook.com.au

Welcome to the site by the way and now you have made your 1st post keep going....we don't bite - except for PodgyPossum who can scratch with her razor sharp claws! :lol: (sorry from another post!)

Sasha :)

If its a classic then do it, if not forget it sell it there. What is the car you are thinking of bringing over?

Steve and Lynsie B)

Steve n Lynsie - it's certainly not a classic, just a Ford Mondeo but like I said, it's barely 2 years old and I'm going to lose a mint :sigh:

Sasha - thanks for the advice. I had all the same worries but I'd be looking to keep the car for quite a while before re-selling. The other worry I had though was how quickly I'd be able to get credit and buy a new (old) car. So taking into account the fact that the money I'm going to lose would be about the same as the fee, I was starting to waver. Sounds like you guys think not though. I just need to make sure that my wife can get the kids to school almost as soon as we arrive...what do I do?...aarrrgghhhh! :medium smiley3:

Regarding posting, I've been waiting and watching for a while to get the swing of the thing. Have to say that everyone seems genuinely friendly and helpful and I've already picked up some really great tips. I fly out on 27 April, 8 weeks ahead of my family as my oldest daughter has to take her GCSEs, so I'm getting pretty excited/nervous at the moment. Not looking forward to leaving the family behind for so long but at least it'll give me chance to sort schools etc.

Thanks again for the help...Dave. :D

Don't give me that Dave about having to travel out 8 weeks before your family and blame it on your daughters exams as we all know that is because Tracey and Podgypossum are organising a good knees up in May and you want to be there! ;)

It is hard to decide what to do about the car as I do love mine desparately. I did ask loads of questions and carried out lots of research to find out what was best for us. It doesn't mean it is the same for everyone so please don't just go by my advice. I will try to find the thread where I asked all the questions and everyone was kind enough to reply for you and bump it back to the top. Hopefully that will help you a bit more.

Sasha :)

Hi Sasha,

Damn, you rumbled me quick. Yes I wanted to go to T and PPs knees-up...and I'd have got away with it too, if it wasn't for those meddling kids (sorry, came over all Scooby Doo for a while...must be the stress!) :loopy:

Anyway, thanks for resurrecting the old string, which had a whole host of useful stuff. In a nutshell, I can see why you decided not to take yours, and I think I've been convinced! Big, guzzly car here I come :happy45:

Many thanks to all contributors, new & old...another disaster averted :cool shake:

Dave.

PS
about that knees up.... :sign08:

From my experience I would not consider it. I lived in Hong Kong for 9yrs before coming here. I did a lot of research on this subject and found it would be worthwhile if the car was more exotic than average. I bought an immaculate condition BMW 328i Convertible with low milage (28,000km). These cars were ten a penny in HK and relatively cheap buy. The car had a km dial (unlike UK imported cars). On paper I should have made up to twice my money. Anyway, I owned the it for the required 1yr and shipped it to coincide with our moving date. The whole experience was a a nightmare. Apart from the major hassles and headaches I ended up loosing on the deal. Remember The RedBook price is **irrelevent** you have to mark it down for the gray-import factor...I'd say by 35%. In my case I was mostly screwed because I didn't have a full service history, and the car had got to 6.5yrs old. For a non-exotic car, what's the point? Major brands here are effectively government subsidised (Holden,Toyota,Mitsubishi,etc). Anyway sold the BMW asap and now more than happy with a bog standard Commodore Station Wagon.

Oh forgot to say....

On the postive side, we filled the car up with kids toys, bikes., DVD's, playthings, etc so it provided nice extra storage that arrived just when we needed it and stopped the kids going mad.

Ron