Importing UK Vans Over To Australia.

[Parksy]

Hi Guys

Contemplating importing uk vans into Australia, as some of you will know i live in Brisbane Australia but originaly from Cheshire were i used to buy/sell touring vans so i have decent knowledge of the Bristish vans, the vans over here are nowhere near as good as the UK vans and we are seeing more and more UK vans on our roads here in Australia so i was thinking of importing some.

Apart from having to change the likes of electrical sockets and some minor alterations to gas etc what other pitfalls do you think i may encounter.

Have done my homework regarding shipping, customs etc and all fairly straight forward, i am engaging the services of an agent in the south of england who buys and supplies the vans plus arranges the loading and shipping even as much as covering up/taping acrylic windows etc,
Moderators Note:
Part of this post has been removed. This is a caravan forum, if you are seeking staff there are reputable staff agencies all over England both in the North and the South.


Any helps or links would be much appreciated.

Merry Xmas from your Pommy member down under.

Tony

 

[joeby]

I have just returned from Ozz ,and one thing i did notice was how robust the twin axle Jayco vans looked , they were up to 2.5 ton in weight , with a hitch weight of 190 kgs , with leaf spring suspension , another thing rarely seen here is a spare at the rear of the van and another spare in the A frame at the front ,they also had hyrdraulic slide outs , the ones we looked at were very nice inside they even had a built in washing machine , i also liked the screen cover on the front wich doubles as a sunshade , the only thing i didnt like was the price ,double what we pay here , our accessory shops are high priced , but yours are even worse , but i think as far as inporting vans goe's you will have to get in touch with the Autralian Goverment and Customs and excise

 

[Surfer]

I have a friend that imported a bailey caravan into New Zealand with no issue. Bailey agreed to send out any parts FOC except for postage while the caravan was under warranty.
If importing buy direct from the factory for lower cost due to limited warranty and to avoid VAT issues etc and have them deliver it to the agent in the south unless of course you are buying second hand.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Auspom,

If you intend to start to import UK caravans to Ausie on any sort of commercial basis, then you would need to get all the appliances type approved for use in Australia. The same applies to any commercial export/import across unitary boundaries.

Things like ensuring the gas appliances are approved for use on the grade and pressure of LPG used in Ausie. You would need to check with the appliance manufacturers to see if they are already approved for Australia, if not the costs of obtaining type approval may be quite alarming and time consuming, and quite a bit more if appliances need to be modified to comply with local regulations.

 

[JTQ]

Are UK vans rugged enough to meet customer aspirations for use in Australia?
My inspection of the "local" products left me feeling they were designed to be very much more rugged that ours or continental European ones. If buyers expect these UK imports to match what they are use to in this regard there will IMO be a lot of unhappy clients.

 

[ValA.]

There's a post in the New Members section from 'Diesel' in Australia, describing the suspension on his caravan - and how necessary it is to cope with some of the rough road conditions. Perhaps you ought to read the post as part of your research. Click the link to read the post and see the photographs.

 

[OmOnWeelz]

Unless you can containerise your shipment I would be very concerned about shipping caravans to Australia. Economic freighting of large objects often results in them being shipped between containers on container ships. I've had some experience of shipping large vehicles, when travelling between containers they get a battering from the sea and salt air. Protection needs to be a little more than taping up windows. Expect things to go mising on docks and ships and expect damage. from loading and unloading.
Large new vehicles are often completely covered with padding under the cover for shipping and the covers have to be covered with nets to prevent the covers flapping and damaging paint work and windows.
Do some careful research on where the caravan would be on ships. Six to Eight weeks at sea and a caravan could end up needing a respray and new windows even if it's not damaged in transit or broken in to. Good luck.