[Ishi26]

Hi All

I will be taking our two cars to Auckland from Milton Keynes - a BMW and a Mini. Before you ask yes it is worth taking it to NZ as they are both relatively newish cars.

Reading through the advice on Land Transport website, it makes it clear that the vehicles imported in NZ must have a Statement of Compliance that includes an approved frontal impact standard for New Zealand from an approved representative. Fortunately, both cars comply with the regulations.

On contacting the approved representative - a BMW dealer in Auckland for this letter, I received a reply back as follows:

"We can produce statements of compliance for both your cars and fax / send as directed below. The compliance certificate normally takes 5 days to produce from the time payment is received. The fee for producing a compliance certificate is $506.25 (inc. gst) per car. If you would like to advise me of your credit card details, we can charge againsts this and start the process immediately."

I was horrified at the cost of $506.25 per car :wah - thats almost £220 per car for a piece of paper (almost a cost of servicing a car!!!) ...... sounds more like a rip off to me :( .

Anyway, I've written an email back asking for justification in charging an extortionate amount and will let you know once I have a reply.

In the meantime, has anybody had any experience on taking the cars to NZ and how or what they did to meet the Statement of Compliance and Frontal Impact? I remember reading on this forum about a similar thing but cant seem to locate it now.

Any help would be appreciated.

Incidentally, for those of you interested, the website which gives an indepth details on importing motor vehicles from Europe is as follows:

www.ltsa.govt.nz/publications/infosheets/infosheet-2-13-europe.html

Kind regards

Ish

[Smiler]

SCAM!:mad:

Ishi see my thread here, is this the one you were thinking of?

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=5037&highlight=compliance

The answer is on the VTNZ/LTNZwebsite but our tester said he

a/ didn't understand it so asked for this anyway as a matter of course

b/ he had no internet access to the VTNZ/LTZNZ site!

The only wrong decision we made in coming to NZ was bringing our car and bikes.

PM me if you need any help.

Deborah

[Qui~Gon]

Welcome to New Zealand!
Alot of businesses here Will try to ripe you off!
thats what we found, been here 6 months love the ppl
hate immigration dept they have mess us up but thats another story.
Its a beautifully country we have fallen for it :)
BTW We are in Auckland too!
Qui

[SteveR]

If your cars are quite new built after 2000 then I suspect you will not need a statment of compliance!!!!
Do not part with any cash or credit card details for them.

if the cars are listed on the LTNZ website as being frontal impact compliant then that is OK, as I suspect that both vehicles are built for the UK market in Europe then they will have somewhere on the body (under bonnet or door shut) a compliance plate, it will say something like " ECE 13/9867 " if both cars have this and meet the frontal impact list on the web site then no further statment of complaince is required!

Make sure you keep your UK deregistration papers, shipping documents, bill of lading (if put in a container make sure they are listed as contents by the vehicles VIN number) and also ensure the shippers give you the MAF clearence papers (shipping companys do not like parting with these but they are yours so demand them)

make sure all paper work has your name on it aswell.

Steve

[Ishi26]

Thanks Debs and Steve - really appreciate it.

I have since established that both cars comply with the regulations.

In fact, I received a nice email back from Wally of AA New Zealand who was the most helpful person - here is his reply:

"It is likely that your vehicles will have a Whole Vehicle Approval Plate attached to them ( Refer Appendix 2 in Infosheet 2.13 )
If so then a Statement of Compliance (Soc) is not required because the Whole Vehicle Approval Plate confirms compliance with all the required standards with the exception of frontal impact and you will see that they both a meet frontal impact (see link below)
http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/importing/frontal-impact-compliance/frontal-impact-compliance-bmw-20050617.pdf
If you email me Pictures of the Whole vehicle plate I will confirm that they contain all the relevant information
If you also give me the port of entry ,I can give you the contact for the local AA Certification Facility where they can both certify and register the cars on your behalf
Allow Approx $800 (GST incl) each to inspect,certify,issue WOF ,fit new number plates and licence on the road for one year (the government takes about half in Road tax)".


...... NOW thats what I call service!!!!


Continuing with the saga with BMW, I received this email back from NZ:

"It is not just a matter of writing a letter to say that the car complies. The way the NZ regs are written regarding Statements of Compliance, we need to work out each specific standard that the car meets. This involves checking each model code and the vehicles production date against approx. 30 different NZ standards requirements. Just because a vehicle complies with the regulations of one market does not mean that it complies in all markets. Each country has its own list of requirements.

There is also the legal responsibility associated with the statement we provide - we have to stand behind the information in a court of law.
Unfortunately, this compliance certificate price is an unavoidable cost associated with importing a used motor vehicle to New Zealand.

Please let me know if you want to continue with the process."

*******************************

MY FOOT!!!! ...... Here is my reply:

"Thank you for your email the contents of which I have noted but I still cannot accept your justification for charging an exorbitant amount for the reasons as follows:

1) Both vehicles have an EC Whole Vehicle Approval Plate in accordance with Land and Transport regulations (Refer Appendix 2 in Land and Transport: Infosheet 2.13) - therefore it is compliant. So by definition, Statement of Compliance is not required because the Whole Vehicle Approval Plate confirms compliance with all the required standards with the exception of frontal impact.

2) With regards to frontal impact, both vehicles also meet this requirement (see link below)

www.ltsa.govt.nz/importing/frontal-impact-compliance-bmw-20050617.pdf

Both of the above information was obtained within 15 minutes. A confirmation of this from BMW Head Office in UK also confirmed this by email within a few minutes of my sending the email. I therefore fail to understand how you can justify the exorbitant charge NZ$506.25 per car for which information is readily available without you having to do any extra work as suggested in your email – indeed the car documents which I forwarded to you has the appropriate VIN number which as you know from your own list that both vehicles comply with the regulations?

Please reconsider your charges to a more realistic level - I look forward to receiving your reply."

**********************************

I will let you know of his reply.

Thanks once again.

Regards

Ish

[Ishi26]

Hi again - following on from my last email, here is the latest reply from BMW which at least is more positive than earlier emails.


"Thank you for your email.

Yes, you are correct - the cars do not need a statement of compliance as they are both fitted with EC whole vehicle approval plates. Unfortunately, you failed to tell us this on your first email. I had made the assumption that you had read all the information regarding imports to NZ and were applying for a statement of compliance because the cars DIDN'T have the EC whole vehicle approval plates. We have no way of telling from the chassis number whether this plate is fitted to a particular car or not. As for the Forntal Impact compliance, you will note from the website that both the vehicles you are importing comply.

For the sake of your shipping company, could you please send me a digital photo of the EC whole vehicle approval plates for both vehicles. Once I have sighted these, I can confirm that both the cars comply to NZ standards including Frontal Impact which will be sufficient evidence for your shipping company.

Looking forward to your reply."


*************************

Change of tune or what???? Caught them with their pants down...maybe??? :laugh

Interesting about "...Unfortunately, you failed to tell us this on your first email.." - cant think why considering that I sent them a copy of the registration document which had al the information that it needed especially the VIN number. I guess it must there way of saving face!!! :uhoh

Anyway, moral of the story - dont take everything at face value - challenge where appropriate and keep us all posted on this Forum which is the best in the world.

Regards

Ishi

PS. Apologies for the lengthy posting but I thought this would help everyone here.

[Smiler]

Good news eh?:clap:clap Just goes to show that patience and perseverance pays off.

Wally from the AA and Richard ( forum member) from CC are my hero's too.

Well done for hanging in there.

D x

[Ishi26]

Thanks D

More importantly, it has saved me considerable dosh - NZ$1,012.50 (approx £425) to be precise :raebanana - now what can I use this on????? :p

Thanks once again to all.

Regards

Ishi

[katandbob]

Hi thanks to all for info on Car importing - I have printed off and will let OH decide wether he wants to ship 'his' car. :D

[Rabbit]

Hi Ishi,

thanks for your thread about moving BMW's to NZ.

We have 2 newish BMW's and are thinking of taking them.

I can't decide wether or not to put them in a container or send them RORO to Auckland and then pick-em up.

From what I have read there is no RORO to Wellington.

As I will initially only have a work permit, rather than full PR I am wondering if I will get stung for VAT (GST)?

[Smiler]

Rabbit
Only use Ro-ro if you want them to look like they have done 10 rounds with Frank Bruno. They only do five rounds if they come containerised!

A friend went to collect her containerised VW from the port in Wellington and saw the ro-ro's coming off. She said it was awful.:uhoh

D

[Rabbit]

Rabbit
Only use Ro-ro if you want them to look like they have done 10 rounds with Frank Bruno. They only do five rounds if they come containerised!

A friend went to collect her containerised VW from the port in Wellington and saw the ro-ro's coming off. She said it was awful.:uhoh

D

D - did your friend find it worthwhile shipping her car? - I am still in two minds. Claiming it as a relocation expense or loose three grand+ on selling it back to the BMW garage?

If I can do PR in six weeks, then I will probably escape the VAT / GST and it will be worth it, otherwise probably not.

[Smiler]

When you import you have to sign with customs to say you will pay the GST if you sell within 2 years. Bring your original sale receipts with you if you do import and they will also ask for a valuation from a dealer here too.

My friend sold her car within two or three months of shipping it, so no, to her it wasn't worth it. But customs haven't yet asked for the GST to be paid back, I don't know if that is just a back log in the system though? ;)


" If I can do PR in six weeks, then I will probably escape the VAT / GST and it will be worth it, otherwise probably not."

I'm not sure what you mean by this though?

D

[Rabbit]

The customs site gave me the impression that you needed PR to escape having to pay GST - a one time exemption for new residents.

Because of my short timescales, I will probably need to start with a work visa/permit so may not qualify in that I will not be demonstrating full PR Blue Sticker compliance at that stage.

http://www.customs.govt.nz/travellers/Motor+Vehicles/When+No+Customs+Charges+Apply.htm

it says something about residence lasting indefinitely - in order to get the exemption - a two year work permit would probably not qualify.

[Smiler]

There is no exemption if you have PR, the bottom bullet point applies. You have to pay GST if you sell the vehicle within 2 years of importing it.

Deborah

[Rav]

Hi new to the forum.Thought I would share my experience.We went to wellington in 1997 and improted our Audi80.There was no frontal collision requirements then.We went on workpermit,had to pay duty as no PR,but were told that if we keep the car for 2 yrs we would get the duty refunded with interest.We had to leave NZ for various reasons after 18 months, tried to sell the car there,but no one would buy it.So we brought it back to the UK.Sure enough NZ customs refunded back the money with some interest.Still have the audi and hoping to go back to NZ end of the yr/next yr, though the audi will not qualify now due to the frontal impact regulations.
To be exempted from paying duty, one needs to have owned the car for minimum of 1 yr.
hope this is useful info.