[SarahEDH]

Any experiences to share, good or bad? The folks in the Land Transport Office have been reasonably encouraging about the process, timeframe, lack of obstacles, etc., except for the tiny detail of left-hand drive. "You'll run it into a light pole by the second day!", is what the nice man said, I think.

It may sound odd to consider bringing a vehicle, but it's one less thing to buy/it's paid for/its history is known, and very few other goods are coming . . .

[Caroline and Dave]

Hi Sarah.
You may find this helpful www.ltsa.govt.nz/importing/
I am pretty certain that left hand vehicles have to be converted to right hand but this will confirm it.
I am not sure re America but we worked out the cost from UK to be at least £ 3000 and we decided it was not worth it.

All the Best

Dave and Caroline

[SarahEDH]

thanks Dave -- I think cost will be a major factor for me also. A representative from the Land Transport Office confirmed that my small truck meets the import tests and doesn't have to be converted to right-hand drive, but I know that's only one issue. I will say, the LTO guy was amazing -- he called from NZ and spent a good half hour discussing the rules as they applied to my truck specifically. Also did his best to persuade me that this was a silly idea best abandoned, due to the higher risk of crashing a LH drive vehicle in a RH culture. He finished with "Best of luck, bring it if you must, because we can always use the spare parts after you wreck it! Cheers!"

If anybody does have experience with shipping a vehicle from San Fran or LA, would love to hear from you --

[Smiler]

Sarah

We imported from UK not US and I've lots of sorry shipping tales around last November/december if you are bored and want something to put you off.

If you are talking to LTNZ get everything in writing, you'll need it for VTNZ and the certification/compliance tests. You'll need lots of dosh too and the ability to jump through hoops you've already jumped at least once.

You have to weigh up the cost of shipping , hassle and the likelihood of damage during shipping and then being without a car while you get it repaired and certified, which can take a while. I think ours took nearly a month from arriving in the country to being on the road and then it was away another week being repaired and resprayed. It came in a container but looked like it had been on a car ferry.

There are plenty of reasonably priced cars here and plenty of places to buy them. If you want some indea of cost etc look on trade me and dealer sites. You can always haggle the listed price down too. :D

IMHO don't bring it, it's not worth it. If you need any more info please pm me and I'll share what I can.

HTH