Shipping car back to the UK

[Guest CK75]

We are looking to ship a VW Golf back to the UK and trying to decide whether it is worth it. We bought it brand new in 2012 and we are likely to lose quite a bit if we sell it here and therefore the reason we re keen to take it back (and love the car). The particular make (a 118TSI Comfortline 7 Spd DSG 5DR Hatch) is not sold in the UK. We are happy to use the car for several years so not necessarily too concerned about re sale value which I suspect will be low as its a foreign car but trying to find out the cost of insurance. The car was produced in Germany in Nov 2011 and exported to Australia. I have made some enquiries about shipping and costs involved but fundamentally trying to work out if it is going to be a big faff with form filling and what the likely cost of insurance is. Any advice/info would be much appreciated. Thanks very much in advance!

Clare

[Guest Claire-n-tel]

Hi Clare!

 

have a look here, it tells you what is involved https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk/overview

[Guest BradfordLad]

Hi Clare

I had a similar predicament with shipping my Mazda 6 from the UK to Adelaide but after all the red tape I have decided not to bother. The car is subject to so many taxes and has to be as spotless as a new car as well as the application has to be made around a year prior to shipping to Aus.....and you have to have owned it for over a year...Too much hassle. Although the Mazda 6 price there for the same year is around 3 times the price (according to my ebay, gumtree and internet price searches). So whichever way I choose to do it there's no easy or cheaper way.

Coming this way though from the cars I see on the road (1 in 4 having foreign plates - being from Eastern Europe) they're not as interested or keen on how clean the car is when imported or it seems how long before you register it here. Majority of the parking fines and driving violations are from cars that are not registered here and therefore cannot be traced as reported only a couple of weeks ago. Cars are very cheap here in comparison to Aus....defo

As for Insurance there are many factors to consider, 1. where you live, 2 how long you have held a full licence, 3 how many years No Claims Bonuses you have accrued, 4. age etc etc

As for price of a replacement, a general idea would be around 23 to 25,000 dollars for a 2013 VW Golf (from a garage) less if a private sale. Although I have just found this one online which would be a direct comparison I think ..

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/volkswagen/golf-r32-r/volkswagen-golf-mk6-r-dsg------------------2012/2726613

Hope this helps

Peter