How to Obtain a Car Valuation for your Imported or Classic Car
If you have imported a car to Australia from Japan, UK, USA or another country that was bought some time before the import date and has depreciated since then (or was bought from a friend for a nominal value), then you won’t be able to use your original purchase invoice or paperwork for Customs valuation when it comes time to import your car.
You will then be left asking “Who can value my car ?” or “How much is my car worth for the calculation of import duty and GST by Australian Customs ?”.
So how DO you work out the market value if you don’t have a recent purchase invoice ?
In this situation Australian Customs will ask for an alternative car valuation method and your car will almost always go “redline”, meaning further information / investigation by Customs is required prior to clearance.
Your pride and joy will be stuck on the wharf until Customs is satisfied.
Considering wharf storage can cost between $40 and $100 per day, you will want to provide all requested information as soon as possible so your car can be quickly cleared from the wharf and delivered to you before incurring any unnecessary costs.
Sure, you could obtain a free valuation from some online car value guides such as the red book car valuation, but online guides for used car values like this won’t be accepted on their own by Customs in Australia as an expert car valuation for the purposes of Customs duty calculation.
What Australian Customs want is an accurate valuation from a reputable car valuation expert. After all, even if Customs Officers had access to comparative pricing for similar vehicles, they don’t have time to research this for you (and frankly it’s not their job to value cars).
We are a licensed motor vehicle dealer specialising in imported vehicles.
We provide expert valuations for imported cars whether they are a modern or classic car.
Our professional valuation can be immediately used when submitting your Customs entry, and costs only $220:
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FOB value (actual car value plus reasonable export costs)
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We email your car valuation to you in PDF within 24 hours
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We are available to Customs Officers at any time should they require more information
Other car valuation services charge up to $500 to provide an import car valuation.
What we require from you so we can accurately value your car:
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Pictures of your car
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Details of condition, kms, extras fitted, past repair history and any existing damage
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Origin country
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Previous value when purchased
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Copy of registration paperwork
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Your contact information
I am glad to report under closer inspection there was a spare key hidden in the back of the car’s booklet envelope that was sent by the Japanese agent. Pretty happy with that so my mind is at peace. Thanks for the assistance once again, really happy with your service. I may have a few more customers to throw your way.