Importing used car form India to Australia

Question

I am planning to move from India to Australia temporarily (4-5 years). I have a used car in India (about 5-6 months old). I would like to know whether I can import it to Australia?. Its a hatchback by Maruti. I would like to know:

1. The cost involved
2. Will there be any restrictions based on standards
3. After years when I come back if I want to import the car back to India, will there be an import duty (given that it is an Indian car alredy).
4. The price range of the car is around INR 500,000/- What is the kind of charge I am looking at to import it to Australia?

Answer 1

Sorry: since you've owned your car for less than year, it cannot be imported to Australia.

Even if the car was more than a year old, while importing might be possible in theory, it is highly unlikely to make any sense financially or otherwise. You will need to pay shipping (>$1000), all sorts of handling, inspection, quarantine and customs fees (easily >$1000), 5% of the vehicle value in duty ($500), 10% in GST ($1000), registration (>$1000)... and then the big challenge, making your vehicle roadworthy by Australian standard, which will likely somewhere between expensive and impossible. Here's one story about a car imported from the UK that cost over 9000 dollars to import in 2007, and I can assure you prices in Australia have not gone down since!