Importing a car from New Zealand to the United Kingdom
As a country that is more than 11,000 miles from London, UK, it probably seems quite a daunting task to import your car from New Zealand to the UK.
The truth is that yes, it can be overwhelming, particularly if you’re importing a car for the first time and you aren’t familiar with the myriad of processes that need to take place. There are logistics, customs clearance, paperwork, security…
But that’s where My Car Import jumps to your rescue. As an in-house team of car-loving enthusiasts, not only do we take care of the entire process from NZ collection to UK delivery, but we’re also regimental in ensuring that you don’t overpay for anything or miss any necessary steps.
Importing a car from NZ to the UK can be vastly simplified when you feel confident enough to hand it over to an import specialist. With 30-plus years of experience importing modern and classic cars, motorbikes, and motorhomes across the globe, we’re happy to tell you that we are those very specialists!
Let’s break down My Car Import’s process for bringing your new car from New Zealand to the UK:
Organising logistics
Where do I start? We’ve heard this line numerous times from customers who had hoped to take on the import process singlehandedly!
While we’d never actively discourage you from importing your car yourself, we’ll be the first to tell you that it isn’t a straightforward process. You will need to do a lot of research and ensure that your chosen service providers have efficiency and safety in mind.
What we like to do is break it all down for you, so you know precisely what we’re doing at every stage.
The first stage of the process is organising the collection of your car from the NZ location. My Car Import will not only manage this aspect, but we’ll also pick the car up for you and safely transport it to the port. Collection of your vehicle is at your request and an additional cost.
There are numerous ports available in New Zealand that ship to international locations. These include Auckland (leaving via Tauranga) and Lyttelton (Christchurch). It is always beneficial to consult with us to determine the best port and shipping options for your specific requirements.
Insurance for your car
We arrange marine insurance to fully cover the vehicle in transit until you receive it in the UK. This covers the full purchase value in the unlikely event of a total loss and any damage incurred has a repair excess of £450.
Loading your car
Our expert agents will load your car onto our container with the utmost care and safety. (It’s not always wise to take careful handling for granted, but we promise to load and unload with absolute precision!)
The best shipping method for vehicles from New Zealand to the UK is shipping containers. Not only are they the quickest and most efficient option, but they also offer the greatest safety for your vehicle.
We’ll then organise all the necessary procedures to have your car exported.
Once our container reaches the UK, we’ll unload your car using our team of container unloaders. This rapidly expedites the time spent at port and allows our team more time to carefully unload your car, a luxury that’s often denied with third-party involvement. Your car is then unloaded at our facility so it’s in a prime position to begin the import process.
We’ve made it sound simple, but when you’re arranging logistics on your own, it can be quite ‘eventful’ if service people fail to turn up, or times are changed at the last minute. That’s why we’ve worked hard to build longstanding relationships with our NZ agents that we trust implicitly. For us – it really is that simple!
Customs clearance
Paperwork is the bugbear of any procedure, and customs clearance is one of the toughest.
You’ll need to inform NOVA HMRC after you bring a vehicle into the UK. Failure to do so means that you won’t be able to acquire registration. It takes a large amount of paperwork to make this possible.
Handing it over to My Car Import removes the stress associated with ‘getting it right,’ You want your car to sail through customs with ease, right? We can make that happen!
Around 90% of the cars we import from New Zealand are part of a wider relocation for individuals. When relocating, provided you have owned the car for 6 months+ and lived in NZ for 12 months+, you can import the car free of import taxes and duties.
If your car falls into the classic category, it’ll fall into one of two tax rates: under 30 years old at a rate of 20%, and over 30 years old at a reduced rate of 5%. More often than not, classic cars fall into the lower tax bracket which is a terrific cost-effective advantage.
On arrival in the UK, we arrange the customs submission to HMRC to confirm your tax-free import status as a transferring resident to the UK. To simplify matters, we are authorised UK customs agents who pride ourselves on minimising the amount of paperwork we need from you to complete your import declaration.
In other words, it’s no big deal for us because we have the means and the know-how, but it makes a massive difference for you!
Testing and modifications
Cars from New Zealand are a great fit for the UK as, like us, they’re part of the Right-Hand Drive (RHD) market. That immediately reduces the number of modifications required.
Once your car reaches the UK and clears customs, our distinctive, liveried trucks will safely transport it to our private facilities. There’s little doubt that you’re eager to have the car delivered to you immediately, but your new vehicle must adhere to UK regulations.
We pre-apply for your Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) test before the car arrives in the UK and on arrival our technical team does a pre-test inspection and commences the modifications required for the car to meet UK compliance rules.
All vehicles imported from New Zealand that are under 10 years old require an IVA test before they can be registered for road use.
We are the only company in the UK to own a privately run government-approved IVA testing facility. This means the car does not need to leave the site to be tested. Government-run testing centres used by other import firms have long lead times so My Car Import saves you masses of time in getting your car road-legal in the UK.
Next, we’ll MOT test the car at our facility to examine the general road fitness of the car. Once the car has passed, we submit a postal registration application to our dedicated account manager at the DVLA who processes the paperwork and issues us with your new UK registration number. We then have your plates made and fitted, ready to go!
Your car can be collected from our premises, or we can provide a quote for delivery to your chosen UK address.
At this point, you are required to arrange insurance before driving. And that’s pretty much all you have to do!
Time estimates
Shipping times from New Zealand are typically 6 to 9 weeks, depending on the shipping line. You can then expect a further 7-10 days for UK customs clearance and container unloading.
The entire process of importing your vehicle from New Zealand should take 12-15 weeks.
We always advise you to be prepared for delays as they can occur for several reasons. Our priorities are to ensure the security of your vehicle in transit but also to get your car shipped as quickly as possible.
Why you should choose My Car Import
Allowing us to manage the car import process from NZ to the UK means that you’re privy to the following services:
- Inland collection of your vehicle from New Zealand
- Consolidated container shipment
- Comprehensive marine insurance
- Efficient, speedy handling of customs clearance
- Container unloading on-site at My Car Import
- All modifications and necessary tests to ensure UK road compliance
- Private IVA testing facility
- Fast track DVLA Registration
- Delivery to your pre-selected UK address
- Regular updates throughout
- Friendly, caring customer service from a team of car enthusiasts!
Now tell us, why wouldn’t you want My Car Import to handle the import process for you.
