Looking for some opinions: I'm moving to Aus. soon from the States, our gear is getting picked up and shipped in the next week and a half. It appears likely that we'll have some extra room in our shipping container, and I'm debating about sticking my bike in there for the ride. It's an '83 Yamaha Maxim 750, only about 17km (my dad and cousin hardly rode it before I took it from them). I think as it's >15 years old it won't be as difficult to bring in money wise, but there's still a fair bit of paperwork and cleaning that would need to be done for customs--which I would have to start pronto if I was to get it done in time. I love the bike, ride it every day, but am half-interested in getting something bigger (it has plenty of power for me, I would just like an overall bigger bike). We're paying a mint to ship our stuff over, and I don't know how long it will be until I could afford such a bike in Oz if I sold this one here. Is there much availability of >1000cc bikes for under $5000 in good condition? Even at $5000 it would probably be worth my bringing mine over, except for the hassle. Anyway, please let me know if you have any ideas -- would I be a fool to avoid the paperwork on bringing my bike with me, or a fool to bother when I can get a perfectly good bike in Australia? Has anybody similarly imported an old bike? Thanks!
In aus.motorcycles on 6 Aug 2004 09:14:15 -0700 Look at sites like www.bikepoint.com.au to get a feel for what prices are like here. Zebee
Someone has to say it - you'd be better off to buy one here, Left Hand Drive mate.... <Runs and ducks for cover> RexT. R80(white)
You've probably left it too late. To bring a bike into Aus you need to obtain a Vehicle Import Approval from from the Vehicle Safety Standards Branch of the Department of Transport and Regional Services. Phone: 1800 815 272 (Australia only) or (02) 6274 7506, Fax: (02) 6274 6013, email: mailto:; This could take a couple of weeks, so you're better off selling it in the US and buying something when you arrive. Kind regards Dave Milligan
Are we talking $5000 american or $5000 australian? If american then you may find you will be able to get yerself a decent litre bike for $8000-9000 australian.
AFAIK, this does NOT apply, if a vehicle is brought in as part of a migration.(also NO duty payable) If the vehicle is presomething-or-other (1984??or 1986?? ZeeBee !!!!!) it also doesn't need an AUS compliance. All it takes is a swap of headlights, an engineers cert. (about A$150) and a Roadworthy Cert (about A$50). All that goes for Victoria, but is very similar in other states (maybe skip the Eng. Cert.). If you're migrating (or got a med-long term workvisa) bring the bike, you know it, and transport you have to pay anyway. Cost and hassle to get it onto the road here are minimal. cheers pete (just been through this with a friends R80GS, he came from Hongkong via 3 years in KL, then we put it back into traffic over here, easy....)
$5000, even Australian, will still buy a lot of bike here. Especially if you don't mind something a little bit older. (For example, I have an '86 GPZ1000RX which is worth about $3000, and a '90 ZX10, which would be worth about $5000 if it wasn't for all the asthetic problems with it.)
Thanks for everybody's feedback! I faxed the paperwork and fee-charging instructions to Canberra last night (Monday AM Oz time), it probably is too late to try, but at least I'll give that every chance I can at this point. The shipping takes about 8 weeks, I could load it in and hope that the paperwork slides through without a problem in time, but I suppose I'm screwed if it doesn't. I will also chase up the possibility that that was a waste of $50 in the first place owing to the "import" being part of my migration. In speaking to our moving agent, it appears that bikes >25 years old actually require no paperwork whatsoever. I'm off by 3 years. Damn. I'm afraid I haven't got room for the Mustang, nice idea though.
