australian delica to be imported to canada... possible?

[Daisy Delish]

G'day. wondering if anyone's gone the long-way-about importing a delica from australia to canada (bc specifically), or if anyone has a summary of the relevant links to do so. obviously the van has been imported and updated to australian standards ('94 space gear L400)... are they different (if so/how) from bc standards?

primarily wondering about cost (anyone have a favorite importer?), legality, and local markets for them (is it worth it?).
Daisy has 138k km on her '94 2.8L turbo dsl, and i purchased her for $8k AUD (with a generous exchange currently, that worked out to about $6500 CAD).

just wondering if i can bring my baby back home with me... will be leaving australia mid august 2009 or thereabouts.

thanks in advance

[BCDelica]

Welcome! Any pictures to show your baby off? That there's a good Delica name!

A vehicle must be over 15 years old, from the date of manufacture to be imported to Canada; so you might be able to import Daisy Delish. No idea of the import costs, container or RORO, from Australia. A website more focused on vehicle imports into Canada is http://www.ivoac.ca/pn/. Call a brokerage agent, always found them to be most helpful with shipping information.

Just a quick guess; $6500 vehicle cost, $2000-$3000 assorted shipping costs, $1000 to insure the passing of vehicle inspection in Canada (plus the cost of inspection) – puts that at $9500 to $10500 Cdn. Easily the starting cost of a L400 on a Canadian JDM car lot (import vehicle seller). Those are very rough, rough numbers though; I have imported several vehicles from Japan (both container and roro) but don’t have any clue about Aus-Can. Thought it was complicated in Canada; but after looking into Japan to Thailand vehicle imports – forget about it.

Regards from a similar time zone, and past Delica family (currently in a building loaded with Aussies),
Kevin

[jessef]

Welcome

By mid-aug next year, there will be L400's driving around here in Canada.

Price out one here and then add up the costs to bring yours over. It may even out or possibly be cheaper to sell yours these and buy one here.

Like Kevin said, rough numbers is about all you can use now because the port/shipping line/compliance costs can change from now 'till then.

[mararmeisto]

It doesn't really matter where the vehicle comes from, it just has to be at least 15 years old (to the month/year of manufacture), and once you get it here it has to pass the out-of-province inspection for whichever province you import it into.

According to Mitsubishi's website, the L400 wasn't available until May of '94, so I don't expect to see any L400s until the middle of '09...

When you say it 'meets Austrailian standards', was it initially a LHD that was converted? I ask because I have a shipmate who is looking to emigrate to Oz and he is a little sad that he'll have to leave his Cadillac here because he is unwilling to swap the drive to the other side.

[Jaz]

When vehicles are imported from Japan to Aus, they have to go through a few changes, similar to BC. Main differences are that they have to have side impact intrusion bars fitted (not sure if deli's had them already, but on the Subaru's I'm familiar with they don't), uprated seat belts, and also fastening points for baby seats (or something like that, don't ask me why). Importing from Aus to Canada, you'd still have to go through the localised changes, like the fitting of reflectors and daytime driving lights etc.

In Aus they've actually laxed their lhd laws, so you can actually drive an lhd now without having to have massive signs on it or anything like that which you had to do right up until a couple of years ago. A friend's father had a mustang he imported, then had to convert to RHD, and has recently converted it back to lhd (originality) following the law change.

Interesting stuff... and I'm pondering bring our (eventual) deli back to Aus when we eventually head back there, but sounds like I'm best checking out prices down under first.

[mararmeisto]

Jaz, the way I understood the out-of-province requirements here was that the vehicle has to meet the Motor Vehicle Safety requirements of its day - this is why pre-'92 (or is it '94) vans aren't required to have a high-visibility brake light because it was not required on vehicles other than passenger cars (car, not a van or truck).

The reflex-side-marker lights issue pre-dates all of that (came out in the '70s I think it was), so that's why all our vans have to have those added.

I heard Australia was previously making a point of the driving-on-the-left-in-a-LHD vehicle, probably for the same reason some in Canada see a problem with driving-on-the-right-in-a-RHD vehicle, but the country had to back down from that stand because so few countries are driving on the left-in-a-RHD vehicle (therefore, not enough demand for RHD vehicles). I don't know if that WAS the reason, but that's what I heard...

...interesting image (red is right-side-of-the-road driving, blue is left): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Coun ... _right.svg

[Daisy Delish]

Interesting info, thanks for the quick replies. just a quick note, in the hunter valley i definitely saw a 50's era cadillac convertible (with wicked fins) still set up as LHD being driven. now that i think about it, i'm pretty sure i also saw a pre-70's mustang LHD in the same area... perhaps things are changing? For sure the caddy was LHD though, so maybe there's hope for your friend, mararmeisto.

just for some quick reference, is there anyone in the vancouver area who could point to a website describing prices for delis? might help me decide whether to container/ro/ro our baby back home or build a new baby upon arrival. also, the rough figures for shipping were helpful... any chance one of you knows an australian shipping agency?

thanks
TZ and KRS

[marsgal42]

The different states in Australia have different requirements for LHD vehicles. Western Australia requires that such a vehicle be 15 years old and for personal use only, for example. The Feds do not appear to care about LHD-vs-RHD. The states do. LHD vehicles that were already in the country would have been grandfathered, BTW.

It's just like in Canada, you have to meet federal requirements (15 years, etc.) to get a car in to the country, then you have to meet provincial requirements (glass, headlights, tires) to register and license it.

I've been toying with bringing in a Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon Ute, just for the hell of it (the new model Holden Ute won't turn 15 for a while...). Being GM/Ford products, finding the right headlights and stuff should be a non-issue.

...laura

[Golf Cart]

The Holden is cool, but Im watching the calendar on these puppies

Noble M400...............Hope my midlife crisis lasts long enough to import one.

K, nuff thread hi-jackin

[dfnder]

I know travellers from other countries ship their vehicles over to use, what about insuring your vehicle in Aus for a year just prior to leaving. By the time the insurance runs out you should be ok to import. Shady way to do it if it is legal at all but it popped to mind.

[Green1]

doesn't work that way... any vehicle shipped over prior to 15 years old can only be used as long as the person is NOT a canadian resident. if they are here on a visa they can have their vehicle with them, but at the end of the visa the vehicle must leave the country (even if the person becomes a canadian resident at the end of their visa)

[loki]

well if it must leave the country when you become a citizen then drive it to the states and "import" it from there if it will be old enough be then :)