RvT

Thanks for posting this.

I am bringing machines (for work) from Germany, UK & Belgium at the moment. I have been getting a Chc company called 'SB International' who are part of http://www.dbschenker.co.nz to quote on it and they have been competitive. They organise LCL containers from all over EU with DB Schenker who are huge over there in the consolidated freight business. I would send an email to them for a quote. If you can get the seller to freight it to a port address, it would be cheaper for you. I would estimate it would cost around $1k at a guess ...

Sold the car so no longer needed. Listed on Trademe for $300. I can't seem to be able to upload the image so you will have to look at the listing, sorry ... http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=472994315

I was also looking at importing one of these as there are a lot on Pistonheads that are of similar pricing ... http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3584147.htm but have decided to try another marque for a change. I elected not to buy the new M5, not because it was not attractive but because after the issue with the SMG pumps on the e60 M5 and the high number of gearbox fails It took 2 years before the issue was resolved. Buying the latest has good ego appeal but you end up being the test bunny until the bugs are ironed out. This forum is a great source of info ... http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/f10-m5-discussion/ I would be advising to wait 18 months and see what the issues with the car are before getting one then trying to get BMW NZ to honour a warranty. The SMG Gearbox fail for a car out of warranty cost $25k to replace so I would ask if it is really worth being the first cab of the rank. Wait 18 months and buy the 2014 demo model ex UK ???

I have a couple of Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 255/40/19 on Tme at the moment but obviously not quite what you want. They are fantastic handling tires which I never ended up putting on the M5

Mmmm well I didn't want to offend this community by crossing to the dark side but I have to try it once .... 2007 Porsche TT with 15k miles on the clock. After the M5, it is hard to find a faster car that was quicker, made in EU and has 4 seats. A 25k GPB = $NZ50k + shipping say $4k + GST ($8k) + compliance and possible repairs (say $1.5k) is a total of ... $63,500 as a good estimate. The Pre Purchase Inspection cost 220 GBP .

Hey Clinton I am half way through a DIY ex UK. I found a car on ebay uk / Pistonheads. Worked out that a dealership was fairly close to the seller. Had the dealership do a Pre Purchase Inspection for me. They found things wrong that only a dealer could find. Went to the seller and did a deal where we arranged the dealership to fix all the faults, I got sent proof by the dealer that they had completed the work and transferred the $. Meantime got McCullough NZ involved. They checked the VIN to make sure it complied. Quoted $3400 plus insurance plus cartage from location to port. They arranged the pick up and now the car is in a 40ft container due here early June. So far so good. Hope this helps Ron

For actual shipping, www.Kiwicar.com used to offer a roll on / roll off service where the boat would travel from Japan to NZ then to Brisbane then back to Japan. Looking at the schedule they now do it in reverse but you could ask for a price if you get serious.

I will put it another way ... anyone can become rich but few do. The only thing stopping you is yourself. You alone stop yourself from doing things, no-one else. We Kiwis are one of the worst in the world at criticizing those who do well. We don't champion our successful people, instead we pull them down because we are jealous but don't want to admit it. However if they are successful on the sporting scene, they are treated as Gods but why don't we treat people like Graham Hart like Gods ... they provide work and prosperity for a lot of Kiwis but hey, but that is 'uncool' and we don't want to stand out from our peers. How many Kiwis champion their bosses or the business owners ... it is easier to flame them down but again that is the Kiwi way. Probably explains why we are loosing so many Kiwis to Oz at the moment. We have probably the best Prime Minister that NZ has ever had but we don't champion him. Regardless of which party he represents, he is an example of the fact that you can come from a poor background and become rich and instead of becoming richer again, he elected to lead NZ in an under paid job so he is a champion in NZ but again, we would rather champion sporting people because they do what for NZ .... didley swat but hey, that's what we Kiwis do ... Don't read into this too much as it is just one person's view on life but remember one thing from tonight's sermon , you alone are stopping yourself from bettering yourself whether it is in wealth or mind or body. If you say that is wrong because of where you are in life, sell up, move to another town and start again where no-one knows your past or baggage you take with you in life. Leave the baggage at the door and instead of focusing on why you can't do xy&z, just do it !!!

Interesting line of thought but I would take a different view ... The reason some people are rich is because they don't spend any money in the early stages and when they do spend money, they do it wisely. In general, most people / Kiwis are risk adverse and conservative in their savings and spend their money on the wrong things like keeping up with the Jones's. There are some people that can't understand the difference between risk and gambling and they end up as 'losers'. Naturally there are some that end up rich because they knew that there are risks in anything but they took what I called 'calculated risks'. An example may have been buying property in Chc CBD which has fallen over and they lost but again, if they were wise risk takers, they would have also split their investments and bought elsewhere as well so when things go wrong, they aren't overly exposed; they regroup and go forward. We all start at the same place on the monopoly board of life. Apart from those who inherit, everyone has the same chooses. We all start at the bottom with a first job but it is what you do with your money dictates what you end up with in later years. Money is like a snowball going down a hill and the more you accumulate the more you can grow. If you spend it or don't use it wisely, it will never grow. Finally, when your snowball has grown to a large size, sure $250,000 may feel like $250 but don't think they don't know the value of it, it just means they have enough that $250,000 won't weaken the snowball and they can finally enjoy what they have been risking / saving all their lives ... Sorry for the sermon on a Thursday night

Hey Clinton. I asked myself the same question. I think that demand / supply has a lot to do with it. I am picking a car in a NZ yard will be on the lot for 12 months so there must be a interest component built into the sell price of about $20k. I also think that dealerships here are trying to run the new car sales as a profit centre while the UK are more focused on making numbers to turn over units = profit in the service dept. I know that Toyota work on a principal that the service department makes the profit and the sales dept creates the work for them. Toyota also give the dealers rebates based on the cars they sell but obviously the demand in NZ is so small for German cars that the dealers can't pass any rebates back to the buyers like the most probably can in UK. As my nest is empty at the moment, I am looking at Autotrader UK for my next mark. The prices are so competitive that I am like a kid in a candy shop .... I see the F10 M5 are S/Hand for 75k pounds = $NZ 140k. Ferrari F430 are 70k pounds ... Why would you shop locally ???

Have been to the Shanghai Grand Prix. The sound the engines made was fantastic. I fell in love with the exhaust note on the AMG Mercs that circulated the track between the races. Wouldn't recommend the venue, however, as the smog makes it hard to see the cars. The hawkers selling knock offs was unreal. Inside the venue, the merchandise was expensive but if you walked to the outside fence, the traders were selling knock off of the merchandise for next to nothing. Money was passed through the hurricane style fence and the shirts would be thrown back over. Only in China ...

With my business, I get to go to Germany quite often. Last time we were traveling from Frankfurt to Belgium and saw the sign posts to Nurburgring. Ended up doing the detour and then spent half an hour looking around for the start of the ring as all sign posts were pointing to the Grand Prix circuit (long story but happy to explain my learning's via PM). Anyway chatted to a few people there and because we hadn't pre-booked anything, the track was hired out for the day so first lesson is to make sure track is available. A driver instructor who was teaching some advanced driver training in a works Renault, said we could sit around a couple of Hot Laps with him for a few Euros and that was great. We were the first car out after lunch and we saw 3 deer cross the road in front of us !!! ... big circuit in real forest. If I was going to do the adventure again, I would book a driver training course that allowed me to learn the track under instruction as that looked a great exercise and several companies there were doing it based in the township. If you are going to Munich in Sept, I am assuming you are going to Oktoberfest ... Secondly as a 5 series owner, you MUST go to the 5 series factory for a tour as this turned out to be one of my top 5 things I have done to date. You need to book it 4 months in advance and they only do a few English speaking tours per week. We took a train from Munich to Dingolfing as a day trip. It is REALLY worth going to ... http://www.bmw-plant-dingolfing.com/dingol...m/en/index.html

Which part of NZ are you in as your profile is not filled out to tell us?

Just checked the garage and no Lotus hiding there unless the kids Scaletric set counts... Interesting thought though ... FYI. I have covered about 300km so far on the s1000rr and the power is very satisfying to say the least. It is, unfortunately, a very uncomfortable bike to ride as I feel like an elephant jockey and my legs get sore from the riding position within 10 minutes or it may be because I am getting older. The jury is out whether I will hold onto it but I am enjoying the mind blowing power. Thanks for the M3 opinions guys. I thought only the M5s were thirsty and didn't know the M3 drinks like a fish too. I am quickly getting up to speed on the gearboxs and the combos out there. If I elect to go the M3, I will PM you for some advise as like the M5, you become an expert on the vehicle once you have owned one. The GT3 vs Turbo debate is interesting and while I know little about which is better or worse, the Turbo seems more likely to sell as it appeals to more people than the GT3 ??? One thing I and obviously others have learnt, is that cars selling in the $60k to $80k take longer to sell. Probably compounded by the fact, private sellers can't offer trade-ins and how many people have that much cash lying around in their bank accounts ... I have the wife's current shape Allroad on Trademe for 4 months now and not one single inquiry even though it is the cheapest one in the marketplace. It is a fantastic car but there is no demand out there ... Anyway, appreciate all the feedback and thoughts so far

Sorry, forgot to mention ... I have a s1000rr in Acid Green in the stable already ... lol ...

The reality is that I only did about 5,000km in the M5 and I take a bicycle to work (doesn't help the culture of the workplace when the boss goes to work in a flash car - bloody kiwi tall poppy syndrome). I don't need a 'daily drive'. An x3 doesn't do it for me as the wife has a Wrangler JK so we use that for towing / fishing. The next car will be a weekend warrior. The R10 is appealingly priced in the UK but would be the 2008 model for the budget. What is the resale value like of the R10 or rather do they turn over in the secondhand market?

I moved from Japanese built cars to Euros in the 90s and have never been tempted to go back so the GTR, while respected for its performance, doesn't do it for me. Mercs have never interested me as they are marketed at the older set and remind me of an old mans car ... Options are a Porsche Turbo out of UK, Lambo (painful to get serviced in Sth Is), a current shape M3 ex UK .... it is a strange feeling selling the M5. It is such a phenomenal car that entertained me every drive and now there is a void. Up till now, every car I bought was a progression, like most car owners. I think the next car won't necessarily be better but rather be different.

Thanks everyone for your help. Tried the local BMW stealership but they would only sell me roadside assistance. They can learn a lot from Audi and their Silver Circle service !!! Ended up 'phoning a friend' and used his dealership to access a policy through him but I can't remember now who it was through. Worked out well as I sold the M5 and you will now see the beast cruzing around Auckland. My next question will be what to buy next ..... what to get after you have experienced an M5 for 3 years and don't want to take the 1st hit on the new model M5 ...

Thanks Glenn for this info. In case I come to a dead end, are there any car dealers on Bimmersporter who would be able to put it through their books for a commission on the side ?

Are you doing it directly yourself or through a dealer. The buyer of the car says they only deal through dealers and this is a private sale ...

Hi All Need your help .... I am selling my 2005 M5 and have found a buyer. He wants to take out Mechanical Breakdown Insurance on the car but is struggling to find a company that will insure the car. Does anyone know a company that will give cover on an M5??? Cheers

I know there have been a few posts on getting gear from US to NZ and the best / cheapest method etc. For a long time I have recommended using Kiwishipping which is part of the Mainfreight group. I have been using them for a few years and nothing is ever a problem. In the last few days, they have upgraded their website www.kiwishipping.co.nz to make it even easier with instant quotes without having to give your details so you can do heaps of what ifs... The marketplace is becoming a worldwide marketplace and more of these portals will spring up around the world which is great for people like me who like to parallel import things that have been clipped too many times before it comes to us. Anyway, have a look and enjoy ....

If I was reading both listings, it is clear they were included in the auction and go with the motor. The Q&A on the 2nd auction indicates he is a deadbeat. One can only hope he never breeds ...

It depends on how large the toy is. I currently have 3 sets of tires / rims on the water and last week uplifted a motorbike all bought on eBay or in a forum's classified section. I get the buyeres to ship to the shipping company's delivery address in California and they load it into mixed shipping containers back to NZ. Fantastic company and excellent service / prices.. company is www.kiwishipping.co.nz they are part of the mainfreight company